Sapore Italian Cafe

A great dining experience at Sapore tonight with my family!!! I was a bit nervous about bringing my 7 and 9 year old with us to dine… but, was pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received from the owner (Paul) upon arrival and throughout our meal.
We were seated in a lovely secluded area near the bar area and were promptly attended to. The kids both ordered spaghetti and meatballs (and fresh veggies). The adults both ordered the Sea Bass Sicilian-​style. The food was delicious and so were the cocktails/​wine!
With my gluten and dairy allergies, I am always nervous about Italian cuisine. Not here, they prepared everything perfectly!
Looking forward to going back to Sapore soon!

Their website said they close at 10:30, so I showed up at 9:30 to find out they had closed their kitchen already. They said they close when it is slow. I will try again.

Stopped by for a quick lunch on the sunny patio. The lunch menu looks more like a dinner menu, full of heavy dishes, cream sauces, lobster ravioli, etc. I was surprised that even though they have a capellini dish it has a tomato sauce. Nothing light with an olive oil drizzle, for example. I don’t know about you, but I can’t eat a chicken Parm with a side of pasta and then go about the rest of my day.
That said, I did have a most-​delicious bowl of zucchini soup. Large chunks of fresh zucchini with a bit of orzo in a light tomato base. It was seasoned perfectly, and was accompanied by a few slices of some really tasty Italian bread — soft inside and crunchy outside.
There is a substantial regular wine menu, plus a reserve list if you like paying $ 60 or more per bottle. My server was prompt and professional. I look forward to trying this place out for dinner at some point.

I enjoyed my experience here as the food was prepared very well, the ambiance is very nice and the staff was friendly. I was seated right next to the entrance unfortunately but it was the only table available in the house so that can’t be a bad sign. I will try to return in the future.

We’ve been to this restaurant many times over the years, both in the former location and the current Kirkwood location. Always had a lovely meal.
Dec. 19^th, we had 7PM reservations for my husband’s birthday, party of 5. We got there at 6:55. The hostess let us know as we walked in the door that, «the people at your table haven’t left yet.» Okay. That happens. No problem. So we all grabbed a drink at the bar. Then it was 7:15, 7:30, 7:40. The hostess disappeared, we never ever saw her again. No, «jeez, we’re sorry, here’s a glass of wine or an appetizer on the house». Absolute FAIL in customer service. Finally we decided to leave. As my husband paid our tab, the bartender said, «Oh you’re being seated,» to which my husband answered, «No. We’re leaving.» And that man literally shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
Good food. Lovely atmosphere. Will never ever be back. Will never recommend it to friends. I get that we aren’t the only customers around. But they sure aren’t the only Italian fare in STL either.

Looking forward to having my birthday dinner here. We came to Sapore for the first time over two years ago and still had the memory of a perfect dinner in our minds. I ordered the shrimp scampi again and it was better than I remember. It comes with veggies but I ask for pasta on the side. The artichoke appetizer is exquisite. Perfectly fried and topped with salty prosciutto and smoky mozzarella. My husband loved his fettuccine. It was light and lemony not heavy and cheesy like other restaurants serve it. We finished with a light and crispy creamy cannoli. Perfect!

This is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in this area. I think the food is consistently good. Although it is not an extensive menu there are plenty of choices for anyone. During the sprinG and summer months the outside is a wonderful place for drinks and appetizers or a full dinner.
I highly recommend the Sea bass which is my go to entrée when I am not
I’m the mood for a more traditional Italian entrée. Other favorite is their risotto which is a hearty portion that could be split. OuR service has always been good

Thought the food was very good. Thought the service was terrible. Was made to feel like we were being a nuisance by having to ask for everything they didn’t seem to have any idea we would need or might want. I thought our waiter, Lloyd, was particularly standoffish and made us feel like we were keeping him from something more important. I tried to talk my party into giving him a bad tip, but was outvoted. Will not be back. Shame really, like I said, the food was actually very good, but the experience was a huge disappointment.

Food was very good. It sucks that a side salas doesn’t come with the entrée, but I recommend ordering one anyway.
The service could have been better. I got the impression that our presence inconvenienced him.

After reading the other reviews, I’m frankly wondering if said reviewers ate at the same place as I did tonight. There is definitely handicap accessible parking, the table service is gracious to a fault, and the food is neither overpriced nor overcooked. I took an in-​law here, and we were delighted at the menu and atmosphere. Between the lobster ravioli, the calabrese salad, her eggplant risotto and my seared chicken in marinara, we had a lovely time. Only complaint is the dessert, and I’m mainly complaining about the lack of tiramisu. Definitely a place we’ll be back to.

