Ziti

Excellent restaurant but… CLOSED. Finito, no more. kaput. Ruined by migration of stores to another mall. Will be missed.

Popped in for lunch with a colleague this week. We both enjoyed the food and the service was attentive. I was honestly worried about the advertised combo of Italian and Asian in the same restaurant but it was fine.
I had the Creamy Tomato Basil soup along with a salad with added slices sirloin. The beef was a tad underdone from medium rare but I’d rather it pinker than browner so that was ok with me.
My colleague had a flatbread and enjoyed it.
My issue was with the bill. The waitress presented the check (in an AMEX folder) and then proceeded to tell me that they didn’t take American Express. What mainstream restaurant doesn’t take Amex??? She told me they stopped taking it. Really? And yet you still use their supplies? Amazing! The man at the table next to me was fuming when the same thing happened.
I won’t be running back after such an awkward situation.

Very different and very Outstanding Calamari! Wow.
Nice atmosphere, excellent service, and great food all around!
The grilled Ceasar Salad is perfect! If you’ve never had it, try it here — this is the way it should be. Pizza is yummy too.
It’s not a hopping place, but if you’re in the area or shopping in the mall, give Zita a try.
There is a casual bar in the back that looks like the perfect place to rest and refresh before or after shopping.
We’ll definitely go back!

Have enjoyed Everything I’ve tried here, even though I was a little confused initially with how one would «fuse» Italian and Asian cuisine! Basically, I think the Italian influence comes from fresh, seasonal ingredients, traditional Italian preparations/​sauces (Marsala, Picatta, Alfredo, etc) on chicken, veal, several varieties of fish), bruschetta and flatbreads. Appetizers have more of an Asian influence like Tuna Volcano, dumplings, sate. Salads are incredibly refreshing with thoughtful ingredients and homemade dressings. Hearts of Palm w/​lemon vinegrette is my personal fave! Add chicken or fish if you like, perfect by itself! The staff, without exception, is friendly, knowledgable, committed to knowing their clientele without being imposing. OK, it’s in the mall, but once you’re inside (or even «outside» on their indoor patio, you experience a «fusion» of Zen and Italian hospitality simultaneously. Hope Ziti stays around for quite a while, or transports this exact experience somewhere close by if/​when Westfield changes concepts.

The food was outstanding and the service was excellent. As a bonus there was very enjoyable live music. Five of us had 3 – 4 courses and they kept getting better. The pricing was very reasonable compared to the high food quality. We will all be back!

A great find in Southgate and totally unexpected in a mall. The décor is very nice and the waitstaff were professional, accommodating and helpful– not common in Florida. I didn’t want to order the Mediterranean Pizza but being a vegetarian it was my best option. I’m so glad I did because it is one of the best meals I’ve had in Florida and the best I’ve had during my visit to Sarasota. I’m not sure where some of the negative reviewers are eating that have better food but I like quality more than quantity. I would recommend Ziti to all of my friends.

Been wanting to try out and finally did last night. The grilled Caesar Salad was awesome! Great flavor. Had the Sausage Ziti and a absolutely loved it. My wife had the same dish and loved it as well. We will go back!

We’ve been here several times for the happy hour. Excellent! We came for dinner and the jazz music. Very nice music. There is a $ 20 minimum purchase to eat in the dining room. The dinner portions, for the price, are small. If you want a salad with dinner the minimum price is $ 6 which is a joke for what you get. I had 3 shrimp, 2 scallops, ½ cup of rice and curry sauce for $ 24! Tasted good but I think I was paying for all of the people there just to listen to the music. The chicken marsala was excellent with a side of pasta alfredo that was delicious!

This restaurant has a very creative menu, great service, good prices and freshly prepared food. I have been here 3 times with my wife and we both LOVE the place. Hard to believe it’s in a shopping mall. I will go back again and again and again. Has nice ambiance and a very friendly owner. What more could anyone ask for?

We came to Ziti to hear Shelly Torman, a great flutist and singer, as one of a jazz trio. Food good, service fine, but they need to figure out that you don’t put a table with 3 young children in the very front. Acoustics not great and a bit hard to hear. Shelly is amazing. Owner/​mgr needs to rearrange tables for more two tops. We left to go eat elsewhere…

