Salento

Absolutely wonderful. Food & service excellent
It is BYOB. Which we didn’t know
They need to add that note to te website

Perhaps the worst of the Italian BYOs in Philly. There is not one aspect among food, service, ambiance, and experience that surpass mediocre. I have taken Salento off the list of places I will go, and have even not gone to a friend’s birthday dinner to avoid the inevitable dining disappointment (of course, I did meet up with the gang later on for drinks).
Salento is a place that fills up each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening with college students, boxed wine in hand, attracted to the cheap priced Italian BYO for a cheap plate of pasta to compliment the Franzia. It is a perfect place if you fit into crowd who thinks «any food not cooked in a microwave or from Wawa is gourmet» or «it it has a white table cloth, it most taste great».
Then there are the stories that nearly everyone of my friends has, which follows the skeleton of «This drunk girl» and «The Waiter» and might as well include «What happens in Vegas».
For those looking for great food, great service, or a great evening, the many other restaurants that make up the Philly Italian BYO scene may be a better bet. If you are at Salento, and do need to find something decent, just get a standard Penne a la Vodka.

Ahh I love this place. Easily my favorite BYO in the city — great food, great atmosphere, great staff.
My parents come here a lot and I tag along often, it’s a great place for practically any occasion — we have come here for family dinners, big parties (you can rent the back room), small parties, ladies night, and even a few dates. The food is always wonderful and the waitstaff is pretty accommodating for any weird food things (I don’t eat carbs six days/​week a la slow carb diet and they always make something delicious for me).
I find it impossible to resist the burrata cheese or grilled calamari appetizers and usually get both to share. As far as entrees go, I’ve never had one I didn’t enjoy but they have hands down my favorite ravioli in the whole city and that’s usually my first choice. I have had ox tail ravioli with porcini sauce, veal ravioli with a creamy bechamel, and last weekend I had a fantastic lobster ravioli with some delicious sauce, I don’t know what it was but Andi (waiter) will explain everything.
Desserts are also fantastic — I constantly crave the flourless chocolate cake thing with raspberry sauce, and my sister will inhale the tiramisu before I can take two bites of mine.
Once you get your plate, you probably won’t want to share it, but Salento is a great place for family style meals as well — my family will often order a few apps and entrees and just share everything.
I’ll be back soon I’m sure, we never stay away for long.

This pasta made me emotional. It was so perfectly al dente that I got nostalgic for Rome and almost started crying. The waiter asked how it was, I said, «Fucking amazing.» He said, «This is a family restaurant» and ran away. Sorry I’m not sorry.
This pasta is so fucking good.

Great BYO, ok food. Service leaves much to be desired.
As a student in the Philadelphia area, I’ve visited Salento many times for BYOs (it’s one of the most popular BYO destinations). However, I really wish that BYOs could take place at other restaurants given the sheer mediocrity of the restaurant, as well as its high prices.
Though it doesn’t really matter if you are drunk, the food at Salento is only ok, particularly when prices are consistently $ 20+ for entrees. Dessert is delicious and the BYO experience is good, but I haven’t had an entrée here that I’d consider worth the price. The food is well executed in preparation, but nothing special.
The biggest beef I have with Salento is the service. For some weird reason, I’ve only ever been served by one waiter, a young guy who is an absolute creep with the girls and a jerk to every guy at the table.
Also, due to some sort of B.S. policy, you HAVE to order an entrée. One of my friends only wanted a salad but was barred from doing so because that «violated policy.» Whatever happened to «the customer is always right»?
Salento’s can get pretty rowdy, especially if there are other BYOs there (and there often are). For that reason, I would only suggest coming here for BYO purposes, not for simply dinner.
Tolerable as a BYO. But there are far better options.

I came here with a friend for an early dinner on a hot Tuesday night and we were seated right away. We were originally going to go to Seraffina but after all the 2 star reviews on Unilocal,we had to pass. The restaurant was clean, and spacious and the service was good. For dinner I ordered the arugula and grana padano salad which was light and refreshing.
For my main course I had homemade pappardelle pasta with shrimp and broccoli rabe which was very good as well and my friend had the orichette and duck which was good albeit salty. Not the best all-​around Italian in the city but certainly not bad. The prices are very reasonable and the quality of food is fresh and good so its definitely a good reason to go back.

