I told you it was opening in June, but there were some complications beyond the control of the new owner, Layth Qassas. Then we learned about a month later that it would soon be open for really real, but I was busy vacationing on the beach – who can blame me? So, on Saturday night, as my family and I were thinking about what to do for dinner, I asked who would care to try the new Italian place in Shannon Hills called Sabranos. Several generations were represented in our visit, as my parents came along, and then there was me, with my daughter and my grandson.
I’ll walk you through the timeline as succinctly as possible. I beat my parents there in the 12 ½ minute drive from Bryant. We parked and I wrangled the kids in for a photo op in front of the building. There are no leftover signs, but from the design of the building, it clearly held a Pizza Hut as its previous tenant. The hut-shaped roof and the trapezoidal windows are a dead giveaway. Nevermind that, let’s go inside. It still looked like a Pizza Hut. Salad bar, tables and chairs, order desk and also, you could still see those windows from the inside. The only thing missing was the ability to play Centipede and Galaga.
But nevermind that too. This is a new restauranteur with a new menu, so let’s check it out. Yes, it’s still Italian, but we have a departure from franchise eats. The pizza made here is from scratch and they have lot of other things on the menu too. The salad bar is packed with veggies and the sandwich and pasta offerings were many. Some of the sandwiches could be ordered as a pizza or as a calzone. I don’t mind saying that I took me a while to make up my mind.
I wanted the gyro sandwich, but when I noticed it could be made into a pizza, I had to check it out. We ordered one of those and one meat lover’s pizza. Oh and my grandson – who thought it would be a great idea to eat a can of Vienna sausages right before we leave to go out to eat – just got french fries. The menu does have choices for a simpler palate, including burgers and fries.
We all got our drinks quickly, and I like to order the sweet tea to see if folks can it right, but also, who doesn’t love sweet tea? And they got it right. Not funky like some restaurants serve it (after never cleaning the tea pitcher) and right at the perfect amount of sweetness, so you’re refreshed and not feeling “the diabeetus” hit you. My parents got water with lemon and they were brought plenty of lemon so that there was enough to “let” my grandson get a good bit of one. He probably won’t do that again.
After our drinks, it was just a couple of minutes before our mozzarella sticks arrived. Oh did I say we ordered those? I don’t know if they were from scratch or not, but they didn’t look or taste similar to other restaurants or like some frozen ones we’ve brought home. Whatever they were dealing with, they served it brown and crunchy and we all chowed on it happily while waiting for the pizza.
Meanwhile, the place began to fill up. I mean every table had somebody sitting there. Young couples and old ones and families too. Looks like this was a good idea. However, we had to cut short our paper football game for fear of it landing in someone else’s marinara. But heyy the pizza’s here!
The meat lover’s pizza showed up first and everybody but Vienna Sausage Boy grabbed a slice. They aren’t kidding about the meat. It was piled on. We were all pretty happy with it. I will say that the only thing I would discount is that I have a personal preference of one or two things to be happening with the crust: either it should be really thin and crackery, or if it’s not thin, it should have some olive oil brushed on the edged so it doesn’t become dry while it bakes. There are some pizzerias that go a little nuts with the oil – that can be greasy and gross. This crust at Sabrano’s, while not greasy, was pretty dry and we left it behind.
Having said that, the next pizza was great too. It had the lamb meat that a regular gyro sandwich would, but instead of a pita, it was pizza crust. Instead of pizza sauce, it was tzaziki sauce. Mmm I loved the dill in the sauce. I had two (ahem) maybe three pieces of this. I mean it was really good. My only problem was that my daughter ate the leftovers for breakfast before I was able to get a shot at it.
Overall, we had a pleasant dining experience at Sabrano’s. Our server was very attentive, even with a roomful of dinner guests and she refilled our drinks and offered things many times. I would definitely suggest this restaurant to anyone, and I know that this is just the beginning and it’s sure to become even better with time. It’s medium cost – for fries, two pizzas, mozzarella sticks and three drinks (not counting water) and a tip, we landed at $50. Not bad. Depending on your family, I bet you could do better.