Briandi's Restaurant in Laurel - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Very quaint family restaurant. Limited seating but worth any wait. Don't be discouraged by location or restaurant's outside appearance. Certainly worth the visit and you won't be let down. Laura and the rest of the group did a great job; great teamwork! Wonderful Chianti, great apps and wonderful Pizza 🍕😃! Dessert was fantastic and what a history. First time and won't be the last. Great recommendations for next visit that we will certainly try. Glad we were adventurous and gave them a try!!!

Always good food here, but they badly need more servers. I just ate my entire meal without a single refill even though the fountain was 10 feet away, I was very tempted to stand up and get a refill myself. Slowest service I have had in years.

A very intimate place to eat. Seating is somewhat limited so you should get there early. We normally get a large pizza to go (and they are excellent) but decided to eat at a table this time. I had spaghetti with meat sauce and my wife had spaghetti with sausage. We both used the warm bread slices to get all the sauce we could. My plate was bone white when I was done and my wife had just a couple of drops of sauce left on hers. Sadly, no room for dessert. We can't give up our Friday pizza at home but we will eat in the restaurant more often to mix it up.

Once again...perfection. everything was perfect from the water, service, food, drinks and overall cost. We love this place and we'll be back many times in the future.

I've been going here for decades. Dont be fooled by the simple building this place is fantastic. Best pizza in Sarasota (I drive from north Sarasota but totally worth it) Amazing lasagna warm bread. Great staff. Did I mention the PIZZZA...

Very good food. I love the small intimate dining room and bar.

We are here on the beach for five days and decided to eat Italian on night one. Briandi's is a small, 9 table, family owned restaurant. The food and service was excellent. I ordered the French Onion Soup (am I in the right place,lol?) and the Chicken Parm with linguine. I noticed the day's special had a fra diavolo sauce and asked if the chef could substitute that for the fresh marinara sauce normally included. My server returned a few minutes later, asked if I wanted it really spicy and if I also wanted onions, peppers, and mushrooms! My reply -- yes to the spicy, and for the rest, whatever the chef wanted to do. Of course, I asked that he prepare the pasta al dente. My wife asked for shrimp scampi, extra garlic, and linguine (also al dente). Our salads, (one Caesar, one with homemade Italian dressing), bread, and my soup arrived a few minutes after our drinks -- all were very good. It sure is refreshing to eat at a restaurant that actually makes their own salad dressings (both delicious) -- what a novel idea -- seems like many places just offer dressing provided by Sysco or Cheney Brothers! Next, our main courses arrived. Both were spectacular. Our pasta was cooked perfectly, so good, in fact, that my wife insisted on complimenting the chef -- he spoke with her in the kitchen! Thanks, Briandi's for a great dinner, see you next year!

Quaint little place, I like the place I just wish the food was a little better and they wouldn’t flood the food with so much sauce. It seems they just slop the food onto the plate very unappetizing.

Food was delicious and the portions very large. The service was great. Will definitely be returning.

Awesome experience definitely a diamond in the rough

All of our food was good and reasonably priced. Service was absent, we had to ask for things multiple times, request refills on drinks and waited a long time to place our order. I'm hoping the a/c vents in the kitchen are cleaner than the ones in the bathroom, that got in my head a little. This restaurant has been here since I was a kid and it's always been a solid choice for local Italian food.

Delicious! Had the eggplant parm. Servers were very nice

Always great food and service. Takeout this time and still great food.

Hoping to run into Joe Peschi, or Robert Plant, 🤗, they didn’t come in tonight. I did carry out and the food is good, healthy portion. Looking forward to trying their pizza!

Their marinara sauce and minestrone are awesome.

Being a Chef for many years, I'm a bit picky. For the price of their entrees they are putting out some damn good food. Bread basket is great. Minestrone soup is amongst the best I've ever had. First night I had the linguine with calamari and seeing this on the menu brings back memories of an old school Italian restaurant back home near Detroit that had it on the menu. Simple dish, yet I could eat it anytime. Second night I had the veal Parmesan. I like mine closer to medium rare, but it was still very good. Atmosphere is very old school as well and felt like your in a small joint in Brooklyn. Would definitely recommend!

