Sila Italian Dining & Pizza

An area staple for as long as I can remember. Very old school and I don’t think they have updated since the day I first walked in 30 years ago (this is NOT a bad thing, it’s kind of nostalgic). Good food, fair prices.
Carry out antipasto is a favorite of mine and my family.

Veal parmigiano was a disgrace. They used Sysco Veal patties. Such things should never be used by any self respecting Italian restaurant. TAKE IT OFF THE MENU IF YOU CAN’T DO IT RIGHT!

The antipasti salad and fresh breadsticks is very good. We often get a Carry out of that or dine in and make a meal out of the salad and bread.
The salad has a great variety of meats & cheeses. They make a Italian dressing for the salad that’s tasty too!
The pizza is a tad to greasy for us. But, overall it’s a great place.

Its not the Sila’s of old, from when I was a kid (which would have gotten 4 stars) but it is still good enough. The décor is still the same, the waitstaff a bit slower, but still decent. I do not like the pizza as much with this new (I guess it is not so new anymore) owner, so I avoid it, but the other dishes are fine. It is a nice place to go every once in a while. It is not the greatest Italian dining place around, nor is it the worst. But if you have a group of friends and you’re looking for somewhere to go for a nice dinner to get out of the house with, you could do worse.

Best place pizza and a salad. Will drive 15 miles for the wonderful food and friendly staff. Don’t be turned off by slightly worn interior. Great family tavern/​bar/​pizzeria.

I enjoy the family friendliness if this place. The food is average, nothing to special. But the wait staff is friendly, the atmosphere is nice. In my opinion is a good family Italian restaurant.

Definitely a place I would never go back to. We were hoping for a small Italian restaurant that maybe needed a makeover but would be amazing Italian food. We experienced nothing but disappointment. The décor was clearly outdated and very bland and old. The service was awful! And the one thing they could’ve done right they failed at… the food. I wanted something simple just pasta with a tomato sauce because I am limited with my menu choices because I’m lactose intolerant. My husband ordered the lasagna and the moment they asked to basically supersize it, that should’ve been our warning to just leave. His dinner was covered in grease and mine was just so «eh». Nothing stood out here, not one good thing to say.

My family and I have been going to Sila’s for years. The food, the atmosphere, and the staff haven’t changed since the first time we walked through the doors. It is one of those neighborhood places that you can count on… for the good and the bad! Reading the previous reviews, I would have to agree with nearly all of them depending on the day you walk in…
The Food — every meal starts with these wonderful, garlic Parmesan breadsticks. My family loads up on them. They are free and fantastic. We love getting a few extra to bring home as they taste even better when you cut them open and run them through the toaster oven the next day!
Depending on your taste and your meal, you would next have a house salad or soup. LOVE the pasta fagioli soup, especially dipping the breadsticks in it… it is a hearty stew-​like soup. The salad is… meh. A run of the mill iceberg salad with an onion, a croûton, a tomato… not good, not bad. I always get my dressing on the side, so no real complaints about it!
Entrees are big. The pasta is good, but standard. Not the best you will ever have, but not bad either. I personally love the gnocchi with meat sauce and baked cheese. It is definitely not healthy, but I wouldn’t expect healthy when I order meat sauce with baked cheese on top! Everybody orders pizza, but it is meh, as well. Not bad, not the best. The secret best food at this place? The sub sandwiches!

It felt like the server didn’t know what she was doing and services was terrible as well

Excellent cole slaw; great chicken sandwich. Very nice for a large golf league group.

We are new to Berkely. Just moved here from Chicago — thus, our pizza standards are very high. Having tried a few pizza places around the area, we’ve been somewhat disappointed by what seemed to be mostly chain/​lackluster pizza options. Then we tried Sila. Salvation! Sila’s pizza has what we’ve been missing. Great layers of Italian flavor, perfect sauce/​cheese/​crust ratio, great toppings. We got the garlic loaf, which is exactly what it sounds like. But, very good and a great side.
This will definitely be our new go-​to pizza spot in the area and I kind of love the old school vibe. This isn’t a manufactured authenticity, Sila is what it is. So glad its nearby!

