Some communities simply do not have a decent place to eat. We had placed Sanford in that category until we discovered Café Vesuvio. With large portions and a very reasonable price, this is the best establishment I've found in Sanford. Hidden in a strip mall, the storefront is deceiving (the adjacent businesses made me pass up this place twice), but the varied menu and reasonable prices are a great reward for you sense of adventure. Vesuvio's is a family-oriented place appropriate for the small community it serves and much better than some places I've eaten in much larger areas. As for food, the menu holds standard (non-Italian) items to round-out service for the local customers and children, but the Italian cuisine is where they shine. The menu has at least 20 familiar and less-often found Italian courses. Instead of just tossing veggies on the plate, the salads contain a light mix of herbs to bring out the flavor. This attention to detail is an indicator of a chef that has pride and a vision for the restaurant. The linguini with clam sauce is as good as it comes: light, with a good, delicate mix of flavors. The soups appear to be homemade. A nice change from most places at this level. The desserts are plentiful. The lemon cake is memorable and not out of a box from the freezer. Again, a surprise for the look and location of the restaurant. The wait staff is very accommodating, and the space is large and comfortable. While not the dimly lit, quiet, suit-and-tie experience, the food is just as good. No muss, no fuss, no drama. read more

Best Italian food around! The Alfredo sauce is to die for!! I highly recommend this place to everyone. It's real authentic Italian food with great Italian owners:) read more

I have been coming here for years and about any time I pay a visit to my father in recent years. Food is generally good and some times really good. These family Italian places are standard where I live in NJ but not necessarily in North Carolina. Things are changing and Sanford is hardly a small town. I know my father eats here regularly and they treat him well with friendly service. I would definitely recommend to any one especially families. I do like their pizzas even when compared to what I can get a home. Not the best I've ever had but still always good. Recently I've been ordering the Greek Salad which has a lot of variety with nothing over done. I imagine all their salads are good depending on individual likings. The Italian dishes I've sampled over the years are generally good. Another thing that is always good is the roasted rosemary chicken. This standard is generally a great selection with a nice half chicken portion and a side of pasta with various sauce options. Even the smaller dinner salads are good. Definitely a place I enjoy when I visit Sanford. If I lived locally I would certainly be a regular. read more

Cafe serves up great food and service. Who would think the best burger in town would be at an Italian eatery? Well, Cafe's Deluxe Burger is tongue tantalizing. They have awesome calzones and pizza, while their pasta dishes stand up well against much higher priced restaurants. read more

Cafe Vesuvio - Family partay - Italian Near Me - Sanford, North Carolina

We have been going for years. Service is normally good. Probably can count on 1 hand out of all the years we have been going the bad times. I do wish the owners would update the seating area/resturant in general. Its is very dated. The food has always been great. Their alfredo sauce is delicious. Kids enjoy watching the staff make the calazones/pizza's. Overall family environment. read more

I don't know if people who come here decide to leave their taste buds at home, but this place has horrible pasta. My husband and I are huge Italian food fans and this place was far from Italian. I would say it was as good as boxed pasta and Ragu. Of course if you want shrimp or veal, I'm sure they'll thaw it out for you before they serve it. It's the least they could do. My husband didn't eat his food and we still got charged for it. Worst place ever! Don't eat here. read more

Cafe Vesuvio - Seafood diablo...it was eh - Italian Near Me - Sanford, North Carolina

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Ver good food. Being from out of town, we were looking for a good meal. The special was shrimp pesto and it was fabulous. My daughter had the Fettuccine Alfredo and ate every bite. The noodles were fresh. Sauce was delicious. My husband had the lasagna and was very pleased with the flavor of the marina sauce. Overall atmosphere is nice. Waitress was very attentive, constantly keeping our drinks filled. Definitely will return here on upcoming trips. read more

Food is consistantly good. I would recommend their bella donna pasta, white pizza, and rotisserie chicken. Staff is always friendly and relativly attentive. My family has been going here for many years and have never had a bad experience. They also have good sandwiches and a decent lunch menu. Grab a cannoli if you have room. read more

Cafe Vesuvio - Bella Donna - Italian Near Me - Sanford, North Carolina

First time my wife and I came here everything was perfect! On our second visit, everything changed. I ordered the Greek salad and received lettuce, a few black olives, and some feta. No dressing, no onions, nothing else. A few onions would have been nice as well but I guess for $7.00 I can't be choosy. I was charged $0.50 for peperoncini when it was supposed to be on the salad according to the menu.. Nope not going back! read more

Food quality and taste has gone down over the last year. Something is different, I used to order from there twice a week. The last time I went my Cheesesteak had of burnt flavor to it. I ordered lasagna before that and it was very runny. Whatever you changed change it back quickly as soon as possible or the results May devastate your business. read more

