Savelli’s – Restaurant Review

I’ve written about Savelli’s a couple of times before, but its been a few years, so I wanted to revisit it.

The biggest change that I noticed is the “Please Wait To Be Seated” sign near the front. You used to order and pay at the counter, then your food was brought to you. Now, they offer full table service, which is a nice touch.

My friend Owen and I were greeted immediately by a very cheerful lady and were seated in a booth. We ordered drinks and cheese bread. This cheese bread always has been, and is still amazing.

You could seriously just order the cheese bread and eat that for lunch. It’s basically pizza dough with lots of cheese, baked and topped with parmesan and some Italian seasonings (oregano, basil, etc). Its big enough to share with 3 people, easily.

I ordered the Buffalo Chicken sandwich, and Owen went with the Italian Grinder. Both hot sandwiches were spectacular. The chicken sandwich had lots of cheese, the buffalo sauce wasn’t hot at all, but had great flavor. My only issue was that it had a bit too much lettuce, but that was easily remedied by removing some. The focaccia bread was terrific – not too dense, like many I’ve had.

Owen loved his grinder, and raved about the bread it was on. We asked the waitress if they made their own bread, and were told no – but they got it fresh every day from a local bakery. We didn’t ask which one, but we should have. There’s always next time.

Sitting next to such great sandwiches, the straight-out-of-the-bag potato chips were a huge disappointment, and actually took away from the overall experience. You have a choice of pasta salad, or chips. That’s it. I’m not a fan of pasta salad, and I really wish I could get something else. Maybe some fresh vegetables with ranch or something! Neither one of us ate all our chips.

When we got our bill is where I received the biggest surprise. There was a mystery charge of 67 cents. Our waitress told us that the price for the Buffalo Chicken went up, but they haven’t updated the menu yet. That would have been great to know when I ordered it! I understand that prices sometimes increase, but seriously – print the new menu, THEN raise the price. To just spring it on a customer after they’ve ordered and eaten is a straight up bait and switch. Not cool.

The place is old, and could use some updating – the tables are a bit wobbly, and the booth seats sink a bit when you sit in them. There’s also some weird plumbing decisions in the bathroom, like a sink so close to the urinal that both couldn’t possibly be used at the same time. But the restaurant was immaculately clean, and we had great service overall. The cheese bread and sandwiches were delicious. I was let down by the boring chips, and quite unhappy with the inaccurate prices on the menu.