Cafe Amici Downtown

We were supposed to eat at Caragiulos but they couldn’t accommodate us within 30 minutes, we decided to go to this restaurant. No mistake there, we were thrilled to have dined here than the other place. Everything that we experienced here from the entrance to the service to the food, was like heaven! Definitely would come back when we come back to Sarasota, which we come every year. I, of course ordered my favorite meal from the specials, linguini with lobster in red sauce. My dish was amazing, the plate was great, the lobster came out with the right color (yea, what other color that lobster would have btw?). I asked for spicy red sauce but wasn’t spicy enough but that’s ok, I think the server wanted to make sure I don’t get choked. My plate was pretty energized! Thank God the lobster didn’t escape from the plate. Hubby ordered veal dinner. It’s not a competition but my dish was more beautiful on a plate, be it horizontally or vertically. If you don’t believe me, look at the pictures! Nice selection of wine and nice selection of food. The server, Aundre? was an amazing server, alert and ready. I think he served VIP clientele before so serving us was like «peanuts» to him, super easy because we are easy people, no complain, no whining, no stress. The linguini didn’t come a lot, so I really enjoyed this type of pasta, not to contribute to obesity. Thanks to all! I encourage readers to try this restaurant while you’re in Sarasota. Highly Recommended!

We ate there last night, New Years Eve, so we’ll limit comments to that special night. It’s listed on Unilocal with $$ which I take as moderately priced; on NYE it certainly wasn’t. There iwas a very limited menu (no vegetarian options) with entrees priced between $ 24 and $ 39. Ok, its NYE, my bad for not checking.
The service was terrible and the food merely average. It took forever to even get bread on the table. We rarely saw our waitress. Trying to talk to the owner was like getting an audience with the Pope! We were told it was a special menu for NYE without substitutions because of the number of meals they were serving. After finally ordering, it took over 45 minutes to get our food. Whatt’s the point of a limited menu if it takes that long? Several dishes were tepid; how hard is it to get food out of the kitchen to the table while still hot? The meals did not come out together and they were pedestrian at best. In fact one meal never came out at all. When our waitress admitted her mistake in not placing the order for the missing dish (kudos to her for honesty) we said to forget about bringing it. Less then 30 seconds later the owner shows up at the table with the missing meal. Really? Talk about padding the bill; I might have been born at night but not last night.
As I said it was NYE and things are different. But this place did nothing to warrant a return trip. The best part of the restaurant were the attentive bus boys. There are plenty of other good restaurants in downtown Sarasota that appreciate the business.

This is an overpriced disappointment! Had the cesar salad ($ 7) and fried calamari ($ 10). The fried calamari came with about 6 – 8 pieces total and was definitely under cooked. The Facebook event on tuesday ¹²⁄₂₉ said there was going to be $ 5 appetizers and drinks… we came on this date and the menu containing the $ 5 appetizer was in the menu and when i asked the waiter… he said that menu was not supposed to be for today. We got charged $ 10 each for two Moscow mules ($ 20 total). What a liar! What a mickey mouse Italian restaurant!

Great restaurant, my wife and I shared several dishes starting with the kale salad and then had a pasta with seafood which we split both of these were excellent We both had veal palm dinners which was tender and excellent

Generally good food but service was lacking. Too many other good options downtown so doubt I’d be back.

Recommendation to the owner: Placing the lights above the ceiling fan creates the «flickering light» effect. Not sure if anyone complained yet but I felt as if I was at a rave and it gave me a mild headache. Please consider placing the lights elsewhere so the ceiling fans do not interfere with them.
I’ve eaten at Café Amici twice. Satisfied with food both times. $ 9 appetizer is too small for my liking but entrees are great. Also they seem to have the «special» mozzarella every night ;) Don’t fall for it and pay extra $.

Oh what a relief! I finally found the Italians in Florida! And of course the food was amazing. My husband and I arrived early, about 5:00. We were the first ones there but we got the best table. Our waitress was friendly and promptly brought over some bread that I swear was a gift from the heavens. They have an impressive wine list. We both had a salad and the beef rollatini, a special from the area where the owners lived. The pasta was perfect. So fresh. I’ve had so much bad pasta that when I took a bite I was transported back to my grandma’s kitchen. The beef was tender and flavorful. We had a coupon for $ 10 off $ 40 and we had no problems with them accepting it. We will definitely be back. I would say the prices are slightly higher than a normal casual dinner night for us but this place is worth it! We will definitely be back.

Do not go here unless you enjoy being treated like a second class citizen. The manager /​owner treated us like crap because we had a discount card and would not honor the ½ price apps like stated on the website. He wanted us to take it up with the card issuer and didn’t even know what his responsibility way. But yet he has the gall to sit there and get in our face.

Being generous with the 3 stars, would really rate it at a 2.5. We had a large party and the wait staff was nice, but it took way too long to get bread served at our table. The place was small but there weren’t many patrons there so I didn’t feel crowded. The food was mixed. I had the penne pasta with mushrooms and a pink sauce which was good, however I also had the veal scaloppini and it was below average in taste and size. Very dissapointing.

The owner is marvelous — he sent over lemon cello for our girls night out/​trip to Sarasota. It was a birthday celebration and he made my night with a gift upon leaving. Our dinners were very good.

We try to dine here when we visit Sarasota. It is a comfortable café with an old-​style Italian spirit. The food is created on the premises (pasta, mozzarella, sausage, etc.) and is consistently good.

