Excellent food and service. Highly recommend for authentic Italian dishes at great prices.read more

Another great dinner at Wheat + Water! We came for a…read morebirthday dinner for myself and my brother. Everything we ate was delicious! Our server gave us some great suggestions. The shrimp bruschetta was an amazing new dish for us today. We also loved the calamari with the lemon sauce! The other dishes we had were the chicken tosca, champagne chicken, sanchetti pasta, chicken parm, and the shrimp and scallop dish. Highly recommend the tosca. It was very cheesy with the parm coating. Love the fresh pasta as a side. Love that everything is homemade. Even the sourdough bread is amazing!

Knowing that they were affiliated with 'Mediterraneo', I…read morehad very high hopes for a satisfying Italian meal. Service was excellent! From the second we stepped into the restaurant and saw the host to our outstanding server. She helped us with the menu, bussed and watered the table as needed and was a gracious host. The decor was clean, uncluttered and very welcoming. It fit perfectly with the theme of the restaurant. Now the food, a HUGE disappointment!! When I decide to go to an Italian restaurant, I expect: Hearty Deep Flavors, Portions similar to what you would receive in an Italian home and everything cooked to perfection as they prepare it all the time. Well, the food our party of 6 received was incredibly disappointing. I ordered my 'standby' meal that I actually rate an Italian restaurant by and judge if I would recommend and return; The 'ol time favorite-Chicken Parmigiana. I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE HAD A CHICKEN PARMIGIANA WHERE THE CHICKEN WAS POUNDED OUT THIS THIN!!!!! Seriously, they pounded the hell out of it and was seriously the thickness of a piece of cardboard. It was hot, it was covered in a thin layer of very thin red sauce and topped with perfectly melted cheese. But the Chicken portion size shows a level of greed showing how little can be spent on the chicken and how flat and wide you can make it. Not very impressed with the thin sauce either. I genuinely felt ripped off! They use the same cardboard thick chicken breast for their Chicken Milanese, and the unlucky recipient of that meal was as disappointed as me. Another guest in our party ordered the Salmon. NOT a big piece and according to him, VERY bland and very overcooked. That's 3 of the 6 of us and the other 3 were very underwhelmed. Not 1 person in our group said that they were going to either recommend or return. Come on guys, don't be an Italian restaurant if you're NOT going to serve food that your Italian grandmother would serve you! Nothing served was even picture worthy! Back to 'Tiramisu' in Bradenton for REAL Italian food!!!

After being physically ill since eating here, I've decided to call the health department. Here is…read moremy original post: I really hating posts like what I am posting but this place missed the mark so badly Im going to in hopes it will improve. Positive things, this time of year, our restaurants spill into the sidewalks and it's awesome. We have a pageantry everywhere from cars to yachts and people. For a small tourist, arts and financial center it's great to see, the food was good but not amazing. Less than positive: our service staff was AWFUL and very distant. We constantly had to ask for her to come to the table. Next I ordered Cipino, a very simple be delicate Sicilian sea food dish. When it arrived, and it took a long time. Food came hot and the place wasn't that crowded. The octopus was rubbery meaning it in the bowl too long. Was it in the server window too long? Flavor was awesome but the mussels tasted gamey, the scallops were overcooked and the clams were very small. Like dime quarter sized . I should have known better to have sent it back but I didn't want to be that guy. Sicilian cannoli for dessert was one of OUTSTANDING! Like grandma made. I should have stuck with that and will surely come back for those alone Ordered an espresso with my cannoli but the espresso was cold by the time by the time my cannoli hit the table. I asked to have a replacement espresso but it never arrived. I don't know what my servers problem was but man, some of the worst service I've received. UPDATED 4/20/26: I spent the last 2 days in the bathroom as a result of my eating there therefore have reported them to the health department. They have had a corrected 8 violations. I truly hope they do better. I want to see them successful.

We called and made a reservation for six people at 7pm on a Friday night. Walked in and the place…read morewas empty. We were greeted by a server who said they were closed (we had called an hour before to confirm!). The gentleman said he would talk to the manager (??) and came back 30 seconds later with the same ruling. We were from out of town and hopefully dodged a bullet by going somewhere else but this was a horrible experience.

From Start to Finish it was Excellent! Bread and Salad Crisp, fresh and awesome Dressing. Chicken…read moreParm and Pasta so delicious. Service was fantastic and friendly. What a great Chef and Owners and Staff. This is a Treasure to have found.

We decided to take the drive and come check out this restaurant to see if we wanted them to cater…read moreour sons wedding. The service was great, very friendly staff. The atmosphere was cute and clean. The food was wonderful. We are super picky when it comes to Italian and red sauce. We had the penne la vodka, a meatball and sausage as well as the eggplant rollatini. Can't wait to come here for dinner again and glad we found a place for catering.

Great service. Lunch specials are ample w generous side salad. My boyfriend likes the pizza 2 slice…read morespecial, The eggplant rolitini is outstanding.

Atmosphere - located in a shopping center, the restaurant has a comfortable feel. There are a…read morecombination of booths and tables. There are some TVs and a bar. Service - I have dined here a couple of times before and I was not impressed with the service in those instances. In fact, I was not thrilled about eating here again. However, it was a convenient stop at the time. In this instance our server did a fine job. Food - I ordered the half sandwich and cup of soup menu selection. The soup was the Cheese Tortellini and the half sandwich Chicken Parmesan. The soup was served hot and tasted very good. The sandwich was disappointing. Rather than a breaded and lightly fried chicken cutlet, it was a heavily breaded and overly fried chicken fingers. As a result, the chicken was very chewy and stringy. Overall - for my part, this recent visit was strike three

We came back for lunch this time and ate inside. There weren't many occupied tables so we…read morereceived great service. Lots of good items to choose for lunch and I settled on a meatball parmesan. It was very large and had ample sauce and cheese. Good choice! Would have liked some chips or fries on the side.