From the moment one of the workers opened the door for me, I knew I had picked the right place. The service was wonderful and my drink was always full. I ordered the fettuccine Alfredo and it was amazing! The sauce was not too thick and had a very balanced taste The food came quick and was not too hot. This is something that I really critique about. I would definitely reccomend this to anyone wanting Italian food. read more

The pizza is pitiful. You can get a better pizza from Dominos or Papa John's. The Margherita pizza is especially bad. There is more sauce than cheese. The crust is not good. The toppings are not good. I do not recommend their pizza. read more

This place is NOT GOOD! We went twice recently. The first time my pizza was way undercooked and greasy. Left there disapppunted. We decided to give them another chance to be fair because people can have a bad day but when I got ready to order a spaghetti the waitress came back and said the owner said no it was a problem because I didn't want onions so I ordered something else. The waitress came back again said the owner didn't want to do that either that it had onions in it. I guess they don't make anything fresh! While I'm sitting here getting told to order something else for the third time I watch a ROACH crawl across the floor! No thank! Decided I wasn't hungry . read more

Not impressed. Eggplant parm was very bland and tasted like chemicals. Which leads me to believe it is frozen and not fresh. All our meals were not up to standard. If in the area I will not go here again. Only go if in a pinch. read more

Ordered the lasagna with house salad lunch special. Sauce tasted like Spaghettios. They're pretty stingy with the bread, but seeing as it was old bread, I can't complain. They're very good with the cheese. It's nothing special, but a good lunch if you're on a budget. Staff was friendly. read more

I've eaten with my children at this place before and usually have a decent experience except for one other instance. I've always tipped good and been an easygoing guest as is the case everywhere I dine at. Working in the restaurant industry has instilled this in me. I came into Cafe Vesuvio on Sunday 11/6/2022 to eat dinner with my children. Upon entry we were quoted a 20 minute wait time to be seated, even though there were many open tables and servers not engaged or super busy. After about 17 minutes of waiting, a caucasian family walked in, approached the host stand, and were sat immediately at a table big enough to accommodate me and my 3 children. Another 6 minutes after that a second caucasian family walked in and they also were sat right away. The hostess just continued to give me and my children weird looks and offered no explanation to the seating issue whatsoever. My children and I left and went to eat at Applebee's instead. From my experience the food is actually not bad but there are other better options locally. It seems like their whole staff could use some cultural sensitivity and bias training as this is not my first experience like this there. I will not be returning. If you are a person of color I advise you to tread lightly if you decide to eat here. read more

Sanford staple. Food is always good consistent and very reasonable through the many years we have been going. Would I update the inside? Yes but does it really matter? Probably not. read more

This restaurant is another one of those restaurants that doesn't look very appealing, but it has pretty good food. I mostly only order pizza, to go. I have to use a lot of paper towels to get all the grease off the pizza. Usually, once I do that, it's really good. Sometimes, the grease soaks into the pizza and it becomes soggy. I always check now when I pick it up. I just lift up the bottom of the pizza and make sure it's crispy and dry. I have tried the salads and a few of the pasta dishes. The salads are fresh and tasty. They have delicious ranch dressing. I stopped getting salads though after I ordered one at night and it was close to six dollars. I won't pay that much for a few pieces of lettuce and some croutons just because it's "dinner" time. Outrageous. I wasn't all that impressed with the pasta, either. Tasted fairly bland, but edible. I make better tasting sauce at home using a jar of sauce and some of my own seasonings. I cannot speak for any dishes with meat, as I do not eat meat. Basically, the main reason I come here is for pizza and fries. On a good day, the pizza is the best I can find in Sanford and the fries are crispy and delicious. The ranch dressing doesn't taste like hidden valley, so that's a plus, too. If you can look past the ugly pink curtains that need washed, and the not so welcoming decorations, it's worth a shot. It's usually always busy in here, so that speaks for itself. read more

you should honor your menu and not l change as it suits you. charging $1 for marinara to go with my cheese sticks is ridiculoua! and no this wasn't extra marinara. this place has gone down hill over the last year. Not sure if management changed? service has been horrible as well. never again will I eat there. what a shame. read more

Menu says to ask about the nightly specials. We did and there are none. You do get a basket of warm bread but it has no flavor. Our orders were mixed up. The food looked like it was just thrown on the plate. Not impressed. read more

We have eaten inside the restaurant in the past and have been pleased. But because of the virus we decided to get take out. We were very disappointed with our order. We ordered online to pick up. After we got home we realized 4 of our items were missing! We were not about to drive back there. We like to support local businesses, but this place has just lost a customer. read more

The staff is very friendly and attentive. The food was delicious. We had a veggie Stromboli, calzone and bruschetta. The crusts were amazing. Nice and crisp. The dipping marinara was flavorful. I will defiantly be back to try the pies. read more

this one will be short. the food was actually pretty good. the pasta is amazing. me and my brother getting food poisoning from the food was not. read more

Ugh. One of the worst meals I've had in a while. Poor quality ingredients. Overall bad recipes. No idea How it has 4 stars. These people must be delusional. No offense. read more

So I paid for my food and waited to for it to be prepared. After receiving half of what I paid for I told the short old hag that I didn't have all my food and she said for me to open my box and let her see!?! Like I was scamming them or something. I said what you don't believe me? She repeated herself so I did and then she wasn't even embarrassed that she was wrong she was more mad at me for calling her out on not giving me all my food. Food isnt even that great. but I won't be back. Very rude and unprofessional read more

Nice mural, no atmosphere otherwise. Italian fare is ok but nothing special.

