Felidia
243 E 58th St
(between 2nd Ave & 3rd Ave)
New York, NY 10022 (212) 758-1479
- Nearest Transit:
59th St-Lexington Ave (4, 5, 6, N, R, W)
63rd St-Lexington Ave (F)
Lexington-3rd Aves-51st St (6, E, V)
- Price Range: $$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Dressy
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
23 Reviews for Felidia
La fam ate here before heading off to a show. Wonderful food, lovely restaurant. They made Andie a plate of Fettucine Alfredo which was not on the menu being as she was only 9 and not into the menu. Homemade pasta noodles with a delicate light as air alfredo sauce. Only problem with it? She will spend the rest of her days searching for another one as good - she's cursed!
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Absolute perfection.
The night began at the bar with Josh and his friendly banter with colleagues all while hustling his tail off to pour drinks. Then we were sat a spacious table upstairs tucked into the corner by the wine wall. We began with the octopus and I couldn't have been more happy with myself for trying something different. The appetizer was a perfect portion for my boyfriend and I to split. Then I just about cried when I saw they had rabbit. I have been craving rabbit for well over a year. Their rabbit pasta exceeded my expectations and was completely devoured. My boyfriend loved his duck, and we loved each others meals too.
Our server was funny and charming and when my dessert selection was not available he chose an even better dessert for us that was also devoured.
The dinner moved along at relaxing pace and I couldn't have been more happy.
The wines were all new to me adding an element of excitement.
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Dad has had a crush on Lydia since the first time he saw her on TV. He lusts for her and wishes she was in his kitchen cooking all the time. So when we were in New York for a wedding we took him there for his birthday, hoping we'd have a great food experience and maybe catch a peek of Lydia.
Well they really saw us coming and knew exactly how to treat us. They knew we were the casual types. Granted we are from SF and have dined in some great restaurants but we don't stand on ceremony. When dad asked for a bottle of wine, they brought one out, opened it and poured. He deemed it fantastic, high on the whole experience. Being responsible for the bill, I was quaking in my boots as I'd purused their incredibly 'diverse' wine list online. It turned out to be the cheapest $40 table wine in the house. They are true artistes and I loved them for their excellent flair for just carrying a party through each moment in precisely the way those particular people should be. I'm sure it's possible to hit or miss some crowds, but I doubt Felidia's staff does it often. They threw all the native Italians at us who fawned over us like we were their own family.
That said this place is obviously capable of the finest formal service - I was just totally impressed at their ability to quickly adapt to whatever the tone of a party was.
I swooned over my appetizer of Chicken liver: trifolo and pate. The truffled mash was just amazing, and the pate sublime. As an entree they highly recommended the venison to me, which I found to be far too chewy and didn't much enjoy. My father had the tripe, transporting himself back to a time at his mother's table. I must say I have a bit of an 'opportunity-vs-price-point' issue around ordering the offal at such a phenomenal restaurant, but that's what he wanted.
Overall it was really a wonderful and unforgettable experience. The servers instantly recognized the kind of evening our guest of honor was hoping for and gave it to us, and that speaks volumes of any restaurant even regardless the food. It was an adventure on every level and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a truly fine dining experience.
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I am so in love with Felidia! This is the perfect restaurant for a special occasion meal (we were celebrating a friend's 35th birthday). The staff could not be more helpful, more obliging or sweeter. Our waiter was there for every question and made excellent recommendations.
To start, our waiter brought over a tray of three chick pea based dips. One was infused with olives, the second had basil and pesto and the third had orange rind. These were served with a selection of bread sticks and flat breads. While enjoying this treat, we had the most amazing cocktails from the bar. A classic Manhattan, a delightfully tart Cosmo, and a refreshing kafir limeade.
Our appetizer was the prosciutto -- a selection of imported and domestic prosciutto that also came with duck breast and espresso-cured venison. Such a decadent treat. I can still taste the paprika-cured prosciutto goodness. I wonder how wrong it would be to have a birthday cake made of that?