The atmosphere was vibrant and the square was awesome. The…read morefood was something I felt like was from Italy. I've never been so that's the closest it could be for me The spaghetti with meatballs phenomenal, pepperoni pizza phenomenal, stuffed mushrooms amazing, all the pasta we got was nothing short of spectacular.... The service was amazing the waitress was very quick and on point. Mixed drinks were on point and strong. 100% is a must have spot if your in this area.

Love this place , when I got there my family and I were immediately greeted and sat down ... the…read morevibe of this Italian restaurant is awesome ... It was pretty packed .... Our server Michael was just awesome !! Super helpful and friendly ... made great recommendations as to what to eat and what drinks to pick... He would check up on us and always made sure that we were doing okay... It's hard to come by amazing customer service and this guy is freaking great Overall the food was delicious and the pizza was great

We took take out on their Wednesday special of a sandwich with a garden salad for $16 and the Disco…read moreFries for $6.00. Packaging was excellent. There were about 4 tables so plenty of room for more guests and the bar was empty. The sausage and peppers sandwich was flavorful per my husband. The sausages are not sliced but cut making the sandwich a complete mess. The bread is not made to hold the sausage. I had the chicken Marsala sandwich. Again had a huge issue with the bread being useless. The mozzarella was on the bread but none on the chicken. The Marsala sauce was bland and minimal. Would not get this again. The disco fries were not making me happy. Basically thin fries smothered in gravy. Where was the cheese? The gravy was also bland and we ended up tossing most of them out. The restaurant itself is nice with darker colors and clean. Prices on the regular menu are pricey and after trying their sauce I can see why it was empty. Personal peeve, Italian dish that doesn't include pasta as a side option when clearly they have pasta in the menu is wrong.

I can't believe I have lived in Sarasota as long as I have and only now found this gem of a…read morerestaurant. My wife and I had the most enchanting evening and simply can't wait to return. First impression, plenty of street parking directly in front and as we entered we noticed a truly beautiful outdoor patio, nicely landscaped, centered around a beautiful outdoor stone fireplace. When the weather cools we will look forward to enjoying that. As it was a bit warm outside we chose an indoor table. The interior is beautifully done with elaborately detailed tray ceilings, soft colors, soft lighting, a really lovely bar, and a quiet luxury throughout. We were greeted by the host Bob, who we later learned is a partner/owner, and we were seated immediately. Our waitress Holly was fun, engaging, attentive and eager to please without ever being overly present throughout the night. She set the tone by announcing that all wine was $10 off per bottle and all signature cocktails were $10 each. We were informed these values are expected to be offered at all times during low season (not just a happy hour). We found the wine and cocktail pricing to be extremely reasonable even without this extra offer. Holly also volunteered that the kitchen would happily split any appetizer onto two plates and we were also welcome to order just a half salad or half Caesar salad if only one of us wanted one. For the waitperson to offer this without even being asked, we felt the spirit of hospitality was off to a great start as it was obvious the restaurant is prioritizing customer happiness above all else. The menu, which you can review on their website, was full of enticements that had us vowing to return so that we could sample more and more offerings. We settled on a half house salad (excellent), a pasta fagioli (unforgettably good) one of their signature dishes, "Chicken Our Way", and Rigatoni Bolgnaise. The chicken dish was simply out of this world, very lightly breaded and beautifully glazed with a wonderful sauce. The table next to us, having driven up all the way from Northport, politely demanded to know what the dish was as the aroma graced their table. The Rigatoni Bolognaise was as fantastic as any dish we had while travelling through Italy; the bolognaise sauce was unquestionably made from scratch in-house and was as delicious and as authentic as it comes. As we were dining, a woman entered who had the essence of an owner; she went from staff member to staff member, and from table to table, checking on every employee and every customer to ask how things were going. When she stopped at our table, she introduced herself as Beverly, the host's partner. She stayed with us for quite some time showing a genuine and personal interest in us. We were not just a customer to her; we were clearly a new and valued acquaintance. This level of Mom-and-Pop personal service is very hard to find today in Sarasota--and it makes all the difference in the world. We can't wait to go back to see Bob, Beverly and Holly again as they truly made us feel like family. And we can't wait to try more of their enticing dishes. You simply MUST sample this restaurant and see for yourself. I fear though that if too many people discover it, the restaurant may grow and change. I hope that doesn't happen, because it is perfect right now, in this moment, exactly the way it is.

we came with dear dear friends when we were visiting them. This was a fun festive place to come…read more Bread selection was great!!!! Greek salad, and the fried pecorino was delicious!!! Wide noodles with Bolognese was spot on!!! Service was wonderful! It can get pretty loud in there, they do have outdoor options when it's not too humid, etc. Well done!

How this place has stayed open for so many years beats me…read more There are SO MANY other Italian restaurants in the Sarasota area that don't charge $30 for a plate of pasta! On top of that the owner (or owners ) don't even greet you with a smile or even say "good evening". It's as if they were doing you a favor to spend $150. for dinner. The food: "non amoral, non sappora" Non me piache!​