I would say a 1 for service, but food was good, not great, so I say a 3. Averages a 2. Haven't been there in years thought we wound go. Originally seated us in a busy corner when half the restaurant was open I asked to move so they did. Short version. Slow disorganized service. Waitresses were talking and laughing for the whole time loud with some cussing. I felt like I was in a low rent diner. Our server said "no problem" 50x. Didn't smile. Very unprofessional and sloppy service. Apparently there is no training whatsoever. Very small wine glasses. Won't be back. Going to Bella Italia next time. read more

Jayden was the best server/hostess. She made my family feel welcome and made us feel comfortable. We never had to need for anything. By far the best service we have had at this place. We will be coming back hoping all the service is this great. The food was all served together so we didn't have to eat one by one. Our drink were never empty. Thank you jayden. read more

My friend and I went to Strings for lunch last week after not having been there for over a year or two. I had heard it was under new ownership and wanted to try it. It was great! The salad, as always, was very good, very fresh and plenty of it. The two entrees we got were delicious; my friend got a salmon balsamic dinner and I had the pork gorgonzola. Both were delicious and there was plenty to take home for later too. I'm glad that it looks like this business is making a real come back. I had been disappointed the last time I was there because it was so cold in the restaurant that I couldn't think about anything else and there were a couple of flies that just drove us nuts..... and it's such a nice, cozy little place that it was a real disappointment. The first thing I noticed this time was that it was warm and cozy.... and not a fly in sight. Everything was great so do not hesitate to go have a meal there. Bring friends! read more

My whole family is obsessed with the seafood bisque soup served at strings, and we love the bread and artichoke dip as well. The food makes up for any shortcomings of what sometimes seems to be a short staffed restaurant. We are definitely big fans! read more

I came here with my husband for are anniversary dinner and our waitress Jayden was great she recommended the calamari and shrimp, which was amazing! And overall I had an amazing experience at this restaurant. read more

Everything was perfect my family went for the first time with me and everything was flavorful and the staff was very kind and attentive to us they were always checking up to see if we needed anything and when we asked for something they brought it right away no need to wait or have to ask for it more than once we will be back soon to try different plates read more

This was my first time coming here as my fiancé has had great experience in the past from their Turlock location, but was closed down. She was very excited to know there was one here so we decided to go with my folks. I had to say it was amazing. The service was good and the wait time was acceptable. My order was cooked really well, the salad was fresh and the bread was fresh. My folks enjoyed their meal and my fiancé loved her food. I was pleasantly pleased and I recommend coming here. :) read more

What were they thinking during remodel. They used full spectrum lights, way way to bright. Good lights for water boarding someone. Instant migraine. Instead of 5200 Kelvin, use 2700 for softer colored light. read more

I have eaten at Strings several times over the last ten years. But the food and service I got today was terrible I ordered Fettuccine Alfredo and the noodles were way under cooked. Not tender as they should be. The server never came back to my table to check on me after he served the food. I certainly expected better. Will I return?? Maybe next year if they are still in business. read more

Great food (especially since you can order from the old menu)! Always friendly, courteous and appreciative. Great service and I've been going there for years. The new owner is a true delight and I would recommend this restaurant to everyone. Be sure to top off the meal with their ice-cream Lasanga! Amazing! read more

Made reservations for our party of 11, we ended up being 9 and of course they were fine with the last minute change. First I want to say the food was off the hook good! The only food complaint would be the soup was cold. Everyone in our party said this will be their new italian food spot. BUT here the BAD - horrible service! Almost bad enough to not go back. The waitress from the very beginning was just off. We explain over and over we wanted italian soda without cream. It came with cream and she forgot another person soda. Instead of apologizing she made excuses. She forgot someone's soup, made excuses. Bread was slow coming out and had to ask a few times. When our meal came out a few people needed forks we had to ask several times. We askes for a split check and she was really annoyed and it was felt by everyone at the table. She brought out the checks and never came back. We had to take the check up to a different waitress and for peocessing. Not that out waitress was around, she was cleaning up filling sugar, rolling napkins we xould she her. She just never came back until we were ready to go. The I think the worst was right before we were leaving we asked for an italian soda to go. All good and it was made right. Then one of the people in our party had never tired it before -after tasting it, they asked one to go also. The waitress sighed...really I guess we were a bother. When we asked for another one she swore we didn't pay and had to pay twice. So we paid for 4 Italian Sodas but only got 3. :( The waitress name is Alicia, if you get her ask for someone else or come back another day!! read more

