Ristorante Saraceno

Perfect Italian restaurant, small cozy, great menu, and delicious! My go to restaurant in Boston MA!

Average. As I read elsewhere most of the seats are in the basement. I regularly watched the waiters have to duck to miss hitting their heads. the food was good. Our waiter had a dirty vest with a button missing.

Our favorite restaurant in the North End, recommended to us in 1985!!! It’s like coming home, warm and cozy. The mussels in red sauce is amazing!!!

Great meal and service

We had Sergio for our waiter and could not have asked for better service! The ambiance downstairs where we dined made us feel as if we were in Italy. We were a party of 4, ordered apps and 4 different main course meals with not one complaint! Food is outstanding! We will continue to dine at Saraceno as we have done for years!

Fantastic experience! Food was delicious and it was an authentic Italian feel. enjoyable experience all around

Very good food and excellent service. We were seated in the downstairs room and would have preferred to be seated upstairs on the main level - has better ambiance.

Food is so overpriced! And they skimp on the portions! I got 6 tiny ravioli with 5 pounds of sauce! Complete joke and our waiter never came to ask us how our meal was! Over rated and overpriced! And the downstairs basement is not nice

Excellent food and service. Manager (owner?) very personable and accommodating. The one downside was a very loud party of 7 seated next to us—made my conversation almost impossible. Otherwise, it’s a great place.

I thought the food and service were good but disappointed that the prices on the menu on open table are not consistent with the present menu prices. The prices on open table for entrees were moderately lower than the present prices. Significant differences for appetizers and salads, for example, fried calamari were $9.99 on open table and 19.99 presently. Those should be updated so it’s not deceiving for the customers.

Delicious food served piping hot! Only complaint it the draft that comes in when the door is open. Although there are two doors people checking in or waiting in the vestibule holding the door open allowed for the cold air to come in and create quite a chill.

Very romantic 2nd level restaurant seating. However the hostess was involved im a heated argument with a member of the staff which made the first have of our dinner miserable and very loud. The food was amazing as always. Praise in public and ridicule in private.

Saraceno is one of our staples in the north end. Living just a short walk to the area, we have dine in a major portion of the Hanover St. restaurants as well as many others hidden in the nooks and crannies in the area. Saraceno never fails. It is always consistent, accommodating, and treats it's customers like family. We thoroughly enjoy everything about this restaurant including a great wine list and look forward to each visit.

Great restaurant with great food. However, it’s very expesnice

Waitress took 35 minutes to come to our table to get our drink order. We ordered bread and it came out stale. Had to ask for plates after ten minutes of eating our stale bread over napkins. Being in the industry, I believe that the waitress was nice enough but can’t take more than two tables at a time to give the customer a decent dining experience. Would not recommend as a first date location - unfortunately we will not be coming back.

Came here for Valentine’s day and sat downstairs! The ambience was very cute with statues, wall paintings and low ceilings. It also seemed less noisy than upstairs. The waiter was very nice and attentive prior to ordering, but failed to come back and refill drinks during the meal. He seemed to be waiting on the majority of the tables though. The food was great!

Food and wine were good, service was very slow however despite there being only a handful of people there when we were. It took almost 30 minutes for the bottle of wine we ordered to come.

We have been to Saraceno multiple times over the years. Great experience each time. Food quality is high quality and always served piping hot so you know it's made fresh just for you. Servers are knowledgeable and kind and have no problem keeping my celiac daughter away from gluten.

Great food, bad service

Food was good. Portions were small but not too bad. It was very cold out and people kept opening both doors at the same time and our table was right by the door, so it was like sitting outside. Service was excellent and it was a nice place. We were not rushed at all at the end of the meal. Overall, a solid 4 stars

Saraceno was recommended by a dear friend, Sen. Murray . I thought at first because of her VIP status that she was biased but I was proven wrong. We had the most delicious meal ( all 4 in our party did) the waiters and waitresses were delightful and I didn’t even have to name drop! We sat upstairs, small but very old world charm! The chicken piccata was to die for! We will all be back again!