Not my favorite pizza. Toppings were fine, but the amount of thick bready crust kind of killed it for me. If you like thick crust, this us your place. Explains why it took an hour for the pizza as well.

We love Briandi’s ❤️ Food is fantastic, chef is talented. . and if you are lucky, you will meet Laura. . She’s the best!!!

Food is good the Chicken Parm was great. The service can be a little slow but it is a very small restaurant that gets very busy and everyone is super friendly

Intimate, charming, located in paradise. Oh and amazing food. Give compliments to the chef

Our service was excellent, the food was average, portions very large, the atmosphere is very dark. Our waitress was a wonderful young lady.

Servers were very polite. It was very busy so service took a little longer than normal I’m sure. I would definitely go back.

This place is always packed and now I know Why small inside huge potions very good food excellent waitress from the Bronx it’s the real deal good Chianti too had the shrimp scampi on pasta was lemony and garlicky light scrumptious and the shrimp cooked perfectly very fresh my friend ordered the eggplant parm that was Mike high layers crispy and cheesy mouthwatering goodness with spaghetti enough for a small county Dinners come with soup or salad and fresh baked bread I of course had to have dessert a Hazelnut tiramisu no espresso just light creamy nutty flavors I loved it Excellent service and cuisine My only complaint would be the lightning was so bright and spotlights right on you ! And no music

I had steak and shrimp because they raved how good their steaks are. No flavor. Shrimp overfried. I don't normally leave bad reviews but cmon if you're going out to dinner spending your time and money, it should try to be better than what you make at home. Maybe their pasta dishes are better.

Great food in excellent portion sizes!

Great food! The staff works their butts off. They are super busy and try to accommodate everyone. Just be patient on the weekends please.

First timer. Service was great, prices were good and food was ok. Didn’t love it but didn’t hate it.

Great food, great service, great atmosphere. Highly recommend giving it a try!

Best place in town. Food, delicious & very reasonably priced.

We ordered carry out on a busy Saturday night. The restaurant was very crowded. The carryout order was supposed to take 35 minutes but it took closer to 55 minutes. I ordered spaghetti and a Caesar salad, which had a two dollar up charge. The Caesar salad was not worth the two dollar up charge, it was mostly the very top of the Romain dark green leaves and they weren’t even cut into small pieces. I think somebody was in a rush. I did not like the marinara sauce that came with the spaghetti either. I gave my dinner to stars. My husband had the eggplant Parmesan and regular salad. He did like this and gives it four stars. The bread that came with the dinner was good . I really don’t plan on eating here again.

The food was absolutely amazing!

Stopped in and met the waitstaff. Nice, friendly people with good suggestions. Come in hungry, and there is a good deal for the early bird menu.

Just moved to Nokomis . We ate in the restaurant and it was so so. The bread was homemade and was the bright spot. Tonight we got their pizza and to be honest was the worst pizza I’ve been had. Very thick and doughy crust and too much cheese. The staff and atmosphere was awesome and I would come here weakly but the food is not good at all

Couldn't get in because it's not wheelchair accessible. Isn't that against the law in 2023?

Carry out dinner from Briandi’s. First time experience. I discovered that while they don’t open til 5pm, they will take carry out orders from about 4:30 on. They don’t take reservations and it is a small place. I counted 36 seats and 4 more at the small bar. Beer and wine only. My wife and I ordered Chicken Florentine and Baked Rigatoni. Both were delicious! They came with Minnestrone soup and a garden salad. Also included was a small loaf of delicious bread. Each entree was huge! My wife and I will make two meals each out of them. Total price was $45 plus tip. A true hidden gem.

I love Briandi's. I have been multiple times and keep returning as the food is excellent, the service is always excellent and it's totally charming with all the memorabilia on the walls. It reminds me of the wonderful Italian, unpretentious restaurants I visited when I lived in NY and NJ. Nothing pretentious here.

Good food at a good price. Small place limited seating, place has been around for a while, Old Florida feeling .

