Serena Pastificio Reviews

Delicious place inside a street shopping and with a view to a delicious courtyard and with outdoor and indoor tables. The food is typical Italian, with good options of pasta and with a lot of delicious choice, and a well differentiated and rich wine list. It is worth sitting calmly and without rushing and delighting in the portions and meals.

We started by trying to find a movie at IPIC but they were all sold out. We wanted a place with good food to sit down and eat. We saw Sarena's we made reservations. Very easy they have a waiting table while you wait before seating. The food was very flavorful. Service was good.

Traveling solo on business and I always like to explore new restaurants and eat at the bar. Serena looked promising, but quite a disappointment. I was going to give them "average" until I received my bill and saw that they charged $19.50 for a Grey Goose dirty martini! That's the most I've ever paid for a martini and quite frankly, is highway robbery. I had the Ceaser Salad to start. It was soggy with dressing and nothing to write home about. Portion size was good. I opted for the Linguini with Clams for my entree. Very disappointing for an Italian restaurant. It was bland (bar staff never offered me fresh ground pepper) and the clams had far too much sand in them. We're in Atlanta...we know the clams aren't fresh...so why the sand??? Also, the restaurant was quite busy; in a major city; and the kitchen closes at 9pm???? In fact the bartender who served me had to put my entree order in long before I had finished my salad because she said "the kitchen is closing in 5 mins". Also, the bar staff seemed much more interested in closing down the bar vs. serving the patrons at the bar (almost every seat was full). and $19.50 for a Grey Goose dirty martini...that was no where near filled to the rim and had basic olives???? There is absolutely no justification for that.

Wow - an amazing restaurant experience. I live in France (Lyon) and was thinking that my business trip to the US would be, well, less than I can find at home. But Serena Pastifico exceeded my expectations. A beautiful design, great menu, a top kitchen, and great service created one of the best restaurant experiences I have had in a long time in the US. Highly, highly recommend.

I would highly recommend this place. The service was top notch ( Alex thank you!). The arrincini was the best I’ve ever had. We also had the chicken and bolognese dishes so good. Dessert was great with tiramisu and the chocolate bomb. I had the bees knees drink and it was sooo good. Wish we lived around here it would be a regular place for me for sure

I’d been wanting to visit this place for a while. We finally decided to do a dinner and movie night and come here. The staff is great. Kind, professional, and courteous. The decor is so wonderful, it is really tastefully decorated - clean and minimalist but with a peaceful vibe. The food was a bit disappointing. I had the black pepper gnocchi and was not impressed with the flavor. My date had the short rib and that was pretty good! For desert I had the chocolate mousse bomb and that was pretty good, but my date had the zeppole and that was consistently undercooked. neither of us wanted to eat it. Our waitress was fantastic, however. My guess is that this place will be hit or miss with food, so I’m not sure I would return.

This was a highly disappointing experience. We were a group of 9, and we got seated fairly quickly. The place looked really nice and we thought we had found a great place for dinner. That was certainly going to change by the time we finished up. Unknown to us, it's "company policy" to not split checks anything past 4 ways. That doesn't work when there are 9 of you paying your own bills. And, that was not communicated before we started the meal. Management would not budge - it's "just our policy." On top of that, it was a very expensive meal. I added 1 meatball to my spaghetti. (It really wasn't that big, either.) That was $5. The Old Fashioned I had with dinner? That ran me $21. Honestly - for the aggravation of not being able to split the bill and the way overpriced nature of the food, this was such a disappointing visit. I can't see me ever recommending this place or ever going back.

Serena Pastificio has a specific menu and some interesting dishes! The restaurant is beautiful to behold with comfortable seating and little crowding. The wait staff were friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable, although somewhat inexperienced. Drinks are pricey, as noted in other reviews. Our group of 4 adults cost $360 including 20% tip. We did order 4 $16 glasses of red wine and 2 $14 glasses of white wine totalling $92 of the bill. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon st 4:30pm and were seated immediately. We did have reservations. We ordered 3 appetizers, which were fresh and delicious and looked wonderful! They included the Burrata, calamari, and meatballs. (See pics) For the main course, I order the Salmon with Lenticchie which was surprisingly spicy, but uniquely delicious. The other dishes are shown in photos. I would go again, but with a fatter wallet.

