Matteo’s Trattoria

I arrived before my friend Paula and was seated at a nice bright table among other happy customers. When I moved my menu there was a hair on the table so I asked my server Christina to please remove the hair from the table which she did (at the end of the night i jokingly put one of my hairs on the table just to make us all laugh. and we all did), no harm no fowl. Christina was an exceptional server always attentive and always very professional. Ask for Christina when you dine there (there seemed to be more male servers so Im glad we got Christina). I wanted to order appetizers first but she told me that everything has to be ordered at one time appetizers entrees together not separately which I kind of found interesting I’ve never had that happen before in a restaurant. Everyone is dressed impeccably men with button down shirts and dress shoes no one is in shorts or looking sloppy. The restaurant is a bit noisy I will say but not annoying. Specials are on a chalkboard when you first walk in theyre easy to read. I called ahead of time and ordered a bottle of Gavi Italian white wine. The menu is large and cumbersome and was kind of a lot it’s sort of hard to handle (little did i know two menus were stuck together and i was holding both at one time). The Joke is on me. The Gavi Italian wine is certainly very delicious with its pale yellow straw color and it paired so well with the ceaser salad and the clams and my picata with the capers. The ceaser salad was delicious it had anchovies and croutons in it and the small portion was large enough for two. The clams oreganata we’re delicious. They werent dry or too breadcrummy and the oregano wasnt visible but you could definitely taste it in the bread dressing We also had the deep fried calamari which did have the tentacles and not just the rings. The marinara sauce was also very good tasting (it came with the calamari). My chicken picata was buttery rich with a good taste of lemon and extra capers which I really enjoyed. The brine in the capers is one of my most favorite tastes. My friend Paula had shrimp scampi and it looked absolutely delicious accompanied with rice. The shrimp were very large and come six to a plate (and this was the smaller portion). We were pretty stuffed so we decided on cappuccino and an orange sorbet ice type of dessert which was really cold delicious and refreshing and served right in the oranbe rind of an orange that was hallowed out. It was out-​of-​this-​world the cappuccino came with a biscotti. Matteo’s is easy to find located on the corner of US 1 and Southeast 3^rd Street it will be on the northwest corner. It is nestled beneath a luxury apartment building. This was my first time here and I really enjoyed me meal. Keep in mind Matteos offers half orders on every item and the smaller portions are HUGE and will easily feed two adults. Definitely try Matteos you wont be disappointed. I was highly satisfied with my entire meal. the service and the outstanding ambiance. I would definitely return.

Outstanding in every respect. Clearly the management is extremely adept at running this large and very popular restaurant. Managers, hostesses, servers, and bussers, swiftly move through the dining room delivering first class service and attention. We sampled the clams and shrimp oreganata which were off the charts, as were the pastas. Two very large soft shell crabs francaise were prepared perfectly over linguini. The unique Napoleon with Tartufo dessert was amazing and completed a perfect dining experience and evening.
We cannot wait to visit this fantastic restaurant again, and again, and again…

I attended as a guest of a larger party. The restaurant easily adapts from small to very large tables. It was an older moneyed Boca crowd, but not the flashy type — no one dressed to impress. Apparently its one of several locations, part of a small chain
ATMOSPHERE: The entrance of the restaurant is not aligned with the valet garage area, you have to search and discover how to get there — very clumsy and unimpressive introduction.
Then once arriving, the first thing I noticed is how non-​descript the dining room is. Its not Italian and has no character. It could be any mid to higher end hotel lobby restaurant. The noise was far too loud, likely due to poor design (the right designers account for noise transmission in the layout and material choices, which was clearly not done). For the HIGH prices and older clientele, one would have expected less volume. It was hard to converse over the cacophony. There was someone playing music, but it could not be heard over the din. As for layout, there was nothing wrong with it if you don’t mind generic cookie cutter dining rooms — but at these prices, it should have been «special» in my mind. Typical of the lack of «pride of ownership» with chains who exclusively view their receipts a proof of a great product.
SERVICE: The service was very good, generally pleasant and attentive. No issues with the wait staff. The manager was dressed far too casual, and easily overlooked as anything but a manager. Food prepared ON the table (as opposed to tableside) which was awkward at times but seemed to work — though plated service (or use of side table to serve portions) would have been more comfortable. And yet with all that table cutting and serving, the parmesan was not freshly grated tableside but rather provided in a bowl with a spoon left on the table.
FOOD: All food was good to very good. Scallops were excellent, as was the calamari. The portions were on the larger side and the quality high. It wasn’t so great as to look forward to returning, but no one left disappointed. The dessert we had was exceptional. Nothing else to say, about what you would expect for the high prices, but not overwhelming.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I have no real interest in going back, although I certainly wouldn’t be upset if I had to as the food is good. There are just better, nicer places to drop $ 100 plus a head. Just another generic high priced chain, with better than average service.

Apparently this is one of my friends favorite places.
I was a little hesitant due to the reviews, but I figured why not, let’s try it
We ordered the meat lasagna. I guess they should have advertised it as noodles because there were few crumbles of meat.
I ordered the fish which was good, but not worth the price.
I would never go back there. Too many other amazing Italian places around for half the price and twice the meat

I wish I could give this zero stars. Waited FOREVER for a table. They seated at least four tables before us who came in with later reservations. The manager is an ass hole and they have no idea/don’t care what’s going on. We were looking up reservations for other places the whole time. DO NOT COME HERE!!!

Avoid at all costs if you are expecting to be seated at your reservation time. Not worth it to wait at all. GO TO LA PARMA!

Forget about it. Table for 5 was a card table in front of the dining room wine cellar. It was a holiday evening at 530 and they were squeezing in as many as possible in. We had a reservation and were seated
was down hill from there. When the sparse Caesar salads arrived, the busboys were hovering to get them off the table. After an interminable wait, one entrée showed up with the excuse that ‘the kitchen was backed up’ after complaint to a manager, a second entrée arrived. No sign of the rest.
More complaints and apologies. When you pay $ 10 plus for a plate of green beans you should expect more.
I asked for a check and the manager ‘comped’ the dinner. I would have rather paid. A dreadful experience. Save your money. Be mistreated elsewhere.

Went to Mateo’s for a pre-Valentine’s Day dinner this evening we had a table for six reservations for 630 were honored which is a plus right off the bat ! A very nice young lady sat us at a very nice round table towards the back of the restaurant, As soon as we were seated our waiter (Eric)came over and asked what we would like to have to drink while we were looking over the menu Eric came back and told us about some of the specials that they have this evening, We decided to have the chop salad with salami and cheese mixed in it was very fresh dressing gave a nice flavor to it all. We then ordered a full order of spaghetti with the house special Red sauce it was delicious and we also had shrimp scampi which was out of this world! Prepared perfectly nothing needed to be added other then a fork LOL Also we had the chicken Mateo on the bone with Peppers onions sausage potato and broccoli another dish that was done perfect! For dessert we had a beautiful Napoleon and a sugar-​free Tartofo with coffee and cappuccino delicious. The staff was very friendly accommodating with a lite sense of humor which is always a nice touch. I definitely recommend Mateo and should be put on my best restaurant list thank you for a very nice Valentine diner!

Joe D.P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day !

I have been here a 100 times and it has been constantly amazing!!! Not only is the food delicious, the staff is very friendly and accommodating. The manager Vinny always greets me whenever I come in, that sort of extra touch makes me feel at home. All of the bartenders are great, especially Ronny. I have only nice things to say about this place and would highly recommend this place to anybody wanting authentic Italian food in a great atmosphere.

This is the «message» I received in response to my first negative post regarding a very negative experience. Clearly, this is a habit of Matteo’s if you read other reviews of this establishment.
Who is truly ignorant Scott M?
Scott M: Your review on Matteos is just plain awful. Really suggest taking it down. As a regular there the food is amazing no doubt about it… Maybe the wait was because it was busy? Maybe it’s busy because It is an amazing establishment. You clearly don’t lack intelligence when it comes to restaurants. Maybe try Olive Garden or McDonalds? You most likely won’t have a wait there… The ignorance and bias in this review is throbbing. It’s sad to see people like you in the world

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! Never been sat down so slow in a restaurant anywhere. After an hour and a half of watching the owner grab random customers who had just walked through the door and sitting them down, we had to confront the owner. Who then had us wait another 15 minutes. Then another hour for our food, which may have been good but not worth the price. Don’t waste your time.

Not impressed. I think this is the first review I have done that is not positive, that says a lot. The wait was 1.5 hours after watching Peter greet friends and give preferential treatment while leaving other customers waiting and waiting. Food; OK, Caprese came without balsamic drizzle… 2 tomato slices & 2 slices mozzarella, that’s it, oops forgot a little chopped basil. Waited for water for 10 minutes many offers it just never showed up Main dishes served warm not cold not hot. Over priced, 12.00 for side of pasta with a 35.00 shrimp dish… That was cold, Yikes. Hope they improve and check out some of their reviews to see where they need improvement.
hmmm will Unilocal post this ??? I was surprised by not recommended reviews wish I would have read them first.