As a Sanford native, I can't believe I never tried this place. We came and it was very busy for any restaurant, much less a family run operation and it only took 10-15 minutes to be seated. (Not long in bigger cities, but it's Sanford) the food and the service was well worth the wait! We knew within a minute of seeing the menu that we were having Primavera for me and Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken for my son. Then the inevitable, the table behind us got their food and it looked so good we wanted their food too. We decided to order a small Stromboli to share as well as cheese fries. Stromboli was suppose to be veggie, but that was a total miscommunication on my part, with the size of the plates, I was honestly relieved when it had meat inside, they took it off the ticket. We had two entrees, an appetizer, two free refill drinks and I had a salad for under $25. Will we go back? Without a doubt. Next time we'll get that Stromboli and save room for coffee and dessert. read more

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This place is always consistently yummy. My go to dinner to share with my husband is a rotisserie chicken salad and a large cheese pizza. The chicken on the salad is amazing and so juicy!!! Tempted to get the whole rotisserie chicken to-go one day. I have tried a few of their pizzas, but for some reason the best one is just the plain cheese. The ingredients are so good that simplicity is best. My Italian friend (really Italian- not Jersey Shore style) says the food is really authentic. We pick up dinner here about twice a month. When dining in, I love the ice in the cups. It's the "bally" kind of ice that reminds you of pizza joints as a kid with root beer. read more

I'm a local and I've eaten here many times and I still love it. My husband and I love the shrimp/mushroom Alfredo and chicken Marsala the best! Echoing a previous review, great food, great service. read more

Good food...questionable service. I understand lunch is a busy time for restaurants. However, there's no excuse to take your hectic day out on customers. After waiting patiently for 5 minutes to be greeted by my server, I politely mentioned I was ready to order. Her response was," I know what do you want to drink?" It wasn't the end of the world but a little courtesy goes a long way! read more

Food was solid for our group. Can't complain but it took for freaking ever and it wasn't busy at all. Waitress was nice though

My fiancee and i were looking for a good place for dinner. We saw cafe vesuvio and that it had 4 stars on yelp and trip advisor so we decided Italian was the way to go tonight. Well, the waitstaff was amazing the tea was good. That is where my accolades stop. The mozzarella caprese was horrendous. The salads were mediocre at best. And both of our entrees (she got two because the eggplant parmesan was so bad she couldn't... to quote her. .. choke it down) left much to be desired for. I see many reviews staying the pizzas are to die for and the sandwiches are phenomenal. One would be hard pressed to convince either of us of this seeing as the meals we got didn't taste good going down or coming back up two hours later while vomiting. If yelp allowed fewer than one star this place would be deserving. I feel bad for the servers as many people are unable to separate quality of food versus quality of service when it comes time to tip. read more

I wouldn't say this was the best Italian food I have ever had, but this is Sanford NC not Chicago. The food was good, service excellent, and prices reasonable. That is a pretty good combination in a local restaurant. read more

The food here is outstanding. I've not had a bad dish since I've been visiting. However, I have a hard time getting away from the Stromboli's. Most of the wait staff is very good. There are a couple of the waitresses that could use a little more training. The family that own's it are genuine and very friendly. It's unassuming store front and dated look should not deter you. This is the best Italian food you'll get in Sanford. read more

One of my favorite places! My family eats here at least once a week. The staff is very friendly and the food is always good. Everything on the menu is good. The pizza is great and the rotisserie chicken is amazing! read more

This is the best Italian restaurant in the Sanford area! The pizzas are great. Everything on the menu looks delicious! And did I mention that it is affordable? YES. The first review that I can honestly give five stars! read more

It is a very nice place to eat. I love the atmosphere. The waters are awesome. They are very dedicated to their jobs! I would definately eat here again. read more

This place could be wildly successful on selling their rotisserie chicken alone. I can't speak for the other dishes because all I want is that yummy chicken! read more

We happened upon this place when I had a spaghetti craving. The food was absolutely delicious. The meat sauce was incredible. My husband enjoyed his chicken parmigian. Great service too. We will be back. read more

This place was good. Dont know why it had 3 stars. My son and I had the spaghetti and meatballs and my wife had the baked ziti. The portions was also great. Both was delish and the staff was great. read more