I'm hard to impress when it comes to Italian food, especially outside the NY metropolitan area. I find it slightly pretentious when people drop their ethnicity or where they're from in the preface of a review but... I am Italian American, and I am from the Bronx - so I think I know what I'm talking about. ;-) My friends had their rehearsal dinner at Strada Mia - so after a run through at the church I made my way over here afterwards. Judging from other reviews I skimmed through, apparently this is in a bad neighborhood? I didn't really feel it - but I guess perception is everything. There were two men (bouncers/security guards) posted at the door who greeted me upon entry before I headed upstairs. The room we were in was semi-compartmentalized - there were three sections that flowed nicely but could easily have been split up into three separate rooms. Aesthetics were okay - nothing too interesting but clean and streamlined overall; the thing that most stood out was a large wall mural near the steps that had a number of wine bottles sticking out of it. We had buffet-style dinner. The spread included salad, chicken francese, penne vodka, and green beans. The chicken was good - nice seasoning and just the right amount of thickness. The beans were well seasoned, bright green, and crispy. The penne left something to be desired - it lacked flavor and was too saucy. Service was good and all the staff I interacted with were friendly. While it's hard to compare Strada Mia to Italian restaurants I'm used to going to - they put out a solid offering. read more

My husband and I were so happy to find this restaurant in walking distance (one block) of the Avis rental car drop-off. We needed some dinner before getting an Uber to the train station, and Strada Mia was the perfect answer. This place is a gem, from the staff to the food to the decor; it reminded us of the Italian restaurants on LI where we grew up many years ago. We started with crusty bread dipped in olive oil with herbs- delicious and a cocktail and beer (a good selection). I ordered the linguine with white clam sauce, garlicky with very tender clams and a generous serving. My husband found the pasta bolognese excellent. To finish we split a slice of 6 layer chocolate cake- rich and yummy! Our server Stephanie was a delight, helpful and attentive and lots of fun. Strada Mia provided a much-needed oasis of warmth and calm before our 2 1/2 day train trip home. I highly recommend it! read more

I really wanted to like this place but unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. First of all, we waited a good 10 minutes before anyone came over to seat us, then we ordered a bottle of wine and an appetizer of bruschetta. When the waitress finally came over with the bottle of wine, she had no idea how to open it, then the host came over and it took him awhile to figure it out as well, mind you this is supposed to be a nicer Italian restaurant. The bruschetta never came and for my entree of chicken Milanese served with risotto, they served me mashed potatoes instead and said they were out of the risotto. What a joke. Terrible service and bland food. read more

Service was extremely slow. It took close to 1 1/2 hours to get order. Food was mediocre. Very salty, cold, chicken didn't taste good. Not fresh. Waiter was nice and friendly. The ambiance is nice. read more

We had dinner here and while the service was nice the food was subpar. One pasta dish was half cold two other dishes were drenched in salt. The location is not the best and it was extremely expensive' read more

Another good place to check out. We stopped by Strada Mia after reading the reviews. We noticed the security guards at the front and thought it was odd at first. Needless to say, that didn't prevent us from sitting outside. Our server, which we think was a hostess covering as a server, wasn't very attentive and rarely came to check on us. The guards were friendly and actually helped sell the dishes to us more than our server. We ordered the soft shell crab app, which was good...although a bit pricey. The chicken Neptune was the security guard's favorite and he sold us both on it. When the main entrees came out, wow were the portions huge. The pasta and chicken itself were not anything special. Tasty but I expected better for some reason. That was the only negative comment I had about the dish. The scallops were cooked perfectly, shrimp was succulent and juicy, and the crab meat topped it off. Was not expecting such good seafood so that was a surprise. Good good good. read more

Strada Mia - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Food was pretty good, service was amazing (ask for Ryan, he's the man!!), and portions were generous. Can't ask for much more.