I'm going to go out on a limb again like I did for the OG and say, I don't care what anyone thinks, I just LOVE their soup and salad combo here. It's cheap, tasty and quick, just like me - wait, what? I wouldn't go as far as to say I love it as much as the Olive Garden, but it's a close second for sure and I never have to wait at Strings; I can't remember a time when I wasn't seated right away. Whereas at the OG I'm always handed one of those buzzer thingies. Yet another place I frequent when I come home to the Mo. read more

Another great place to eat while in Modesto with a terrific family style salad bowl, think Olive Garden but much better. We took my mother-in-law out for lunch meeting several others from the family. We all loved the selections and service. Try the soup and salad combo or one of the delicious Italian dishes. Highly recommended. read more

Strings Italian Cafe - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

Horrible food, horrible service, Dirty restaurant. Ash the manager was terrible ! Don't waste your time or $$ !!!! Prices in the restaurant were higher than on website. Food looks nothing left me the pictures !! False advertising and all around yuck yuck yuck ! read more

Going there tonight! Hope their microwave is working well ! Nothing like a little 'radar love', to make the precooked everything taste better! Post Visit: review, I ate the fish, told not to drown it in fat, butter and grease. It was Basa, simple but fairly tasty. No elevation of any of the dishes served to our table. Its still popular, but I really don't know how many covers they do in an evening. Actually, we took home a lot of the pasta, cooled it and then rinsed it off the next day, made our own home made tomato sauce and it was pretty nice with a good pecorino over the top! Would be really nice to have a real Italian in our town. Having to go up to Il Fornaio in Sacramento is a chore! read more

Well... the breads always good here. Everything else was pretty mediocre. Ordered some chicken & shrimp penne pasta with alfredo sauce.. i think.... topped with a "hint" of curry. When I got the pasta.. it was pretty much marinated in curry.. pretty overwhelming.. couldn't taste the other sauce. The salad wasn't that great.. we left it pretty much untouched. Sampled a potato from another plate.. bland. Our server didn't refill our breadd.. negative. read more

Given that you can count the decent Italian Cafes in Modesto with one hand this is one of the better ones. It does border or corp food but with a flair for the better end of Corp. The service is better than average and the food is worth coming back for. Pros: Good food and balanced menu Quiet atmosphere Fast to the table Cons: Corkage fee $10 Some items not Avail on desert menu (thus the 3* and not 4*) The bread used to be pizza garlic now it's just a warmed pizza dough with flavoring read more

If I could put no stars I would ! Horrible food and this place is just dirty , had cobwebs all over the fake ivy and paint coming off the walls . With enough staff standing around at the bar you would think they can clean up this place. It was my husbands and I first time coming to Strings in modesto and once we walk in they sit us in the kitty corner away from the dinning area , could we feel even more excluded !..... to make a long story short our bottomless salad came drenched in dressing , yuk ! Our bread taste like pizza bread not garlic bread and as for our chicken dinners both dinners came out soupy and gross ! It felt like i was eating chicken out of a can ! Not fresh what so ever ! ........DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY !!!!!!!!!!! read more

I called in a pick-up order for the Chicken Parmesan and Lasagna Pastry. It was ready in 20 minutes. Staff was friendly and food was well packaged and stayed hot. Both entrees, along with the salad and bread, were excellent. It's great to have "dine-in" food available to take home especially for those of us hesitant to dine out but want to support and enjoy our favorite restaurants. read more

delicious! i have not been to strings in YEARS but today i went with a large group and i was so thrilled with every bite i put into my mouth! a friend and i split chicken piccata and the pasta sienna and ohhh man, DELISH!!!! loved the curry in the sienna and totally loved the sauce for the chicken! wasn't super impressed with the pasta marinara that came with piccata but whatever, had everything else going in so i was cool! AND the bread ..soo yummy! delicious salad too! ohh and we MAY have share the kahlua dessert and it also rocked! let me be honest, i have always kind of been skeptical of strings because the last time i went (as i mentioned before, it was years ago) i was not impressed but i ate my words tonight! it was bomb! ALSO! Keelie, our waitress, totally the best and super helpful! i am a HUGE water drinker and she was right there refilling without me having to ask , i LOVE when waiters do that! read more

I love this place! Been coming here for years! Great food, large portions, and they have take out! 10X better then that crap you're eating over at the olive garden, try this instead I promise you won't be disappointed!!! read more

The service was pretty slow. My chicken fettuccine alfredo was very bland. It was similar to pasta roni... But, they do have delicious bread. read more

