Cucina Fra Diavolo

I went there the other day and a roach came crawling onto my table! I was so disgusted that I left without even eating! Nasty!

It’s amazing how divergent the reviews are! To me it’s almost like folks are rating two completely different restaurants. As a full time Florida resident who lives in the neighborhood and has eaten at Cucina fra Diavolo many times over several years, the latest being lunch this afternoon, I strongly side with the favorable reviews.
This is a family owned and operated local restaurant, and, yes, the majority of its patrons seem to be mature so heavy seasonings are not employed, but the food is still delicious and plentiful, not to mention as reasonably priced as you’re going to find. Over the years their dinner set-​up has changed from an extensive Italian menu to a fairly diverse, single price, all-​you-​can-​eat Italian buffet to the current arrangement of a varied selection of price grouped entrees such as chicken, fish, veal, eggplant, etc. starting at $ 9.95 and going up to $ 14.95 or so, each of which includes pasta or vegetable, unlimited minestrone soup and salad bar, warm bread, beverage, and dessert. A limited selection of entrees is available for lunch but still coming with all the extras for a mere $ 6.95 cash. As for the service, I’ve yet to find anything worth complaining about, and if you want more sauce on your spaghetti, just ask for it.
Honestly, I don’t know how you can beat this place for good and plenty neighborhood Italian food at a very reasonable price. I highly recommend it, and you know I’ll be back often.

The breakfasts are very well priced: a 3 egg omelet (I get the Greek) with hash browns, a large variety of bagels and as much coffee you want.
Also, the lunch buffet with unlimited soup and salad bar, an entrée (we get chicken parm, beverage and dessert for $ 6.95! Great food at a great price.

I’ve seen this restaurant advertise every week, and it seemed like a reasonable deal, so a group of us finally tried it.
Cucina Fra Diavlo is in the corner location of a strip mall. It’s not particularly attractive on the outside, and the décor inside is not much better. The hostess and wait staff were friendly, attentive, and very accommodating.
The early bird menu includes a small but nice salad bar and a soup kettle. The items on the salad bar included lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, string bean salad, olives and croutons, with a variety of dressings. The soup was a delicious minestrone, tasty and hot. The waitress served a warm delicious crusty sesame Italian loaf with butter.
We ordered the eggplant parm, chicken parm, and eggplant florentine, all with penne. The portion sizes were surprisingly substantial, and very tasty. On the negative side, the penne was a little watery, not hot, and didn’t have enough sauce. The sauce was good but not great. Our dinners also included beverages and desserts. We all had ice cream, yummy spumoni and creamy vanilla.
The dinners were certainly well worth the money. Some of us even had leftovers. If you’re looking for a fine dining experience this is not the place for you. I’ve had slightly better Italian food in the area, but their prices were way higher. This is a nice, neighborhood Italian restaurant, and I would definitely go again.

I am going to rate this 2 ways:
First with the service: We went there on a Sunday morning for breakfast and we called ahead to see if they catered to children with nut allergies. They said yes we do and you can talk to the chef as well. When we got there the hostess was beyond rude and then it got worse. We sat at the table and explained to our waitress that we called and gave our concerns about nut allergies. We simply asked to talk to the manager and she said he was busy but she could bring out the ingredients which when she did it clearly said made in a factory that produces peanuts. We then asked if we can have them microwave a pre packaged eggo pancake and then the waitress stated you cannot bring food for us to cook here as it is against Florida health code. It is a pre packaged item that needs to be microwaved and you cannot do it. Now I definitely want to speak to the manager, which I asked the busboy to get the manager and our waitress walked out and said I am the manager. That’s not what you said 5 minutes ago. This place should be called Butana fra diavolo worst service ever and for that reason I will NEVER GO BACK.
Second with Food: You can’t screw up an egg but this whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Don’t listen to the older reviews. We just went with a party of 6. I had the salmon. I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the biggest piece of salmon served at any restaurant for a very low price too. I was able to get lots of tomato sauce too. Prices were very reasonable too particularly for an Italian restaurant.

Came here with an older crowd.
My mother’s friend ordered veal, medium-​well I believe.
The first time the veal came out, it was totally rare. It was sent back.
The veal came back to the table. The inside was totally pink/​rare.
My mother’s friend asked for something else.
The owner/​chef came out and accused my mother’s 75 year-​old friend of lying about the meal being uncooked, and told her he would not serve her another meal.
A verbal argument ensued.
This made for a very uncomfortable and unappetizing dining experience to say the least.
The food I ordered wasn’t even good. Would never return.

Went for breakfast and what a disappointment. The food was greasy, server was unattentive. Just a bad experience overall. All three of water glasses had stuff floating in them. The eggs were burned as well as the bacon and hash browns. The sausage patties were soaked in grease and the pancakes were so thin they didn’t even taste like pancakes.

My boyfriend and I thought we would try a new restaurant tonight, one which was off the beaten path, and basically ‘unknown’ within the community. Walking into the establishment, it was fifty percent full, at nearly eight pm, on a Tuesday night, which, to me, means it’s a popular place. This was not, as I discovered, based upon any of the qualities I consider to be «good» when seeking my next great meal.
As we waited to be acknowledged, I looked around and saw that every single other diner in the place, was at least sixty years or older, causing me to wonder if they had remembered to set their clocks to «spring ahead» a few days ago.
We were seated and given menus, though the waitress did not return to take our drink order for several minutes later. In fact, it was actually close to ten minutes, as I had gone to the restroom, returned, and basically memorized the entire menu, including the breakfast section, before she did.
I asked if they had a ‘house pino noir’ which she eagerly and hastily, while looking around the room to see if any other tables were summoning her, said they did. I ordered that, and then proceeded to give her our entire order, fearing that if we did not do so at that moment, she may once again, vanish for parts unknown.
The food came out hot, and was plated well, though it was nothing to write home about in regards to flavor. Perhaps the chef was trying to be conservative in his flavoring of the dishes, since it was obvious that the majority, if not all, of his guests were ones whom spices would most assuredly upset.
I was satisfied, all in all, with the food, service, and ambiance of the restaurant UNTIL my boyfriend asked for the check and found that we had been charged for a premium glass of wine (yes, it said premium on the check, not house), which by no means, was anything but. At eight dollars a glass, or should I say half glass for it was not a true pour you would think that they would at least TELL you what they were serving you.
When asked about the chef, the waitress told us that it was actually the chef’s son, and that he was not as good of a cook as his father, the owner, who was off on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She went on to further state that were we to return, we should «make sure» to NOT come on Tuesdays or Thursdays since the owners son was a hot head, and didn’t care about what the customer thought regarding his food.
Well, we will see if this business is still around in such a cut throat area, where word of mouth is everything and other venues are always ready to take away your customer base.

Good food

My mom read a review of Cuciina Fra Diavolo in the paper, so we decided to check it out. The prices can not be beat at this place. They have an early bird special. Natch it is Florida! For $ 12.95 or $ 13.95 (I forget which), you get soup, salad, an entrée, a side dish and a dessert! The portions were huge! I had chicken francaise and it was one of the top ones I have ever had! The waitress was very nice and attentive. It was not crowded, but then again it is off season. Great deal and great food!

Excellent service & great service. The hostess sat us quickly & took our drink order while we looked over the menu. I normally don’t like Eggplant but my sister wanted to share it, omg the eggplant parmigiana was very tasty! My husband had the Chicken Parmigiana & to our shock said he was full & still had plenty to take home. Meals include a drink & dessert, so my husband choose the cannoli & loved it! We will definitely be coming here again.