Saporito Italian Kitchen

June 2026
They call this "Italian Street Food." If this is street food, show me the street.
The food at Saporito, as its name suggests (in Italian), is "tasty and rich" and anything but street food.

Saporito is a quality boutique dairy restaurant. The cuisine is authentic Italian and the signature dish is the artisan pizzas. Artisan pizza is hand made start to finish in small batches, with quality ingredients, attention to detail and baked in a stone tabun oven. Standard common-man's pizza offered at most pizzerias isn't even a close relative of the Saporito pizza.

To get the authentic Italian flavor Saporito uses imported Italian ingredients. That is not all. The recipes themselves are pure Italian. You'll have to go a lot further than Hod Hasharon to taste these Italian dishes.

Our host at this visit was the charming Carlos, one of the four partners in this restaurant. Carlos comes to Israel from Mexico City. When he turned 18, with his parents approval, he made aliyah. He joined the army as a lone soldier, serving in the Combat Engineering Corps.

Following the army Carlos entered the restaurant world. He learned this business from the ground up. He worked the floor and the kitchen, learning the ins and outs of restaurant management. The energy of the hospitality industry grabbed him and convinced him that this was the career path he wanted to pursue. Carlos is now a part-owner in four restaurants, with Saporito his most recent endeavor.

Carlos and his partners took over this restaurant just a few months ago. They enclosed the space in front of the kitchen, making a comfortable temperature-controlled dining area. We loved the color choice, a relaxing sage green. There is limited indoor seating and additional curb-side seating beyond the enclosure.

What is so unique about the pizza at Saporito?
The pizza dough is hand-stretched rather than machine pressed. It goes through a long fermentation process where it is left to rise for 70 hours. That's a lot of hours. This develops the flavor and improves the texture. At the start of the process the flour is heavily saturated with water. While it rests the water is absorbed till the dough acquires the right consistency. Saporito uses only high quality imported or fresh ingredients. The flour, the peeled tomatoes and other materials come from Italy. The foods are prepared in small batches with attention to detail and baked in a wood-fired stone tabun oven.

Don't try this at home! The tabun oven operates at 450 degrees Celsius. You can see the flames leaping out from inside. The result is a crisp blistered crust filled with your choice.

What is the signature pizza at Saporito?
Without blinking Carlos pointed us to the Batata Dolce. The twist is the spicy honey sauce flavored with Tabasco. This writer flinches at the word "spicy" so I tread carefully. As all the foods at Saporito are made to order, the pizza was prepared for us with the so-called spicy sauce on the side. Turns out the spicy was exaggerated and even I could handle it. The honey balanced out the sharp taste of the Tabasco.

Pizzas come in either medium or large size. As we were also about to taste the signature ravioli, we chose the medium size pizza. We won't make that mistake again. It was so delicious we finished this pizza till the last bite.

Which ravioli do you recommend for the gal who shys away from spicy foods?
Limona pasta came the reply. This is a beautiful dish of ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta cheese. The ravioli is topped with a lemon butter sauce flavored with garlic, sage, grated Parmesan and gremolata. This is an Italian condiment made of parsley, garlic, and lemon zest. The raviolis were well filled with the ricotta cheese and lemon sauce. The grated Parmesan gave it just the right balance of flavors.

What would a dairy Italian dinner be without a great dessert?
The Saporito menu agrees. There is a fine list of desserts including the favorite Tiramisu. A generous wedge was brought to our table for us to share. The Tiramisu at Saporito is a layered dessert of biscuits soaked in coffee layered with mascarpone cream, vanilla and cocoa powder. This was a refreshing change from most of the Tiramisu in Israel prepared without the biscuits.

The Tiramisu and all the other foods fulfill the promise of the restaurant name Saporito, rich and flavorful. Indeed, that is an accurate description.

Parking: Street parking is tight but there is a lot of turn-over. Underground pay parking in the building. The entrance is just after the restaurant.

From the Menu: