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    La Strega Bistro

    4.4 (139 reviews)
    Closed 4:00 pm - 9:00 PM

    Order La Strega Bistro Takeout or Delivery

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    LA STREGA BISTRO ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Romantic
    Classy
    Upscale
    Outdoor seating

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    Jennifer G.

    This review is specifically for the Waterford Lakes location. I'm posting here as I'm unable to find the Waterford Lakes location on Yelp. -Bread service: Bread was hot and included marinara sauce to dip. Sauce tasted like Ragu sauce from the bottle.. -Food: We got Gnocchi Al Pesto with chicken, Tagliatelle Al Limoncello, and Filetto Alla Parmigiana. We waited a while for our food. Chicken Parm sauce was slightly cold. Other 2 dishes were warm (not hot). Everything was tasty but nothing to rave about. -Atmosphere: The colors/decor they chose for this restaurant reminded me of a seafood restaurant rather than a place that serves Italian food. -Final Thoughts: it was good but there are other places in the area that we feel are slightly better.

    Rod B.

    I've been trying to try this restaurant for a while and Labor Day weekend was the day. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and we decided to do a takeout instead. My overall rating will be on the food. This place is known for pasta so we ordered rigatoni, lasagna, seafood pasta, risotto, and calamari. Had mix feelings with the food. The pasta and sauces are cooked really good and tasty. Seasoning right on par. However, the seafood itself was overcooked and rubbery. The breading on the calamari is too much and was over fried. I like supporting the mom and pops establishments, but the price we paid for the food we ate is a bit too expensive. Maybe it was an off day for them with the food.

    Pollo alla parmigiana
    Jaret A.

    I was looking for an authentic Italian restaurant instead of the fast food tasting places. I never order from restaurants due to I basically make it better at home. Lol! I have to say this place is a hit! The vibe inside doesn't have the look of a wanna be Italian restaurant. The service was on point, waiters knew the specials and very friendly to guests. A must try!

    Absolutely fabulous food - authentic Italian. I had a Caesar's, a glass of Montepulciano, and a Bucatino that was so incredibly good. Great service, beautiful interior. Fantastic bread as well.

    Filletto al Filetto Ai Funghi

    I ordered filleto al funghi and it was the worst italian I ever had. I asked for linguini and they gave me sphaghetti, I wanted extra sauce and got no extra sauce and the entire dish was bland, there was no Marsala no seasoning and the chicken was dry and flavorless the entire dish tasted like nothing. I could have gone to Aldis and made this crap my self and it wouldn't have tasted so horrible. There's a huge difference between baby Bella mushrooms and canned mushrooms. This place hates its customers.

    Warm, delicious bread comes with a little bowl of marinara sauce. It's so wonderful, they reasonably charge $3.95 for a refill.
    Paul S.

    You can't do a better job of hiding a wonderful Italian restaurant. LaStrega Bistro is tucked inside a strip mall office building, on a fast-moving four lane US highway, with an Edward Jones financial advisor as an anchor tenant. Perhaps you have driven by and never noticed it, hidden in plain sight. It's time to take notice. We found LaStrega because we were looking for something close to Blue Spring State Park and the Central Florida Zoo with a menu that would appeal to four fussy eaters with diverse tastes, and LaStrega had a big enough selection to satisfy a devoted carnivore and a committed pescatarian. We live near Boston, so we are spoiled by the quality of nearby Italian restaurants. LaStrega's meets or exceeds the quality of anything we can find at home. Once you get past the lobby, you enter a beautiful Mediterranean setting with a friendly waitstaff. You are welcomed with a small plate of warm bread served with a small bowl of marinara sauce. My test dish for a new Italian restaurant is chicken parmesan, and this ranks among the best I have ever had the pleasure to eat. The chicken cutlet was thick, moist, perfectly cooked with a substantial slice of cheese melted on top. My wife added salmon to her pasta, and the fish was cooked perfectly. On our way back home, headed to the Auto Train, we decided to return for lunch. Again, warm welcome, warm bread. I have never been to a restaurant where they charge ($3.95) for a bread refill, but the heavenly quality made this a real bargain. The panini and pizza were as wonderful as our previous dinner. If you live anywhere near DeBarry, if you are unfortunate enough to drive through Volusia County on I-4, you owe it to yourself to give LaStrega a try. Also, if you are booked on the Auto Train preparing to head north, LaStrega is a great place for a pre-boarding lunch; it's just 12 minutes from the Sanford terminal.

