Serafina by The Water

Always enjoyable!

Place is dated and looks like no one has put any money into the facility since we last visited about 8-10 years ago.

Nice outdoor setting with very good service and friendly staff. Found a very limited beer selection; not surprising though because they specialize in serving wines. Food was good but not outstanding. Salads were overpriced and lacked variety. Mine was a pile of arugula only with 4 Parmesan strips for $11. Ugh! Lasagna was good but bland tasting. Entres were generally pricey for what was offered. My party of 2 ordered salad and an entre, no alcohol. The check with tip was $98.

The food was fabulous! Our table was waterfront where boats come and go for dinner. The street side entry is in a very small shopping strip which is deceiving from the interior so don't let that stop you from eating at this truly authentic Italian family restaurant. The grilled squid and their red snapper lemon picante' with fresh angel hair pasta was an excellent entree as well. Beware though...their homemade bread is crusty on the outside, soft on the inside and is served piping hot with EVOO, balsamic & grated parmesan...it is so delicious and filling. The staff was superb!

Serafina is a fabulous hidden Gem in Fort Lauderdale, the service and the food is impeccable and on Sundays there is a piano player with the music at just the right level to not overtake the experience. It is one of our favorite restaurants on the water.

Great as usual especially on Sunday with the best live entertainment available in South Florida!

Our waiter could not have been nicer or more informative. Will definitely eat here again.

Great food and good value. Nice Friday night dinner! Only complaint was our server. He was pleasant however my wine was server in a glass that appearedndirty. When I notice he said oh it's just lint and took a white linen napkin and wiped the glass out with the wine already poured and pass it back to me. This was done in front of me. It was a $10 glass of wine... He really couldn't just pour me a new one in a clean glass? Or have the decency to go to the bar or kitchen and take care of it there. Other than that the food was really really good and nice atmosphere.

Waiter was very helpful and pleasant - sat outdoors with view of dock and boats - very nice ambiance with white tablecloths and elegant settings - food excellent and very large servings - bread excellent!

My girlfriend and I had been looking forward to dining at Serafina for several weeks. We’ve been there once and it was great. For Valentine’s Day however, the menu was pre established which we didn’t know. Girlfriend is vegetarian so other than salad, the menu had nothing to offer. We asked if we could special order a simply spinach fettuccine and the answer was no. They ended up making her a pasta dish that was so dry, it wasn’t edible. A couple veggies and dry noodles. Literally one bite was taken. I asked if they could take the item off, was given a rude look and still given a bill with the item on it for almost $35.00
Are you kidding me? Very disappointing this time around.

Valentine Day and our Anniversary. It was an amazing restaurant. Food was awesome, server was great, quality of food was perfect. I would definitely go back there again.

This was our first time to dine at Serafina and it was the perfect Valentine's spot. It has a very romantic ambiance. The food was great, service was great and the atmosphere is remarkable. Come hunger because the portions are generous.

Quaint little restaurant tucked away from busy Fort Lauderdale! My boyfriend and I sat on their patio and loved it. The patio is a little cramped but nothing too terrible. Unfortunately, it was raining the evening we ate there so we were unable to view the boats as they passed by on the water. The food was incredible. Our waitress went over and above to make sure we had a great time at their restaurant. I would absolutely recommend to bring your spouse, gf, bf, or whomever to this romantic and tucked away gem!

Serafina was very nice. We celebrated our engagement here and they surprised us with their homemade teramisu. It was excellent. Seafood was really fresh. I had clams, mussels, and Chilean sea bass.

Food was amazing- great service.. romantic with a 50’s-60’s vibe, & quiet enough to have great conversation.

Best kept secret in Fort Lauderdale

Have been to Serafina several times and food and service is terrific! We have introduced several of our friends and they have all gone back after we went there together.

The food, atmosphere and service were all so good! Valentines Day, (this week) we are going back to celebrate our 40 year anniversary in the same spot we celebrated our 20th (i think it was a different owner/restaurant)!

Waited 30 minutes beyond reservation but they allowed us to sit inside to wait which was thoughtful . But they asked us if we wanted a drink and we assumed that it was on the house but it was not!

