Amazing restaurant! The "best Italian restaurant reward" is well deserved. Make sure to save room…read morefor desert. All the food was amazing. Never had anything bad here. Service is amazing. Ambiance is casual and very nice. Everyone's meal was 5/5. Can't wait to come back! Gluten free pasta available.

Great family owned Italian restaurant. Family is from Sicily food portions are substantial and…read morewell presented no fancy pretentious atmosphere just good food. Bring your appetite and your wine there is no corking fee

Taverna Toscana is a fantastic restaurant. I made a last minute reservation to celebrate my…read moreanniversary (yeah, I know- should have done it sooner) and all that was available was outdoor seating, but the patio is covered and there are fans, so we went ahead and endured the heat and boy, was it worth it! The hostesses sat us right away, being careful not to overwhelm one server, so they discussed where to seat us amongst themselves and agreed on a plan. I almost expected them to clap and yell "Break!", but they were doing their jobs the right way. Our server was attentive, she knew the menu very well, and she was a true pro. We started off with the Parker rolls, which is super delicious and there is enough for way more than two people, so we had to be careful not to eat all of them, as difficult as that was. I'm also a French Onion soup fan, so I tried that- and it was great, and served in a very cool looking crock. My wife sat there saying she didn't want any, but proceeded to pick off half the cheese. (not cool, honey!). I ordered the seafood cioppino with the bucatini (a must have), and my wife had the chicken parm. First, the Cioppino was outstanding- full of great seafood, and the sauce was amazing. The bucatini is possibly the best pasta I have ever had. There is nothing like homemade pasta, and this was incredible. I was so full, but I kept eating it anyway. I paid for that later. Next time I will skip the apps and go straight to the dish. My wife loved the chicken parm and the portion was big enough so that she took well more than half of it home and I enjoyed it a couple of days later. All of the food was outstanding! Finally, I'd like to salute the server who was dealing with the table next to ours. The table was 4 extremely arrogant women who kept complaining about the temperature (you chose to sit outside, ladies) and the flies (wow...flies outside, who could have guessed?). The server handled them and their arrogance way better than she should have. They told her they were ready to order, then proceeded to take 10 full minutes to place their order because they really weren't ready. I have to admit, when my seafood dish was placed in front of me and it drew a lot more flies near us, I was a little happy because those ladies kept giving me the side-eye while complaining about "more flies than ever". Hilarious! We will be back often to Taverna Toscana, that's for sure. They know how to run a restaurant and their food is delicious. Thanks!

Since this is a very upscale restaurant you have to dress into a more business attire, something…read morenot too casual. The lighting and space is well designed with being able to reserve upper floor, bottom floor and main floor that has a bar. Reserve a place you would want I recommend a a full week ahead. There is valley parking and across the street. The servers make check ups, they take food allergies seriously and make sure to make the food safe. I recommend this place for those that want an experience of a fancy romance. Or a friend evening. Prices can range $$-$$$$ They allow you to see your check from a quick scan on the table. Great experience!!

A Hidden Gem in Bradenton!…read more From the outside, Villa Sorrento may look quiet and like there isn't a whole lot to see, but once you step inside, you're in for a wonderful experience. The food was absolutely phenomenal: delicious, authentic, and full of flavor. Everything came out quickly, and there was truly nothing left to be desired. The hospitality was just as impressive. The host and her daughter were warm, welcoming, and made us feel right at home. It's not often you find a place where both the food and the service stand out this much. Villa Sorrento is a true gem and definitely a place to visit when you're in Bradenton, Florida. Definitely beats our favorite place in San Diego, California! No names need be mentioned... Great job, keep doing what you're doing! Highly recommended!

Meatballs just ok nothing special, stuffed shells and fettuccine with garlic and oil the same ,…read morebig portions but still nothing stood out as far as flavor was concerned service seemed a bit slow within a nice little 10 table restaurant casual ambiance

My wife and I heard good things about this place. First off the hostess and waitress were great…read more Lots of great laughs. As for the food we started with the meatballs. They were good. Looked like cafeteria size so I was worried. Tasted great maybe a little Less breadcrumbs. 1-10 (7). My wife had the chicken parm and had the eggplant parm. My was ok. They didn't have enough layers of eggplant. It seemed like only 2. Wasn't impressed. My wife's Chicken parm was solid. Breadcrumbs had great flavor and the chicken was the perfect thickness. We both had a side of pasta and it wasn't anything fancy. The grated parm was in a shaker. Not a fan of the generic grated cheese. Overall it was cool little spot! Would I go again? Yes I would but I wouldn't be jumping through hoops. Overall rating in my opinion is 7 out of 10.