    Mariana B.

    Amazing experience. Everything was spot on! Franco our server was very friendly and helpful. Environment very nice. Delicious sangria. Very good Italian margarita. Meatballs, delicious. We ordered twice. Pappardelle was delicious. Fettuccine was amazing! Adriano pizza was incredible, was a delicious surprise. Really, there was nothing to complain!!!

    Pesto Pasta Dish

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Great dinner and service. Menu items that were both different and familiar. Nice surprise in our own backyard. Will be back soon!

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Excellent food, staff and atmosphere. the best Italian food in the area. Can't wait to go back.

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    4 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Best Italian I have had in many years, everything from the bread, appetizer, wine and every entree was fantastic

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Excellent pasta, presentation was great, and service was pretty good for only having one chef on duty that day. Would definitely recommend

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    Nonna Maria's Pizzeria - Veal Marsala

    Nonna Maria's Pizzeria

    4.0(176 reviews)
    1.3 mi
    $$

    I ordered a large meat calzone. It's been 3 days and I'm still eating it. It was huuuge! My wife…read morewant a simple brunch for her birthday and Mary and the kitchen made it great! Thank you guys! Your DeBarys best. Also good conversation with other patrons.

    I have a new favorite Italian restaurant in the area AND they're open on Mondays!…read more We came in on Memorial Day which meant they were slow (apparently not a lot of pizza wanted on a grilling holiday?) but that was fine because we got a quiet restaurant and excellent service. I'm constantly chasing the flavors of my childhood Italian restaurant back home and I think I've found my closest match. First off, their pasta fagioli, absolute perfection. It's not just minestrone with pasta added in nor is it too tomatoey. It's the perfect level of veggies and pancetta and I ordered a bowl to go to have on hand as my "I'm sick" comfort food. The calamari was my only criticism, they serve it tossed in the marinara (and the spicy marinara isn't really spicy). That meant the crisp breading was soggy, but it was still well cooked and tasty - I'll just ask for sauce on the side from now on. House bread with herbed dipping oil - delightful outer crust and fluffy inside. My father had a caesar salad which was his only criticism - it came with a packet of Ken's brand dressing. For a place making most things from scratch, why they'd do commercial dressing let alone in a packet is beyond me. My father's veal marsala was cooked tender and the sauce wasn't overpoweringly marsala-y as many can be. My chicken francaise had the same level of meat tenderness and sauce balance and both came with perfectly cooked pasta. We had to judge on all levels of our go-to foods so we also ordered a slice of pepperoni which came with a sauce that wasn't too much nor too sweet and excellent cheese pull, thin but not cracker crunchy crust that has actual FLAVOR. Great ambiance, fun and attentive staff, and food near perfection - we have a new favorite!

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    Big Love Pie - Hand made everything...

