Liana L.
Yelp
I saw this restaurant on a list of places to eat in the Hudson Valley, so I was excited that I could make a last-minute reservation for 6:30pm at 5:45pm. We were able to get seated at 6:15. The first thing that my friend and I noticed was that there were pretty much only white people dining here, which is probably normal for the area. Even though we only ordered an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert, we did not leave until 9pm; I'm not sure if this is typical of the service, but we waited a very long time to order and to get our food. The waitress also took away our water after our entrees and we did not have any water at all for our dessert. It was very hard to get her attention for anything, so we just went without water. We still had a 2 hour drive back home, so the length of the dinner was not ideal.
+ Garlic bruschetta ($3 for 4 pieces) - 4/10 - The waitress did tell us that this was more like garlic bread than bruschetta and that there were no tomatoes, which I really appreciate. The bread was fine, but I mostly tasted olive oil and not much garlic on my piece. I used it to sop up sauce for my pasta. Overall, this was surprising because most Italian restaurants I go to serve excellent complimentary bread with olive oil. (Carbone surpasses everyone with their incredible complimentary bread, mozzarella, and sopressata).
+ Calamari with sauce ($18) - 7/10 - I don't think I've ever gotten this much calamari in one order in my life. The portion was huge, and it was quite good - well battered and fried. I wish there had been an option for half the portion and price, though, because it was impossible for my friend and I to finish this between the two of us. There's so much of it that the first half is still crispy but the rest just lost its crispiness after a while. There also was definitely not enough sauce for the amount of calamari.
+ Penne alla norma - 6/10 - The eggplant and tomato sauce were very well done, but the penne itself didn't taste homemade to me. I'm not sure where I got the impression that the pasta would be freshly made, but it tasted like boxed penne.
+ Seafood diavolo over spaghetti ($29) - 6/10 - I did like the spicy tomato sauce, but it tasted like tomato sauce with chili pepper flakes. It was not particularly nuanced. The seafood was very plentiful - several pieces each of clams, scallops, squid, mussels, and shrimp. However, three of the clams right on top of the pasta were completely closed and I had to ask for it to be re-steamed. The shrimp shells were hard to peel and the shrimp was not particularly tender, which suggests that they were overcooked. The spaghetti was also definitely not freshly made, and bordering on uncooked in terms of how al dente it was (but still edible). The portions were very generous, though, and I took 90% of it home (since I was full from of the calamari).
+ Tiramisu ($9) - 8/10 - This is one of the better tiramisus I've had in a while, and it was the main redeeming factor for this meal - it was very light and creamy, and not too sweet. I didn't love the chocolate chips on top (rather than cocoa powder) as I felt that the crunch didn't complement the tiramisu well. The portion was very large. It's also possible to buy an aluminum tray of this for $15 from the grocery section of the store, which is a fantastic deal.
Overall, I would not recommend that people from NYC go out of their way for this Italian restaurant; the food definitely does not compare to my favorites in NYC. I also make my own fresh pasta so it is very disappointing for me to go to a well-regarded Italian restaurant to get boxed pasta. However, if you're in the area and you're very hungry after a long hike, this is not a bad option, and the tiramisu is quite good (with an option to take some home).