Puccini's

Waited 3 hours and our food was not even being prepared yet, we decided to leave and overheard our server telling everyone we were being nasty! We were not rude just decided we could not sit any longer!

Please make this your next weekend reservation, food is wonderful, atmosphere is a personal experience and the BYOB policy is a nice change up to paying for overpriced cocktails. I enjoyed the Branzino special, amazing to say the least. My friends enjoyed their meals as well. Don’t miss out on the salad for an appetizer, even if your not a salad person, its so good. We also met quite a few regular couples that come every week, take that at face value for the quality and service of Puccini’s.

We had an Excellent experience! Great Food and enjoyed "Tableside" Chef's cooking & meal prep! I'd say, "EaterTainment at its Best"! Fun!

This is a 5 start review of reviewing the review section. Can't say I have eaten here yet but seeing the owner very passionate about defending against rude customers makes me want to give it a try. Passionate about the business usually means the food is spot on.

Tourists come here all the time for the exceptional food but it has some real downsides as well. To wit, seating is reservations only and even so people are crammed into an extremely small space (nevermind the pandemic) to the point that the restaurant is completely inaccessible to wheelchair users and others with disabilities, including me. The lighting is extremely poor, the service abysmal and the prices exorbitant. Perhaps worst of all, after spending all that money, you have to bring your own wine or other liquor. The restaurant only serves water, forget carbonated products or even cold or hot coffee. If you bring coffee, however cold from transporting it yourself, (they don't even have a microwave in which to reheat the coffee) you do get free dessert but you have to ask for it. Servers do not simply tell you about this. Several fine restaurants in and around Sarasota serve complete multi course meals with at least the same quality with much better ambience and service, as well as from scratch menu choices. I rate it a three because of the food itself. All entrees are prepared on premises by an experienced chef. A very lucky few sometimes get to watch some part of his preparations, at least in ordinary times. The menu is different each night with limited but exquisite choices. Despite this, I will not return. If the food were any less tasty, I would rate it a one or two. Update: I've been debating over a few months whether to write this. The owner answered this review in a very sarcastic tone. He said, (I'm paraphrasing) so the food was good but when people fail to cater to your needs, you write a negative review. Now I'm writing a more negative one. The service was so poor as to make the night unenjoyable. The seating was uncomfortable for those who sat with me. I was using a very small transport wheelchair and still had trouble fitting in. It was so dark I couldn't read the menu. Half of a dining experience is the service. If they value their customers as minimally as their email to me seems to indicate, their arrogance alone would make me reluctant to patronize their establishment. Kid-friendliness: It is absolutely not a place for children. There would be absolutely nowhere for them to move in very little tolerance for anything. Wheelchair accessibility: Not only is the restaurant inaccessible to the point of being cramped even for people without mobility impairments but there's no way that someone in a wheelchair whatever be able to get to where you have to go to be able to watch the chef cook. A person in a wheelchair can't get to the bathroom, let alone into it. As regards vision impairment, and worse, forget anybody bothering to read it to you or tell you what's on it.

The best of what a family owned restaurant can be.

We had an amazing evening and awesome dinners! Thank you Eric and Julie

Food was fantastic chef and staff very friendly and accommodating.Great atmosphere, appetizers and desserts. Will definitely go back again. This was our fourth year of Superb eating.Stan and Gayle from Valparaiso Indiana

Celebrated my Birthday at Puccini's and our group had a wonderful experience. The service was outstanding, the food was delicious, and we enjoyed being able to watch the chef! We will be back!