I went to Strada Mia for the first time and great service and great food. The bartender Cass is believe her name was beyond excellent. I felt like I kidnapped and taken to great place! read more

It was a weird experience. Our server was amazing. It's a cute place. The greens were very good. The dipping oil was awesome (bread could have been a little fresher but soaked in yummy oil it was easy to overlook) That's where it ends. My husband got a ginger ale and it tasted like bleached vodka. Now I have no idea how that would actually taste but that would be my assumption. She brought a second glass and it was foamy like it had soap in it and tasted almost as bad. And they came from 2 different machines! Even she tasted it and said it seemed to burn her mouth. We got grilled chicken parm and chicken Neptune. It took over an hour from when we got our greens appetizer. The chicken on both dishes was terrible quality - fatty and mealy. Like the cheap frozen chicken breasts you get at a store. My Neptune was missing the crab meat. One of my two scallops tasted absolutely awful. Had to spit it out (gross). My husband ate half of it and he thought it had that same chemical gross taste as the ginger ale. Nothing tasted fresh at all. The sauce was bland and way too much on it. My food was swimming in it. The chicken parm had a fake grilled taste and the same bad mealy quality chicken. Very disappointing for what we've heard and read. read more

Strada Mia - Greens were delicious! - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Graduation weekend and service was unbelievably slow! We had five people and waitress tried to make it right by giving us one free dessert for the table? Why not 5? Would not take anything off the bill. When I spoke to the manager, she was more interested in looking at her tablet then listening to me. Unless you just opened, you should be prepared for graduation weekend and the business that comes with it. Terrible!!! read more

Food was delicious! Our server Emerson was so beautiful in her Derby hat! We love it here! Fantastic food!

I am sorry to report I visited Strada Mia for lunch today with a group of six. We just began eating when all of the sudden we saw a mouse run across the floor. The first mouse was a big fat boy followed by two other smaller ones. The three mice began eating what appeared to be crumbs off the floor under an unoccupied table. I hit my glass with my fork they ran off for parts unknown. OMG... We notified the wait staff and they just chuckled and walked out into the kitchen. None of the staff ever mentioned what we had seen or addressed it in any way...ugh. Just creepy....not sure we will visit again? read more

Impressive environment, lackluster food. Same experience multiple times. Don't let the fancy menu, glasses, and Chef name on menu fool you! Either they step it up or I'll never return. Friendly waitress though, get it hunty! read more

Calamari is highly recommended! Very classic Italian food:) we have lasagna and shrimp scampi as main dishes. Very delicious!

2.5/5 Stars. The establishment itself was nice. However the food was not very good at all. We had 3 medium rare steaks all cooked well. Chewy, tasted burnt. Even the chicken riggies were cold!!! Would not come back unless it was strictly to drink. read more

Food was good. Not mind blowing, but good. Service was stellar which is to be commended during this tome

Good bottle of wine Excellent calamari Very good bread and dipping oil Good enough service that could have been a bit more attentive but not poor. Wife thoroughly enjoyed Linguini and Clams Fra Diavilo, dozen good sized clams, right spice in the sauce, good portion size. Veal Neptune on the other hand not worth the $30. Menu lists crab meat as ingredient, none to be found, scallops still had tendons on them, most of the shrimp were not completely deveined. Roasted garlic cream sauce was flavorless and lumpy and there was way too much. While the veal portions were good sized, they were gray in color, looked with they were steamed or boiled, no sear or any indication they saw a hot pan. Pasta was dry in the middle of the plate and had not been mixed with sauce. Overall a very disappointing meal that will not be ordered again. Not our first visit and we will likely be back but Veal Neptune will not be a choice or recommendation. read more

The family minus 1 kid went to this restaurant as a couple of the downtown restaurants were packed because of downtown dining week. We were greeted in the parking lot by a gentlemen that had an umbrella for us, very nice touch. The waiter was friendly and quickly took our orders. We ordered greens for an appetizer and they were terrific. The mains consisted of a pasta bowl, my daughter thought the meatballs were excellent. The chicken Alfredo was generous with portion size and was seasoned well, a solid dish. The chicken saltimbacco was excellent, great sauce, generous portion size and plenty of mushrooms. Excellent food overall. The only thing keeping me from giving this place 5 stars is the waiter took 22 minutes from the time we finished to come over and ask how everything was and offer to go boxes. A little too long for me. I will return... read more