What a treat!!! Briandi's is a one in a million Italian restaurant. Fresh, warm bread, fantastic appetizers, salads, soups, and outstanding entrees await you. I had Linguini with Red Clam sauce. It was loaded with clams, and the sauce made me think we were in Italy. There are limited tables, and they do not take reservations. Small bar. Briandis serves some speciaty beers and wines. Also served here are CocaCola products. Lovely desserts to end the meal. Service was EXTRAORDINARY.. Enjoy yourselves!

Most amazing food and service in Sarasota! Yes we are related but there is a reason they have been in business for 30 years !

Best lasagna in 3 Counties! Huge portion too🥰 will definitely return

We’ve been several times, and the food has been consistently great. Service was questionable first time around, but this past time we had Laura, who was a GEM! She was so very welcoming and made us feel like we were over for supper at her place. We’ve tried lasagna (have to get meat sauce), chicken Alfredo, and chicken Florentine: I can vouch for all of those being incredible. Portions are generous and accompanied by a sizable dinner salad (don’t recommend Caesar, it’s a little tangier than typical, but the garden salads are excellent!) Atmosphere is dimly lit, very quaint, maybe between 5 to10 tables if memory serves correctly. Beer and wine only. Get a carafe, sit back and enjoy Italian family recipes whipped up as if for a private house party!

I cannot share how much I love Briandis! The food is excellent. If you like authentic Italian food, this is the spot! I love their homemade tomato sauce. My family comes here every summer, and always great service and food. Highly recommend the tortellini, French onion soup, eggplant parm, and the spaghetti and meatballs.

Came here twice. First time: Came here not too hungry late one night with my parents, so we just stopped by to check out a new place and have a late night snack/ meal. I had just the French onion soup and bread and both were delicious! French onion soup can be a real let-down so I rarely order it, but Briandi's executed it perfectly and the bread is amazing! My parents liked their meals too. The atmosphere is a little too dive bar like for an Italian restaurant in our opinion, which would make this place not ideal for an elegant evening out, but the food is excellent, the server was pleasant, and we had a great experience. Second time: Came with a friend who ordered the French onion soup. I ordered the Linguine Alfredo. The onion soup was excellent. The Linguine Alfredo was one of the worst I have ever had. I could not finsh more than 1/3 of it. The sauce was not creamy but instead had a very grainy texture. Very unpleasant. The lady serving us was very friendly.

Food was excellent, service was also good. The atmosphere is a family owned , with pictures from the sixty.

Ordered take out eggplant parm because of good reviews. Very disappointed. Eggplant was very dry, dinner had minimal sauce. My husband picked up the food and said they tack on 3% if you use debit/credit card. I won’t be ordering there again.

Ordered 2 large pizza's that were $52. & that is expensive for a large so have never been back since plus we waited 35 minutes for them & had a drink while waiting so that was extra money we had to spin.

Kleines Restaurant mit typisch italienischen Gerichten. Sehr ordentlich und gut geführt. Die Portionen, selbst bei den Kindergerichten, sind riesig. Nur zu empfehlen 👍🏼

This place is magnificent. The owner is out of this world, humble and outright most nicest man that you can ever meet. He puts every bit of Turner, love and care and everything that he does and his staff is marvelous.

We'd been once before and returned with 2 other couples to this small old time Florida roadside restaurant. It's a very small place with a small bar. Lots of memorabilia on the walls. By 5:30 all but one 2-top was filled. It's been very busy both times we were there with a number of people coming for carryout. The house salad was fresh and tasty. One had the eggplant parm, liked it but not the sauce. One had a cheese pizza (one size: large) and loved it. Another had the veal parm and really enjoyed it. We shared the chicken parm. Brittany, our waitress, served it on 2 plates. $5 split plate charge but we liked that we didn't have to do it ourselves. We thought it was very good and we still had plenty left. Our server was pleasant and efficient. It seemed like she and sometimes one other woman were the only servers. She was quite busy but was able to check on us enough. Everyone was glad we'd brought them. They'd all been by it many times but never stopped before. I think now they'll return.

"Old Florida" and real Italian. Family run and owned. The bread served with our meal was dreamy.