We had a large group going to dinner and this is was the restaurant of choice... as I waited for…read morethe group to get there I had a Stella draft at the bar and looked around the dining room. It's basically one big room with a porch out back, and I was surprised it wasn't louder in there. Ordered a cup of pasta e fagioli soup and the penne with portobello mushrooms and sausage for my main. Since there were ten of us it was interesting to hear some of the other choices... three people at the table ordered an appetizer for their meal - spinach, sausage and beans soup and when it arrived I could see why - it was huge! My soup was very good (sorry no picture) and the penne with sausage and portobello was good too, I think I'd have liked a little more sausage in the mix but the flavor was good and I couldn't finish so I had lunch for the next day. All in all a nice place - the waitress was especially nice and explained everything perfectly.

Have eaten here twice. Delicious food both times and great service. My meat sauce could have been…read morethicker, but it was tasty. The veal was a bit tough but also very good. Reasonably priced. Not an extensive menu but what they do they do well. Love the butter with cream cheese that comes with the bread.

So I was sooo excited to finally try this place and I'm sorry but this was not good at all. The…read morefood is bland and sad. The fettuccine noodles were hard and stuck together. The chicken tasted boiled. The lasagna was sloppy, mushy and watery. Nothing was fresh. Overall everything lacked flavor! The owners seemed nice but I'm sorry it wasn't a good dinner at all. I wont be ordering again.

Went here with some friends who actually recommended it from friends and Yelp…read more The exterior looked like the Italian restaurants you find in a larger city, trying hard to be noticed. The interior was in the same motif, an old school Italian restaurant that's been around for awhile. We had reservations and were sat immediately. Our server came over to our table almost immediately. He was friendly, professional and friendly and explained the menu and his recommendations. Even though the appetizers looked amazing, we opted to just order entrees as they came with a salad and pasta. We ordered 2 Chicken Parm's with a Caeser salad side and their homemade Tagliatelle pasta, Bronzino special and a Pasta (homemade linguine). I was one of the Chicken Parm's. DAMN, it was excellent! Very large portions of chicken and pasta with a tomato sauce that was absolutely one of the best I've ever had in a restaurant! It was thick, tasty and clung to the pasta and Parm. I HATE ordering pasta in a restaurant that isn't drained properly and the plate is a puddle with food sitting in it-and this WAS NOT the case! It was a big ass tasty platter of delicious food. The other plates were as large and delicious! For dessert, I had the Espresso Affogato, again DELICIOUS!!! I WILL be back to try some of the other dishes as, for me, unless they do a really good chicken parm, I won't go on!! Great job by the staff! Our table was constantly bussed, waters refilled and making sure we were satisfied.

Unfortunately, this is a one and done restaurant for me, and not one I would recommend. Sorry no…read morepictures! We were seated right away, and our server was attentive, almost a little too attentive at times that we felt rushed. The atmosphere was nice, but the restaurant is small, difficult to move around, and the lighting was darker than I prefer. We started with the fried calamari and meatballs. The calamari was good, but the meatballs were disappointing. They were about the size of golf balls which is ok but lacked flavor. For our entrees, we ordered the penne alla vodka, chicken parmesan, gnocchi, and I had the spaghetti special that was finished in a cheese wheel tableside. The presentation was fun, but the food itself just didn't live up to it. The marinara sauce across the dishes was bland, the gnocchi was forgettable, and my spaghetti portion was surprisingly small, more like an appetizer than an entrée. I almost always take leftovers home from Italian restaurants because the portions are generous and the food is rich. This time, there was nothing left because there wasn't much there to begin with. The biggest disappointment was the bread. When I go to an Italian restaurant, I expect warm, crusty Italian bread. Instead, it tasted like ordinary sliced sandwich bread. I actually like Publix bread, but that's not what I'm looking for with an Italian meal. Overall, nothing was terrible, but nothing stood out either. For the prices, I expected much more flavor, better portions, and a more authentic Italian experience.

