Montauro Ristorante

I went to Montauro’s for the first time on a Friday to take advantage of their Spaghetti with crab sauce. I had fond memories of Crab Chilou in earlier days, and although I knew the crab was not going to be in the shell, I was looking forward to the wonderful taste that crab gives a tomato based sauce, cooked for hours to develop flavor, then crab added for eating. Well, I guess I’m going to have to make it myself, because the meal disappointed me in most every way. The sauce lacked any depth at all, and the crabmeat was so shredded and tasteless, it could have very well come out of a can. To make it even worse, the spaghetti was so mushy, it was only a couple small notches above Chef Boyardee spaghetti in the can. Whatever happened to al dente? The parmesan cheese was poor quality and I couldn’t really taste it. I use Parmigiana Reggiano freshly grated at home, but this was worse than Kraft out of the can. My boyfriend had the Spaghetti and meatballs, which should be the very core of how ‘Italian’ the food is going to be. Two large meatballs were served, but he said they lacked flavor as in no garlic or herbs. The sauce was flavorless as well, bright red in color, as if it was not simmered for hours to achieve any depth. Strangely enough, his pasta was cooked al dente. I will mention that he did grow up eating his grandmother’s and aunt’s authentic Italian cooking, so he should know what good Italian cooking is, hence why we usually never go to an Italian restaurant, until now, that is. There were a few good things justifying the 2 stars, and that is, the friendly service by the son of the family owned business. Also the unusual but welcomed serving of a deliciously prepared Veal cutlet that was served with the salad that was tossed in a nicely balanced Italian dressing. We could have skipped the tasteless basket of what was supposed to be Italian bread with tasteless marinara sauce for dip. I will say, they make a very good cannoli. We also enjoyed our own byob wine with no setup or corkage fee. It’s a good thing we dined with a large table of friends to make it a nice evening out.

Excellent and authentic southern Italian food where you can chat in Italiano with the owners. Love this place! Molto bene‘!

Last night my husband and I decided to try Montauro since we found a Groupon and it is one of the few BYO in the Tampa area and we were not disappointed. Although quite honestly if your looking for an upscale fancy restaurant this is not the place to go. It is a very old looking place that is definitely in need of a makeover. However, if your looking for a small, terrific Italian home cooked meal, this is your place! Sal was very sweet and helpful and the food was delish! Of course as everyone has mentioned previous the salad and veal cutlet was amazing! I ordered the eggplant parmesan and my husband ordered the veal parmesan and we were very satisfied with both meals, they were great! I guarantee you will be pleased with this choice. Have a great meal!

Feels like home. I absolutely loved this restaurant! I went here because I bought a Groupon for it. I had read the reviews and was not sure what to expect. It’s located in a weird spot, behind a shopping center on West Tampa Bay Boulevard. The parking lot was pretty full when we got there around 8pm on this particular Friday night. Upon entering, we were told to sit wherever we wanted. Here’s the rundown:
ATMOSPHERE: The main dining area is divided into two rooms. One room seems to be designated for large parties (there was a birthday party going on during our visit). The room up front has about 6 tables for four people. Floors are concrete and the lighting is dim, which I LOVE! There are various art pieces on the walls and the kitchen is small. It is completely visible and you can see the action while your meal is prepared. It was very quiet and simple which was really authentic. I truly felt like I was dining at a family member’s home!
MENU: Small menu which covers Italian basics, but such great quality. I like a small menu because I personally feel that it shows the restaurant specializes in certain dishes. Plus it’s easier to make a selection! We were served a basket of bread and clearly homemade marinara to start. Delicious. Next up was a salad and the notorious veal cutlet. The salad was super tasty (loved the dressing) and the veal cutlet reminded me so much of a cutlet that my mom makes! I ordered the penne with ricotta and marinara… AMAZING. The marinara is truly authentic. A bit sweet and kinda runny which tells me this is not from a jar. I can’t wait to come back and try something else on the menu.
I really need to talk about the family that owns this place. They are absolutely fantastic people. An older man (Sal I am assuming!) came to our table to take our orders. Such a kind and wonderful person! We had some vino and he checked in on us often. By the way, you can bring your own wine here and there is no corkage fee. I felt so welcomed here even though I was brand new to trying it out. You can really tell that this family loves running this restaurant. My Groupon was readily accepted without question.
Please, please, please go and give them a try! I highly doubt you will be disappointed. I wish there were more restaurants like this. So authentic!