My boyfriend and I dined here on a Saturday night. The restaurant was busy but we didn’t have to wait for a table. Our server was very friendly and attentive. We ordered the Mozzarella and Prosciutto to share. That night they were serving a higher quality mozzarella than what’s on their normal menu. The cheese was very creamy and melted in your mouth. For our entrées we ordered the Scaloppina Di Vitello Amici and Bombette Al Rosmarino. The veal was cooked beautifully and both dishes tasted great. We will definitely go back to try other items on their menu.

Really friendly, knowledgeable staff, and great «comfort» Italian food with a fancy twist. I ordered the Osso Buco, which was very tasty, and my dinner-​mates ordered pasta bolognese (pretty good, but a little too tomato-​y for my taste), and the pasta braciole, which was very delicious– I almost wished I had ordered that instead. The portions are definitely generous, and the staff was very accommodating and kind.

We personally know the owners and have yet to have a bad experience. They offer great food at a great price. Their wine list is large and excellent.
You need to know, if your in a hurry, this isn’t the place to go. The owners are from Italy and if you know anything about Italy and their culture, you can expect the food to come out slower than most. The food is well worth the wait!

So far the best Italian I have found in Sarasota. Pasta is all homemade, same for sauces and the menu offers plenty of well prepared, classic dishes. Try the beef Carpaccio, Lasagna and Osso Bucco. Wine list is small with attention paid to the better known regions, but fairly well selected and priced. Service is a bit abrupt but attentive and very knowledgeable of the dishes

Not a «mom and pop» Italian place… Café Amici takes the time for home made pastas. Home made everything, in fact.
We had the Mozzarella and Prosciutto appetizer. House made mozzarella slices layered with fresh tomato, fresh basil and thin prosciutto. Perfect!
Each of us had a fettuccine dish as well. The sauces were nothing short of perfect and the fresh, homemade, oversized noodles were delightful.
Too bad we were too full for dessert. I guess we simply must come back.

This place was surprisingly delicious. I had never heard of it before, and thought I knew all of the great Italian restaurants in town already since I’m Italian myself, but this place was delicious. Also good bang for your buck, but I used a groupon so my view is a little skewed. One trick though. When they tell you the specials, they don’t tell you the price. I made the mistake of getting the most delicious sounding special, and ended up getting a $ 30 dish. My own fault really, but still. Just ask for prices when they tell you about the specials.

A really amazing little slice of Italy tucked away on Main Street. We had never been before, and had a fantastic time. The staff were very attentive and friendly, and felt very authentic. The food was even better. I had the ravioli with mushrooms and my boyfriend got fettuccine with veal, and both were to die for. It was just a warm and welcoming little place with a lot of flavor. The pasta was all handmade as well. Had a great time, can’t wait to go again.

It might deserve better based on the food, but I have to tell you that a business that does not honor the deals it creates doesn’t really deserve your business.
Girlfriend and I came on Saturday night. As is usually the case, the place was not busy. My girlfriend and I frequently commented whenever we were downtown how we never seemed to see anyone in here.
So what am I talking about in my first sentence? Girlfriend and I both checked in, and when you check in on Unilocal,you’re supposed to get a free glass of chianti. When we showed it to the server, she stumbled over an explanation as to why she couldn’t give it to us. She said that the owner didn’t know about it, and then implied it wasn’t what he agreed to, and the owner was working on changing the deal or canceling it or something as of Tuesday when the business offices of Unilocal reopened (it was labor day weekend).
Can I call bullsh*t? Are we to believe that Unilocal just fashioned this check in deal out of no where without confirming it with the business? And if that were even true, the second you found out about it, wouldn’t you put a notice on your door or something to let people know before they sat down? And if you were changing it or canceling it, shouldn’t you honor the deal until then, lest you lose customers?
The only reason I think we stayed was because we had a groupon (hey, tell me that you couldn’t accept both deals — the groupon and the check-​in — together, and I would have believed that).
I don’t recall what my girlfriend got, but I got Gnocchi Con Gamberi E Granchio (Dumpling potato, sautéed shrimp with crab meat in wine, oil, garlic, and chopped tomatoes). It was good. As I said, I probably would have given this at least 3 stars if not for the BS runaround on the check-​in deal.
The service was otherwise good, so all in all, this is probably a 3 star restaurant. That Unilocal thing though really rubbed us the wrong way.

Wow, what a great little restaurant.
It’s a small restaurant with a good amount of tables, and an extra room they would open for large parties or events.
The service was fantastic. There are a couple waitresses/​waiters on, and our waitress, Chrissy, stopped over several times to see how things were going, or refill a wine glass. She was helpful, and let us take our time making a menu decision, and offered suggestions or input on some of the dishes. The red wine was served slightly chilled which makes it much more enjoyable in the summertime (or near summertime in FLA).
One of the owners stopped by our table to ask about whether we enjoyed our meal, and I noticed he stopped by all other tables as well.
I had a veal dish which was fantastic. Veal was tender, and the dish was very tasty. Veal is my favorite meal, and am a tough judge of it; I would definitely eat here again. I would reluctantly try another dish as every one at our table was happy with his or her meal — however, it will be difficult to not have that veal dish again.
And, I will ask to sit in Chrissy’s section if she is working that day.
I recommend, if you like and appreciate italian food, you stop in one day or evening.