Savona Makes Its Debut Downtown

This account of dinner at Savona on Chase Road in Scarsdale was sent to Scarsdale10583 by a Fox Meadow resident who was lucky to get a table last Saturday night: It's exciting to see Scarsdale continue to develop a more robust restaurant scene. We've often wondered why Scarsdale and environs had so few top quality restaurants relative to other communities, such as Greenwich.

Dinner this past Saturday started on a whim - in our first call to Savona we were told that they were completely full, and they offered to take a reservation for next weekend.

But just as we were about to leave for another place for dinner, we called Savona one more time, and this time were told to come right on in as there were tables. We arrived around 7:15 and stayed until just before 9:00, and there were plenty of open tables -- although it did start to fill up as we were leaving.

We were immediately impressed with the restaurant. The place has been beautifully renovated, and stepping inside we felt like we were walking into a hot Soho restaurant. Although the acoustics were a bit loud, the place had a buzz, and had clearly been carefully outfitted.

The food was very promising, and no doubt after a few more months of operation, will reach a level consistent with the best restaurants anywhere. After enjoying three kinds of wonderfully prepared bread accompanied by flavorful olive oil we ordered an octopus and potato salad, and a Frito Misto - a plate of fried scallops, calamari, and zucchini.

The octopus salad was almost perfect, a light, well seasoned dish which left us wanting more, although the portions were more than fair. Our other appetizer, the Frito Misto, was nicely battered and fried, with hints of tempura.

We both ordered seafood dishes: I had a homemade tagliatelle with clams (the clams were great, and the pasta excellent), and my wife had a seafood stew (light on the mussels please...). Both were made with fresh ingredients, and quite flavorful. We were full by the time we finished these courses, and did not have room for dessert.

Service, although friendly, was very slow, especially when it came to getting our bill, which took 15 minutes to come. But we excused this small over sight as this was the first weekend that Savona was open. Overall we had a nice evening and a delicious meal and we will definitely go back.