Horrible service! And the food was definitely not worth the price. Food tasted like it was made 4 day's ago, never going back i told all my friends and coworkers how bad it was and to never go there last but not least the drinks are way over priced! read more

3.5 stars: Veal Parm. Wedge Salad we shared fried calamari chicken righties & filet Mignon everything was clean, the hostess, waitress were very patient kind & listened to what we needed & wanted. The portion for me was enough to get a take home container read more

Food: B- Service: Solid A Atmosphere: B- Sat in at a table in the bar area. Drinks were excellent, food arrived on time. The TV's are so big and bright it felt like a tanning booth. Very attentive service. Food was just OK for the price. Comically over-sized entree portions. Not sure if the security guards in their black leather jackets were reassuring, or a grim reminder that we could be in a sketchy neighborhood. read more

Environment is nice. I've been before not a regular but will go few times a year. This time was by far the worst experience. Sauce on both pasta dishes were watery, service was subpar - had to ask for bread. Only good part of the evening was appetizer and drinks. Disappointed and probably last time I go. read more

Nice atmosphere! Calamari was one of the best! Very flavorful and crisp! Not too oily. The bread was cold but the dip was awesome!! Neptune was great tasting with the shrimp and scallops, but the chicken wasn't good. Tasted like it was boiled! Could have done without. The filet was very flavorful! All in all good food and comfortable atmosphere! Service was great too!! Very attentive! read more

We were a party of 6, and all six people loved their plates. Favorites were shrimp scampi, fried haddock, bacon wrapped scallops, and the fried haddock special. Entree's were in the $20.00 range and drinks in the $10.00 range. Considering the quality of the food, the price was a bargain. The facility is upscale yet comfortable. The service was a well deserved 20%. You get a lot for your money here. So here it comes... Al says; You gotta eat here! read more

Amazing menu and specials from a renown Chef make a dinner here more than special. We were treated like royalty with portions large enough to feed the kingdom. The sautéed pork chop dish -- to die for! And do not miss Chef D'Amore's greens. Never had them better! read more

This is a 3.5 star place. Excellent service. Just okay food. Nice place for a date. Gluten free options (Gf penne pasta, gf entrees, gf breading for chicken/veal parm!!!, 4 gluten free desserts!!). I would come back. read more

Strada Mia - Big portions! - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Exceptional service, I've never had a better staff and waiter! Portions are huge though and some plates can be split between up to 3 people. Came here for my graduation dinner and the place was nice and despite others being there it wasn't too loud. Overall great experience. read more

I went here the other night with my partner. The atmosphere was semi-fancy and romantic. There is bread with olive oil seasonings which tastes great. My partner had the salmon which was cooked to perfection and super moist and soft. I had the swordfish which was amazing and played beautifully. I also tried the clam chowder which was really good surprisingly considering I'm not a big fan of it. The waiter was very attentive and polite. Really excellent wait staff. There was even someone cleaning off cars outside due to the snow falling. Am for sure going back another time. read more

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My husband and I went here for a date night recently. First time at this restaurant and we had a deal/certificate to use. I was happy to see the restaurant had great Yelp reviews, so that was a relief. At 6pm on a Thursday night the main parking lot was almost at capacity (there was another overflow parking lot as well). There was a security guard there to greet us and open the door of the restaurant for us. The inside decor was classy. We were sat towards the back in one of their more private dining tables. It was a little chilly back there (AC on high) and other diners commented on that as well. We ordered the Utica Greens and Calamari as appetizers. Both were delish. For our entrees, my husband ordered the tuna sashimi and I had the spaghetti with meatballs. We both enjoyed our meals. We also ordered the 6 layer chocolate cake. We ate half of it and boxed the rest for our kids. It was dry without any whipped cream or ice cream to balance it. The restaurant and bar seemed pretty busy. Our waitress was friendly, but not very attentive. Service was slow. And that's too bad when we have someone watching our kids - we couldn't do our planned errand before heading home. Overall, food was pretty good and reasonably priced, but service was slow. read more

