Sabatino's Italian Restaurant

07/26/2008 Posted by joeby

The Bookmaker salad is gross. The dressing is gritty. Plenty of other reviews have stated the same thing. There is sand in this dressing........period. The entree's are typical low class Jersey garbage. This is not Italian food at all. You are better off picking a fronzen dinner at Safeway than this pablum. Had the food be flavorless I would have given it two stars. Since it tasted like sweaty feet I gave it one. Although, I am frustrated with paying $40 to eat freshmen year dining hall food, the most amazing part of the night was walking through the restaurant to get to the bathroom and seeing every single table packed. For the love of God, do not eat here. Go to Cafe Troia in Towson for the real deal.

Pros: Decent service.

Cons: Gross, overpriced food.

07/22/2008 Posted by danloc78

Only reason it gets a star is for the friendly service. And even then, our server disappeared for about 20 minutes while we waited to exchange our salad, which was drenched in a house dressing that had an overly sandy texture to it. Friend selected balsamic vinaigrette as a replacement dressing...what we received was neither balsamic, nor vinaigrette. Next we were served eight dollar 'fried mozzarella', which were clearly frozen mozzarella sticks. My friend had the veal scallopini, which looked and tasted more like a hungry man dinner than an italian specialty. I actually did enjoy my entree, which was the tortellini with tortellini sauce. But overall, less than authentic, and just poor food, especially for the price.

Pros: the tortellini with tortellini sauce, although oddly titled, was delicious; service

Cons: overall quality of the food; ambience; pricey

07/20/2008 Posted by abigale3

I'm not sure many people know about the inner working of this place. Being a former employee, well, I can tell you some stories. MInd you, I am not disgruntled and therefore am not writing this in anger but I just think the public should know what it's putting into it's mouth!! In my 3 years employed there, I witnessed cooks smoking cigarettes WHILE cooking your food (some of the ashes not exactly making it int the ashtray if you know what I mean...), big sweaty cooks digging into the pots of pasta with their big sweaty hands and a cigarette in their mouths. It was the most dirtiest disgusting place I've ever worked at. The thing that really surprised me though? The night that the new bussboy threw away the bowl of cheese dressing that a customer had requested to dip their bread into. Vince Sabatino himself rushed into the kitchen and basically reamed him out in front of the entire kitchen for dumping it out, saying that it could have been reused!!! So against health code violations!!! Germanos is pretty filthy too but no where NEAR as bad as Sabs. Watch yourself folks and remember, big portions = good, cigarette ashes in your pasta primavera= hideous

Pros: VALET PARKING ALTHOUGH NOT FREE

Cons: VERY FILTHY

06/21/2008 Posted by SilverSpringFoodie

From the grease ladened calamari to the bland ravioli, this meal was forgettable. The dressing, which they rave over, was gritty and almost made me gag. I would not recommend this place. In fairness, I must say, the wait service was friendly.

05/06/2007 Posted by westernfb

I went to Sab's a couple of nights ago. It had been about 23 years since I had eaten there. I remembered how wonderful the Bookmaker salad was and how I had to scrape up just enough money to afford that and a couple of drinks. I always vowed that I would go back when I could afford a full-blown dining experience. Finally, I did so, two days ago on a vist to Little Italy. The Bookmaker salad was disappointing. To be specific, it was the dressing, perhaps the centerpiece of the salad, that was disappointing. The ingredients were so gritty that it felt as though the cheese had been replace with sand. It was nasty. As for the main course, a meat ravioli "Al Gus," there were six small ravioli in a sauce that tasted like a bland chicken stock with a few slices of pepper and olive thrown in. The meat filling was also bland. I was stunned, given my memory and reviews I have read. I've had better Italian dining experiences at chain restaurants. Perhaps it was just a bad day for Sab's, but I don't plan on going back. Amicci's, nearby, is a much better bet for the money, as is Italian Gardens, up in Towson. Such a pity it was to have to experience the decline of one of the stars in my memory.