We went there for the first time last night. The salad and bread were delicious. We had the Italian Pizza which had a distinct and most enjoyable flavor & texture. We will definitely go back there again. The only criticism was that the service was just a bit slow. The waitress was working hard, so it seemed to be a matter of short-staffing. read more

Eh, everything on the menu looks great and for the prices ($16+) you would expect great but the flavors are mediocre. The service was better than average and although the place was dated, it was clean and comfortable. One thing I can't stand though, is deception. We had a mediocre experience at the Manteca location but when we saw free kids meals on Sunday, we figured we would give it another try. Unfortunately, this deal only applies if you mention the discount when ordering- it's an every Sunday (after 4) deal but you have to say that you want the kids meal free when you're order... But you don't know this unless you... See this review maybe, or perhaps you were ripped off before and still decided to return for their mediocre food...I didn't see that "fine print" written anywhere. This is just really upsetting. It's not worth fighting them for $5 but I can guarantee there isn't a promotion out there that will get us back in there. For the same prices and WAY better food (not to mention ambiance), I'll be sticking with Bella Italia... Yummmmmmm! read more

We had a wonderful meal early Friday evening. Service was courteous, prompt and friendly. The restaurant was bright and clean. I ordered the chicken parmesan and the wife fried ravioli. The creamy Italian dressing was super. The seafood bisque was to die for. Both entrees was served hot and fresh. Both were excellent. Portions were perfect size. We left full, but didn't have a bunch of leftovers or wasted food. This was our first visit, and we will certainly be back. read more

So we went here really early afternoon walk in all the staff our talking together about something I had no greeting they seemed confused why I was there ? So when someone finally acknowledged me I placed a to go order foods ok great bread but don't think I'll go back in this time you should be giving awesome customer service read more

Was not impressed. When I got there I was not acknowledged. After finally waiting to get my to-go order which was lasagna and soup so I'm finally came to ask me if I had an order. When I ended up getting home and opening the box it was filled with a quarter of lasagna and a quarter of fettuccine alfredo. For the price I was not impressed with the serving sizes or the quality. I will not be spending my lasagna money here anymore. Definitely not worth the price for a night's meal read more

Great customer service and had a great waiter. Sat down and staring eating right away :). Happy and will be coming again in the future.

We celebrated my Dad's birthday here on a Saturday night. I felt compelled to write a review just because the staff was so attentive and friendly. I liked the huge family style salad we started off with and everyone enjoyed their entrees. Seems like a popular place, every table was full. But the gem here was the staff, they were very patient with our picky eaters. read more

Heard this place was "good" and I can't stress enough how horrible the food and service is. The waitress was like a child she never picked up our plates that were dirty. Brought bread after we sat down for 30 minutes I'm not a picky eater but I REALLY wanted lemon butter sauce w noodles and chicken this lady brought me idk what in Gods name it was tasted horrible so I asked for lemon butter sauce to put on top she brought me melted butter w lemons seeds in it. I legit only made this account to tell anybody coming here what to expect. Good luck coming here because you'll leave Unsatisfied and frustrated. I really wanted dessert but my waitress gave us the check and walked away she never came back to even get it I had to give it to another waiter. If I could give zero stars I would. read more

Strings Italian Cafe - There's the dirty dishes that stood on the table the whole time. - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

String's was a surprising place, I had no idea there was a little Italian restaurant in that building this whole time. It's kind of a cool little place, probably not a great place to go on a date because there seemed to be a lot of children. The service at strings was exceptional, very good looking hostess and waitress who were very polite and had great smiles on their faces. Service was prompt and before I knew it I had food in front of my face. Their seafood bisque soup was pretty good, nothing amazing and they actually had very good bread to start off, I was almost full before I even had gotten to my meal. I ordered the shrimp and calamari, this is where my experience went down hill, the pasta and sauce on the side was extremely bland, I'm surprised to see such a little laid back Italian place that seemed like they used cheap Alfredo sauce from a can, that is a huge mistake. If your sauce is homemade then I have no idea what the hell you are doing to where it has NO flavor. Second the fried calamari steak was not properly fried, it seems like they didn't fry it an optimal temperature because it was soggy and had a greasy taste to it, the shrimp on the calamari steak was absolutely delicious, probably some of the best shrimp I ever tasted. There was a bit of sauce that was on the calamari steak and shrimp that was phenomenal, it made eating the calamari steak tolerable, I couldn't quite put my finger on what that sauce is made of but if you cooked your fried calamari properly and made good Alfredo sauce then the dinner would have been to die for. Their Italian soda was really delicious as they actually put cream in it (some places try and cheap out on that) I don't know if I'll be back, the price of the food didn't match up with the quality of it, if you guys can step up your food game and keep the service as it is then you couldn't keep me away. read more

