Savarino’s Cucina

Stopped in for a lunch panino – it looked dark and uninviting, maybe even closed, and when I walked in, the place was dead. But the service was fast and that sandwich was legit. I say that having just been to Italy six months ago. Highly recommend the Joe Pagetta – fantastic.

What a disappointment.
I’m thinking if the Mr. Savarino (founder) walked in unexpectedly, they’d be highly upset. I’m pretty sure the children of the owners (whose names are proudly listed on the menu) were there running the show when my husband and I stopped in for dinner. The interior is half way finished; the tile is falling off the walls and there is a huge unfinished ceiling patch right above when you walk in the restaurant. The place was empty except for one table and it was painfully silent except for quiet noise coming from 1 of 2 tvs. We were not greeted when we walked in and the guy who was suppose to be the «host» walked right by us without saying a word. After an awkward 3 minutes of just standing there, we grabbed menus and sat ourselves. Once we sat down we realized that this would be an awkward dinner. My husband turned on some light instrumental music on his phone, to cut the awkward silence of the place. Unfortunately our dinner was interrupted the entire time due to the host and the server yelling to each other from across the restaurant and the host watching a video on his phone that we had to listen to throughout our entire dinner. We started our meal with an upsetting «coke in a can»…come on, you have a full bar. Then we were served $ 5 Caesar salads that were a small handful of lettuce large, doused in waaaaay too much dressing. The 8″ cheese pizza was the highlight of my night, thank goodness it was perfectly crispy from the brick oven. For an entrée my husband got the Manicotti and I got the Chicken Parmesan. The Chicken was almost as big as the plate swimming in sauce with about 12 penne noodles (yes I could count them)…both entrees were just ok. By the end of our meal there were now 4 tables, the server clearly could have used some help clearing tables, refilling drinks, passing out checks, but there was the guy at the host stand… sitting on his butt watching his video for all to hear. Maybe he could have cleaned the disgusting bathroom too if he had the time… bless our server, she was so sweet and doing the best she could. If I knew that my name was on a menu where a national tv show had come to film, and wanted to make my momma and poppa proud, I’d make sure my customers were my #1 priority. I feel bad for Mr. Savarino who probably worked his butt off opening this restaurant that is now being ruined not because of the food really, but because of the atmosphere, and a lazy host.

The best Italian food in all of Nashville hands down. It’s very authentic and unique.
The pasta will blow your mind! The wait can be a little slow but sit back and enjoy your time and live like an italian. I love drinking limoncello with my meal and their cocktail list just improved 100%

I popped in on a Monday night about 7pm. Place was empty. Only worker was at the bar. He sauntered over to give me a menu and seat me. 7 – 8 minutes later he took my order. Not until the food arrived did I get any silverware or my drink. He never returned again. A couple had come in but he barely acknowledged them after filling their drink order. 10 minutes
after I was done I walked up to the register and he finally appeared. I left no tip. Sausages and pepper pasta was something akin to what I would expect in a New York hole in the wall.
Never again!

This restaurant is absolutely horrendous. None of the staff knew anything about the menu. Service was slow and incompetent. I got dirty silverware and they acted inconvenienced when I asked for clean ones. The food tasted fine but wasn’t great. I will not be back… ever. Money and time wasted.

