Puccini’s

Great little restaurant! Unique, but limited menu. Alfredo was fantastic, gnocchi was perfect. Friendly staff. Nice casual atmosphere. I’ll be back soon.

Excellent food and fun evening. Kudos to the chef. We had a lovely evening sitting at the chef table.

Puccini’s has always been one of my favorite restaurants for ‘special occasions’. As a previous reviewer noted, we love the BYOB factor. The food is always superior and this visit gave us the same results. However, we were horrified by the ultra fast, rushed service. The waitress was trying to take our apps away before we were even finished. I expect this type of dining experience to last about 2 hours or so; we were fully done in about 1 hour! Again, love the food and will probably be back, but hated the service this time! Also, would it really hurt to get a coffee pot???

Food was good but the staff was arrogant and and borderline rude We were told we needed to vacate our table while we were finishing our wine. My salad was put on the table with an attitude and I don’t recall being asked if we needed anything. We were told that we needed to place all of our order at one time vs ordering our app first while we looked at the menu. The mushroom app was outstanding and I would order it again. If I go back again

We’ve been to Puccini’s about 3 – 4 times over the last several years. Generally, I’ve been a fan of the establishment due to the chef-​inspired menu, the intimate setting, and the excellent dishes we’ve enjoyed. Like many patrons, I don’t mind the reservations-​only requirement, BYOB, and the fact that they don’t accept credit cards. No problem — it all adds to the experience.
However, last evening we had guests joining us and I recommended Puccini’s for our party of eight. I’m a little sorry I did. We arrived at 8 (the time of our reservation), and were told the table wouldn’t be ready for another twenty minutes (and furthermore to let them know if we didn’t plan to stay). Nearly forty minutes later, we finally sat down. In the meantime, we had to stand outside — no comfortable benches, no one coming out to offer us an appetizer while we waited, and no apology.
Our entrees were very good. Some were excellent. We enjoyed two different veal dishes, grouper, flounder, pompano and lamb. The mussels starter was wonderful. For dessert, we had the baked banana, which was also delicious.
The service was ok — not the same level as I’ve experienced before at Puccini’s. We uncorked our own wine, had to ask for water more than once, had to ask for wine buckets, and generally found the wait staff to be inattentive. Fortunately, we had a brought along a very good assortment of Italian whites and reds, along with a nice bottle of California Chardonnay and a Spanish red that I found absolutely tasty. So we remained in good moods and enjoyed our dinner very much.
In the end, I am not sure I will go back any time soon. It takes more than delicious food to earn repeat visits.

Puccini’s is not like other restaurants, and it is a unique and amazing experience. As several reviews mentioned, they do not serve beverages other than water and they are BYOB. Their service model is different than a typical restaurant, and it is clearly a chef-​run operation. Their team operates quickly and efficiently, and their prices are extremely modest for the quality of food being offered. Puccini’s is about the cooking. It isn’t about puffery or posturing. There is no hostess stand and there is no bar. But a meal that would run over $ 200 with drinks (2 apps, 2 entrees, 2 desserts & a couple of drinks) typically clocks in at Puccini’s at around $ 110.
The service isn’t the same as you’d receive at other restaurants, and if you see if for what it is it is truly impressive. The wait staff, typically a head server and 1 or 2 support servers, serve the entire restaurant of 15+ tables. The head server, Pam, is incredible and I’ve never seen a fine dining server handle an entire house the way she does. She is graceful, smooth, efficient and well-​timed. It is clear her job is to take orders and get food on the table as support to the chef, and she does it extremely well. We’ve eaten at Puccini’s 20+ times and never waited uncomfortably long for a course, clearing, water refill or bill — even during a busy rush with a full house and one head server handling all the tables. If you watch the service, it is truly a marvel. Puccini’s service does differ from other restaurants in that the server’s role at Puccini’s is to highlight the food, not to entertain, sell or bar-​tend. Servers do not stop by your table multiple times to offer cocktails because they don’t serve drinks, so there may be less server/​guest interaction than a typical fine dining situation, but this is a by-​product of the restaurant’s (wonderful!) BYOB policy. And this makes Puccini’s not just a great food experience but an outstanding value.
I’ve often asked the server for help making a choice and her answers always reflect the food, not just a recommendation of what item is priciest or needs to be used up. Pam has a unique gift of being graceful, attentive, and efficient in a quiet, strong way that lets you know you’re in good hands and you can sit back and enjoy your dinner and company. If you’re looking for servers to flatter your guests and listen to their stories, this may not be the place for you. But if you want simple, truly incredible food that the server knows inside and out and want it efficiently served and cleared you will not find a better experience in town than Richard, Pam and the team at Puccini’s.