    Big Love Pie

    4.0(4 reviews)
    1.0 mi
    $$

    The food truck experience can be fun, and deliver a lot of variety. But never quite so much…read morescenery since you're staring at, well, a boxy truck. Not so with Big Love Pie. Sure it's portable, and sure it shows up at locations convenient to entertainment, just like food trucks. But it's an open trailer with a massive, gorgeous wood-fired pizza oven that's immediately visually appealing. A big part of the fun is watching them precisely control the wood temperature, smoke amount and flow, and tend to the fresh pizza you're about to enjoy. First you'll watch your home-made dough hand-stretched and hand tossed, then topped with items that vary by the visit. The whole process is entertaining and definitely whets the 'tite. And the result... wow! What an amazing crust! Your pie is about 12-ish inches in diameter with the outer 3/4" to 1" left mostly untopped, and for a good reason -- that crust alone might be your favorite part. It's thin, it's crispy, it's chewy, and it's almost flaky, put not quite pastry. It holds up and doesn't crumble, so you can pick up a slice of it just like it's a piece of New York pizza and fold it to hold in one hand. Not that those toppings will disappoint you. There are always a couple of staples, like plain cheese -- a creamy-good mozzarella -- which you can get in a zippy but light tomato or a white bianca sauce. And of course pepperoni in either sauce. They had goat's cheese and I got the impression that's something they offer most or all nights. The special toppings vary, and can be as simple as maple-chicken sausage with basil, or my fave, their super-thick, meaty bacon, diced flavorful tomatoes, topped with arugula. A squirt of balsamic sauce is a staple drizzle option, and perfect with this bacon-tomato number. Oh, and they'll make about anything you want... as long as they have the ingredients there. Owners Tom & Tracy are talkative, so I hung around to watch the process, and learned how much care goes into it -- how they've perfected the recipes. They even bring in special water for the dough so the minerals and pH deliver the right consistency that makes it marvelous. Their yeast is classified secret. The wood used requires a certain amount of seasoning times, and until now i never realized things like flame-rollover (affected by shape of the oven -- they've chosen an igloo configuration) and differences in temperature from oven floor matter so very much in how a pizza bakes. Their igloo-shaped oven is a heavy, concrete and mastik, tiled monster. Not sure any food truck can replicate the size and openness. The owners made it themselves after extensive study about what they theorized would distribute heat and flame ideally. The crust tells me they sure got it right. Some random but useful notes: They're not always at Central28. On Fridays and Saturdays they're currently at Celery City Brewing in Sanford. Beverages are just limited to canned sodas. Sometimes they will fold over that wood-fired dough into a sandwich style -- their salami, which I sampled, is well-chosen and doesn't rely on too much salt. They also have Crucially, there is a limited amount of dough and when they run out all you can do is watch the coals glow and wish you got there earlier. Still a nice view. I really enjoy watching that oven... simple things amuse me perhaps. Finally, I got the impression that the owners weren't yet sure what they have on their hands here -- they seem to have a lot of opportunities but it's clear from many things they do (limited amount per night) they want to keep things special -- they're perfectly with making fewer but better pizzas. That feeling came out in everything they said. So it's a "Craft-Style" Wood-Fired Pizza. It's truly "artesanal," an oft-misused word which should mean small, handmade batches that are never quite uniform, and totally original to the artist. It goes well with your Craft-Brewed Beer from whatever place they're parked outside of. Pricing (menu photo) is so well within reason it's not even a thought. A pizza can fill two light appetites or well-satisfy a hungry solo. I stupidly told them it was too cheap for this level of quality...(Then clamped my mouth shut. I hope that doesn't cost me on my next visit!) The downsides are kinda obvious: limitations on the portable (food truckish) style. I'll mention 'em: There's only a place to sit in the establishments they're near -- they have no tables. They have a VERY limited menu. You'll get wood-fired pizza or sandwiches. Salads or sides are infrequent. They're in different places different nights, so you hafta know where they'll be, but I think they're now posting location and menu specials nightly on Facebook (@biglovepie) which is easy to check. And no, there's no alcohol -- that's the point...these folks do the food right outside where you get your beer. Big Love Pie does one great thing, and does it better than anybody else I've tasted, maybe ever.

    Wow what a pleasant surprise for a pizza on wheels. Amazing wood fired Pizza !! Just wow a must try.read more

    Photos
    Big Love Pie - Tom hand forms and tosses every crust.

    Tom hand forms and tosses every crust.

    Big Love Pie - Fun to watch them roll over the flame at night...

    Fun to watch them roll over the flame at night...

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    Tom of Tom and Tracy, propietors of Big Love Pie.

    La Strega Bistro - italian - Updated July 2026

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