We were pleasantly surprised by this quaint little tucked away restaurant. Nice atmosphere, friendly staff and of course very good Italian cuisine. The bread made fresh daily was wonderful and we are looking forward to our next visit.

Best pizza ever!!! My kids love it!!

Got there at 5 when they opened and it filled up very quickly. Early bird selections require a beverage purchase and are supposedly a bit smaller in portion than that on the regular menu. I had the cheese tortellini and the portion was huge! My leftovers fed me three more times. Served with soup or salad. Definitely worth a return trip to try some other menu items.

This place was amazing from start to finish. Authentic Italian food. The bread was so good my son described it as the 'cotton candy of bread'. Antipasto salad was full of fresh Italian meats. I consider myself a 'foodie' always on the search for the best wings... hands down the best I've ever had. I am so happy to find this hidden gem as so many of our family owned places were taken away by hurricane Ian. From the onion soup to the pizza to our wonderful server Cara, thank you for making us feel at home. We will be back over and over again. This was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in a long time!

Very quaint and family based restaurant!! The food and service was excellent!

Authentic Italian restaurant. When you walk in just pick your table and get ready for a great meal. Everything is made to oder. We had lasagna and asked for pink sauce with meat, no problem they made it! Chicken Florentine was wonderful I added their homemade sausage on the side just because I wanted to taste it and I'm so glad I did! Salad dressing is out of this world! The bread that is brought to your table is still warm with a nice crispy crust. The French onion soup is dripping with cheese! Bring your appetite because the portions are huge! Everyone working there is very friendly and checks on you often! Enjoy we sure did.

A local gem! The red sauce is their specialty and is amazing!

Had the lasagna and spaghetti with two meatballs. The lasagna was long and flat with four cheeses and was pretty tasty. However, oregano was overwhelming in the Marianna on the lasagna.. Oregano in the meatballs was overwhelming. Oregano, in the marinara w the pasta was overwhelming too. The tomatoes separated from the water in the marinara sauce. Not a pretty sight. This is my third and final visit. It was a great place when the old man was alive. But the food quality n service has dramatically gone down hill.

Went in late after a beach day looking for good Italian. Random ‘food’ search leads us to an unbelievable find: Briandi’s. We arrived after a rush and the waitstaff were busy but friendly. Food is delivered quickly… and wow. That delicious bread hit the table and we knew it was going to be a special meal. The mozzarella sticks were the best we’ve had in years. The cheese pizza was outstanding. The kids’ ravioli and chicken alfredo, devoured. The eggplant parmesan was an experience. The pasta sauce that accompanies everything was perfection. Fantastic. Seriously. 10/10. Go, already. This place is the real deal, like eating in mama’s kitchen. Will be back!

The minestrone soup was very tasty I give it 5 stars the same as the bread and the homemade marinara sauce. I give the pasta 2 stars. Linguini Putanesca, tastes like minestrone soup and the clams were overcooked. The canoli gets only 3 stars. Although the locals eat there, we never eat in that place again.

Great pizza. Service was poor. Was thrown a pizza box for the remaining pizza. Oh, what they don’t tell you, if you pay by credit card. You pay an extra 4%. NICE…

Awesome food. We ate here for 3 dinner menus

We ordered lasagna, it was excellent. The portions were large and the staff was delightful. Definitely a place I will be returning to.

Best Italian food in Sarasota county

First time here, but definitely not the last. The food was amazing !! The staff was super friendly, and even got to meet the chef who cooks a perfect med/rare steak. Highly recommend this restaurant

I order linguini with a meatball and sausage. Took 45 minutes to get the food. I got spaghetti not linguine and the sauce tasted like a can of hunts tomato sauce. I would not recommend

I stopped in to get an order to go. It was an intimate dining room and the staff was nice. The prices were not hateful. I did not care for the lasagna. It had no meat and was rather bland. The portion was huge and it was hot, but the packaging was sloppy and leaked in my car on the way home. I will try other items on their menu next time.

Best Steak in town! Ask for Jan the best bartender in town! This place Awesome!! Get the surf and turf♥️♥️♥️♥️

This little family owned hole in the wall takes you back in time. We were so impressed with the food and our server Brittany was super sweet & efficient. The music was great. We will definitely be back.