Six of us went to dinner last night. Everyone loved their dinner. 5 different main courses were picked all excellent. The pecan pie for desert is the best. We love being able to bring our own wine. It was a birthday celebration. The service was very good.

First, I am from the Boston area, now living in Sarasota, so I am ranking based on my overall experience, not just food in Sarasota. We visit Puccini’s fairly often, and on the whole, it is a wonderful experience. It is intimate, the food is «clean» — fresh and natural, without a great deal of fussiness, and, when chef Richard is not in a time crunch, it can be really fun to have a quick chat about food, life and Philadelphia. If you can book a «chef’s table» you will be in the back room with the chef, which I recommend. This is a BYOB restaurant (no corkage fee), so bring your favorite wine, and also bring CASH. No credit cards accepted here.
There have only been one or two meals that I thought were «just okay». Most are wonderful — simple but flavorful — and fun to watch them whipped up right in front of you. There are 4 apps and 4 or 5 set items on the menu, but there will be 3 – 4 app specials and 4 dinner special, as well, depending on what looked good in the market and at the butcher when the chef went shopping. Some of our favorites are the handmade tortellini, the sausage and fennel appetizer, lamb chops, red snapper over lobster ravioli, veal chop, any veal special, and if pecan pie is one of the desserts, go for it! As others have mentioned, the bruschetta opener is out of this world.
I do wish they served coffee, but if you’re enterprising and bring a thermos, dessert is on the house! Keep in mind this is a one-​man show, with a helpful waitstaff of 2 and assorted kitchen help. There may be unexpected moments where a party doesn’t finish in time for the second seating, or on rare occasion, something isn’t to your taste of done-​ness preference. Let your waitperson know –they will try to accommodate. Be a little chill and enjoy the experience — there is nothing like this in Sarasota!

3^rd visit since last Summer and they FAILED me completely this time! Group of 9 people (and 5 repeat customers among them) said the same thing. Utensils weren’t clean and food, duck wasn’t cooked all the way through, all other dishes were bland, and experienced arrogant wait staff. After spending over $ 600+, I had to tell myself NOT to go back there next time. Totally disappointed!

Meh! What’s the mystery here? I think they get off by having heavy drapes covering the windows and offering only 2 seatings per night trying to make people believe there’s something secret here. Please!!! Just cook me delicious, hot food… I’ll pay for it gladly!!! The thing that bugs me the most is that they DO NOT OFFER SOFT DRINKS ORRRRR COFFEE, TEA OR ESPRESSO. I guess they are not as Italiano as the name implies… have they even been to Italy? The cook is present in the room but does not look up or make eye contact. He’s wearing shorts and chewing gum. Regarding food: mussels appetizer was good however the waitress took away my plate before I was done eating them. The tortellini appetizer was delicious and hot. The steak was large but fatty! My veal puccini was cooked nicely with pastina but there was a spice used that I did not care for. it was overpowering and I muscled through it b/​c the meat was cooked nicely. My dining partner said the same thing about her special w/​red sauce… so maybe it was a spice he uses in his red sauce. Dessert was nice but I wouldn’t have ordered it if I realized that there was no coffee, tea or espresso… Oh Lord wth! I really hope owners read these reviews. I’m not trying to be an ass here but I think you do a lot of things right but there’s glaring problems that I can’t overlook while paying higher prices. Like I said… I’ll pay for superior service and quality (ie Ristorante San Marco in Venice) but I’m not going to pay for the gimmick. Treat the paying customer in a way that at least PRETENDS to care about the customer… I don’t give a crap about pleasing YOU. sorry!!! Prove me wrong please!