I went there on Friday 8/13/2021 and the customer service was horrible. I normally don't leave bad reviews at all but I got takeout and my food bags were thrown around in front my eyes 3 times by one of the waiters (don't know her name) she had long curly hair. I remember when there customer service was superb! On top of that the food was horrible! I remember when their fettucine alfredo was exquisite but this time it was not which was shocking because I've gone there for years. I called them immediately and told them the food was not right and I got less than the portion size but the lady on the phone was like " I don't know what to tell you." I won't ever be going there again. IMO I always thought there pasta was better than Olive Garden but after that day I will choose to go somewhere else. read more

Wow !!! What happened to the food in this place. It used to be decent . Today was plain awful!!!. Ordered shrimp scampi. Shrimp came out raw and no flavor at all. Straight out from freezer to plate Disgusting. Server was told and was cool at took it off check. Can't complain about that. My girlfriends plate came out and again shrimp was raw. Must been a bad day for cook or they just can't cook frozen shrimp at all. Again server was told came back and comp us food. The bottom line the food was awful!! read more

Strings Italian Cafe - Underdone and translucent shrimp - Italian Near Me - Modesto, California

Service is not the best. I have been a server bartender for most of my teens into 20's and can't say first hand that this sucks. Food was pretty great but will never return just due to the poor service. Was slow and server just kept walking by is the whole time. Had to keep asking for things. Really felt like she just didn't care about anyone and that we were a inconvenience just for being there. read more

I would like to say this the best dinning experience of my life. I had ordered the meat and cheese Lasagna. The wait was exceptionally well, and the bread was magnificent. Once our waitress brought the food down from the Heavens to the table before us the most beautiful song in this relm played. Con te partirò sung by the amazing, Andrea Bocelli. As I took my first bite with the songs of angles I began to cry in momentous joy. This was the greatest experience of my life. Oh and I was hella high lol. read more

I love their salad & minestrone soup! Great! Now for the entree - I havn't found anything on the menu that I really like. I prefer Bella Italia, their pasta primavara with Romano sauce (which is marinara mixed with alfredo) is delicious!! My husband likes the pep pizza & the kids like the speghetti & penne with marinara, so when we go here I just stick with the soup & salad. The house dressing is great! Try it! read more

This is actually a 3.5 review. It had been so long since I had last been here, maybe 3 years or so. Its definitely one of those places that you remember being nicer than it actually is. The menu has changed drastically, they used to have all these great pizzas, now they just have boring pepperoni. Also, its a bit over priced. Heres the breakdown: Bread - 4 stars Salad - 2 stars...the same exact salad that is at Olive Garden! Entree (sienna pasta) - 4 stars I was pleasantly surprised by the pasta dish, it was delicious. If they could revamp their menu and interiors a little bit this could easily be a 4 star place. read more

Food was not great at all. It tasted as if it was all meshed together. Nothing in my PRICEY DISH Stood out. The service was awesome though. There are other places very close to this restaurant that I would recommend over this place. read more

I have been going to Modesto Strings for almost 30 years. I have always enjoyed their food and service, taking family and friends to enjoy their tasty items. Over the last couple of years, I have noticed an unpleasant change with the service as well as the food. Because of this, I stopped going as frequently. Since COVID has caused a huge hit for us all especially small businesses, I thought I would try the restaurant again. I took my son and a friend there at the beginning of December and it felt like old times. I went again this week and the food and service were excellent. I had the Eggplant Parmesan and my son had the Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. They were both excellent! The customer service we received was excellent also. I spoke with a waitress and asked if there had been any recent changes. She stated they were under new management and the new owners were working hard to ensure the food was top notch as well as the service they were providing. I'm so glad I gave it another try and love the changes that have been made. I highly recommend Modesto Strings! If you, like me, stopped going as frequently or stopped going completely, give them another try. You will not be disappointed. read more

This is the second time I have tried to eat at this location and it is over half an hour prior to posted closing time and have been denied to be served. When I asked if I could at least place a take out I was told the kitchen was closed yet the front door was unlocked?....horrible business practice and will definitely not be eating here EVER and will make sure to tell all friends and family of the poor service!!! read more