I am posting this review two years late due to the large amount of reviews of whom share our experiences. We used to love this place. My parents used to go all the time, and when we were here, we also loved the place.
This last time, and I mean THE last time we went there, we had a reservation, yes… that is what I said, a reservation for 8 of us. We waited almost two hours, watching friends of the owners waddle up to the host, asking if there was tables, the host saying «no», but then saying hold on a few minutes. This happened about 10 times… so we watched people without reservations enter the restaurant before our party, who had a reservation. My dad kept complaining, and they kept saying 5 minutes more. As I said, we waited 2 hours… and vowed, no matter how good the food, we were never, ever coming back. It has been two years, and there are plenty of other Italian restaurants in Boca/​Delray.

This place is amazing. Absolutely amazing. It breaks my heart to see three stars. Granted we got here at 5pm… But that’s what you have to do for amazing food.
We also had the best waiter ever– request Ricky if you come here. We have had lesser experiences with other waiters and he is the best waiter I’ve had in a while.
The bread was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside– served warm and fresh– omg.
The Caesar dressing on our salad was outstanding.
The bruschetta was excellent.
For our meal we ordered chicken parm, bucatini with marinara, chicken pizzola (chicken with tomatoes and peppers).
The chicken pizzola was buttery smooth and melted in my mouth.
Burnt vegetables: order these. Any variety. You won’t be sorry. The string beans were amazing. I want to try the broccoli next.
And for dessert, we had chocolate cake and tartufo, and both were as perfect as dessert gets. I have an obsession with tartufo and this did not disappoint.
How do you write a review for the perfect meal?

I don’t know how this restaurant is always so crowded. We came to celebrate my husband’s 75^th birthday with my daughter, son-​in-​law, three young grandsons and my ninety three year old mother. My daughter was told this restaurant would be a «festive» place to celebrate such an important milestone. We are not from Boca so we depended on the recommendation. My daughter made the reservation for 8:15 p.m. at least six weeks in advance and told the hostess about the birthday celebration. When we arrived there was literally a mob scene outside and inside. Everyone seemed to have a reservation. We were told that unless we sat outside we would have to wait forty-​five minutes to be seated indoors. THATS WITH A RESERVATION! Obviously, they majorly overbook. It was very windy and uncomfortable outside and we were seated on folding chairs at a folding table. My daughter had wanted this dinner to be special for my husband. He had been through open heart surgery and was just coming out the other side. This was not what she expected. To top it off, the service was abominably slow! We didn’t get our food until 10:15pm and didn’t get out of there until after 11 0′ clock. It took so long for them to bring the birthday cake with the sparkling candle that my young grandsons were no longer sitting at the table. They had had it!!! The food was very average and expensive for what it was. Chicken piccata was tough. Portion of pasta meant for three boys so small, we had to order another. All in all, an extremely disappointing experience. Probably one of the worst restaurants of this caliber I have ever eaten in and I have eaten all over the world. Waiter was extremely inattentive. I can’t even give one star to be honest. I would have to say, don’t waste your time or money. Find another restaurant!
.Lynne S
December 26, 2015

Wow what do I even say about this experience? It started as a reservation for 13 people. It was apparent from the get-​go that we were not the only large party here and just getting to our table at the opposite side of the restaurant (with my 82 yr old grandma) was difficult. We finally sat down and were immediately given bread which was wonderful however it took 15 minutes to get water. (Bread with no water!?) Clearly, our server was quite busy because we would try to get his attention and he would basically run away from us (at least that’s how it seemed). Granted– it’s a BUSY time of year (today is the day after xmas) however in my opinion (and over 4 years of restaurant experience) there is NO excuse for bad service especially when the bill is over $ 500, yes $ 500. Well after we finally got water and wine we were told to, «have our order ready» by our server so we made sure to get it ready, in fact, we wrote it down to ensure we got everything we wanted. We read off our list to our server who REFUSED to write it down and go figure– half of our meal never came out. To make matters worse our server was serving a linguine and clam sauce and SPILLED THE SAUCE ALL OVER ME… I repeat all over me. I am currently COVERED in clam sauce/​butter. After a while when we realized half of our food was not coming we confronted our server about our missing orders (3 orders to be exact) and his response was that we, «didn’t order that». Ok so we re ordered it and ²⁄₃ STILL didn’t come out!!! Sure the food was good but with experience like this I will NEVER be back. Such a shame.