My boyfriend and I visited this place last night. One word Unilocal has way overstated reviews about this place. Lets start — the only drink they provide is a tap water from the kitchen faucet with chlorine in it. We would not mind bringing a bottle of wine if they mentioned it on the phone during the reservation, but they did not. They allow you to have your drinks without the cork fees what is a plus. The food was okay, nothing to rave about: my boyfriend had veal Pucchini for $ 28 — peace of seared veal covered with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. My boyfriend ate it but did not rate it as something he would crave over again. I ordered grilled mix of lamp and sausage with peppers and green beans over orzo pasta. It was greasy, had two very small pieces of lamb with rib bones being attached and one longwise sliced sausage. Orzo was overcooked. We also had an appetizer crape with some lobster meat in it: usually when we order appetizers at other places they are big enough to share — but not with this one. Taste was okay. It would rather work as a meal if there were more crepes on the plate. Crepes were somewhat strange in texture.
After reading the reviews on the Unilocal we expected a long waiting time for our food (it took more than half hour to get it) hoping it would be compensated by a memorable meal experience — it did not happen. The best food we ate that evening was their in house free appestizer — sluce of fresh bread with mozzarella cheese and fresh tomato with some white beans with garlicky tasting marinade and a couple slices of cucumber and salami. We have being eating in various restaurants over the country both high end and so called «holes in the walls», but his place has no right to be rated that high. I am not trying to be mean but paying $ 83 for two enteree and one appetizer with no drinks plus 20% gratuity — that is way to much for an everage dinner. And for those folks who left such rave feedback: you either have not been eating something outstanding in your life or do not have a taste for a great food. If you cook well yourself — you have higher expectations when you go out especially when you pay more money for the meal that it is worth.

The best part of our dinner was the wine we brought. The appetizers we got were tortellini with pesto sauce was a 5 out of 10, a special, NOT. You can make better at home with Buttoni. 2 orders of mussels with white sauce (asked for extra garlic) mussels were fresh at least. the sauce it was cooked in tasted like bland chicken broth, maybe a 2 out of 10. The Entrées, Veal Puccini’s very tough, cheese burnt, and flavorless, maybe a 5 of 10, 2 orders of the special shrimp w/​Lobster ravioli a whopping $ 36. Point Blank TERRIBLE. You needed a knife to cut the shrimp. They should be life butter. We didn’t order desert. We didn’t want to be disappointed any further. Definitely wouldn’t come back and not recommend.

Not welcomed if you want to stick around and enjoy your time at the restaurant

Totally meh… Large portions, but all the food is disguised with sauces. Very few veggies on the plate. Pecan pie was burnt. Host and wait staff were extremely accommodating, Loved being able to byob, but not enough to go back.

How has this place received so many 5 star reviews? The physical plant is a standard narrow strip mall space with a higher ceiling in front and a lower ceiling in back. We went on a weekday and there were only five tables filled the entire night. Romantic? Not in the least. Both the server and the chef were brusque and acted like we were bothering them by coming there for dinner. We barely got a hello from the chef. The food was good, but not exceptional. Most of the entrees were in the $ 30 range. I expected much more after reading all the glowing reviews here. Overall disappointing.

This place is amazing. I was in Sarasota for 4 days, and I went here twice. Both times was perfect and a great time. I live in Orlando and would have no problem Driving here for dinner. The Chef is Superfantastic, and a very nice guy. The RibEye was so tasty. The Salmon may have been the best Salmon I ever had. Just ate here last night and can’t wait to return. Thanks for the great food/​night Chef.

Hands down my favorite restaurant in Sarasota! Pamela is always warm & friendly upon arrival. Atmosphere is perfect. The regular menu is exquisite… Duck with mushroom sauce, Ribeye Marsala & the specials make for a tough decision! Always plenty of fish appetizers & pastas to choose from as well as entrees! Oh & save room for dessert! Remember to bring cash or check … No credit cards accepted & BYOB!

We hadn’t been back in a bit, but had dinner at Puccini’s today. This restaurant is wonderful! Don’t be turned off by the small menu. They always have plenty of specials for both appetizers, main course, and dessert. That said, anything on the menu is wonderful too! This is a must try for anyone seeking a great dinner in Sarasota, FL. It is a very romantic location for special celebrations too. Highly recommend this place. Great food! Great service!

Fantastic!
Richard is the best, bringing the outstanding Italian cuisine of South Philly to Sarasota!

The most interesting restaurant in Sarasota, with a single chef & one waitress! Richard is an incredible talent with his cooking & so interesting to watch him prepare the meals. we love that you can bring your own wine, with no fees. The biggest jumbo Gulf shrimp I have ever seen. All of Richards sauces, temp you to lick your plate. Wonderful steaks & lamb chops. The Pecan pie is the way to wrap up the evening. A must do restaurant in Sarasota!