Here’s the rest:
The fries were nice… fine, not spectacular, but not bad.
The eggplant appetizer two GI’s were sharing indeed looked appetizing but, no matter how hungry YOU are, you don’t steal appetizers from hungry GI’s.
Then again, if you’re gazing in an eatery’s window and drooling, that’s one thing. If you’re eating and gazing at someone else’s meal, that’s another, even if you’re a Cratchit.
In retrospect:
If you’re used to those big, dripping, Chicago-​style Italian sandwiches, or those «Hill» meats that are made and sliced up on the premises, or the insanity that is Little Italy (most of them I’ve visited, anyway), in which everywhere you turn, you smell or run into something else delicious and «Italian,» then you’ll either (a) be sorely disappointed or (b) prove it really doesn’t matter what you eat or where, because your taste buds and eyes can’t discern the difference.
If you’re not, then this place will do, particularly if you’re in the area and hungry, and don’t want to go home and cook, jump in the car and drive that much more, stay and see what’s left of Provence’s formerly vast offerings, settle for cookies and java at Fido’s, or resort to the identical menus of various and sundry area fern and sports bars.
Incidentally, for those who think their gelato is crusted with ice, just ask. Today, those were all ICES and they were out of gelato. (In retrospect, I should have gotten the lemon ice. I’m just leery of the sugar.)
Regardless, I hope to go back to try the Arancini and/​or Calimari and, as always, to nab some cookies. Hopefully, some remotely yellowish pignoli.
And I’ll probably try that Italian Sausage/​Broccoli Rabe sandwich… so, yes, they’re getting another chance to, well, WHELM.
After that, it’ll be Provence Pâtés or Popcorn de Belcourt, all the way.
BTW, how can people who admit the service and waiting times are horrendous still give 4– and 5-​star ratings? It’s all part of the score. One good sandwich or meatball does not a 5-​star make.

The pizza and the restaurant had several issues. They got the crust right, which is the hardest part of the pizza to get right in my opinion. It is the foundation of any pizza. It was light, crispy and thin. Then they messed up the rest of it. They didn’t put enough cheese on it. They’re trying to be fancy and put little circles of mozzarella on it but the mozzarella isn’t high quality enough to justify putting that small amount of cheese on it. The lack of cheese then threw off the rest of the pizza. The pizza needed the salt from the mozzarella to balance it out and i had to doctor it with salt and garlic powder to make it taste decent. The rice ball was tasty and it with the good crust were the highlights of the meal. Another disappointment was they’re facebook page is covered with photos of delicious looking pastries and i get there and they don’t have any. I was told they don’t really make pastries in the summer because it gets too hot. That doesn’t make any sense at all. Bakeries would be closed half the year, get some a/​c. The other really bad thing was they were remodeling a wall right next to us and the loud banging and drilling was very annoying. You don’t have to do that during business hours and disturb your customers.

The food here is pretty good but the service is definitely not, unfortunately. It used to be so amazing when you used to order at the cash register but now it’s gone way downhill. I hate that the service is so bad because I think the food is really fantastic. I’m sad to say but I will not be returning here due to the repeatedly bad service.

This place is delicious! My family and I originally went to Savarino’s Cucina for the pastries. We were sad to find out that they had a very limited selection (only two different pastries). We decided to stay nonetheless and try their lunch menu. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. My mom tried the eggplant over penne which was great! My sister and I tried their sandwiches. Mine was Joe Pagetta and my sister had the Rose Palermo. Definitely must try!

We love this place. It’s truly family run and I love their unapologetic attitude. We’ve gone here for years. Long before the Triple D feature. They’ve never changed. Their sausage and peppers sandwich is to die for. We wait a long time for food it’s true but we come to hang and that’s fine with us. Come for the food and the true Italian feel! My husband is Italian and he adores it. Always wants to come back.

Unbelievable food, best Italian that I’ve had in a long time. Don’t come here if you’re in a hurry b/​c all of the food is made from scratch. If you’re in the mood for a sandwich I recommend the Stevie B, it’s da bomb!
No frills place so don’t expect to be cuddled:)

Stopped here traveling through Nashville because of the tv show Diners, Drive-it’s and Dives. Guy let us down on this one.
The sandwiches were okay, a little lacking in flavor. There was not a kids menu so we had the kids split a plate of spaghetti which was plenty of food. It was an okay sauce.
We were a bit shocked when we got the bill. For only 3 meals they were on the pricey side.
We agree with the overall 3 star rating that the restaurant had when we went.

This was a terrible experience all around. We ordered a supreme pizza and a house salad. The salad was made with really dry celery and carrots with vinegar as a dressing. The pizza was absolutely horrendous. The crust was so flavorless it might as well have been made on cardboard, the sauce tastes like a ragu-​ketchup blend, and the toppings all tasted like they came straight from a can. Not to mention, the pizza came with such little cheese the toppings all slid right off. You can make a better pizza yourself at home. I would also like to mention that the restaurant itself had a horrible smell that I never got over throughout the entire meal.

