45 Marcus Fernando Mavatha, Colombo 7
This place has closed down
With high quality ingredients, Santoré serves authentic Italian cuisine at a great location.
Santoré Bistro Italiano is one of Colombo's better options for Italian fare, serving up stellar pizza and a range of pasta.
In the latter half of 2013, Santoré was the newest Italian restaurant to join the fray. They've got high quality ingredients, authentic cuisine and a great location at the Tennis Association. We liked them then, and that hasn't changed after our second visit.
This Italian restaurant imports the best ingredients (including an amazing pizza oven) and is manned by actual Italians. Top it off with a beautiful, verdant location and intelligent staff and you have a real treat hidden in Colombo 7.
සිංහල සැන්ටෝරේ කියන්නේ ලයිෆ්ස්ටයිල් එක පිටිපස්සේ තියෙන ටෙනිස් කොර්ට්ස් ළඟ තියෙන කදිම ඉතාල අවන්හලක්. ඒකට ලස්සන හරිතමය පිහිටීමක් තියෙනවා වගේම විශිෂ්ට පිට්සා, කදිම රස ද්රව්ය වගේම බුද්ධිමත් කාර්යමණ්ඩලයක් ඉන්නවා. ඒක දැනටනම් හොයාගන්න ටිකක් අමාරුයි. ඒකත් ලාලිත්යයේම කොටසක්. අපි තදින්ම රෙකමදාරු කරනවා ඒක.
Address
45 Marcus Fernando Mavatha, Colombo 7
Directions
Santore is located right inside the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, behind the Lifestyles Gym. On the main road it's between the Green Path roundabout and the National Museum. There's some big trees and a parking lot. Walk basically in to Lifestyles and continue down the path till it ends at the tennis courts. Santore is on your right.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyThis place has closed down
Cuisine
Price Range
Dish Types
Ratings Breakdown
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1/5
A family dining experience summarized:
-LKR 1700 for a king prawn pasta dish that was smaller than the palm of my hand. The other pasta dishes were in the LKR 1200 range and up.
-Food quality was quite poor in relation to prices commanded. (E.g. veg pasta dishes swimming in cream, etc.)
-Compare this to high-end Italian restaurants that charge slightly less for superior quality & quantity. -Waiters appeared to be untrained.(I can elaborate)
-No word from the owner despite him being present.
-Poorly lit outdoor area, and poorly lit entrance, risking stumbling on pathway.
3/5
It was a great experience. The service was very pleasing but could be improved on. The chicken sausage pizza was quite tasty, however the crust was quite burnt and unable to eat. I would definitely go again.
new places are always good…
i hope Antonio will maintain the quality of his food…
anyway i'l try there this weekend…
:)
Wow -- 650 rs. for dessert seems a bit on the high side. Do the prices include taxes and service charges, or will it be billed +++ over the menu prices?
Was very disappointed at a lunch we ate there recently. The thin crust pizza had fresh ingredients but lacked taste. The penne pasta dish we also ordered could have been little more than the instant stuff mixed with a can of pureed tomatoes. The salad was mediocre and you could fix something more interesting at home. Every dish could have done with more generous additions of everything from garlic to the herbs that one expects from italian dishes. Also: do not go there in your own car when there is any kind of activity from the SLTA - they own the car park where Santore is located but take no responsibility for ensuring there is any sense of order in how cars are parked (a security guard only stands at the gate) nor do they place any signs alerting drivers to this. When we left the restaurant we found that someone had parked in front of our car and we hung around for 45 mts in the parking lot until SLTA could find a way to get them out - apparently they have no system in place to prevent this from happening. Another problem is that the restaurant is very small and gets very loud when more than 1 table is occupied. This is worsened by the fact children and adults involved in the SLTA activities often walk into the restaurant just to get the benefit of the AC and so the restaurant itself never became comfortably cool. Perhaps the ambience is quieter at night when you can sit out, but the food was not worth it.
The service at this restaurant is a joke.
On saturday, they had 2 waiters for the entire restaurant. By the time we ordered, they had run out of food.
They have a lot of issues to work out before it's worth going.
We had take away pizzas over the weekend and I must admit that the quality of the ingredients is very clear in the taste. Our pizzas (the four cheese with extra parma ham and the Diavola) were superb.