Good Service. BYO! The free bread they give you is not the best, but the tomato pesto that comes with it is GREAT!!! Great pasta specials. Gnocchi is okay. Duck pasta dish is decent, but oily. I had a pasta special recently with shrimp, beans, tomatos, and etc, which was delicious. Clean flavors. Cute décor.

There’s no real reason to spend a lot of time on this. Run of the mill, serviceable BYO Italian. Straightforward stuff.
You can equate this to La Viola. Probably best for groups as the dining room can be moved around easily, prices aren’t bad, and anyone can find something they can stomach on the standard Italian menu.

The biggest plus of this restaurant is the friendly service. The food was not that great.
The arugula salad was fresh, but nothing special. For the pastas, our table tried Linguine Aglione, Linguine Alla Pugliese, and Spaghetti Bolognese. The portions were huge, but the sauces were bland.
Sorry to say but for the money, I would rather go to Maggiano’s.

I went to Salento last Saturday with a groupon. I called and left a message earlier that day around 2 to make a reservation but didn’t get a call back so I called again at 5:20pm. I was then told that they would have to check to see if they could fit us (party of 2) in at 7:30. They called back a half hour later saying they could squeeze us in at 7:15pm but that we most arrive absolutely no later than 7:15pm. My friend and I rushed and arrived at exactly 7:15pm and were seated promptly. To our surprise, about ¹⁄₃ of the room was empty. Even when we left around 8:30pm, at least ¹⁄₃ of the tables were still empty so I don’t I understand why they almost turned us down for a reservation.
Once we arrived, the service was excellent and we had a great waiter.
Portions were very large. The grilled calamari was delicious and cooked perfectly. I ordered Linguini alla pugliese (mussels, calamari and shrimp pasta) and it was very strange. I have to agree with the other comments about this dish– the sauce was bland but thick and just simply strange. The sauce was so thick that I couldn’t even tell if the mussels, calamari and shrimp were any good. It was a very disappointing sauce. My friend ordered the chicken dish and that was much better.
Overall, I think there is much better Italian in the city.

PROS: Great service, cozy atmosphere, good quality ingredients
CONS: Greasy, mediocre flavor
The food is okay — the flavors are ordinary, lacking any wow-​factor. Almost all entrees come sitting in a shallow pool of olive oil…

If there something that’s not lacking in Philly, it’s great, italian byob restaurants. There are so many of them that I think Salento got lost in mix somehow. Tucked away next to a rowdy college bar on Walnut St, Salento is easily missed due to its lack of exterior charm, but makes up for it on the inside. Two large dining rooms are cutely decorated with white tablecloths and rustic italian charm. Food wise, the menu isn’t huge but everything is executed extremely well.
To start, you are given this tomato/​olive oil concoction and rusty bread. It was so good, I had to exercise strong self control to save room for my meal. We split the decently sized mozzarella and roasted vegetable appetizer. The cheese was very fresh and had great texture, — you could tell they didn’t just slice this off one of the blocks from the supermarket. The vegetables were really fresh as well and came with this awesome sauce (roasted red pepper maybe?). For entrees, I got the penne with a roasted eggplant and tomato sauce and ricotta salata. A very simple dish, but the sauce rivaled my grandmother’s. Hopefully grams doesn’t read Unilocal… My friend got the orichette with duck which was very good as well.
Prices are slightly higher than some BYOBs in the area (13 – 15 for pasta, 18−20ish for entrees) but the quality and portions make up for it. I’ll definitely be back!

I’m having a hard time thinking of a reason why I’d return to Salento. Our server was very sweet, and the crispy artichoke hearts were delicious, but that simply is not enough.
Zack and I shared three appetizers and one entrée. It was too much food.
Like I said, the artichokes were wonderful. The «grilled» calamari, however, didn’t have a piece of char on it and the texture was rubbery with a fishy aftertaste. We did not finish this dish. The eggplant parm was classic, but I thought it was too salty. Little did I know what «salty» truly meant until I tried the «linguine alla pugliese.» This dish was a mess.
It was a pile of pesto linguine surrounded by itsy bitsy teenie weenie mussels, overcooked shrimp (could barely get a knife through it) and calamari, which I avoided. There was so much salt I could feel my rings getting tighter. Zack, who said he was «starving» when we got there, could not finish this meal. We are big eaters, and I hate to let food go to waste. I waved off these half-​eaten plates and asked for the check.