Sapore is a very nice restaurant with a friendly and attentive staff and some of the best bread in town. I would describe it as French bread. My daughter ate probably 6 pieces of it. I’d feel guilty about that, except there is no kids menu here or appetizer she would be interested in. At a place like this, they often throw out some suggestions, but our server didn’t offe any. Oh well, she had some of our chicken and steak, so it worked out fine.
We had the calamari appetizer, Chicken Marsala and seafood-​stuffed filet. The steak was by far the highlight, which makes sense, since it cost more than twice the price of the chicken. The meat was just exceptionally tender, one of those «melts in your mouth» steaks we very rarely come across. The calamari was pretty chewy, but nicely seasoned. I like when it sits atop flash fried spinach and the marinara was excellent. The chicken was fine, and a value at only $ 16 — one of the cheapest entrees on the menu. Not a small portion, either. The sauce was really good — I had to sop it up with the great bread — yum. Both entrees came with green beans and potatoes on the side. They were fine, nothing special.
We also got a special chocolate/​vanilla/​cherry ice cream dessert that came in a dark chocolate shell. Wow.
I’d like to seem some more ordinary pasta dishes on the menu, like cannelloni or ravioli. I thought it was strange they had a meatball appetizer, but no spaghetti and meatballs. I guess these items are kind of boring, but none of the pasta dishes really jumped out at me, at least not tonight.
Overall, though, a very positive experience. I’ll say 4 ½ stars. We’ll try it again.

Wish I could rate 6 stars. Everything is great here, service, presentation, quality. The menu is great as it is but the specials are equally amazing. Lobster and shrimp stuffed filet cooked to perfection, I mean come on, that’s not even fair! This is my second visit for a romantic date and couldn’t be happier.

This is by far the BEST Italian restaurant in St. Louis! The owner and the staff are very knowledgeable of the wines and the food. The Seabass is unbelievable as is the lobster ravioli. We had a drink at the bar before dinner and had Kelly as our bartender and she did a FABULOUS job. We have been back here several times and I highly recommend this place for lunch or dinner.

Best meal we’ve had here!!! He had scallops and I had Shrimp with Arrabbiata Sauce.
Thank goodness they served it with a spoon so I could get every last drop. We were here on a late Tuesday evening. So it was expectantly pretty quite. I would have given it 5 stars, but the television in the bar would have to have been silent. Other than that tidbit, it was awesome. Ambiance, deliciousness, and great service by Lloyd!

I think the best way to describe the place is that it wants to be your go-​to place for fine Italian food and dining experience w/​o making the investment in the kitchen. The older crowd seemed happy, but anyone else is likely to be disappointed. Menu is lacking, service is clumsy and its just not worth the money. Sorry guys, I hoped for better.

The food was really good. The restaurant clientel is on the older side. The calamari was good. I ordered one of the specials and was a little shocked when the bill came. I did think the swordfish was good but $ 35.00 is a little steep for a piece of fish with two asparagus and three red potatoes. I should have asked the price and didn’t. I will never make that mistake again. The wait staff was good and attentive. The hostess played on her phone and watched TV while everyone else ran around which is not an okay thing to be doing. I guess she is related to the owners and can get away with it. After we were done with dinner, I saw a woman at the bar in a white coat and asked the people at my table if they thought that was the chef. One of the older male waiters seemed to take offense to what I said and stopped and sort of scolded me stating that yes that is so and so and she and her husband are the chefs. Well, first of all, I was not talking to you and I wasn’t saying anything bad about them, just wondering if they were the chefs. It was weird. I don’t think I would frequent this place even though it is in my neighborhood. I just got a weird vibe and thought it was unprofessional for him to enter a conversation that he was not a part of. Going out to eat is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. I liked my food but could not wait to get out there.

We first visited this restaurant at the Ballwin location and fell in love with their food, not to mention the atmosphere and service were wonderful. We had tried a few weeks back to walk in and try for a table and they turned us away, we were not impressed with the way they handled that, but we wanted to give it another try so We were excited to take our employees to the new location to introduce our newest employee to our group. We made reservations and could not get in before 8:00, we were seated in the upper level which is fine, not a fan of the stairs and it was warm up there. After ordering wine and drinks and listening to the specials we noticed they changed the menu from the other location, only 2 fish selections if you call shrimp a fish selection, but I would say a nice variety of veal selections, probably ²⁄₃ of the menu. A few minutes later our server comes out to tell us they have completely run out of VEAL! We all had to let that sink in… What? Out of veal at 8 pm on a Saturday night. Ok so of course the men revert to the filet special, a 12 oz filet stuffed with crab $ 34.00. I asked myself… are you out of veal, or are you having trouble selling the filet? Our table purchased 3 filets where I know they were looking forward to a good veal dish.
On the good side, our server handled the situation very well, we joked around with him but hey, what are you gonna do? Our food was prepared perfectly and everyone enjoyed their food, which makes me want to give them more stars, but hey, you cant run out of your main menu item!
The new location has a very large patio we were looking forward to visiting, but I’m not sure we will go back. The inside atmosphere is also very nice, downstairs though would be my preference.

So many Italian restaurants over do it with putting cheese and lemon sauce over every piece of breaded meat but not here. We had seafood risotto and Tutto Mare and veal cutlets. All were so very delicious as were are our salads, the wine reommended by our waiter and the limoncello sponge cake was out of this world fabulous. I sure hope they are open for lunch I can see myself coming back many many times. Didn’t care for the waiter Josh, he’s arrogant and unprofessional.

We met friends here for a glass of wine. We bought a bottle of Hess Cab and shared it. The owner brought over a second bottle that was opened and poured it in our glasses. Impressive! This was very generous of him. Even though we had only drinks, we will return when in St. Louis and have dinner there.

I went there for lunch on ¹²⁄₁₁ and I had special dietary requirements that they chef was more than happy to accommodate. The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the price was very reasonable for lunch. I would highly recommend.