Stancato's Restaurant

Stancato's Restaurant has the best Italian food I've ever had! It is on the corner of Pleasant Valley and State Rd. in Parma, Ohio.

Stancatos, located at the corner of Pleasant Valley and State Roads in Parma, offer some of the best Italian food and best values around. Apparently, I am not alone in my thoughts, as there is often a 15-minute wait on weekend evenings.

The decor is colorful and very comfortable, and can accommodate large parties. The salad bar is included with every entree and what a salad bar. The salad bar has fresh lettuce and mixed greens, seafood salad, campanata, just to name few, as well as a variety of fresh vegetables. They have a choice of six salad dressings. The dressings are not homemade except for their house italian which is excellent. The salad bar (which is a misnomer, because it is so big it is in a room by itself) also has a bread bar, where you can find four different homemade bread loaf, garlic, pepperoni and pizza bread. As if that is not enough, there is a soup bar and, at least on weekends, a dessert bar.

The menu is one of the largest I have seen around. In addition to a large selection of appetizers, diners can choose salads, pizza sandwiches (aka "sandwiches"), veal, chicken, ribs, spaghetti, rigatoni, ravioli, lasagna, eggplant, steaks (including filets) and much more. Plan on spending at least 15 minutes just choosing your entree. Especially pleasing is the fact that they not only permit, but encourage special requests as well as children.

As for price--you will not find better bargains. Prices range from approximately $4.00 (sandwiches/pizza) to $7.00-$10.00 (pasta, chicken) to $12.00-$15.00 (veal, steaks). More importantly the food is very good. They have one of the best spaghetti sauces in town, which by the way, you can have with mushrooms, meat, or a combination--in addition to their plain and chunky marinara sauces.

In addition to the restaurant, they have catering and banquet room facilities at very competitive prices.

On Sunday's, rather than having the typical standard brunch fare, they have an all you can eat past buffet, which comes with salad bar. At around $8.00, the value unheard of. The buffet stretches approximately nine feet, and includes more food than anyone could ever eat in one sitting.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Stancatos.