Casa Santo Stefano

The Casa Carnevale menu is amazing! Had the Linguine Granchio and finished off with the Biscoff Gelato. All parts equally amazing. Have a LOT of fun and sit at the pasta table in the heart of the restaurant!

The menu was condensed due to the grill being "serviced." Overall this place has a lot to offer from good flavor foods to a good wine selection. They has a musician playing live music and walking around which is a nice touch but at times was difficult to hear the table.Drinks:The wine selection is very vast and has a lot to choose from. The blood orange marg is a miss and bland- so not get this- the sparkling beverages they offer are good and give a take on a spritz. Ordered a lemon drop to be safe and fortunately it was good.Food:The toast gnocchi is delicious but it arrived cold which was a bummer. The burrata was phenomenal and a must get! The Arancini was also yummy but the sauce to dip it in was cold which was unexpected. The minestrone soup was very flavorful and had great portion sizing. The chicken parm was good but the pasta that came with it was hard and tasted slightly undercooked. The bread that was deliver with the food was more well done than expected, if this is the intention I would not recommend. Service:The waiter was super nice and pleasant, but not sure if because it was busy, took him a while to return for follow up questions or refills, until the end of the meal.I think this experience was a miss and not what was expected based on other reviews.

Excellent, authentic Sicilian food (I was born and raised a few blocks away)! Great service! Returned for a special birthday dinner for our 22-year-old grandson. The food was wonderful. Veal Scalopine, Merluzzo, Pasta bolognese. All main dishes were excellent. But for me, the true proof of the kitchen was with the sauteed spinach with olive oil and fresh garlic side dish. It is so easy to overcook spinach so that you might as well have just opened a can. However, this was done perfectly... not raw and not overcooked. It was right on that edge of just begin done. Still hot when it arrived! Someone back in the kitchen has some great timing.Very nice wine, espresso, Amaretto sour and Nonino's Merlot Grappa. The Blueberry Lemon Spritz mocktail was excellent. Our server, Britney was extremely professional, efficient, courteous and new just the right mix of being a great server and giving us space and adding some very nice personal interaction (her grappa story was great)! We will absolutely return for more special occasions!

Very nice Italian restaurant in Ybor next to Columbia. Lots of parking. We had a Carnival special menu Bracioluni which was braised flank steak with sausage and cheese, and pasta, very good. Look at the special menu for carnival. The grouper fish was too tough, almost was going to return. Server Gia was fabulous. Most highly recommended!!

Even in Ybor City, right in Tampa, you can find a good Italian restaurant. Yes, you can get a pizza and a sandwich. But step inside a few others and you can find a real home-made Italian Meal. And when you come to Casa Santo Stefano you will find cooking the way it is made in Sicily. It is made like typical Italian fare, but here it is with the touch of what you might find in Sicily. More sauce. More garlic. A touch of heat and spice. It is what you would find there but you have here in Ybor City itself.We went inside and were given a seat. It is good to have a reservation even for lunch sometimes. The team was great. The young man was ideal. Started with beverages and suggestion of what we might find for today. Once he came back with the beverage we asked more questions. He is in no rush. You can take your time and prepare to stay for some time to eat, talk, and enjoy.The first thing we decided to have was an antipasti of meatballs and another of the grilled sausage. This was a good way to start. The meatball was made fresh. It was cooked in a sauce they are famous for. This was a delight to have. As for the sausage, this is not a big sausage. It is the round sausage that a true Italian knows of. This was grilled in oil and half a lemon. The flavor of the cooked lemon was different. It was warm and tasty. Dip in some bread and it was good to have before the entree. As for the entree, we did start with a fresh Lasagna. Had to have that. It is what you expect if you made it at home. It had around 3 layers and was filled with cheeses and sauce. A good size to share. Which we did as we sampled everything we ordered. Next we had home-made Gnocchi alle VerdureFresh potato gnocchi tossed with cremini mushrooms, broccolini, baby spinach, peas, garlic and shallots in a light cream sauce with Pecorino Romano cheese. This is alone a meal that four people could share as the pasta course. Of course, had to have Linguine with Clams.This was sautéed and simmered in white wine, fresh grape tomato sauce, shallots, garlic, spicy crushed red pepper. Again, heavy with garlic and some might want it lighter. But overall it was something to enjoy. the clams were fresh for the day.Finally, had a traditional house dish...Pasta alla Norma. Made with Sicilian Casarecce pasta, fried eggplant, house-made tomato sauce, garlic, grated ricotta salata cheese. This was a meal you could not stop having. Perfect.After the fresh meals and courses, had to finish with an Espresso. It was freshly made. This was not from a store. This was from the espresso pot itself as you find in Italy. It was a good size amount which is ideal if you like a good espresso.Casa Santo Stefano is a good place to find in Ybor. You might never know it was there. It is off the main street just behind a famous restaurant Ybor is know for. The selections are good. The team is helpful. The prices are great based on the amount and quality of the food you will be having. We liked it so much, we shall have a family event there later in the year. Buona!

First time trying this place, we made an 8:15 reservation and didn't get seating until about 8:40 which was a little frustrating but the place was PACKED. Our server was very knowledgeable of the menu and wine list and the food came out ridiculously fast! The food was yummy but it wasn't the best I've ever had... But the ambience was great, and we especially loved the guitarist walking around playing/singing! Fun place to visit if you're celebrating a special occasion!

Finally made it out to Casa Santo Stefano after many recommendations. Made a reservation for a Friday night, and was seated upstairs in the outdoors area. I didn't realize it at the time, but the menus vary from the first floor seating, but was told not by much. We ordered the sausage appetizer, which took a little longer than expected but the manager was nice enough to comp the first one. It was so good, we ordered a second one! For entrees we ordered the linguini with clams and the sea bass dish. All around, good food, live music, great service!

This is some of the best Italian food in the Tampa Bay area - the restaurant itself has such a nice family-style feel to it, while still feeling more upscale. We dined here for a friend's birthday and they were able to accommodate a larger party without issue. The only thing we didn't love was that if you are part of a larger party you can only order from a select, smaller menu rather than the normal dinner menu - I don't think anyone from our party was aware of this beforehand. The menu options weren't bad, and the food was still delicious of course (nobody had any complaints and the quality of food was still 10/10). We are planning a date night to go back so we can try the entrees that we had our eyes on from the regular dinner menu though. The rooftop bar area was also really beautiful - it made for a great picture spot and it's a great place to get together with friends and loved ones when the weather is nice (which is 90% of the time in Florida lol)

What a fabulous dining experience! First of all, the restaurant is gorgeous and really big. We had an excellent server who was so friendly, so willing to make the entire night great and was also very funny. He was very knowledgeable on the menu and was patient with my indecisiveness! To start, my party ordered the Tostata Taormina, the Valenti's Burrata and we had Focaccia Bread. Everything was delicious and tasted so fresh. Enjoyed all of them. As my entree I went with the lasagna and I was pleased with my choice. The portion was nice and the flavors were just so good. To drink I ordered the Sicilian Aperol Spritz and when my server noticed I didn't quite like it he helped make it a little bit sweeter for me which I really appreciated. Afterwards it was great and I was able to enjoy it! Overall, great place. Great food, ambiance, and service -- can't wait to come back!

Visited this spot a few days ago with a dear friend. The ambiance was very inviting. Service was exceptional. Server was very nice and provided great recommendations from the menu. Everything we ordered was absolutely delicious!