Strada Mia - Tuna sashimi special with seaweed salad - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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We had high hopes for Strada Mia. We had heard great things, and looked forward to visiting this restaurant for a while. Unfortunately, we were let down, tremendously. THE GOOD: the ambiance is great. Location isn't ideal, but they really did a good job with the bar - it's beautiful. Their outdoor area also looks terrific, although we weren't out there at all due to the cold. THE OK: My Chicken Riggies tasted really good. Unfortunately, they came out barely luke warm, definitely should have been hotter (our friends' riggies were borderline cold). Wasn't the only issue with the food either - my fiancee said the clams in her Linguine w/ Clam Sauce dish were chewy and basically inedible. THE BAD: Service. Absolutely terrible. We arrived at 7:05 for our 7pm reservation for 4. We were told to go get a drink at the bar, as our table would be ready in "just a few minutes" (despite there appearing to be open tables in the dining room when we arrived). About 15 minutes later, we asked the hostess about our table, and see seemed to have forgotten about us, and sent us back to the bar. A few minutes later, a different hostess finally came to seat us. As we walked to our table, I counted numerous other open tables. Once we were seated, the terrible service continued. Our waitress, although nice, seemed to have no absolutely idea what she was talking about. She was flat our wrong in her description of multiple items on the menu (riggies included). We also were catching up with our friends, so naturally, it took a few minutes to review the menu. It wasn't an absurdly long time (probably less than 5-10 minutes), and yet she came by and asked us for our order 3 different times before we were actually ready to order. It just felt like she had no appreciable experience and was unable to tell by our body language that we were obviously still looking at the menu. Overall, we were disappointed and probably won't be back unless we're dragged there by friends or family. read more

Secured parking, great front patio, nicely appointed barroom with hi-top tables. Our second visit for dinner. Started with the large antipasto, which fed three of us with plenty to spare - fresh romaine lettuce, artichoke hearts, olives, cones of provolone and salami, grape tomatoes, onions, and pepperoncini, dressed with just enough vinaigrette (but the waitress brought extra so my son could dunk his bread). Had a sausage and broccoli rabe ravioli in a fresh tomato sauce - cooked perfectly al dente and the filling was not processed to death, you could tell the sausage from the greens. Good spaghetti and meatballs for the kid. Everything was fresh and flavorful, and the service was top notch. This place has become one of our favorites, certainly well above the glut of mediocre Italian restaurants in the Syracuse metro area. read more

Strada Mia - Veal chop special with baby Brussell sprouts with bacon. Simply delicious! - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

This was our first time dining here on a recent Friday night. First impressions: upon parking you will note there is 'security' in the parking lot and then again at the front door. They were friendly and must be an added touch to get some people down here who may feel this isn't the best neighborhood. We walked in without reservations around 6 and were told that there wouldn't be a table until 7:45/8- which was fine, we understood that there might be a wait, so we headed over to the bar. I was surprised at how busy this place was! I hadn't realized that this was apparently the hangout spot for many in Syracuse. We found a spot at the bar and ordered drinks. The wine list was good with lots of options, and the cocktails were average- all the ingredients were right but the making of the drink wasn't top notch, but nothing to complain about or order a new one. We decided to order an appetizer as we had a long wait. After reading the reviews online everyone said the greens were great. But before we even got our app they had said our table was ready, (we waited for no more than 20 minutes). We were sat in the back corner, reminded me of a love cove haha- 4 private little rounded booths. A tad cold though- for it being December they still had (what felt like) the air conditioning on and blowing right at the booths (bring a sweater). Our greens were delivered to the table and they were delicious! If you're not a fan of garlic these aren't for you as there are large chunks of it in here, but for us they were just right. Not to liquid-y, seasoned perfect and the right amount of breadcrumbs. Our waitress was very nice, a tad forgetful, but her personality made up for it. We ordered the sausage and broccoli rabe stuffed raviolis with a garlic & oil sauce which were awesome! The sausage and broccoli rabe were well pronounced, and flavorful. The second main dish was the Chicken Alfredo. The sauce was good, but the dish should've had roasted red pepper in the name as that was the most pronounced in the dish. The chicken was so moist and tender that we almost thought it was turkey or something. Overall a nice experience. Ambiance was good, wine list was extensive, friendly service and food was yummy. We will be back to try more dishes. read more

