Vaccaro’s Trattoria

One of my favorite restaurants. The veal falls under the «one of the best entrees I’ve ever had» category. Seasoned perfectly, awesome texture contrast, and out this world flavor. Fresh donuts and house made Irish cream is incredibly delicious. On top of all that, Raph is an outstanding host. There is nothing even remotely sub par on the beer and wine list, you can’t go wrong.

Vaccaro’s food is on point Italian. Timeless recipes done perfectly. Fresh and made in house. Live in AKRON, have traveled all over. Best I found. Raphael is having fun and making it happen.

Holy HOMEMADE pasta! I am in love!!! Cannot wait to go back! Gotta try pasta and red sauce, and little «pillowy» heavenly gnocchis! Can’t wait to go back! From a meatball amuse bouche starter to the Nutella molten cake, amazing meal. Thank you Vacarros!

Do you want an Italian dining experience that perfectly pairs the best Italian wine with southern Italian food? Raphael (the owner-​delightful man) is AMAZING. He helped my husband plan a 25^th anniversary dinner I will never forget. He planned a five course, five flight dinner for us. Each course was a culinary surprise. We didn’t even look at a menu. It was an amazing experience. Perfect for a special occasion without the special occasion sticker shock. Cozy atmosphere friendly wait staff. We’ll be back.

This is our favorite restaurant in Akron. Restaurant is small quiet and intimate. The service is superb with knowledgeable and professional servers. Generally Raphael the owner is there to greet you and talk with you. The specialties are gourmet and can be expensive. Recently the extensive menu has been shortened with more Italian dishes offered. The extensive wine list has also been shortened but rarely is there other than high quality wines on the list. This is the place to go for special occasions or an evening meal that is always much more than satisfactory. When we eat at Vacarros we feel like we’re in the big city.

Celebrating a very special day, my husband made reservations for a Monday evening, aka retail wine night. The owner talked to us about the wine we chose & a bit of his family’s business history. A nice way to get to know your local business. So, as far as dinner, we started with the mussels & chorizo but the treat was the left over sauce. It was perfect to dip your bread into. :) We continued by splitting a candied nut green salad and our entrees. He had the pork carbonara while I had the salmon. Each dish was prepared beautifully. As you can imagine, we were plenty full so unfortunately, no dessert for us. Next time definitely.

My wife and I had dinner here. We split Bruschetta Crudite and a lovely Winter Caprese salad (with roasted tomatoes). I have the veal scallopine; it was nice, the veal was very tender, but it needed a little something. My wife had the angel hair puttanesca and she really liked it. We each had a scoop of very good gelato for dessert and I had a glass of wine. $ 81 total, a little pricey for a neighborhood place. Our waitress was great.
I wouldn’t say «fantastic», but a solid very good.

Vaccaro’s Trattoria is by far our favorite restaurant in Akron. We are never disappointed. Last night I ordered the winter caprese salad and the homemade spinach linguini. Both dishes were delicious. The service was prompt. Our waitress Amy, paid attention to every detail. We have frequently eaten at this restaurant over the past few years and the owner is nearly always there making sure we have a good experience. I highly recommend this restaurant.

After hiking with my in-​laws we had a rare treat – babysitting on a Saturday night. We weren’t dressed appropriately, but had a chance at an impromptu date. The staff were exceedingly gracious even though we looked more like Sherpas than foodies.
Our dinner was lovely, every detail perfectly attended to. We’ll be back, but next time I promise we won’t be in our hiking togs.

Gave them another shot, after almost 9 years, tonight because my daughter requested spaghetti and meatballs. The food is mediocre at best, and far over priced for the quality. Wine by the glass selection is good. The service is sloooooow. Monday night, only 2 other tables seated and it took more than a hour for spaghetti and meatballs, veal parm, and lasagna. Speaking of service, one of the servers (not ours thankfully) was offensive in the way he spoke to other patrons. He actually told a vegetarian who didn’t eat dairy that he should have chosen a different restaurant!

Ok my food wasn’t good and I got the chicken parm (pretty hard to screw up in my book)… And chicken parm is one of my favorite Italian dishes. Honestly the chicken was fine but the spaghetti it was served on was pretty bad. The appetizers and desserts were GREAT, however. My friends very much enjoyed their dishes though– so, just stay away from the parm.

News flash,
Do you crave good fast food for lunch? Try the call ahead option. Talked to Kelly to let her know I would be there in 10 minutes with not much time to spare. I selected from their lunch menu on the website — Great Deals!!! and viola!!! There was my food right after getting settled. I appreciate the good service as well.
Listen up everyone — try it, you’ll like it.

Overall, not too bad. I got the lobster pasta and didn’t really care for it; however, my girlfriend got the same thing and enjoyed it. The environment was a little off, I felt like the place was stuck a little bit between being a fine dining establishment and a laid back place. I’d go again, but get something other than the lobster pasta.

My friends and I were there for a close friend’s birthday party last night. My pork-​chop was overdone which could happen anywhere so I returned it for another meal. Then Chef Dick came to our table screaming about the pork chop being fine. I mean ranting and raving. What was a lovely evening was ruined by an out of control chef. The server, who was great, came over and apologized for him. She also paid for my meal. Never would I step one foot in that restaurant again.