My wife and I used to go to this eatery several times a year. The last time we ate there however was about five years ago because we moved from the area.
Today, June 8^th 2015, we were in the area to deliver some papers and decided to have dinner.
We had even called friends to see if they could join us, (thankfully for them they could not make it.)
When you walk in the door you are met with what looks like a dark tunnel with some chairs placed in a hallway off to the left for those waiting for takeout. The entire décor is something straight out of the 70s and reminds me of an old timers corner pub.
The place was dark and the carpets were absolutely filthy.
They are a brown industrial type of carpet that could use to be replaced with something fresh and modern.
Short of replacing them, they could try to have them professionally shampooed so at least they looked clean (Hagopians is always having a sale).
The walls were painted a drab grey color that looked like it had greasy fingerprints all over it.
The ceiling tiles were deplorable and falling apart leaving you with the feeling that any moment they would drop accumulated dirt and grime into your food and the ceiling vents were filthy.
The booths were old vinyl, dark brown or purple (it was hard to tell because the lighting was awful) and had tears and splits in them. The seats at the table we were at were shaky and immediately bought to mind the number to Sam Bernstein (just in case the seat broke and I was injured lol)
The bar area looked drab and very old school. Kind of like a corner bar room style.
Now to the food! We were seated almost immediately howbeit we were at the time two of maybe six people in the entire place.
The waitress came to the table in a black slack and blouse uniform that showed every bit of food particle and dirt it touched. She was however attentive but seemed to me that she was almost frightened in the way she was acting.
We ordered our beverages and made our dinner order of stuffed manicotti (my wife had tomato sauce and I had the meat sauce).
Our salads arrived shortly afterwards (although I don’t think a plate full of iceberg lettuce, one cherry tomato, one black olive and, (just as I finished I found the cutest, tiniest adorable green olive) constitutes a true dinner salad.
Several minutes later the waitress bought us our dinner plates.
Now this is where I was severely disappointed.
The stuffed manicotti were tiny little things (five in total) smothered in enough sauce to cover a pan full of spaghetti.
The food was luke warm and tasted like it had been re-​heated a few times.
The manicotti were obviously frozen (and tasted of freezer burn) that seemed to have been dipped into either some hot water for a few moments or microwaved, but they were far, far, far from fresh hand made or hot.
The center of the manicotti were cold and the spaghetti they served (if you can call plopping some noodles on a plate and covering it with sauce serving) was overcooked and tasted old. Old like it had been cooked, refrigerated, and reheated again after several days.
I will NOT take my money there again, nor will I recommend Sila’s to anyone I know and want to keep as a friend.

My husband and I LOVE this place. We moved to the area a bit over a year ago and we eat here probably once a week. Sometimes twice a week. Their pizza is delicious. Thin crusts, gooey cheese, and zippy pepperoni. Some people may not like the puddles of grease on the pie – so soak it up with your napkin – but for the rest of us, it’s heaven.
Their fried chickpeas are also great, which we usually get as our app. We tried the chicken tenders for the first time recently and they were SO good. They’re different than the usual tenders you see at restaurants; I dig these much more. The breadsticks are my absolute favorite, so salty and buttery, mm! I did try the alfredo once and didn’t care for it. But the pizza has my heart, so no hard feelings.
Their servers are great too – never an issue with customer service. Thank you, Sila’s, you’re the best! Though we won’t live in this area forever, we have already decided we will always come back.

This is 5 star for basic cheesy Italian. It’s not fancy or out of the ordinary.
Baked cheese on most dishes. Great pizza. Basic side salad with ranch is good.
We come here a few times a year. Groupons are always nice too. Yummy!

Back to Silas, they redone the place new sign, took out a wall on the inside, kind of cleaned it up, food was still the same, good, service was good, I hope they do more updates, it needs more work and some new menu items. Good safe bet.

Pretty much old-​school Italian restaurant. Pretty popular, and I suspect most of the crowd is local. We had pizza, which was pretty decent, and the antipasto salad, which was pretty good (fresh lettuce, plentiful salami and cheese.
Service was friendly and fairly attentive.
Décor could use a little help (wallpaper coming off of wall in spots in the main dining room).
We’d come to meet friends, but it’s honestly not my first choice for plain-​Jane Italian in the area (we prefer Pasquales over on Woodward in Royal Oak for this sort of thing).