Not very often you can have a good meal in a shopping mall but Ziti’s is the exception and we have found the food and service to be outstanding. They are in the old location of Cosimo’s in Southgate Mall which was good (and moved to Palmer Crossing) but Ziti’s is better.
We shared Asian Calamari ($ 9.) a large portion, perfectly fried and drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce. If you were dining in San Francisco’s Chinatown I don’t think it could be better. On our first visit I had the Gorgonzola Penne ($ 11.) which was creamy and delicious but became a bit boring. Not their fault but mine so it’s a great dish to share. This time I went for Sausage Ziti; crumbled Italian sausage, chopped red peppers, garlic and a sprinkling of sweet peas. Tossed with a Rosa sauce, a tomato based cream sauce. It was a blend of excellent flavors.
My wife loved her Tuna BLT, seared rare tuna ($ 12.) with sesame seeds and BLT along with a spicy Wasabi aioli on grilled sourdough and served with hot crispy waffle fries.
The menu includes half a dozen «better» salads (Hearts of Palm, Shaved Pear etc.) and some old standbys like Caesar, along with flatbread pizza, burgers, plenty of chicken entrees, steak and some seafood items too.
I think this is one of the better restaurants in Sarasota; add to that someone in the kitchen with excellent skills, plenty of parking, reservations, an attentive host/​hostess and great service, all with «downtown» quality and suburban pricing.

we were shopping at the mall and wanted pizza so we called in an order and picked it up to take home. i personally ordered the pesto shrimp flatbread pizza and it was great even as carry out. the pesto tasted fresh and delicious! the margherita flatbread was limp and not crispy at all once we got it home but i think that’s because it was covered in tomatoes. my personal flatbread was still crispy. i would definitely eat here again and try something new because there were several things on the menu that looked great.

We had a table of 7 people and everything turned out perfectly. We all had different choices for meals and drinks and everyone was happy with their selections! I had the portabella mushroom soup that was out of this world!!!
Definitely worth a visit or many!

First visit at lunch. Very wide menu selection, something for everyone. Cant wait to go back and try more items.

This is by far the newest little gem in Sarasota! Everything about ziti is amazing! The servers, managers and owner are all so pleasant and pick the perfect suggestions! I have been here at least once a week since they’ve opened and every time all the items are fresh and cooked to perfection. The key like pie martini is to die for as is the heart of palm salad, tomato and avocado flat bread, and spaghetti pomodoro. The menu has an excellent variety! Highly highly recommended.

I RARELY give out that 5^th star, but this place is just fantastic. The food is simply delicious, the plating is beautiful, the service is up to par, and everything is fresh! Also they have an incredible happy hour (4 – 6?) that offers a mere $ 5 appetizer menu with many types of nibbles to choose from, that suits all sorts of tastebuds… and they have a nice drink selection for a great happy hour price.
The first time in I split a few apps with my companion and we each had a few glasses of wine, then we got our own entrée — all during their happy hour– and our bill was insanely low!
My second time was for lunch and I had their soup of the day, which was a homemade no-​noodle chicken soup that was AH-​MAZING, and their mixed greens pear salad with walnuts and Gorgonzola, which i added blackened salmon to. deeeelish.
I will keep returning for sure!!! Highly recommend.

Stopped here for lunch. As we perused the menu we had an offer of fresh bread with herbed butter. My wife said no; but never having met a carbohydrate I didn’t love, I said yes. Bread arrived and my wife promptly stole my portion; but server was quick to see the theft and brought me another portion. I recommend you override spouse from the get go. I had the seared salmon sandwich on a fresh ciabatta bun with waffle fries and my wife had skirt steak sandwich also on ciabatta bun with Gorgonzola, and a fruit cup instead of fries. You know where half my fries went, yes. Both sandwiches were great. My wife sipped on two Aloha cocktails which she enjoyed. Service was very friendly. A return is definitely in store for future.

A very disappointing experience. The restaurant that used to occupy this space was quite good and the food was worth the price.
Not the case with Ziti. My chicken was overcooked and the salad had several lettuce core ends included. Lettuce knobs are very high on my «yuck» scale.
Waitstaff was lovely.

Was really, really looking forward to lunch at Ziti. The word of mouth was good, the on-​line menu was quite tempting. Unfortunately, the actual experience was less than perfect. Service and ambience were both fine, no complaints. The food, however, was no where near expectations. I had an entrée salad with pears, gorgonzola, pecans, field greens and flank steak strips. While satisfactory, it was not exceptional. What was exceptional was the price…$ 12 for the salad and $ 8 additional for the flank steak. Outrageous! The prices, in general, were way over the top for a mall restaurant that, I assume, hopes to compete with TooJay’s across the way.
With those prices, I guess Ziti wants to become a destination restaurant like Michael’s on East or the Bijou Café. I don’t think so.

Food and service were great.
Had the Spicy shrimp appetizer, pot stickers, wasabi scallops, and gorgonzola pasta. All were good, though the shrimp was my favorite.
Also tasted the braised short ribs and chicken marsala. I would recommend both.
Short Ribs were tender and served with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.
Not a bad dish on the table. Looking forward to our next visit!