Visited this place today (a little after noon) and was expecting maybe waiter service… nope. Counter service. Place was empty except for some ladies sitting in the corner. Definitely did not have an Italian/​pizzeria feel to it;especially with the interior décor. Not a wide selection on the menu and the menu had no appeal or personality to it. Just plain black and white laminated paper. Order the stuffed shells (stuffed with ricotta). Got my entrée in reasonable time, presentation of the food was boring, kinda sloppy, and my shells was swimming in a plate full of spaghetti sauce which by the way was NOT good. It would have been much better to pour a little of the sauce over the shells instead of sitting them in the sauce to drown, and maybe a parsley sprig on the side would have been nice. Maybe add some basil to the side. And the sauce could have been a little thicker. The stuffed shells were ok. Overall… I wasn’t entirely impressed.

Pretty sad about this place. Been here a few times and loved it but this my most recent visit might be my last. It’s like they don’t even care or try anymore. My wife’s sandwich was decent but more average than anything else. I came here to get the fresh made pasta and was told that they don’t do it during the summer. Wtf?!
Honestly that just soured the experience and the fact that the kid acted like he didn’t care about his job. The food was in warming stations and looked nasty. I have many years of kitchen experience and if you decide to go this route, you should at least not have it visible.
This last experience makes me sad about this place. After Triple D they had good momentum but looks as though they lost their fastball.
On to the next

Went to Savarino’s for the first time last week — I had the Ed Pontieri sandwich (mortadella, sopressata, cappicolla, provolone, lettuce, tomato, bomba calabrese) and my father had the Mollini sandwich (chicken, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella roasted peppers.) Both were excellent and arrived within 15 minutes. The staff was friendly and my father liked the fact that they had his favorite Sicilian red wine. I really liked the bread the sandwiches were made with, the fresh greens served on top and the bomba calabrese (a spicy sauce that was basted below the cold cuts.)
So fast forward to this week — we were in the mood for more Savarinos, we got there at 7:50 pm and the owner turned us away at the door, saying that they closed at 8. So when is 7:50 the same as 8 o’clock and besides that what self-​respecting owner would close their restaurant at 8 pm? So subtract one star for apathy, three star restaurant.
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I’d like to edit this review somewhat because I forgot some important details. On the original trip we went in and were somewhat confused by the seating and ordering process. Fortunately there were some diners that noted our confusion and told us that more items were on the actual menu (as opposed to the sign.) They also told us where to place our order.
Next to the ordering spot was the «bar» — it seemed to be fully stocked with Italian wines and liquors but lacked seating (so was it really a bar?) The dessert station was underwhelming — the cooler was empty and the gelato tins were 75% empty. I also noticed a lot of dirty tables when we came in — the owner and another employee came out and bussed the tables. But the original impression was less than stellar. Fortunately the food turned out to be above average. Consequently I’m revising the rating to two stars.

Continuing on my trail of the best 25 sandwiches in Nashville per «TheCityPaper», I ordered the Frank Dileo sandwich. Long story short — I have lost all faith in whoever wrote this article and picked this sandwich. Even had I liked the green «mess» in the sandwich, it certainly would not have warranted the price.
First, the good — the bread was deliciously seasoned and the bratwurst prepared well; albeit, just a boring bratwurst that was prepared properly. And had they only stopped there and charged $ 3 like at every good Wisconsin brat fry, I’d be in heaven…
The bad — everything else. This sandwich comes topped with «garlicky broccoli rabe» … allegedly. Try: it comes with green steamed (maybe?) mush tasting similar to that of expired lettuce that’s been in your fridge too long. It was honestly disgusting — a clump of green nasty. Further, the cashier after handling our money turned around, bagged take away food, and with his dirty hands grabbed a loaf of bread and just put it in the customer’s bag. Then proceeded to take the next person’s order. No thank you. Oh, and did I mention that it cost $ 9.95? Ridiculous.
And I guess as a final piece of straw, the place has many TVs, but there were all turned to one of those MadMoney channels. Seemed pretty odd considering the time, clientele, and neighborhood. I will certainly not be returning here.
No, I do not think I’ll be visiting any more sandwiches on this list — they have striked out far too many times and it was obviously written by a bunch of hipsters who lack both taste buds and a rational idea of how much lunch should cost.