This family owned hole in the wall has amazing food... from appetizer to dessert! Thank you Brittany for great service.

Great food, very good service Edited 3/13/23. Terrible service. Called in a pickup order of lasagna at 5 pm, was told it would be an hour. Arrived at 5:55 pm, was told it would be ‘just a minute’. Waited 35 minutes, was told 3 more times it would be ‘just a minute’. Finally walked out. 3 tables were served and 5 takeout orders were given to people that came in after I did. Totally unacceptable service.

Food was terrible & the service even worse! Just bad food claiming to be Italian. The waitress ignored us even though there were only 2 other small table to serve - that should have been a clue! Waited over 1 & 1/2 hrs for our meal, not only was it cold but there was no meat in the meat lasagna. Waitress could not be bothered to come back to see if we needed anything. The sauce tasted like it came out of a jar. Poor quality & service. Shocked this place is still in business!

On the small side go early. Truly genuine Italian food..

Best Wings in Venice. They were truly authentic wings that you get in Buffalo AND with Blue Cheese. I spoke to the chef directly, and yes, he's a native WNY. Their Italian dishes are great also. I had lasagna, and my cohort has a meatball sub. Delish!

A great meal at a family friendly restaurant!

Service was slow & meal was just ok

Another great dinner at this restaurant with great atmosphere and food! It's a family friendly place with great service and food!

I hate to give away this gem. Not impressive from out side. By 5 every table is full. Has a Rat Pack NY Italian feel. Before 6 there is a menu with smaller servings. My husbands veal Parm was great. My antipasto salad as well. I love spumoni. Ordered it and out it gets delivered on Thurs. I was crushed it’s so hard to find, waitress said give me a minute. She brings the most amazing spumoni bombe with hard chocolate coating and chocolate sauce. She said she knows where employees hide them. Saw pizza’s go by that looked delicious. They have fish dishes as well. Best meal the three months we were here. Pic is the small portion menu. Oh and the warm bread wonderful. Remember pic is if smaller early bird portions.,

Absolutely wonderful!! Don't judge a book by its cover! The best Italian food in the area!!

Thought we finally found good pizza. Really enjoyed the sausage pizza until we went last week. For some reason they decided to thin slice the sausage like pepperoni instead of clumps. Can't even taste it! Oh well search is on for another...

Small but cozy Italian restaurant. Delicious handmade food, great sweet tomato sauce.

Great Italian food! Every dish was high quality and generously portioned. Even the side salad was carefully put together. Servers were friendly and accommodating. Would definitely recommend Briandi's.

Been there many times, took someone new...we enjoyed, they enjoyed...good food, generous portions, friendly servers, nostalgic atmosphere...pull hard to open the door.

You might drive by this restaurant. The service is good depending on your waitress. We lucked out. VERY generous portions. We liked it!

The outside of the building will make you cringe. The inside is a delightful collection of local celebrities and famous photographs. The walls are covered with all types of Italian memorabilia. You must get to this restaurant at opening (4:30 pm) or you won’t get another chance until about 6:30 pm. The place is very small. The parking is horrible and would discourage tourists from going to the restaurant. Four of us went for dinner on Thursday and the place was packed. Every table was full and the tiny bar had 9 people standing or sitting. Two of us arrived at opening, and the other two were stuck in traffic. Fortunately, the waitress let our friends be seated before the whole party was there. The NOISE LEVEL was atrocious! A large party of 7 was extremely loud and everyone else in place was shouting to be heard. The bar area was open to the dining room and very loud. We had to yell at each other to be heard. This place has wine and beer. We ordered wine. When it was finally our turn to order ( I hour after arriving), we did salads and entrees. Do not get the Caesar…large pieces of dark green Romain and unseasoned bread crumbs, not croutons. The house salad was fresh and delicious. The veal and chicken Parmesan were fantastic. Maybe the best I’ve had anywhere. The spaghetti was thick and the sauce was very liquid. The taste, however, was authentic and definitely homemade. The portions are enormous and the meatballs are very large. The bread was okay. It had a decent crust. In all we were there over 2 hours. Very few tables turned over during that time. There was a foursome waiting outside for a table as we left. We won’t go back simply due to the noise factor and lack of parking.