The price was similar if not actually a little less than at Il Ponte where we used to go for a good four cheese pizza but the taste is far superior here. And the oven is indeed impressive. Very happy to have a relaxed new restaurant, where the emphasis is on quality of food rather than superficial gimmicks and fancy over the top design features. Will definitely be a regular here -- and subsequently also at Independence to work off all those extra Italian carbs. There were no parking issues when we were there.
foodie, I agree with you. The Pizza lacked taste. There is no point using expensive Pasata for the pizza base. Concentrated MD tomato puree with garlic blended will work fine. To those who ate the Four Cheese Pizza the Gorgonzola Cheese is very strong and this will overcome the taste issues in the other areas. The Pizza could be rolled thinner how that my personal pref. Little fine tuning to be done and all in all can work out ot be a real nice spot to chill at. Good luck to you all.
Had the biscuit pudding which was 690 plus taxes. Was the worst value for money we've ever had. The quantity of dessert was about two tablespoons and looked like someone had scooped it by hand and dumped it on the plate. Ruined the whole meal. The service was mediocre to say the least. Not one smile to be seen and the trouble we had trying to attract someone's attention it was like the place was self service. Won't be revisiting.
Tried the pizza on two occasions and was disappointing both times. Just not tasty and the crust was flat and chewy and the most prominent taste was the char coal from the oven!
I have been there about 6 times already. The food is superb. The pizza is of the same quality of a top pizzeria in Italy. Sadly the pasta dishes were quite mediocre. Had a carbonara once and it was nothing special. I've had plenty of Antonio's mom's dishes there and they were all excellent. I wish he'd introduce them to the menu as well.
The pizzas are a bit on the high side but they are enough for 2 people with moderate appetites so nothing to grumble about the prices. Along with Ming Han, this is my favorite place to go for a meal.
We visited this place over the weekend for dinner and quite frankly we were astonished and gravely disappointed. The walk to the restaurant from the car park felt very eerie and the restaurant was located right at the end with no lights along the pathway. When we got there the interior comprised of a few wooden tables and chairs clumsily put together in a small space. Overall not a good first impression but still decided to give it a try hoping the food would be mind blowing! I'd have to agree with foodie on a number of accounts. When there is more than one table occupied it gets really loud and the AC did not work so it was rather hot, overall it was very unpleasant. The sets of cutlery on the tables did not match and looked like something you brought from different houses just for that day! (and knives with plastic handles!!!) Now to the food, I had the penne pasta with chicken and as Foodie rightfully put it across it was just pasta and chunks of chicken mixed with garlic and what was probably MD canned tomatoes pureed! An utter disappointment! The Carbonara too was mediocre and nothing to write home about. Overall the food and ambiance turned out to be a bitter disappointment. If the management of Santore Bistro Italiano are serious about this they should really up their game and provide good quality food and a suitable atmosphere to enjoy it.
Tried it over the weekend for dinner, I thought the place was really nice, the pizzas were great too, however, couldn't stop but to feel as though they were being stingy on the toppings, fr the high price you pay, I think it would be reasonable to expect more than 2 pepperoni pieces per slice. Hope this improves because Colombo has missed having a traditional Italian pizza joint since Regina margarita closed down
Santore is definitely one of the best dining experiences in Colombo. The location, being tucked away from the main road, gives the restaurant a beautiful sense of privacy. The candle/lantern lighting and music complete the calming ambiance. The service is top-notch. I often find that servers in Sri Lanka have the tendency to linger, but the staff here are very well trained in fine dining. Not to mention that Antonio, the owner, was happy to introduce himself and check on our meals.
As a table, we ordered two pizzas, two plates of pasta, and several appetizers. Everything was rich in flavour (I have no idea how earlier "foodie" reviews state that the pizza was lacking in taste). I was not surprised to later discover that all the ingredients are imported. Having travelled much of Italy and eaten many an Italian pizza, I can say that Santore epitomizes the elegance and taste of it's mother country.
The prices are high in comparison to many eateries in Sri Lanka, yet are quite cheap in comparison to Italian restaurants in Italy, France, England, Canada, and the US. 1500 Rs. for a pizza equates to around $12 US/CAD, which is a very fair price, especially considering the importing of all the ingredients.
All in all, I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone who loves Italian food, fantastic service, and is willing to pay a fair price for the experience. I am looking forward to returning very soon!
Dear all. My name is Antonio Ciocia and I am the owner of Santore'. I just want to reply randomly to the few comments made by the customers.
