Strings Italian Cafe

This place is delicious! It is definitely worth the price. Every time I attend, the hosts are kind and my waiters are patient and attentive. Their bread is AMAZING! I can honestly say I crave their bread once week. A must try for a special occasion or date night.

First time in Merced and probably my last. In the middle of nowhere then all of a sudden I see a semi modern building with a few stores. The food here pretty good and service was attentive. There were six of us and everyone enjoyed their order and we all had a good time. If I ever go back to Merced, I’m going back to Strings… I’m a fan!

I’ve been to another location, and while its just basic italian food. It’s decent!
— Baked/​fried ravioli: It’s in a spicy sauce that is a nice kick. Very tasty and flavorful
— Pizza with Pepperoni in Alfredo Sauce: Nice. Huge pizza, so definitely can be shared many times over
All in all. I did carry-​out, but this place was nice and would return if in the area!

I was not impressed at all with their food. My vegetables were soaked in olive oil, and the portions were way too overpriced for their size. The third star is only because the restaurant was clean and service was great.

Whenever I crave Italian food, Strings is my first choice. It’s far better than Olive Garden. The pasta at this place doesn’t taste frozen. I always order the minestrone soup and cheese shells. Delicious! The staff is always friendly and very welcoming. Worth every penny!

Our regular meal at Strings is usually soup and salad but I tend to wander away from that because the soup is so boring.
I ordered fettuccine Alfredo because I felt like eating something simple. The salad was as tasty as I expected and there was plenty of warm bread. The Alfredo sauce was terrible. To the person saying it was made «in house» should get her facts in a row. I even asked the server and he responded that the soups and sauces are made elsewhere and delivered to the individual sites. He told me that the Alfredo sauce is made with milk and cheese. Not. In conclusion, a bad sauce makes for pasta I would rather have made at home.

My husband and I had dinner here last week and we could not be more pleased. The sauces are made in house and the meat sauce was the best I ever tasted. The pasta was cooked perfectly, not over-​cooked at all. Brianna the waitress was amazing and so knowledgeable. We even met the owner who was charming. This is such a jewel and to us has Olive Garden beaten by a mile. Wonderful atmosphere. Oh and the salad is so delicious.

I’ve had better food and service at other Strings locations. They sat our party of 5 at a small booth which made it very difficult to eat because everyone’s elbows were hitting each other. They didn’t take too long to take our orders. I ordered one of their vegetarian dishes under the «Pastas & More» section. I ended up being charged $ 13 for a bowl of grilled zucchini, eggplant, onions, bell peppers & tons of mushrooms. No pasta, nothing. Just $ 13 for a bowl of veggies. Very overpriced. The other pasta dishes they had were a lot better than what I had gotten. The minestrone soup was warm and tasty. The bread they brought out was always warm. The service that night wasn’t very prompt or efficient but it was a Sunday night. Probably won’t eat here again.

What an excellent find! We took a chance on Unilocal and stopped in to give it a try. Awesome pleasant service a varied menu– unique offerings and quite delightful

Average overall Italian. Food was good but service was so-​so. Pricey for the service being what it was considering it wasn’t busy.

Every time my love and I go to strings we are greeted with kindness and respect, the waiters, especially «Mike», are very professional and make each dinning experience better than the next. Paula is a great manager and always wears a smile! Calamari Steak and the pizza there are the best dishes. We highly recommended this great restaurant

Olive Garden is better. Food taste kind of frozen. The bread is interesting. I had the chicken Parmesan and the breading completely fell off and tasted like regular grilled chicken.

It’s alright but it’s not a place that is memorable for their food. It’s just average Italian food. The service is always good and the facilities clean.

Yummy food but they are always so busy, we go there on special occasions. its a super tasty food keeps bringing me back .eat there at least once you’ll be glad you did. This is a must try.

Made a reservation at 1:30pm today to celebrate a friend’s graduation. We wanted to change the time 2 hours earlier and the manager Paula denied that we called in to change out reservation. Before she had even asked all the employees who we may have spoken to on the phone she straight up cut us off with «uh, I’ve been here all day.» She was so focused on who made reservations first she didnt bother asking all other workers on the floor if they picked up our phone call. I used to be a host/​waiter at a restaurant and even I’m more professional than this. Unbelievable.

As always, Albert takes THE best care of us! Our late lunch was delicious. The chicken Caesar salad is a must try. This is the best restaurant in town.

This used to be my favorite place to eat. It seems since they changed owners the food and service have gone down hill. The prices have gone up and The food is not as tasty (bland). It took forever to order (as she was waiting on all the tables around us, even picking up dirty dishes before taking our order and then took forever for our food to come out. I could see the cooks working but eating at the same time. I hope they weren’t eating from our plates. My husband wanted a beer (they were out of most everything and had the cheap stuff). Sad to say I don’t believe we will be back.

Great food! I ordered the pasta sienna the first time I came to strings and that’s all I’ve ordered ever since. If you like curry, you’ll like this.
Service is always great here. I even had a small dinner event here and everything went smoothly.
My only complaint, the beer glasses. They’re like little water glasses.

The food was decent but somewhat mediocre and on the bland side. The service was good but not outstanding. Prices were typically about $ 13 for lunch which is a little expensive but not terribly expensive for Italian food. There is nothing outstandingly good or bad about the place. It’s slightly yuppy and very average.

I’ve been here twice and both times it’s been MEH, if that’s an appropriate sentiment.
Most recently, I came with a few friends celebrating the completion of some Masters from the UC, partly out of proximity to the university. Anyways the staff was really nice and friendly. We got seated right away.
It’s just the food isn’t that exceptional. Also, it is NOT gluten-​free friendly. One of my friends agreed to come here because he called ahead and they said they had gluten free pasta and pizza crust. However, NONE of their other items are gluten-​free (sauce, cheese, etc.). We’re not sure what that means, but if they say it’s not gluten-​free then he won’t eat it. It comes around to him ordering and the waitress tells him that his options are to probably just get gluten free pasta with olive oil and maybe a sausage. So he got that. He was also offered a salad, but the dressing wasn’t olive oil based and probably wasn’t gluten-​free, so he didn’t eat it (I did though, it was ok for me!). I felt bad for him and anticipate that he won’t be coming back here again. He mentioned another local Italian joint has an entire gluten-​free menu, if you have a gluten ailment.
I ordered Pasta Sienna, which was $ 15 or so. Our meals came with salad or soup; I got the minestrone. There was also a bread basket. The food took a little longer than I would have expected from a place that was not that busy from what I could see… but maybe they had a busy banquet room. Food came out and it wasn’t very much. The flavor was ok, but it felt underwhelming overall. It’s the American in me.
My friend ordered the tortellini and I had some. The next day both of us were hit with a slight case of stomach sickness. Not sure what was up with the tortellini but I’d never get it again.
Another friend got the ravioli that was on special, but they gave him mushroom instead (they were out of the artichoke kind), and there were only 3 – 4 raviolis. I forgot what the price was but it was probably 13 – 15 $.
Anyway, I probably wouldn’t come back here if I had the choice.