Great authentic Italian cuisine.

Positive experience, Lasagna was good and included soup or salad and bread versus some restaurants that itemized everything separately where you control overall cost. The only negative was slowness, nothing we ordered wasn’t already prepared but still took longer than expected to get everything!

Server wouldn't even come refill my drink. It was very expensive and the baked potato was plain. It didn't use to be that way. I use to love going there. They even charge to use a credit card now. I won't be back!

Best pizza and wings joint in Venice /Nokomis area! Mr. Briandi is a gem!

Really neat place. Smaller so get there early. Fantastic Pizza. Other Italian dishes were also fantastic!!

The bartender Janet she was great friendly staff

Never, never never again!! We’re been going here for ten years…in the recent past we had a few bad experiences (terrible service and disappointing meals) but we’re encouraged to go with another couple before a New Year’s Eve celebration in their community. We arrived at 5:30 and were seated immediately. We ordered drinks and waited quite a bit for them….this is a VERY small restaurant..we ordered wings and they took a solid half hour. Prior to their arrival we asked for another glass of wine and then asked multiple times more before we got them. Asked for more bread but it never arrived. Asked for more napkins the entire time we were there and NEVER received them…as a good amount of time had gone by since the wings were cleared we had to insist on her bring our salads. By this time we had been there over an hour. When the seven o’clock hour arrived we still had no dinners. Each time we inquired we were told “they’re being plated” but each time another ten minutes would go by. When we finally got extremely upset we were told it was our fault because we had wings??? We then asked the other server for help explaining all that was happening and she went in the kitchen to see what was what she could do. The table next to us had come in LONG after us and was paying their bill with there left overs wrapped and ready to go! We asked for the owner and the server insisted he was aware we wanted to see him but he never came out…we finally got our food, shoveled down a few bites but had to leave to get to our event. The other server said the owner wanted to know what he could do for us and (although it seemed obvious to me) I suggested compensation of some kind on our bill and he did not charge us. In the end we were there for over two hours and it was a nightmare. Perhaps if the owner had taken a few minutes to listen to our concerns this review would not have been written.

Cute, small, great menu, stinger sandwich! Real Buffalo Wings and a badass traditional Italian restaurant.

We enjoyed our meal. We had pizza, salads and chicken Parmesan. The chicken portion was huge. We would eat here again.

I live close by and have been to Briandi's several times. It serves tasty comfort food in generous servings. Staff are very pleasant but very busy - as attentive as other customers permit.

Perfect quaint little place. Extra large portions. The early bird specials are smaller than dinner. Serve beer and wine but virtually nothing on draft. The owners and the staff are all wonderful and the food is to die for the owner and chef has been in business for 35 years and is so pleasant and calm. Just great food. Reasonably priced I think for portions.

A group of 8 of us came in on a local tip while in town to restore power after the hurricane. The food was amazing and we were treated to excellent service. A real gem.

Very disappointed with the check, false advertising, and deceit from waitress. They advertise Earlybird Specials to include wine or draft beer on their website and the waitress asks if you’d like beer or wine when you order off the Earlybird menu, but when the check arrived, they charged us for both drinks. When inquired upon receiving the check, the waitress denied that she stated that before the meal and would not remove the items from the bill. The glass of wine was an additional $5.75, making the Earlybird special $4.00 more than ordering from the regular menu. Does not make any sense! The restaurant is so small that there is minimal privacy between tables. They nickel and dime you for everything; additional bread, dressing, etc. all cost an additional fee. They also charge you a fee to use a credit card. The food wasn’t anything exceptional. Average to mediocre Italian food. Spend your money at another restaurant that respects you as a customer. Will not return for these reasons.

"Homemade" food brought to the table with oven mitts. Minestrone soup, Caesar salad with anchovies in the dressing; ravioli with a homemade sausage on the side. An intimate old style restaurant! Epic!

Great food. The staff and kitchen were on point. Did you say NY Strip....