Our party of four all agreed that the Mia greens were delicious; however, the main course of veal Milanese was tasteless and dry. The heavily, breaded veal was not tender and tasted like it was fried in old grease. Calamari was also very tough and bland. I find the quality of food to be inconsistent at this establishment. read more

Had a buttery filet mignon and green beans that were cooked perfectly. Waitress was attentive when in front of us, but took off for long periods of time. Coffee was very very good and I'll be sure to come back to try out some of the other dishes. Too cold in bar, so next time I'll bring a sweater! read more

Strada Mia - Italian Near Me - Syracuse, New York

I enjoyed my dinner, but there were a few things that didnt work for me. I enjoyed the calamari, very good. Also ordered the shrimp scampi, which was good, but a little too lemony for my taste. They had a special that came with a golden beet rissoto. I love rissoto so I ordered it as a side. It was pretty disappointing. The golden beets were kind of bland. I thought they would be sweeter. It tasted like they used regular white rice, it was too mushy and there wasn't the rich flavor that a risotto should have. Service was fantastic. Our waiter was super nice and polite, very attentive. The restaurant looked nice as well. I would go again, taste some of the other dishes they have to offer. read more

I don't live in this area anymore but on a recent visit friends invited me here for dinner as I was missing the good Italian food I grew up on. This place did not disappoint. We ordered a bruschetta appetizer that was tasty and bread comes to the table with this awesome garlic oil. We loved it so much we ate it all. For dinner I had a seafood dish that came over pasta. It was so big I had leftovers for two more meals. The service was prompt and friendly. The prices were a tinge high for the area but I felt they were worth it. I will be back when in the area! read more

Great Italian food in a lovely setting. We've been there twice & both times the wait staff was very accommodating. Prices are reasonable and there is a very nice wine selection too. read more

I have been here twice and both times had very good food and very good service. Nice selection of craft beers and fairly standard Italian food for a fair price. I would have given 5 stars but this place lacked wow factor. All the dishes are standard Italian with not much outside the box (and Syracuse has tons of standard Italian food). It also replaced a restaurant (Gentile's) that actually went outside the box with their food. read more

From start to finish, fantastic. Starting with the service, everyone was incredibly nice. The door was opened for us and were greeted warmly. The hostess sat us very fast and where we requested. The server, he was amazing. Some of the best service I've had. For the food, zero complaints. The dipping oil for the bread was incredible. We ordered the fried calamari to start. While it wasn't unique at all, it was prepared perfectly. The addition of three dipping sauces was a great touch. For dinner, we had a little bit of everything. The meatballs are amazing! Sausage was perfect. Chicken parm was excellent. And the garlic bread, so good. The only complain is the location. And I'm sure they know that. Had some loud passerby's. One swearing at her dog. That was unfortunate. We also had a patron next to us that had some pretty off-color language, but I wouldn't put that against the restaurant. Loved it. Will be going back. read more

The food is too salty, scallops wrapped in bacon tastes rubbery/overcooked and the steak which i asked to be medium rare is so rubbery and dry. Tho our server was nice, i didnt expect myself to be dissappointed. We didnt get to enjoy the food, very pricey and not worth it read more