Myself and my wife stopped in looking for a small bite to eat and a cocktail after our flight home was canceled and we had to spend the night in Atlanta. We were both so pleased with everything. We ordered a beer and wine, with excellent and the Polpettine meatballs and the Formaggio e salame which is the chef's assortment of cheeses and meats and nuts. Our bartender said that the meatballs take quite a while to cook, both in the oven and fried and we could tell that tie was taken with them because they were delicious. Thank you ti the bartender who so sociable and to the chefs for putting together such wonderful food at such a late hour. Next time we are in Atlanta, we will definitely stop in. 10/10 recommend.

Its been a long time since I walked into a new restaurant as beautiful as Serena Pastificio.....it's part of the (multiple year) renovation of Colony Square and they really landed in the prime spot. Beautiful lighting, incredibly comfortable chairs (why do so few restaurants think about this?), a great lively vibe, and great acoustics (you can actually talk during dinner!). Great patio out in front....but treat yourself to an inside seat as you won't often see a new restaurant as beautiful as this. A great Italian choice if you're attending shows at the Symphony or the Alliance Theater.

Website states Ora Sociale begins @ 4. Unfortunately, it begins @ 5. I was charged for food @ off Ora Sociale menu off regular price because it was ordered before 5 WITHOUT NOTICE. Bartenders would not change price difference.

I very rarely write reviews... and only when I've had a stand-out experience, either way, good or bad. I so wanted to love Serena Pastificio even though I had read enough mediocre reviews to be skeptical; but the convenience of their location in relation to the event I would be attending caused me to ignore those reviews. I shouldn't have. On the positive side, I would describe the ambience as casual elegance. The decor is contemporary and the seating is comfortably spacious. The service was good and very attentive albeit a little too chatty. Unfortunately, while the portions were generous, the food itself was underwhelming; which is the most charitable way to describe it. The 3 stars given is ONLY because one guest described her veal picatta as "good" though her comment seemed to be more polite than enthusiastic. The fried calamari was well prepared but otherwise unremarkable, and served with a non-traditional sauce that ruined the dish. I had the pasta pesto entree. It's a dish I typically order at Italian restaurants that I'm not familiar with because even with the regional differences (in Italy), pasta pesto is still a "classic" Italian dish that "should" be difficult to screw up. The "Trenette Al Pesto" dish at Serena Pastificio is the worst I've ever had... Not just the worst from a restaurant but even worst compared to the jars of pesto sauce you can find in your local supermarket. I'm all for restaurants that want to put their own spin on familiar dishes, as was the case here with the addition of fingerling potatoes and green beans to their choice of "trenette" pasta... no problem. However, their pesto sauce was a complete failure both in terms of the balance of flavors and the consistency... An insult to the tradition of this classic dish. My advise: Before you set out to put your own spin on a classic dish, first make sure you've mastered the basics. Nobody else in our party of four expressed any enthusiasm for their entrees. The midtown location of Serena Pastificio is in the most vibrant area of metro Atlanta so they will do fine especially for the "thirty-something" crowd who will enjoy the ambience for socializing with friends but Serena Pastificio will not become a "Goto" destination for fine dining. A real pity.

A nice modern restaurant with plenty of both indoor and outdoor seating. Great service. The food was pretty ok but nothing extraordinary.

So we went to this new restaurant last night at Colony Square, Our waiter Kemarie was excellent, the food was good. the decor was awesome. But the cost for an old fashion was stupid crazy ridiculous at $22.50 a cocktail what are they thinking. They served me woodford reserve honesty at these prices they should have come back to the table and told us the cost of that one drink as it cost more than some of their dishes on their menu! A friend with us got a woodford reserve and Ginger and it cost $15.00. I paid just a few dollars less than a 750 ML bottle of Woodford Reserve. I have been to all the amazing restaurants in Atlanta and never have been charged this high for a cocktail. I will not go back here at all, like I said food was good but that is all but when you charge as much as you do for cocktails it's not worth going back!