1. We don't serve king prawns pasta.
2. Pasta price range is from LKR 850 upwards.
3. If anybody requests to speak with me I am happy to do so as I do not wish to interruprt anyone's dinner.
4. The entrance is lit with oil lamps as part of the ambience.
5. The wood oven is a professional one imported from Italy and it is not a food oven converted to a pizza oven. It's the best in italy and can make 180 pizza per hour.
6. The chef is italian.
7. Most of the ingredients are from Italy and are on the pizza counter so everybody can see them and eventually can ask to taste to try the authenticity. Gorgonzola, parmigiano, artichokes, emmental, prosciutto crudo di parma etc etc.
8. We use "passata di pomodoro Vellutata" imported from Italy.
9. We use fresh mozzarella made by an italian guy and not the greated brick cheese (can be checked at the pizza counter).
10. We use only pasta "De Cecco and pasta Barilla" or we make our fresh pasta.
11. Italians don't put a lot of garlic in the dishes. The garlic doesn't have to cover the taste of the other ingredients.
12. About the dessert prices. We use nutella, first quality chocolate and liquor from Italy called "amaretto" and "San Marzano".
13. We use extra virgin olive oil imported from Italy.
14. Everybody can check some pics of the restaurant https://www.facebook.com/SantoreBistroItaliano/photos_stream
I thank you for your feed back and I hope I have clarified any questions you may have.
Best regards,
Antonio Ciocia
Love the passion fruit dessert. Choc mousse wonderful says all whom been there. I like the pizza. Yes a little pricey
Loved the dessert. Passion mousse…. All others loved choc mousse.
Pizza was good… Cheesy. Will visit again. Easy from work but a bit pricey… I guess for authentic ingredients….
Thank's for the first delicious Pizza and Pasta since I'm traveling (8 month). It's very difficult to find a good Italian restaurant when you are used to European standard. Since I arrived in Sri Lanka I tried several Italian restaurants in Colombo and all over the country from north to south. I can recommend the restaurant because of the delicious food and good service. Since I found this place last week I went again to have 'the original tast of Italy' and for sure I will come back frequently.
Just had pasta carbonara and it was not value for money, small portion and taste is nothing special. Also had chicken Insalata salad and without any dressing and the taste was not good. Sorry will not go again!
Food was good but we asked for mushrooms with our pasta and were charged Rs 250 additional for maximum 3 mushrooms!
The food was good but we left with distaste as we feel they CHEAT the customer. we asked for half/half pizza i.e. half shrimp + half salmon. Both types were 1850/= on the menu. But when the bill came we are charged for 2100 + taxes. when we inquired, at first the "hostess" apologised saying the cashier has mixed up take way vs. dining-in and the balance will be given. After awhile the waiter comes and says, because we ordered half/half there is a "surcharge" of 350/=!!! my husband told him it should have been told at the time of ordering or stated in the menu. Then my friend checked her bill of previous day, to see she's been charged 480/= as a surcharge!!! this is cheating and misleading the customer.
SSS, easy on the name-calling! You're talking as if you don't know how difficult it is to train staff and have them work efficiently.
To the owner, since you were kind enough to respond.
1. We don't serve king prawns pasta.
-You did at the time.
2. Pasta price range is from LKR 850 upwards.
-The dish we ordered was LKR 1700. Not sure how stating a base price is relevant.
3. If anybody requests to speak with me I am happy to do so as I do not wish to interruprt anyone's dinner.
-We did ask to speak to you, but they said you were not available when we could actually see you talking to someone. It can't / shouldn't have been a customer since it was pretty much the duration of our meal.
4. The entrance is lit with oil lamps as part of the ambience.
-It wasn't lit at the time we visited and it defeats its purpose if you're not going to be consistent about lighting it. The wind often blows these out.
7. Most of the ingredients are from Italy and are on the pizza counter so everybody can see them and eventually can ask to taste to try the authenticity. Gorgonzola, parmigiano, artichokes, emmental, prosciutto crudo di parma etc etc.
8. We use "passata di pomodoro Vellutata" imported from Italy.
9. We use fresh mozzarella made by an italian guy and not the greated brick cheese (can be checked at the pizza counter).
10. We use only pasta "De Cecco and pasta Barilla" or we make our fresh pasta.
13. We use extra virgin olive oil imported from Italy.
- To all of the above, so do the high-end Italian restaurants that were/are operating within the city, but their prices appear to be more reasonable.
Finally, you still haven't addressed the waiters being untrained and not knowing their own menu. The one particular waiter we dealt with wasn't aware of the difference between a red & a white wine.