Terrible service!!!
Sila’s has obviously changed management, but the bartender tonight was the worst I’ve had in a long time. She clearly doesn’t care about the business or how her customers feel. Stay away until that changes!!!

It says please wait to be seated, but there was no host or hostess, five minutes and counting, we will see how long it takes. Standing near the «wait to be seated» sign for about 10 minutes, I decided to sit down on the bench right next to the sign. Still no one! So, I get up and start taking pictures with my cell phone. All of a sudden someone approaches me — it is the cook! She seats me finally. I tell her that I do reviews for restaurants. She acknowledges this and asks me what I would like to drink. I am just coming from the cemetery because it is Father’s Day and that is where my Dad is. So, I tell her Iced Tea would be perfect. She tells me that the wait staff has not shown up for work yet and to be a little patient. Okay, but my patience is a little rattling because the restaurant is open and no one to take orders or serve the food — WTH???
A few minutes later from across the restaurant I hear a gruff voice WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DRINK??? Oh, a waitress showed up. I yell back Iced Tea. She brings me the iced tea and goes on to tell me that there are 40 people in the back for a birthday party and she is the only waitress. I said something like maybe you should fire them and hire all new staff. She told me a story of how no one wants to work for a boss who is not nice — TMI!
My one girl friend finally gets there — thank God!!! So, we look over the menu and decide to order a pizza with onions, mushrooms, and bacon; and an appetizer — Italian Nachos. I ask her what is the difference between Mexican Nachos and Italian Nachos and the gruff waitress said «the seasoning». Now, I’ve been to other Italian restaurants and ordered Italian Nachos and they usually serve it with Italian Sausage and/​or chicken as well as some different type of cheese on top. The waitress looked at me like I was stupid or something for asking the difference — gee whiz!!!
So, the pizza and nachos are served together — instead of bringing the appetizer first she brings them both. I look at the pizza and saw that the waitress got the order wrong, she brought out a pizza with pepperoni, onions, and mushrooms. I told the waitress that we had ordered bacon, onions and mushrooms and she looked at me and said «oh, you want them to make you another pizza»? OMG — please where is the customer service??? The food was meh — nothing great, not horrible! Would never go back to this restaurant for the food just because it was NOT!
When you walk into this restaurant it reminds you of the 60’s or 70’s — where is the Mafia??? No or hardly any updates to the restaurant. Would not recommend this restaurant.

OK; let me start by saying when you’ve eaten as much pizza as I have through the years you pretty much know… ok pizza, from decent pizza, from great pizza. With me its about three key things 1) fresh ingredients 2) sauce 3) dough… Silas is «Old School» from the season waitresses to the 90’s cafeteria seats, its seen better days. The Pizza was just «OK», the dough was a very basic pizza dough, the most disappointing thing on the pizza was the sauce… really Silas? «you’re an Italian restaurant; if anything represents your establishment its your sauce aka «gravy». The cheese bread was again «OK» its basically, a cheese pizza without the sauce. The staff was professional and friendly.
Overall the Pizza and Cheese stick gets a 5 out of 10, they really need to work on their sauce.

Sila is not the best or worst anything. Sila is Sila. Greasy, cheesy, nasty, delicious! The interior has not changed since the places inception. It’s dingy and dark. The booths are uncomfortable and sunken in. The waitstaff is hit or complete miss. The prices are not great and they are not terrible. Nothing is authentic, but it’s mostly delicious. I would rather people didn’t know I go to Sila now and then, as it is more of a guilty pleasure of mine than something I tout «You should totally go to Sila, it’s the best!». If you want a greazzzy, delicious, artery hardening, preetza or a frozen yummy, made in the microwave lasagna, then get your butt over to Sila. You will be greeted by a rude hostess and passable waitress but your destiny will be fulfilled when you proceed to eat exactly what you came for; mediocre, decadent pseudo Italian noodle stuffs!
It’s worffff it…