I will never ever go back here. We were visiting Nashville and wanted to try lots of local gems, things recommended on TV, etc. I was really craving Italian one of the nights and found Savarino’s on Guy Fieri’s list of Tennessee dives he’s visited. The place had decent reviews on Unilocal and Guy had gone so it had to be good right?
We arrived on a Saturday night around 6:30. There were four tables occupied outside and one occupied inside. When we went inside to the hostess, she looked at us like she was so surprised to see us. She didn’t say hi, she just said that they were backed up and it’d be a 25 minute wait. Already annoyed by the welcome we received, we took a couple of menus and sat down. Then my boyfriend pointed out that we were supposed to order at the counter, that no one would take our order. It wasn’t busy in there and I was annoyed that there was a wait but I said, HEY I’ll go up and put this order in and when they’re not «backed up» they can make our food … also I heard the Cannolis were good.
She took our order and brought out our drinks and my cannoli. It was decent. Nothing to write home about. When the food came, my eggplant parm was swimming in grease and sauce. The texture was decent but holy cow was it salty. I ate it because I was starving and my boyfriend’s meat lasagna was lackluster as well.
We sat for another twenty minutes with empty plates on our tables waiting for someone to clear them and give us a check. The servers walked by ten times, went and sat at a table and chit chatted with their friends before my boyfriend asked for the check. We paid and left. Wasted an hour and a half for nothing.
NOT WORTH IT. Terrible service. Garbage food. Set up was annoying. Don’t do it.

I sure do love Nashville but there have certainly been times when I have missed the familiar scent of cannolis, red sauce, and chianti from my hometown St. Louis’s «The Hill» neighborhood.
Growing up a «good ½ Sicilian girl,» I was spoiled by the rich aromas and fulfilling meals that the Italian cooks would lovingly serve. I have not been able to fill that void until I finally smartened up and strutted myself into Savarino’s last weekend. I don’t know why it took me so long…
My friend Carla A (another spunky Sicilian broad) literally checks in to Savarino’s every Friday so you would have thought that have jumped on the «Clue Train» a long time ago. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a member of the Savarino family who recognized me as Carla’s «vegan» friend and offered up some tasty suggestions including the Chickpea Soup (you must try it!) and tweaked a vegetable pasta recipe for me to include the red sauce that I love so much. I couldn’t have been happier and my clean plate verified that! Some of my fellow diners noshed on pizza, eggplant parm, and other pasta dishes while I was already curious to try a sandwich for an upcoming lunch.
I also loved that I was able to bring in my own bottle of vino that we guzzled while we played UNO with the Savarino family for hours… literally one of the best times that I have had in a long time. Everyone was so full of personality and customer service. I let them know that my goal was to become a regular so that they would name a vegan sandwich after me since some of the other regulars are bestowed this honor.
They were busy with carryout business throughout the night while talks of Bocce Ball tournaments had me counting down until warm weather descends upon us.
I know I won’t ever be homesick now that I have discovered Savarinos!
TIP: If you’re craving dessert, you must stop by the bakery counter here. GOOD LAWD, everything looks incredible. I am also attempting to negotiate a vegan cannoli too… wish me luck!
Unilocal365#8

The food here is delicious, difficult to find parking. The service is slow, slow, slow. We got here at 6pm on a Wednesday evening, we were the 2^nd ones to place our orders. It took 10 minutes for the appetizers to come and 40 minutes for our sandwiches to arrive. Tasty sandwich but a 40 minute wait? come on! I would have gave it 5 stars if it wasnt for the long wait and the unhappy, motionless service staff. They moved in slow motion. They seemed genuinely unhappy and uninterested that you came into the establishment. You guys have to step it up!