I wish I could rate this business a 0 because that is what it deserves. I am flabbergasted at the way my husband and I were treated last night. We went to Matteo’s to celebrate my birthday. We got there at 7:30. Once we arrive we are told that it will be a 40 minute wait to sit inside. We agreed to wait. We went to go sit at the bar but there were no chairs so we just stood and waited. I went over to the hostess and asked if we go outside if she would come and get us. She said «of course, but there is only one table ahead of you so it will be very shortly.» We ended up standing by the bar waiting since it would be quick she said.
We waited for 40 minutes and then i went back over to her to see what was happening. I was told another 10 minutes. As we were waiting i see this man that is picking out people «VIPS» that just walked in and taking them to tables. I was blown away that these people were getting seated right away. Again, I walked back over to the hostess and said what is going on? She said «5 minutes, I promise!!» We then get walked to the table by her and just as we were about to get seated this man comes running over to her, pushing my husband out of the way and yells at her «WHY ARE YOU SITTING THEM THERE??? THAT TABLE IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE!!!» We looked at both of them as the hostess told us don’t worry we had another table and it would be just one minute.
We see the man, who I was told he was the owner taking more people to the tables and not even looking at us. I don’t even know why he has hostesses because each time they went to sit a table he would stop them and seat other people. The hostess that looked scared of him grabs a manager to talk to us. When i explain to him what the problem was he looks around, comes back and says «well, I am going to be honest with you. I have no tables for you right now. As soon as…» My husband stopped him right there and said «Forget it we are leaving and NEVER coming back» The man just said «Okay.» Didn’t care at all.
After over an hour of waiting when told it would be «40 minutes» or «You are the next table» we left and went to another restaurant!
I am beyond disgusted at how we were treated. I would never go back and would make sure to tell all my friends and family our story of how we were treated especially on my birthday where it was a milestone year to celebrate. I am happy that we didn’t spend a dime at that restaurant that night. Where I would never give that man another chance even if he paid me to eat there.

I really don’t believe this restaurant even deserves one star.
We had a 7:30’reservation for 10, we were immediately taken to a table for 12. The host (rudest man I have ever encountered) once he saw we were ten told us we had made the wrong reservation and would have to wait for a table… only 10 or 15 minutes… 35 minutes later we were seated. That is not the worst of it. The host is obviously related in some way to the owners, for that is the only reason for him to still have his job. He was rude to everyone, not just us, was running around the restaurant leaving the door vacant for 10 minutes at a time. The restaurant was very very busy, so perhaps that’s why they really don’t care about being courteous.
Food was just okay, I’ve had better at Augies the air was not working properly, fans weren’t on, and to add to all these problems it was so noisy. I would NEVER Return. Boca and delray have hundreds of restaurants to choose from, why would anyone choose to go to a mediocre, noisy, hot, and rude establishment.

Had another great meal here last night. Clams meatballs pasta stuffed artichoke and so on

A slice of NY Italian in Boca Raton… as good as ever! I’ve been going to Matteo’s in Roslyn, NY since it opened many years ago and since moving to S. FL, the Boca location has been my go-​to Italian spot for good, authentic, consistent, «familiar» Italian food.
As for the menu, I usually start with the Baked Clams and Fresh Mozzarella (warmed) w/​Roasted Red Peppers as Appetizers. For the main course, I either get the Chicken or Veal Parm, Chicken Scarparella, Angel hair Bolognese, Zucchini Linguine and/​or Shrimp ‘ala Wendy… all are winners! I usually end the meal with a great «homeade» Cannoli for dessert, which is a 9 out of 10 (the shell is cone-​shaped, instead of tube-​shaped and the cannoli cream is amazing)!
Note: there are a few things to know before going. This is a great reataurant to go with another couple or group, because it’s family-​style. You can get ½ orders of all things listed (except cannoli) or full orders, which serves about 4 people. When I’m with a group of 6 – 8, I tend to get 2 – 3 full orders and 3 – 4 half orders, which always seem to be enough food. Make sure to ask your waiter for suggestions… they are very helpful and will tell you if you have too much or not enough.
They also have a great bar (bartender is a pro and has been there for a long time), so if you want to grab a drink before your meal, it’s a comfortable spot. Note: you can also eat at the bar, if you are 1 – 2 people and don’t feel like waiting for a table. They also have outside seating, which is nice when the weather is not too hot.
Warning: during «in-​season» (winter and fall months) this place gets really busy, so I highly r3commend calling ahead!