Friendly service ( thanks Candace & Zennis) and great calamari. Lobster pasta was good but the light tomato broth overpowered the delicate lobster flavor. I would order with no sauce next time. Zeppole with lemon curd was very good! Focaccia was hit or miss-some so dried out it was like eating styrofoam. And some fresh and soft. Unfortunately the dipping sauces were either olive oil with NO herbs or vinegarette with no balsamic. Restrooms were clean. Not the first choice for a return to Atlanta.

Ambience and service were good. Pasta was TOO salty. Wife's dish tasted bad. She left half of it. Not nearly as good as similar dish in other good Italian restaurant.

We came on the tail end of Sunday brunch service, and had a delightful meal. The place wasn't busy at all, but we still sat at the bar. We started with the black pepper biscuits, which were surprisingly hearty. For entrees, I had the Caesar salad, which was really good. It also had really small chuncks of anchovies in it. I didn't necessarily care if it was in there, but it was good. My wife had the salmon Benedict, and she raved about it. That was suggested by our bartender, who doubled as our server. We'll be back for more of the dinner menu, as we frequent here a couple of times a year. For parking, we just parked in the deck underneath Colony Square, as the restaurant will validate 90mins of your parking.

Risotto wasn't something I cared for. My husband thought it was fine. 2 people ordered Fettucine Bolognese and thought it was fine. 2 people ordered the Fondutelli al Tartufo and did not like it at all. 1 person thought the Veal Parmesan was good. 1 person thought the Kale salad was really good. The limone dessert was good, the sherbert was excellent and the chocolate bomb was really good. The server was very nice and the ambience was appreciated.

Nice ambiance. Very good service. Great location (if you are attending an Atlanta Symphony at Woodruff). The linguini in my Linguini with Clams was very good. The prices seemed fair for that part of town. So what was the problem? The food was not memorable. My Linguini with Clams was good, but not great. My own home version is better. My wife's Ravioli with Crab meat was good, but also not great. Our Caesar salads were "meh." The croutons were a bland and bit much, and the addition of anchovies to the salad was a dubious decision. Worse yet, the main dish portions were very small. To double the size would be a step in the right direction. Don't come hungry. You will leave hungry. Would we go here as a destination just for the food? No. It was a symphony that brought us here. And next time we will seek another restaurant.

This was my first visit to this restaurant. Horrible service. Our waiter was Nathan, he did not explain the menun or the specials to our table. We had to continue to ask questions. I have a gluten allergy so I wanted to be certain that the chef could accommodate me. After listening to a different waiter at the table next to us explain to entire menu, I asked the manager why our waiter did not explain the menu to our table. He simply said we do not require our waiters to do so. Service could be elevated.

Serena Pastificio is a trendy, new Italian restaurant at Colony Square in Midtown. We felt lucky to score seats at the bar on a Saturday night at 7 p.m. and were able to order from the full menu. The staff members at the bar provided excellent service throughout the night, and a friendly lady on the management team helped to find an extra bar stool for my husband. I had the fantastic Lobster Mezzalune (half moon) pasta with lobster filling topped with more lobster chunks and a light garlic tomato sauce ($42). I would order that dish again in a heartbeat. My husband had the clam linguine ($22 which was also very good. For dessert, we shared the Sorrento Limone lemon meringue tart ($8). Great date spot, chill lounge music, and great Midtown scene.

Beautiful interior. Been there many times for convenience sake (its close to the Woodruff Arts Center). However after sampling just about every pasta dish on the menu, I would say completely avoid the eggplant rigatoni which is just not edible despite the long list of interesting ingredients the bitterness of the eggplant comes through and its otherwise very tomato driven -- the texture of the dish is just gluey for lack of a better word. The ragu bolognese DID have some good "meat" flavor to it but was not an authentic bolognese by any stretch of the imagination (just too much tomato again). The sauces didn't seem fresh/made to order but rather seemed prepared in bulk, heated and tossed with the pasta which was mediocre. Try Boca Lupo in Inman Park for truly superb pasta and freshly prepared sauces. Pales in comparison. Service was good but inconsistent with their messaging regarding their policies. These comments reflect the comments of my friends with whom we were mostly in agreement with me. We did think the place has a great cocktail menu, that they've created a beautiful room and its convenient if you're going to a concert. Just don't expect much, and better options abound.