It is traditional in our family to eat Italian on Christmas Eve. We had eaten at Silvestro's last year and enjoyed it. That last experience, they did offer the 7 fishes feast but they also offered a rather full menu as well since this 7 fishes feast was ridiculously over priced. When my father made the reservation, they did not tell him that this was going to be the only option available this year.

When we arrived, it took some time for our waiter to show up. He turned out to be rather awful and unfortunately tainted this review quite a bit, but not completely. The food did contribute. He came to the table with the first course of the 7 fishes meal. We explained that we did not want it, were there other choices. He said, that there may be other choices. We sat there waiting and had to force him to tell us the other choices, which amounted to a filet and the fish. That was it. No salads, no antipasto, no other options.

I went ahead and ordered the 7 fishes not realizing it was $67 dollars. It was no where near this amount in quality and I have eaten at many of the countries best restraunts and I am willing to pay for quality. One of my courses was forgotten totally, I had to get up twice and remind the waiter of missing items owed to the table, the coffee brought to the table was ice cold. He disappeared for some time and never brought the beer that was waited for for over 20 minutes. I had to ask someone else to kick him in the pants to return to the table.

As for the shameful pushing of the 7 fishes meal, simply terrible!The soup, which had carefully placed examples of seafood in the dish - one shrimp piece, 1 muscle and 1 clam in it, all over cooked, lacked flavor. The lobster ravioli pasta was heavy and over cooked, the bowtie pasta with 3 shrimp on it and sometype of non-discript tomatoe sauce was undercooked and so lousy that non-one at the table wanted anything to do with it. $67??? You have got to be kidding. The final fish that came, which everyone else received large servings with polenta was two 3 inch pieces with little else. Although the fish was good... it was not great!

The table was presented with complimentary liquer after I asked for the waiter to please go over again what exactly was included in the 7 course meal since I knew I did not receive what I saw going to the other tables ( we never received menus, but apparently the other tables did). He never did provide that menu but did come back and say he had overlooked serving at least one serving and he would credit $8 off our bill. Although this action was appreciated, it in no way made up for this experience.

We are thankful to the youthful boys who followed us to our cars with umbrellas so we would not get wet from the rain - but they heard us exclaim was we drove out of sight, "We will NEVER be back, it was a bad night". Merry Christmas... We recommend that if you are truly looking for a special meal, make the drive to Orlando for meals that are well worth your time and $$$. If you dont want to make the drive, go to Alfredos Paridiso on Merritt Island where you are assured some flavor!

We had a wonderful experience at Silvestro's! The food and service were outstanding. We live in South Florida, and have dined in many fine restaurants - Silvestro's is a real gem!

From the moment we walked in we were treated like the only people in the restaurant. The service was hands down the best we have received in a long time and the food matched the service.

Being from the Boston area, I've spent a lot of time dining in some wonderful North End Italian places and Silvestros was some of the best, most authentic, Italian food I have ever had the pleasure of having.

Even more impressive than the food, however, was the service. The staff was attentive, friendly and really made it a special dining experience. So special, in fact, we went back again on our seven day trip.

I brought my two ten-year old children for a nice dinner out. We dressed up (for Cocoa Beach, anyhow, nothing extravagant), we were seated in a corner, a beautiful spot to view the rest of the restaurant. My son and daughter ordered the fresh salad with vinaigrette, and I had the caprese salad. From the beginning, I was disappointed in the appetizers. Gene Cate from Florida Today had raved about the food and mentioned in particular the proscuitto and melon with figs ($14), beef carpaccio. Those were no longer on the menu. As we are on a limited budget (single mom of triplets), I was hoping to sample a few of the chef's starters and then have an entree each. We skipped the first course, but I was very sad to skip the carbonera, it sounded wonderful. The waiter was friendly, but took a bit too long to even take our drink orders. We had to study the menu extensively anyhow, because I have kids (picky eaters as are all kids). My children both ordered the filet with gorgonzola cheese sauce (absolutely fabulous and cooked to PERFECTION - medium rare, exactly as medium rare should be, red but not cool). I had the rack of lamb with demi glace. I was again a bit disappointed because the rack of lamb described so wonderfully by Gene Cate of FL Today was "Rack of Lamb with truffle-infused mashed potatoes ($30)". I received the rack of lamb (three gorgeous chops, medium rare, done to perfection as well...) without the mashed potatoes with infusion of truffles, rather with a seasoned roasted cut potato. Good, but not the former, obviously.

The dessert. I have to say WOW! The chocolate torte, which was recommended by Gene Cate, again, was MELT IN YOUR MOUTH wonderful with the perfect topping of pistachios - the salt + sweet was really incredible. My kids had the tortes and I just ordered the capuccino. The capuccino was wonderful as well (not hot, but I really didn't mind because it was so great). The waiter brought me over a "new" liquor to try, which was lovely. The only true complaint was the service - which was not bad by any means, just the drinks were not ordered until the dinner was ordered, my water glass was empty half-way through the meal, and we felt a bit brushed aside, perhaps because of the children (?) not sure. My other complaint was that my son asked if they "had A1 sauce" (I told him it was not polite to the chef, but he is 10 years old - what's the harm, really?) and the waiter said he did not have that, but that he would find something, perhaps Worcestershire? I said that would be fine. Soon, he brought a gravy boat of brown sauce, looking very much like my demi glace on the lamb, and said "This is something from the kitchen, a special steak sauce that the chef prepared for you". I was dumbfounded. How perfectly special was that? Then I tasted it.....it WAS the demi glace from the lamb. I'm not sure if he was trying to impress upon my son or myself that the chef did something "special", but it was a nice gesture, anyhow, I suppose. We ate up every bit of our dinners and the kids expressed that they wished they had ordered the First Course after all. At $151.00, I think we had spent enough, but that was not bad considering our rack of lamb, filets x2, dessert and wine, I thought. My kids were able to eat their entire meals, but had picked through the lovely spring mix salad, so may have had more room than an average person would have had. Perhaps the servings are where some complaints have come from, but I truly thought the serving portion, the food, the presentation and the attention to the order (rare, medium rare, etc.) were perfect.

Overall, I LOVED the place. My sister-in-law and her husband (who is a trained Chef) thought it was overpriced even for the food. I do think it is a bit overpriced, truly, but the food - oh, the food is fabulous. That's my opinion. I hope it helps!