01/27/2007 Posted by tonibac

My husband and I were out downtown with another couple and we had an GREAT experience at Sabatino's last night. It was a busy Friday night, but we were seated within minutes, even without a reservation. We were greeted warmly at the door when we arrived by a smiling host who seemed genuinely friendly. We were seated on the 2nd floor in a cozy little room with lace curtained windows. Our server was quick to get us started with drinks and a rundown of specials. She was friendly and knowledgable about the menu and quick to suggest her personal favorites. We started with a Bookmaker Salad - just 1 for the 4 of us to share - which was HUGE and AMAZING and enough for us all to share. We skipped appetizers - just not hungry enough to eat that many courses. We all ordered different entrees so we could pass them around the table. We tried the Veal Francese a la Sabatino, Baked Rigatoni, Chicken Lynn and Shrimp Renato. All 4 entrees were delicious! My personal favorite was the Shrimp Renato. It smelled so amazing when our server brought it to the table that my mouth was watering!!! It tasted even better! We ordered 2 desserts (cannoli and tiramisu) and 4 forks, and they were delicious, as well. The service was great and our check at the end was surprisingly reasonable, especially given the amount of food we were served. The same friendly guy was still at the front door when we left and he chatted with us while we waited for the valet to bring our car around. Again, he was personable and really quite witty. You could really tell that he was happy to be there, that he loved what he was doing, and that he truly cared about our comments. I can't believe I've lived so close to Sabatino's all my life and have never been there before. I will definitely go back soon!

Pros: great food, big portions, inexpensive, friendly service

08/29/2006 Posted by sedeplacer

Didn't think I could go wrong with a 9 rating but this was possibly the worst meal I've had in a long time. I had the fruti de mare with white sauce. I live in central (land locked) Texas and we have better seafood at chain restaurants. I've been to Italy and, there, the meal is an entire evening's entertainment. We received our appetizer before we had even ordered wine. The salad plate was picked up at the same time the entry was delivered. If you are looking for authentic Italian, this is not the place. If the seafood can't be as good as as a chain restaurant, then take it off the menu. If you can't let diner's dine leisurely, then call it a fast food joint. They couldn't even successfully call us a cab.

06/05/2006 Posted by bmorelove

"This might be the best Fettuccine Alfredo I've ever had," said one of the ten people in my party last night. We were seated promptly and every dish came out at the perfect time, quick and great! I signed up for this citysearch account just to write a review for Sabatino's. Before going, I read some of the other reviews about Sabatino's and didn't believe the negativity. They were wrong, plain and simple. I had the Veal Saltimbocca, which was great. My girlfriend and I shared the famous Bookmaker Salad, which was also terrific. The desserts were intense and delicious. In summary, I recommend Sabatino's for anyone, particularly for groups. Good stuff!

Pros: Great food, Great service, Friendly, fast

01/18/2006 Posted by ambmore

What a disappointment!!! I have gone to Sabs since childhood. I have never been so dissappointed. I read the comments on this site before going & didnt believe the bad press. Upon arriveing Louis sat us, just like the old days. After that NOTHING was like before...our bread was cold, our waiter was clumbsy & not attentive, my wine sauce tasted like dishwater,my dates sauce was like day old paste, our check was put on the table 5 mins after the food was & another waitress(who looked like she was on something)kept bumping into us & our table causing our drinks to spill. The only thing that was good was the bookmaker salad which has shrunk in the last 5 years. WHAT HAPPENED TO SABS???

Pros: bookmaker, latehours, house dressing

Cons: HORRIBLE FOOD, outdated setting, HORRIBLE service

06/21/2004 Posted by 1290259

Sab's is one of my all time favorite places to eat. I'm comfortable here with my family, with friends, or just with a date. The Bookmaker Salad is something everyone should experience - it's Great!!! Suggestions?!?!? Try the Veal Saltimbocca (sp?!?! - not sure about the spelling on that one!!!), Shrimp Renato, Chicken Lynn, any kind of pasta with Veal Sauce. Don't forget the garlic bread and save room for dessert!!!! Oh, and the people are really nice here, too. Friendly servers and the guy at the front door always remembers me, even when I don't come in for a few months. I like the way I'm treated here.

Pros: good food, big entrees, friendly people