Amanda L.
Yelp
I am sorry to say that my entire experience here was extremely painful. I came here with two of my friends after seeing great reviews, and it went downhill from the moment we walked in-this is the first time I've felt blindsided by all the other positive Yelp reviews. When our waiter brought us to our table, one of my friends went to use the restroom and the waiter looked insulted and muttered "um okay" under his breath. Then he stood there until she came out and said, "now let's try again," and then handed us our menus. Bad start. He continued being very awkward, maybe trying to be playful (?), but we were left very uncomfortable. As three girls in their 20s, it was not a great feeling to feel unsettled in an otherwise empty restaurant. Also, while ordering, we would ask him to repeat himself or explain a dish, and he had a thick Italian accent and talked quickly, so the fact that he responded passive aggressively was another red flag.
But, the food was even worse. Perhaps the positive Yelp reviews are all for the pizza, because we ordered two pasta dishes and one pizza dish, and only the pizza dish was halfway decent. We got the La Burrata pizza, Gnocchi Carciofi e Parmigiano, and Tagliolini Cacio e Pepe e Tartufo (which was $40!). The burrata pieces on the pizza were small, but overall a pretty standard quality NYC pizza. The gnocchi came in an artichoke sauce that was pretty bland and disappointing...and you can see from the picture a lack of presentation skills -- the fact that the pasta had a greyish hue was pretty unappetizing. BUT the WORST dish was BY FAR (not to mention the most expensive) was the cacio e pepe, which the waiter had actually recommended to us. How someone can mess up pasta, cheese, and butter is beyond me. The pecorino romano did not taste fresh at all, and was unbearably strong and pungent. I am not exaggerating when I say it tasted like a dirty wet rag. The aftertaste it left made all three of us nauseous and unable to eat more than three bites total of the dish. We could not taste the truffle at all, and the tagliolini itself was mushy and stuck together. The portion size was also not worth 40 freaking dollars!!
The waiter came by to ask us how the food was, and we were honest and said we were disappointed. Instead of apologizing, the waiter implied that we had unsophisticated palates, and said something along the lines of "this is how it's made in Italy; you're just not used to strong cheese and eat bland food." Then he asked if we wanted dessert, which we thought was his way of making up for our disappointment. So, we ordered the tartufo, which was probably the best thing about the meal (but who can go wrong with chocolate and ice cream). He did not comp the dessert, and he did not apologize. I am so highly disappointed and annoyed by my experience here.
Ambiance wise -- when first walking in, the restaurant was beautiful with flowers hanging from the ceiling, but it soon felt like they were trying to be fancy in the cheapest way possible. The seats were hard and uncomfortable and the napkins were super thin and small. Emulating luxury felt tacky - it's certainly better to have quality food with bare decor than poor food with Gatsby decor.
Lastly, let it be known that when you make a reservation here, you have to pay $25 per head if canceled within 24 hours. Well, don't make a reservation because you don't need to (the place was empty...and for good reason), and don't come here.