I’m going to be honest, I found this place on GroupOn, not Unilocal.Yup… I had to first get that out. Even though it wasn’t a Unilocal discovery, Montauro does not disappoint one bit. This little Italian hole-​in-​the-​wall is a perfect place to grab a bite to eat, bring someone on a date, or even have a friendly get together. It’s located on the corner of a shopping center so you might have to do a bit of navigating to find it.
Let’s start off with the service. I don’t even know how to put it in words that this place makes you feel like you walked into a little shop in Italy. The restaurant is owned by this family and it seems like the entire staff is family run (I could be wrong, but that’s the vibe I got). Everyone was speaking either Italian or Spanish to each another and it just transports you, seriously. I’m not sure if I need to speak more highly of the staff, but they’re really friendly and charming.
So after reading other reviews, you’ll probably read a lot about this whole free cutlet and free salad thing. And yup, they’re right. You get a massive free cutlet and a good-​portioned, well-​seasoned salad. This is all included, along with bread, in your meal. Now to any normal human-​being, this already is a meal itself. But hold up. Let’s dive into the actual meal next.
If you’ve survived this far without passing into a massive food coma, then you’ll get to enjoy a few bites of your main dish. We each ordered the spaghetti and it was pretty decent. It tasted pretty homemade and the pasta was cooked perfectly. I heard great things about their Crab Sauce, which I regret not trying. This only means I’ll be back again!
It’s a cozy little restaurant that sets the right ambiance and pairs it with delicious food.
tl;dr — Forgot your passport? Well just come down to Montauro for a complete Italian experience inside your own little Tampa Bay.

Upon my fellow Unilocalers reviews, I decided to try a local, authentic Italian restaurant. These seem to be few and far between in the Tampa area. This small, mom and pop (and I mean that literally, the owners are husband and wife) restaurant offers quality Italian food.
Upon walking in, I felt like Sal was welcoming me into my home. A truely happy man, welcomed me with a handshake and sat my friends and I. After receiving our drinks, a large platter of Italian bread and marinara sauce was brought over. Once we devoured that, a house salad with an amazing Italian dressing was brought for each of us PLUS a finely pounded chicken cutlet. The cutlet was unbelievable. It was flavorful and breaded to perfection.
For my entrée, I had lasagna, which was a decent portion. I honestly was so full from the bread, salad and cutlet, that I could’ve taken half of the lasagna home.
Believe me when I say that you will not leave here hungry or feeling that the portions are small. The prices are great, with entrees ranging from $ 11 – 16. The location is small, located inside a stip plaza, but don’t let the location or outside façade fool you. The warm and inviting owners will make you forget you are in a restaurant but more that you are shaking their hand as you leave their home dining room.

I have been searching for an authentic Italian restaurant for years, and I finally found it! We celebrated my son’s birthday at Montauro’s, and it was less like a meal and more like an event! Joe, our waiter and son of Libby and Sal, did everything possible to make us happy. The food, from the bread with dipping sauce, to the wonderful salad and veal cutlet appetizer, to the perfect main courses, just could not have been better. We were able to bring our own wine, and we were not charged a corkage fee. Cannolis for dessert with a touch of sambucca finished things off with a bang!
The hospitality and warmth of the staff pushed Montauro’s to another level, owner Sal came to our table and serenaded us on the accordion! We truly felt like we were sitting in their kitchen, not their restaurant.

Simply the best Italian food I’ve had in Tampa and top three overall meals. It’s the perfect combination of ambiance, personality and service.
Every bit of food is phenomenal and I could not recommend any pasta in Tampa more than the linguine with garlic and olive oil. The same using broken pasta and broccoli a close second.
Genuinely the definition of a hidden gem.

This is a wonderful family owned and family run restaurant. Not only is the food very good, they know how to treat their customers and the service is excellent. We felt as though we were being served by our family members. It doesn’t get better than this.

Great family owned restaurant. Warm, family atmosphere with really good food. Don’t leave any food on your plate because Sal will get upset! Super nice man. I prefer the thicker spaghetti noodles prepared al dente instead of the thin spaghetti noodles. However, this is a small complaint for the excellent dining experience here. My husband ordered the lasagna, which even in mom and pop places is usually only ok. It was very good. I was pleasantly surprised. The house red wine was excellent. Be prepared to spend a longish, relaxing meal there. We had a Groupon, and it was accepted without issue. We will return even without a Groupon.

Chris W check in here often. It is almost like his gone home to his mom cooking. As a result I have to check it myself. First thing to do is not to follow the google map. It take you close to the location but still one block away. They are at the intersection of Tampa Bay Blvd and Tampania Ave. They are not at the Armenia and Tampa Blvd. they are one block west of that intersection.
At Friday night they serve the special of Spaghetti in Crab Sauce. This is a very yummy dish. It is sauce with crab meat with it. I would said lump crab meat. I saw the cook carefully put the sauce in the plate. They already premix the spaghetti sauce for you. You just need to dig in. It also come with good fried veal cutlet. It is a meal for two or one hungry person.
This is an authentic Italian restaurant. The only thing I can find wrong is the restaurant need to ventilate the food oil in the restaurant. It will not be good after the meal and try to hug your date. It smell like food. And it make you hungry again and want to eat your date:). I would said this is a very good value meal.

Sal & Libby Procopio have a terrific little family-​run Italian restaurant located in the Winn-​Dixie shopping center at the corner of Tampa Bay Boulevard and Armenia Avenue. This shopping center is best-​known by Unilocalers as the home of Happy Fish, the Peruvian seafood restaurant, but with a little digging I think you’ll be very pleased to add Montauro to your restaurant repertoire in the Armenia Avenue area.
Now the only trick to the restaurant, is knowing where to find it in the shopping center. If you turn in from Tampa Bay Boulevard, you’ll see a Sherwin-​Williams paint store in front of you. Montauro is to the left, and slightly around to the back of the shopping center. If you enter the shopping center from Armenia, then head to the Sherwin-​Williams store, and wind your way back around behind the shopping center. Montauro sits in a small building behind the paint store.
Montauro is a small Calabrian town in the province of Catanzaro, Italy. It is located on the ridge of a hilltop approximately 400 meters above sea level on the Gulf of Squillace, and it’s the hometown of Sal & Libby.
Montauro is a simple café-​style eatery serving very traditional homemade pasta dishes with an abundance of red sauces and meatballs. The menu is spaghetti and penne with marinara sauce and homemade meatballs. You’ll also find linguini with olive oil and broccoli, stuffed shells, lasagna, and veal or eggplant parmigiana.
Sal happened to be sitting out in the dining room visiting with a regular customer when I walked in, and he greeted me very warmly, like a long lost family friend. Grandma was back in the kitchen, preparing each meal from scratch, and to order. Everything is homemade, and they are rightly very proud of the food that they serve.
Your meal starts with a complimentary basket of fresh bread and a cup of warm marinara sauce for dipping. I very highly recommend that you also order one of their Italian salads which is a very tasty tossed green salad, *AND* a breaded veal cutlet, pounded very thin, and absolutely delicious. That is their unique /​signature twist, and it’s well worth the additional food.
The plate of pasta that I ordered was huge, and I was able to take some home for lunch the next day. The entire meal of salad, veal cutlet, spaghetti and meatballs was about $ 15, and I was able to stretch my dinner into two meals.
When I left I got a hearty handshake from Sal, and hugs from the ladies in the kitchen. Super nice people!
Thanks to Chris W. for the recommendation! Montauro is now one of my very favorite restaurants in the Tampa Bay area. A family-​run small business that is cranking out some great Italian food!

A hidden treasure. Small menu. Mom n pop place. Sauce is wonderful. Anything you eat is amazing. Libby an amazing cook and her Husband Sal is so cute.

Tonight, December 29, 2015, at approximately 7pm. We have been several times in the past, in November we went for my birthday! And we were very happy with the food and service. We love the owner (the father, Sal) is sooooo cute! He played music for us and sang. It was fabulous.
Well we were very very disappointed with today’s service and meal.
First of all there were 4 adults and 3 kids. We ordered. I only ordered a small salad with the cutlet. My son ordered linguine with broccoli and so did my sister.
The salads came for everyone and I never received mine. So my son and my sister did not like the pasta with broccoli. She didn’t like the linguini all cut up its like it was for a child. And it was all mushy and watery. We told the daughter (our server) and she took it away. She never came back to refill bread or drinks. Never asked if she or my son wanted anything else. The bill was given to us. I told her I never received my salad. ]??? I said NO!!! So I told her forget it. I ate my sons salad and veal cutlet. It’s delish!!!
My thing is… customer service two people DID NOT EAT and one being a 5 year old child. It was. It right not to be offered another menu item and then for us TO PAY FOR IT!!!
I even questioned it and she said well that’s the way my mom makes it sorry she did t like it. What kind of crap is that. So awful… so two people leave without eating dinner. Rude and So mean.
I’ll have to think twice about returning even tho we’ve been there and always loved it.
Sooooo upset and disappointed because my son is hungry now AND WE PAID FOR FOOD WE DIDNT TOUCH! Not even offered a replacement goll
What do you think? Am I overreacting?!!
Thanks montauro!!!

You know this Italian restaurant is authentic when you walk in and are greeted with a handshake by an older gentleman named Sal and whose wife, who might be in her late 70s, is the cook. And the son is also there to support the family restaurant.
The menu is limited so that they can focus on quality. I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. Shortly after I ordered, they brought over bread and their homemade marinara sauce. Shortly after that, I received a salad with a huge veal cutlet, which was great and ALL COMPLIMENTARY! I was questioning how I’ll be able to finish my entrée. As I was eating my salad and cutlet, I was listening to the family «argue» in the kitchen in Italian. Kinda funny… wish I knew what they were saying. True Italian family…
My entrée came out and it looked perfect. I dug in and really enjoyed it… so much so that I told Sal that I wished there were more meatballs. 3 meatballs is better than 2, right? But I didn’t have much of a complaint as it was around $ 8 for everything. Very good deal especially considering how tasty it was. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly and I liked the «thickness» of it. It’s not your ordinary spaghetti out of the box.
All in all, an interesting experience… Sal even joined me at my table to chitchat. I’d recommend this place if you’re looking for a hole in the wall authentic Italian restaurant.

This mom and pop Italian restaurant is a hidden gem. Service is excellent and it always feels good to support local businesses.
The lasagna is one of the best dishes on the menu, but my favorite was the yellow squash parmesan. It’s not usually on the menu, but this gluten free dish is OUT OF THIS WORLD!
So, if you are looking for affordable, AUTHENTIC Italian, served by a family of Italians, this is the place for you!

My family and I have been going here since I was a child and it is always delicious — literally everything on the menu is amazing — homemade, authentic, and crafted with love. The warm, friendly atmosphere and welcoming family vibe feels truly like being in my grandmother’s kitchen. My favorites are the ravioli, stuffed shells, and eggplant. You can’t go wrong with this little hidden Italian gem.

This is the very definition of a local family business and well worth it if you are in the area. Tucked away in the back of a strip mall, if you aren’t looking closely for it, you might miss it. The menu is small and the prices reasonable, but the food is delicious. Everything is made from scratch, so be prepared to wait for a little bit.
One of the unique aspects of the menu is a veal cutlet that comes with every salad and every entrée comes with a salad, so no matter what you order, you will end up with a sizable amount of food.
If you are lucky, the father will be there and you can chat with him about the old days in Italy while you wait.

I first learned of this place when they catered a play at Carrollwood Cultural Center a few years back. I had the golden opportunity to join the cast at their cast party here.
I was enchanted with the reception, the service and the friendly family that met us at the door.
The food was exceptionally fresh, hot and delicious.
The atmosphere of being in a family dining room with a joyful group of Italians cannot be had ANYWHERE in Tampa.
This place ranks SIX stars in my heart.
Hug and Kisses to Libby and her family for caring so much that it shows in every dish and every smile that greets the hungry diners!
Denise Collette

First time here and I’m in love. It’s so hard to find good quality Italian food in Florida and this tops my list for any Italian food I have tried in the Tampa Bay Area so far. The atmosphere was so quaint and home style «mom and pop» style. You feel like you’re sitting at home with your family with the aroma of the food from the kitchen and the red table cloth with bread in the center as a complimentary appetizer. Each dinner comes with a salad and a good size veal cutlet, delicious all the way around. I ordered the stuffed shells and the ricotta cheese was so fresh, which was refreshing from the processed stuff you pick up at the supermarket.
For dessert we ordered a round of cannolis for the table which were OUTSTANDING. Honestly the best I’ve had in a very long time. The staff was incredibly friendly and the manager himself took our order and brought our food out. Needless to say my boyfriend and I definitely will be back numerous times so we can get our Italian home style fix!