My wife and I had an anniversary dinner there recently. It’s busy on a Friday night.
I had the double-​bone pork chop, which was a very big portion. Be aware that it will be very pink in the middle. I don’t have a problem with this but FYI. It was tasty.
My wife had a salmon entrée that she liked.
Service was very good.
I was surprised that the coffee (decaf) wasn’t very good but everything else was fine.

Came in town and brought a large group of clients out to dinner. We had the side room all to ourselves (weekday night).
Service was top notch… true elite level dinning service
Appetizers were awesome. Had stuffed peppers, calamari, cheese plate (maybe some other things…) and they were all consumed quickly
The entrée’s were incredible, every person at the table was talking about how good their plate was. I got the beef cheek which I had never had before and it was delicious. It came with a style of gnocchi I didnt even know existed (almost like a breaded square).
Wine selection was great. I personally was drinking old fashions and they were made perfectly.
Overall great experience and Im actually making my next travel plans to Akron around staying an extra night so I can come back.

My husband and I (early 30s) have probably passed Vaccaros more than a few times before finally trying it last night. It was the creative Italian food we’ve been missing all this time!
We had the chef cheese plate which came with a lot of variety. Olives, grapes, bread and pairing sauces were all included. Amazing presentation as well! Drinks were outstanding. They had a great wine list and the owner talked to us about which wines he likes, knowing so much about all of them. We ordered cocktails and they were so creative! Try the «new old fashioned» if you like spicy. One of the best drinks we’ve ever had! And we’ve sampled a lot.
Our entrees were delicious as well. My husband had the lobster ravioli and couldn’t believe how good it was. He said top 3 – 4 meals he’s ever eaten. And keep in mind I pressured him to try vaccaros (he’s not a big Italian fan) so this was a HUGE compliment! He came around very quickly. I had the lasagna al carne and it was amazing too.
Service was wonderful. We spoke with the owner and he’s just like talking with a friend you’ve known for a long time. We even met chef dick and he talked to us about his chef tastings. We will have to come back and try them! And bring friends.
We are so lucky to have found this place, living in Fairlawn. But we would gladly make the drive even if it were far!

They had a lot of dishes that weren’t obvious for an Italian Restaurant. I personally had a hard time choosing because of my lactose intolerance and some nights I just don’t want to risk eating a bunch of cheese, even when I have pills with me to take. I had the salmon which was very good. The risotto had a different taste that wasn’t bad but was so different I haven’t decided if I like it yet. Maybe another try would help me decide!

You know that one table at the restaurant that’s just awfully placed, yep, we got sat there. The table was so large for two people and I sat hunched over the entire time because so much was happening around me. This place could really benefit from some comfy chairs or huge booths. The Italian food was stellar. However, one of us got the steak special. It was a pretty poor cut of steak smothered with a boat load of stuff to hide that the steak itself wasn’t good. Pretty unacceptable for 50 dollars. I would give this place 5 stars for the Italian food itself but our experience was terrible. The waitress gave us about 30 seconds to decide on drinks after she found us a drink menu. We had to prompt her to tell us what the «of the day» on the menu was and ask her for the specials. I was surprised we had to ask since there were about 10 non menu items to go over. She couldn’t tell us them by memory, though she awkwardly tried for a while before pulling out about 10 pieces of paper to read everything off. I loved that the owner or manager was present and putting a lot of work in but I would make the drive to Eddie Cerinos (45 minutes) before I come back here (4 minutes). Add: I will add that any place I visit for over 50 dollars per person without appetizers or dessert, I expect a little more of an experience. We went to max and ermas afterwards for dessert (as Vacarros was out of several things they read us off a sheet of paper) and the waitress there was wonderfully attentive and friendly compared to what we had just come from. I’m a huge supporter of local places. Hopefully, this place comes back around as something great! We also decided that this place has a lot of regulars that are willing to overlook uncomfortable chairs, awkward tables and dirty floors simply because it’s one of the few upscale dining places near Bath. They really aren’t looking to please new comers to the area.

Four of us for dinner on January 9^th. We had been wanting to come here for quite some time. Overall impression: Highly overrated.
To start, the wine list is daunting; nothing on there we recognized (we drink vino daily). The owner offered a recommendation. We paid $ 50 for a bottle of exceedingly mediocre wine. All-​in-​all the food was good but we agreed it was not excellent in any way.
Although we had reservations we were seated in the room to the left as one enters. We asked to be moved from a table underneath a very warm stream of air from the HVAC register just above. The new table was better but the room was being used for a banquet, party or similar event.
The two things most memorable about the evening was the $ 200 bill (plus gratuity) and the atmosphere of the place [think «stuck in a small, noisy banquet room”]. The «bill» certainly would have been OK had it been justified; the ambiance would never be acceptable, in our view.
So, here’s how I’d rate our experience:
Food quality: 3.5 or 4
Food creativity: 3.5 or 4 (probably 4)
Food quantity: 3
Service: 4
Atmosphere/​ambiance: 2
Value: 2
Was it «OK?» Sure, but for this price point one can do an awful lot better. Would we go back? Uhhh, not likely. The experience was not particularly good. We left and promised ourselves we’ll not return.