Santo's Italian Restaurant

I used to come to Santos when I was a child and it was a family favorite. From the pizza to the stuffed peppers, everything was pretty rock solid. I even had my high school graduation (2013) in the Florence Room. But after tonight's meal, I can safely say I'll never be back. The food was alarmingly atrocious. I had the Chicken Raymondo which sat in a puddle of...water? It definitely wasn't olive oil. The chicken tasted and looked like it was from frozen, which could have been the culprit on the water. Someone else had the Chicken Chasmondo, which they gave a resounding 4/10 for not having much flavor. Nobody finished their meal, if that's any indication of the quality. The salads were overly vinegary and actually hard to eat at times. The service is fine. It doesn't matter to me, ultimately, because the food was terrible. The ambiance is strip mall chic, which is again fine but inconsequential to my experience (though there were fruit flies around us, which is odd in January). The point of a restaurant is their food, which I can confidently say for Santos is no longer good - or even "meh". It's just plain bad. Go to Matteo's in Olmsted Falls or Bistro on 130th on...130th. Both are vastly superior to Santos, which is bittersweet to type since I grew up going here. But I definitely won't ever be going back.

Santos used to be 5/5. Had been going here forever. Food was always good. More recently, unsure if change in owners or whatever, but:1) ordered a tray of chicken, came out completely burnt. Almost $1002) we ordered pizza with it. no one liked it.3) gnocchi tasted premade and the portion was insanely small for a full size dinner entree4) called to place a to-go order. Now they are only open for lunch Thurs-sat and open at 330p on other days. I Called at 250, no answer. Called at 324(literally) and someone answered saying to call back at 330 when they open, LOL. See photo of the call times! Just write down my order, we are not picking up for a while- it didn't have to be ready right at 330. Will not not not be coming back after this5) I ordered meat sauce to go. They gave me marinara with meat balls. I took it back to the window and they said "do you want meat sauce on top of it?" I said sure. They squashed the meatballs and handed it back to me6) they used to have the best bread - warm with sesame seeds. Not warm anymore and definitely no sesame seeds- def diff vendor

Although the image of the salad looked good, it covered the wilted spinach below. Would not get it again. Homemade lasagna was good! Overly attentive wait staff that was eager to get tables moving if you catch my drift ...

Don't be fooled by the strip mall location, this place has great food and was pretty busy in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. Walking in you get a glimpse of the kitchen and there were many cooks in there that were quite busy. A good sign!!Enjoyed a quick lunch here, loaded up on the bread service. We found the tomato sauces tended to be on the sweet side.Service: friendly and attentive, kept our drinks full!Sorry about the lighting in the photos, I should have paid better attention to the lighting and shadows.Parking is easy in front of the restaurant.

Ordered a tray of chicken Parmesan feeds 15. It was burned on edges and was not good. Sheet pizza was a joke. It was all thick breaded crust with little to no cheese. Yuk!!! Very upsetting. Antonio's much better and more reasonable. Don't waste your time ordering from here.

Had a great date night dinner at Santos! The staff were so knowledgeable about the menu and made great recommendations! Their homemade pastas are a must try and the pizzas I saw coming out also looked phenomenal. All entrees include a house salad, and at the recommendation of our server we tried the house dressing mixed with poppyseed dressing which was fantastic! Their desserts are homemade and delicious. We will definitely be back!

This place has been one of my favorite italian restaurants for 30 years, just wonderful people/service and never a bad meal!

I'm finished giving Middleberg future chances to bring the standard up to the level that gave the place a wonderful reputation. (I've never eaten at the other locations, so this doesn't apply to them) Our families have been going there since 1981-82, some driving all the way from Sandusky, Akron, and after its sale a few years back (or maybe I should say passed down) it's been difficult to take a second bite of anything when I remember how it use to be the best pizza place in Cleveland. Tonight, I can honestly say that frozen pizzas are much better; tonight's dough was so soggy from too much sauce that my finger pushed through it while picking up a piece, and then EVERYTHING slid off. I'm done.

Review fir their party room. After being jerked around by another restaurant, we contacted Santo's. What a nice company to deal with for our needs. Don't go by their restaurant hours as the party center has a separate entrance. We had our party in a Monday. The room comfortably held our thirty guests who were served restaurant style, not buffet style. It made it a better experience. Everything was piping hot and as ordered. We had several choice for guests. When we couldn't decide whether to have chicken or eggplant parmigiana available, they said we'll offer both. We also had salmon and lemon chicken as an option. Pizza got starters at each table. A good price per person, a super server and solid Santo's food. It was a perfect solution for our needs.

The cavatelli was the best I've had. I ordered meatballs which were exceptionally juicy and tasty. Their sauce is perfect--not too sweet and with the right amount of spices. My husband ordered the rigatoni with sausage and it was equally delicious. What we found wanting was the bread. It was plain white bread and it was very stale. We expected warm crusty Italian bread and what we got was one step above Wonder bread. Our salads were soaked with their Italian dressing to the point I couldn't eat it. Next time, I would ask for the dressing on the side. We ordered their pumpkin cheesecake to-go and it was creamy and perfectly spiced. Delicious!!We went on a Friday night at 5pm and had almost an hour wait even though they told us the wait would be 30 minutes. Next time we'll either go earlier or later or a weeknight.