I’m sad to say that my (formerly) favourite pasta dish in the city has gone downhill.
Linguine alla pugliese is not as good as before. Shrimp was sorely overcooked, chewy and actually hard to eat. I usually love shrimp and I didn’t want to finish them at dinner, even though I only got 3. Disappointing.
I’m no longer looking forward to coming back, since that pasta was the main draw for me.

I live right across the street from this unique little joint… took me a year to order in from it… and another six months to actually eat in the restaurant. It is in the «Sunoco Square» neighborhood (what I have dubbed for my «hood»). Also right next to Rosy’s if you would like a cheap beer before you eat next to a bunch of Wharton grad. students (remember your gas mask so you dont choke on the smug in the air once entering the bar).
Salento has a weird feel, as it is rather open air with some funky room in the back that is covered and may be hiding the wizard of oz, but it fits the restaurant. It attracts a young crowd, as I see a lot of birthdays or sorority groups rolling in there. The night I ate there it was mostly groups… but it still was intimate enough for a couple. I think I would recommend this place for bigger dinner parties (7+).
I thought the food was fine and definitely recommend the mozarella dish.
Overall, this place is priced reasonably and would be a good spot to start a night of drinking with friends. It isn’t fine dining, but they don’t pretend to be. They do decent italian and with a smile.

Terrible food + Terrible service = Don’t bother.
I came with a group for a birthday. To start, the waiter we had was incredibly obnoxious and gave one of my group huge attitude about his order. He just asked which dishes were vegetarian! In Salento’s defense, the table opposite us had a great waiter who seemed very attentive; still, this waiter was way over the top.
As for the food, I had the pasta pugilese, with calamari, shrimp, etc. It was probably the blandest dish I’ve ever had in my life. Everyone else at the table ordered something different and nobody really liked what they had other than the salmon. One even mentioned their pasta looked like Easy Mac… for the prices you’re paying, that’s ridiculous.
Even the atmosphere wasn’t great. The music was distracting, switching between Katy Perry and random hits from the 70’s…I guess the lighting was good?

Great dining experience!
Went here with a pretty large group of people (Wharton HCMG) and were sat in the middle of the restaurant in a long table. The décor here is really homey, and service is great, too!
I had a pasta dish with shredded braised duck. YUMMINESS. As soon as I ordered, the waiter informed me that it is their signature dish. There is some sort of broth/​sauce that is really flavorful. Almost tasted like chicken noodle soup but I guess close enough with duck.
The meal ended with a slice of tiramisu (shared with a neighbor). Divine.

With so many nearby options for Italian food, I never would have stopped into this unimpressive-​looking restaurant across from the Sunoco station if not for my friend’s recommendation.
I am glad I did.
We had chicken, veal, and duck, each of which was spectacular. Tasting each other’s dishes, the one we found most amazing was the one we all underestimated. I don’t know what they do to their spaghetti bolognese, but it manages to be exceptional without trying to be anything more complicated than the simple dish it is. I feel like an idiot raving about meat sauce, but damn.
The verdict: the person in charge of the kitchen needs a medal, but the person in charge of marketing should be canned.

Don’t come here for a cozy romantic dinner, because it gets rowdy with Penn kids (some are quite obnoxious. and I can say that bc I went to Penn too). We came on a Saturday night where there were these huge parties of like 25 and they were hassling the staff. Embarrassing.
Food is pretty good — I think we all enjoyed our food, from the arugula salad to the buffalo ravioli special to the chicken to the duck orecchiette. My only gripe is that my orecchiette was a little undercooked (and I do usually like it al dente) and clumped together. And of course it’s a BYO, which is fabulous.
Service-​wise, we had to switch tables 3 times throughout the night (to accommodate for the large groups), but they also NEVER rushed us. That also means they never offered the check until we asked. so we were there for 4 hours. In fact, we asked for either the dessert menu or the check. and they just brought out dessert — delicious chocolate torte and cheesecake! I don’t know if they even have a dessert menu…
Ask for Andy, and he’ll treat you right.

Great casual Italian byo. The décor is not as classy as say… La Viola, but don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Salento has that same Italian hospitality that we’ve all come to know and love. You know what I’m talking about – the old guy who enthusiastically recites the specials of the night, who also flirts with every girl at your table. And then there’s the waiters buzzing about who are always Johnny on the spot with uncorking your bottles of wine. Salento accommodated our table of 10 with ease. Food is great as well, everyone in my party enjoyed their dishes.
Overall, solid experience. Definitely a keeper in my philly repertoire whenever I’m in town.