So we went at 11:30 for an early lunch and was told the pizza making only starts at 12noon.
We had tried Santore before and were eager to try them again. We were hoping that the usual food failure curve hasn't applied to Santore as it does to many newly established spots in CMB where the quality just goes down the drain not long after launch. It had been a while since our first Santore experience.
We ordered one of their pizzas and a pasta.
The pizza was covered in its own oil and all you could taste was oil and bread…the oil was also from the meat so this oil got to be quite foul smelling and one guest felt a bit queazy. This was a real disappointment given that I had personally recommend the quality of Santore thin crusts to be likened to those served at the famous Wijeya beach.
The disappointment didn't end there. The pasta which was supposed to be quite rich and creamy did not have any such taste in it - it was at best plain buttered spaghetti loaded with pepper and chunks of cut ham. The fact that they forgot to add cheese from the looks and taste of it was just plain ridiculous (we all know cheese of any kind costs a lot in SL). As for the taste, think of Maggi noodles fried up on a pan (not the soup style) peppered up, and then add some cut cubes of ham in - this is what was served pretty much. Either every other carbonara I had tried in my life was incorrectly made or this one was so off base - it was this one!
We will not order Santore again as it seems the ownership and management have succumbed to the food failure curve. The quality of food was disgusting and at this price its uncalled for.
If you take peoples money as a foreigner doing the business in SL you should at least have some standard you learned back in your home country about ethics and doing right by the customer. The rubbish you served indicates a total lack of respect for people who know good quality food and will not tolerate this farce. The fact that you don't have this standard Antonio means you should shut down.
Went to Santore very recently and was very disappointed with the quality of the food - which is a shame because it has such a great ambience and brilliant service! We ordered the Bruschetta which came with Veg Tempura (weird combo i thought Rs 950) and both were soaking in oil. Then we ordered the Diavola which again was soaking in oil and did not taste good nor authentic in any way. Wish they can get their act together again cos like I said its a great place with superb service which at the end of the night made us go home happy anyway…
So Santore's put up heaps of advertisements, and even created an event for their Friday aperitivo, touting free tapas and 1 for 1 on cocktails/cosmos all night. Turned up at like 9 with a friend, and they denied all responsibility, even though we showed them their own FB ads. After about 25 minutes 3 waiters, each of whom gave us completely contradictory information, they gave us 4 pieces of rusk with like Marmite on top, and gave us 1 free cosmo "as a favour". It tasted like lime, cough syrup, and dissapointment. Nevermore, Santore.
You guys say their pizza is the best without actually ordering any pizza??? Their pizza is amazing and I've tried it…I get some of u guys really like ur pork which is cool, but in almost restaurants urll review (apart from the ones where they don't offer it), 80% of the dishes you'll order are pork dishes…order a few range of items (pork, chicken, fish, seafood, vegetarian) so that people who don't consume a particular item know what's good to order in a particular place ….
You guys say their pizza is the best without actually ordering any pizza??? Their pizza is amazing and I've tried it…I get some of u guys really like ur pork which is cool, but in almost restaurants urll review (apart from the ones where they don't offer it), 80% of the dishes you'll order are pork dishes…order a few range of items (pork, chicken, fish, seafood, vegetarian) so that people who don't consume a particular item know what's good to order in a particular place ….don't get me wrong, no prejudices whatsoever , it's that lots of reviews are meant to be helpful and it doesn't help when ur order choices are so monotonous
Hey Saaj, both of our previous reviews https://www.yamu.lk/place/santore-bistro-italiano/#review-20400 , https://www.yamu.lk/place/santore-bistro-italiano/#review-20415 featured the pizzas, so we're using those as a point of reference. We'll try and spread out our meat/ vegetarian selections more though, thanks for the feedback!
5/5
RichardKroon
Delicious food and a lovely place to eat it, I'll be back for sure
1/5
Giules
A family dining experience summarized:
-LKR 1700 for a king prawn pasta dish that was smaller than the palm of my hand. The other pasta dishes were in the LKR 1200 range and up.
-Food quality was quite poor in relation to prices commanded. (E.g. veg pasta dishes swimming in cream, etc.)
-Compare this to high-end Italian restaurants that charge slightly less for superior quality & quantity. -Waiters appeared to be untrained.(I can elaborate)
-No word from the owner despite him being present.
-Poorly lit outdoor area, and poorly lit entrance, risking stumbling on pathway.
5/5
udaras
Awesome stuff…