This place is a 5 other than Mel . Service is so bad I have to draw back and give a 3 this is for…read morethe class they are not open regularly anymore so, if you plan to purchase anything after the class just double check before actually sending money . She's seems nice and in shadows most of time but the money there was miss communication she was absolutely ready to tell I wouldn't be getting my money back at all .....turns out she's is bad at hearing and misheard and created a ball of drama for no reason but yeah... what can you do she's the Help after all you can't expect more from someone that clears tables and fill glasses. È la vita ! What ya gonna do ? Awesome ! food is great! beware of her (Mel) trying to scam you at the end of the night with extra purchases . Double ask before handing your card or cash . It's def giving SCAM for bottles and olive oil since she was so against anything I said even tho owner quoted me on price and i paid Venmo ........ she still didn't believe it . even though have known this place for 12 years . Food is a 5*** help you get what you get. Also expect to get back in your car and get fast food or go out to eat again ....cause you will still be hungry it's a small dish but also it's a cooking class I wouldn't expect to be full after learning a few quick dishes ! :) they will def load you up with lots of red/white wine though .

Awesome! Last dinner with Gaetano in the kitchen. He retired and turned the restaurant over to…read moreBrady and his wife. Wish them the best of luck! Service was excellent and the setting is cozy like the kitchen in a Sicilian home.

This is painful to review this establishment because I normally LOVE the pizza but tonight was an…read moreoff night for us. The restaurant was buzzing with customers which is good to see. Our wait staff Jennifer was very good and courteous. It was just the two of us and we each order our own Pizzas if you compare my pizza photo from my last visit to today's you'll see what I mean. Either the oven was too high or the pizza oven chef was overwhelmed because as I looked around ours weren't the only ones really dark. I did mention it to the wait staff and she was more than apologetic but it's not her fault. Anyway, I will probably be back and specify "light on top" you want the crust to have a bite not a chew that's tough. I know that sometimes you just have an off night. Pretty hard to screw up a cheese pizza tho. Sigh.

Ambiance - right next to the movie theater, cute little place. We asked about Specials, were told…read morethere are none. The White pizza was good. He got Angel hair with Spinach and Shrimp. Came with several large shrimp, Spinach was uncut and still had stems, massive leaves of uncut spinach - too much, not cooked down. The spinach almost ruined the dish, and frankly the prices for the pasta and chicken dishes are high for a place that keeps napkin dispensers on the tables. Service was okay. We were one of four tables and there were two servers. Had to flag down for refills. She was never available - counting her tip money at the counter. Had to ask for a plate. This seems to be more of a pizza place... wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

service was great...however,I had ordered Chicken Bryan which is one of my faves when I come…read morehere...but, the portions are not quite what the price is for the meal. For my son and i it was pretty pricey,Overall, the service was the best.Overpriced on some dishes served. .

Carrabba's for the win!…read more Yesterday my boyfriend and I headed to Carrabba's on Cortez in Bradenton, and I have to give a special shout-out to our server, Isabel, who was an absolute delight from the moment she arrived at our table. She was friendly, efficient, helpful, and somehow always one step ahead of us. Case in point: partway through dinner, my Diet Coke and water were about two-thirds gone and, without me even asking, fresh ones magically appeared. Now THAT is my kind of service! She also made sure we knew about their $10 take-home entrée special, because apparently Carrabba's understands that the only thing better than a good Italian dinner is having another one waiting in your refrigerator for tomorrow. We both ordered chicken dishes with pasta, and I'll admit, I rarely order chicken when I'm out. Nine times out of ten, restaurant chicken seems to arrive somewhere between "a little dry" and "could be used as building material." Well, Carrabba's proved me wrong! My dish featured chicken prepared three different ways, and every single one was tender, juicy, flavorful, and perfectly cooked. Not a hockey puck in sight! Are there fancier Italian restaurants? Absolutely. But when it comes to great food, terrific service, generous portions, and getting plenty of bang for your buck, Carrabba's is pretty darn hard to beat. And Isabel? Give that woman a gold star...and maybe a raise!

We called and made a reservation for six people at 7pm on a Friday night. Walked in and the place…read morewas empty. We were greeted by a server who said they were closed (we had called an hour before to confirm!). The gentleman said he would talk to the manager (??) and came back 30 seconds later with the same ruling. We were from out of town and hopefully dodged a bullet by going somewhere else but this was a horrible experience.

From Start to Finish it was Excellent! Bread and Salad Crisp, fresh and awesome Dressing. Chicken…read moreParm and Pasta so delicious. Service was fantastic and friendly. What a great Chef and Owners and Staff. This is a Treasure to have found.