Also had to ask three times for bread and butter.
Brought out wrong entree . Waiter seemed distracted . Busboy service was excellent

Overall, the experience at Serafina was great. Food and service were outstanding. There's a bit of disorganization prior to the dining experience that needs worked out. I made the reservation through Open Table and received an email requesting confirmation around 48 hours before, which I responded to. I had 3 missed calls from a '954' number without any messages that began around the same time frame that I received the Open Table email. The restaurant reached me about 2 hours prior to our arrival and started with 'We've been unable to reach you to confirm your reservation...'. Leaving a message would be helpful or checking the confirmation I made via the Open Table email.

Great place to hang with locals with nice ambience and very good Italian cuisine!

Amazing food , very nice staff. Highly recommend. Fort Lauderdale best kept secret!!!!

It was a spectacular choice. From the service to the scenery. It was perfect for date night!

Every bite of food, from our calamari appetizer and roasted garlic tomato soup to our multiple dinners were prepared with perfect spices heat and perfection. Our server was attentive and helpful. Recommend this without hesitation

From the outside you would turn away if you did not know how the I side was
As far as waterfront dining just ok
The food my wife had was good
The bread and salad excellent
I ordered gnocchi. And they were too heavy and even the size was larger than they should be
A true Italian would have sent them back as I am I was tempted to do so

Great spot for Italian food on the water not the ocean. Big wine list for a casual restaurant . The best is you can reserve an outside table on opentable . Worth going to for sure for a nice evening out . I would return

Nice find! If you want to have a nice dinner with friends, relatives or (reserve a waterside table) with your sweetheart - this place will not disappoint! Good value pricing and generous portions make this an affordable dinner. Meatball appetizer is a dinner itself - best to share. And they are beyond outstanding..... really perfection!

Great Italian food in a place you wouldn’t think about. Highly recommend!

So beautiful and romantic. We felt like we were in Europe. Friendly staff, great food and wonderful ambience.

It's a hole in the wall, and they don't seem very anxious to go out of their way to make it a great experience once you are there. Food is mediocre, service so-so, ambiance blah! If it wasn't night time, this place would be scary. I would hate to see what this place looks like in the daylight.

Nikola was an excellent waiter with great recommendations.

We had a group of 11 people and asked for a nice table by the water. They set us up with a great table and each and everyone of us loved our food. We had appetizers the calamari was enjoyed by all and we loved the buratta cheese appetizer. All the entrees were delicious no matter what we had! Thanks for a wonderful evening we all enjoyed it.

Loved everything about this little gem! We had the calamari as an appetizer, the mushrooms that came with it sounded odd but was an excellent addition. Between that and the scrumptious bread i was full, but that didnt stop me from enjoying the rest of our entree's. I had the chicken milanese with salad and my husband had the meatballs pomadoro over spaghetti. Both were outstanding! The meatballs are the best I've ever had! The wait staff were attentive, kind and made for a very nice lunch. We are from out of tow n, but come to Ft Lauderdale often...this will be a regular stop for us every time we are in town. Its a must go to!

The portions were tasty but huge-perhaps too huge. Personally Id rather pay a little less per entree or have a small salad/vegetable included rather than too much food

It was great however the server should be doing something else. I felt we were bothering him

The hostess was charming and kept us informed about our table as we waited. Appetizers were incredible. Entrees were huge, so be ready and maybe share! Lovely spot.

Usually Serafina is one of the best Italian restaurants in town but my last visit was not up to their usual standards. For an appetizer I had the caprese salad, well prepared and tasty except the the tomatoes were flavorless. For entree I tried the Veal Piccata which also lacked for flavor, I could barely detect any lemon or capers in the dish while the veal was too thick to resemble scallopini in my opinion. The oven roasted potatoes on the side were over cooked bordering on burned. I will be back to Serafina as I know they are a better restaurant than the one I experienced.

Excellent food, ambiance and music. Tom was excellent - great service. We will definitely return..

I raved about Serfina to some old friends that were in town for some horse racing and good food. I didnt have to eat my words. Fantastic!!!

Great, as usual!!