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    Sal's Caffe Italia

    3.6 (227 reviews)
    ModerateItalian, Pizza, Wine Bars
    Closed 4:00 pm - 8:00 PM
    Updated 2 months ago

    Sal's Caffe Italia Photos

    Business Info

    SAL'S CAFFE ITALIA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Sal's Caffe Italia

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    Alicia L.

    We had an absolutely wonderful experience at Sal's Caffe Italia. The food was delicious, the wine was perfect--but what truly made the night special was the staff. From the moment we sat down, they made sure we were taken care of, genuinely cared that we loved everything, and treated us like locals they'd known forever rather than tourists passing through. That kind of hospitality is rare and unforgettable. We can't wait to come back.

    We use to live in Italy for years, this place brought us back! Real pizza and Aperol spritz, carbonara was perfect! The staff was so wonderful and helpful and we were treated like part of their family! Joellen F and Modesto were fabulous and we will keep coming back. Super cute inside and offers outside area to people watch which is relaxing and comfortable. Their Espresso martini is the best we have had since Italy! Thank you for superb service and absolutely real Italian food....

    Pilar G.

    This was the first restaurant I ever went to in Cville after moving in for school so it definitely has a fond place in my heart. My go to order is the pink lady pasta as a specialty cocktail. The rotate their drink menu so there's always something new to try. The pasta here is great and a big enough portion to take some home most of the time. The staff here are a mix of students and full time servers which is nice. Everyone is very personable and attentive. The host here is always so nice.

    FRIED MOZZARELLA
    Jess F.

    Probably the best pasta I've ever had in my life. Great atmosphere, service, and food. I will certainly have to come back. I also appreciated how willing they were to adapt an order to your preference (ie. changing the type of noodle or adding things). Really wonderful all the way around!!

    Sal's has an outdoor eating area.

    Good, tasty food and we ate outdoors on a warm September evening. They had a salmon fish and gluten free pasta was an option for me that was available. Mushroom and cheese ravioli for my dinner partner. Waitress helpful. In the outdoor Main Street walking 'mall'. Near bookstores. Nice meal!

    Sharvani M.

    Disappointing. Heard so much about Sal's and was excited to see they have a big menu with lots of options, including for vegetarians, because I was craving cheesy creamy saucy satisfying carby pasta. We ordered the Pesto Genovese and the Pasta Adriana (rigatoni in their Pink Lady sauce). I also requested the dishes to be extra saucy. We were told our takeout order would be ready in 20 minutes - however, 35 minutes later, we were still waiting for the food. Finally, after receiving our meal, we headed home to enjoy it. However, the pasta was not saucy at all, the sauce was super thin and not creamy and falling off the noodles. Veggies were few and far between, which would have been fine, except for the complete lack of flavor in both sauces. I was super disappointed. Very poor experience and we will not be returning to Sal's.

    Nunzia (pesto cream sauce over rigatoni with grilled chicken and shrimp)
    Emma E.

    I LOVE Sal's! It's so nostalgic for me so I have to give them 5 stars - the food tastes just as good as it did years ago and everything was perfect. We came in tonight and had some garlic bread to start. It was absolutely delicious, very very good bread, perfectly baked. The oil and vinegar is also really good. Our server was really nice and helped me decide between the Emma Rosa (one of my favs, it's shrimp and crab in a blush sauce) and a pesto cream pasta. I went with the latter and was not disappointed! The food was very fresh and everyone at our table kept commenting how good it smelled in there. My boyfriend also commented how "perfect the temperature is" which was kinda strange, but also made sense - the mix of the incredible smell, the low warm lighting and the temperature was so perfect we felt like we were in someone's house. So cozy. Our waitress was also super nice and did a fabulous job. The food is expensive, but it's worth it. I will be back!

    Eggplant Parmegiana
    EM M.

    First time stopping by at Sal's Caffe Italia. The service was great and the staff was friendly. We enjoyed the eggplant parmesan, it was crispy and baked to perfection. The homemade marinara was rich with flavors, not too salty, and the pasta was not overcooked

    Maitri P.

    Got the pasta Adriana with pink lady sauce and it was honestly extremely bland. The mushrooms felt pretty tasteless and there was barely any sauce on it. My friend got the mushroom ravioli in pink sauce and it was also a pretty small portion for more than $20 per plate pretax!

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    1 year ago

    Best place around in Charlottesville. Came back both nights we were here. Damn impressive! Everything.

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    1 year ago

    Delicious! Great service, yummy food and well made drinks. Definitely a place to visit.

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    2 years ago

    Drinks are top tier! Calamari is tender and delicious not your usual breading, but a 10/10.

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    We went to tavola tonight for my partners birthday and overall we had a good time and would be…read moreback. Between us, we did 3 cocktails, 2 apps, 2 entrees and 2 desserts and the bill came to about $220 tax and tip included. The restaurant had their main door closed (maybe they always do?) so we entered through a narrow back alley entrance into their bar. Parking is kinda tough. We did arrive a few mins early to our reservation and watched a table of 2 and 4 get seated before us which was a bit frustrating (it seemed like the host knew them and maybe they were given preference). Additionally, despite the reservation saying it was for my partners birthday it was not mentioned while we were being sat or by our server during our meal. Other restaurants in town (particularly Orzo and C&O) are really good about noticing these reservation notes and ensuring they are acknowledged. Both restaurants have also provided complimentary dessert or champagne and so it was a bit of a bummer it seemed to not be noticed at all. The ambiance was also much louder than we expected. Unfortunately we got sat next to 4 very drunk rowdy women which can't be helped but we could hardly hear each other over how loud the room was. The vibe was more of a nice dinner out with friends than romantic intimate dinner we hoped for. The music was upbeat and funky. Not a bad thing just maybe a misfit for what we were hoping for this evening. I haven't been here before so it might have been nicer to be sat in a quieter corner since it was just the two of us (not sure if that would have been possible). Our server Ginger was nice. She did provide a list of special for the evening which we ordered a few of. Food wise, tavola, in my opinion, certainly beats mockingbird or the local which are its two neighboring restaurants I've been to. It's actually not even a close comparison the food is significantly better imo. For starters we had the fried artichoke in aioli. Delicious - 5/5. Only problem was there wasn't more of it! The bread was from alb baking co and was served with olive oil. It was fine. Not the best bread or oil I've had. For drinks we had the alpine air (gin, pear, lemon, rosemary I think) and some pear cocktail (pear simple, Tito's, maybe pear liqueur?). My partner had an espresso martini with dessert. All cocktails were 5/5. Very good. For entrees we had the duck rotini and the pork special with collard greens and potatos au gratin. The rotini duck was interesting. I liked the flavor profile of duck, cocoa (in the pasta), pickled chiles and mushroom. I did feel like the flavor combination was so rich I wish they would have been a little more bold with the cocoa flavor. To be honest, it got lost and was completely overpowered by the mushroom flavor in the sauce. The sauce itself felt more of like a butter and fell a bit flat. The duck was chopped into small pieces and I just felt like the execution of this dish didn't do the ingredients justice. I wish they had done a braised duck breast in maybe a cocoa-orange sauce as I thought the cocoa duck combination was quite smart. I felt like the pasta version of these flavors just fell a bit flat and ended up feeling a bit bland as the mushroom was the only prominent note. Overall, I'd give this a 3/5. Neither of us were wowed by it but I think the flavors are ambitious and interesting. The pork on the other hand was fabulous. The pork was cooked perfectly in what felt like a wine reduction and was incredibly tender, no knife needed. The potatoes au gratin were a tad on the underdone side and had a bit more bite than maybe I expected but the flavor with the caramelized onion on top was fabulous. The collard greens are some of the best I've ever had. I love collard greens and am quite picky and these were amazing. I wanted a whole plate of them. 5/5. We ordered Brussels and pancetta on the side and this was also a 5/5. Very good. For dessert we had the tiramisu and the cheese plate. The tiramisu, frankly, was a 2/5. The lady fingers were totally soaking and the dessert was actually just a wet blob. The texture was just not good. The cheese plate was fine, 3/5. It was served with grilled crostini, cherries and candied walnuts. The cheeses themselves were a soft maybe goat cheese, what felt like pepper jack, and then two hard cheeses similar to Parmesan. None of them were particularly flavorful or compelling. I wish the plate had been served with some sort of jelly or sweet spread to accompany the cheeses as I felt the bread nut cheese combo was a bit too dry. Overall, I would say the main foods we had were very good and I think next time we may try their more traditional italian pastas like the carbonara or the bucatini. Overall I think the food here is very good and we would be back.

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    Sal's Caffe Italia - italian - Updated May 2026

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