I had spaghetti carbonara. Should have known better because the menu did mention cream in the recipe, which "real" carbonara does not have. But, this was the North End in Boston, so I thought it might be all right. However, the pork was not guanciale, nor even pancetta, nor even good thick-sliced bacon, but thin undercooked (not crispy) plain old bacon (maybe Oscar Mayer). I ordered it with shrimp-sometimes I do that myself, which was generous and not overcooked. Nor was the pasta overcooked.
But really, for an Italian restaurant in the North End, which has won innumerable awards even recently, I expected a more genuine dish

We had a great time, it was busy and the service was kind of slow, but the food was great.

The worst service. It look forever to eat. Do not come to this restaurant. Also tried jamming 6 people onto a 4 person table when we got there. Trust me...plenty of other places that are much better. Shame too since the food is good.

Nice set up for a group and our waitress was night but the portions were very small and nothing outstanding.

The food was outstanding and reasonably priced, the setting was beautiful, and our server was friendly and helpful. I don’t recommend the escargot appetizer, but the lasagna and carbonara were superb. I will definitely return to this restaurant.

We will never go back to eat poor quality food in dungeon.

The wait staff was very friendly as well as the customers. We had a lovely evening.

Delicious and our server was wonderful. There was a fire at the restaurant next to this one and this resulted in delays in service, which were unexplained. Very confusing upon arrival with no host stand when you arrive.

Ristorante Saraceno is one of the best restaurants in the North End. We have been dining at Ristorante Saraceno for over 25 years. The service, atmosphere, and food are excellent. Also Frank who is the owner provides a personal touch as he walks from table to table making sure his customers are well taken care of.

The food was not bad, but we were seated in the decidedly non-charming half of the cellar. Instead of twinkling lights, we could smell the nearby bathroom.
Unfortunate.

DO NOT GO! NOT WORTH IT! Great food in the heart of the North End, but terrible management. We made a reservation for three people beforehand. Upon, arriving, a "hostess", tried to sell us on a different restaurant. She said that there is no space here so she can get us a table upstairs, which is a different restaurant. We refused because we wanted to eat here. Then, she tried to say we could sit in the downstairs area. We had specifically reserved for the upstairs eating area so we said we do not mind waiting. She seemed to take offense at this and acted very rudely towards us. She told us to wait for her boss. After waiting for about 10 minutes, we did not see anyone come our way. So, we went inside and asked the waitress. She said to wait for the hostess. As I was explaining the situation to her, the owner came outside and told us "I haven't forgotten about you. Please wait outside." It was very cold outside so we were waiting in this tiny space that is meant to be a covered entrance. As we were waiting, we saw a group of people go in, say hi to the owner. The owner reassured them that a table would be ready for them soon. Once we saw a table free up, we asked the hostess whether we can take that table. She said we should ask her boss. So, we asked the owner. He told us: "no. That one is not for you. You wait for another." We understood that the owner was trying to get his friends to sit there. They had made no reservation. They were receiving priority because of their friendship with the owner. At this point, we had been waiting for about 30 minutes. Luckily, these friends of theirs had disappeared and the owner had gone in search of them. The waitress, without realizing what was going on, offered us the table. After we sat down, both the hostess and the owner started yelling at the waitress for offering us the table.
The absolute worst management I have ever seen!
We left a generous tip for the waiter/waitress because of their generosity and good food.

Waiter was inattentive. Other waiters were fighting, yelling, breaking stuff. Lasagna was excellent but veal and antipasto was not very good. Expected better given prices.

Food and service are always wonderful! Everyone is accommodating and friendly. This is our “go to” restaurant in the North End.

Lovely little restaurant, a bit crowded but the food was delicious and the ambience was quaint. Would definitely go back again.

Experience was okay.

Everyone in my family enjoyed their meal. Service was quick and efficient. Prices were reasonable for what you’d expect in the North End. It’s our fave spot to go!

Great dinner, wonderful service, highy recommend for couples and small groups.

Loved it here!! Staff was accommodating, knowledgeable, and super friendly.
The food was outstanding!!

Always the best. Thank you.