For our main course, I had the ravioli di Cacio pere (ravioli with the most delicious pear and percorino cheese). My friend had the calf's liver which had the most enticing aroma which was served on a bed of polenta and farro. The winner had to be my husband -- he had the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese which was in the most amazing ragu -- wild boar, beef, veal and mushrooms. I wish I had ordered that dish!
Dessert was equally impressive. We had the tiramisu and the selection of cakes with dipping sauces. The birthday girl was given a beautiful platter of petite fours, cookies, and other little treats. They wrote her name and Happy Birthday in chocolate and presented the dish with a little candle. That would have been the highlight if Lidia herself was not in the restaurant.
Felidia was a dream come true. It could not have been a better evening. The majority of the diners were older, but our waiter and the waitstaff captain lavished us "young folks" with attention and a great time was had by all.
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Perfect....I will leave it at that.
Thank you to all the staff.
Lidia was there when we had dinner.
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Jumped in a cab cravin 'good italian' and Felidia has been my favorite italian place in NYC ever since. Yes its an older, laid back crowd. But the olive oil selection and pasta just can't be beat! The wine is always amazing too. Plus there is just something soothing about the noisiest couple in the room being the well dressed seventy year-old couple laughing and joking while finishing a bottle of red wine. Its a whole new scene...not snooty, yet very classy. Laid back italian, ut dress up for the room--and on Christmas Eve they gave us free Felidia olive oil as a gift..very cute. Yum.
...I could go there and just enjoy the funky breadstick basket and olive oil and a really good italian red wine and be perfectly happy...but then the main pasta entree comes and I'm shocked that it gets that much better!
A HEALTHY KIDS BRAND!!!:
www.lunchboxbunch.com
Seriously, seriously overrated.
While the prix fixe may seem like a good deal ($29.95 for three courses), it's hardly a steal when I can make a similar sauce at home (that actually tastes better, IMHO) on a weeknight.
Plus, service is oh-so-mediocre. What kind of water do I want? Regular. Second server shows up. What kind of water do I want? Regular, I just said that!
We're sharing appetizers. Shouldn't we get utensils appropriate for both?
And you forgot whether I even ordered dessert? Well, I hadn't yet, but was eventually sorry I did. Ick.
The food was acceptable, but does NOT live up to the hype. The pecorino/pear ravioli was overcooked and frankly, somewhat bland. The bolognese ragu was honestly a HUGE disappointment. And as I mentioned on the desserts - don't bother.
Wow, what a great disappointment this Ristorante Italiano was! I decided to try this place out due to the great reviews they received on www.opentable.com as well as other sites. I am also familiar with and like Lidia's cooking show on TV so I figured it would be a great dining experience.
Everything was disappointing including the service, management and food. Our server was either new or very uneducated about Italian foods and what she was serving as she had difficulties clarifying some of the dishes on the menu. She also asked me repeatedly (about 3 times) if I wanted wine when I made it clear that I do not drink. I felt like she was desperate to upsell for a bigger gratuity or something!
My friend and I started off with the caprese salad and the seafood salad. We were expecting fresh mozzarella burrata or mozzarella di bufala but instead we got small balls of mozzarella which tasted like the kind you can get at the grocery store. The seafood salad consisted of a few minuscule pieces of raw salmon arranged sloppily with a few pieces of tomato or rather tomato pulp and a sprig of dill. The menu said something about a "seafood salad" which is hardly what was served and at $24 was a total waste of money.
For the entree I decided to try the pear and pecorino cheese ravioli which everyone was raving about online and what I received was some rather bland ravioli which was cold on the inside. The pears were crispy and did not meld well with the pecorino cheese.
My friend got the lobster risotto which was a bit mushy and runny for a risotto.
As you can see, our dinner was pretty darn bad but we had faith that at least the gelati here would be decent because I had never been to an italian restaurant in New York who didn't have at least a decent gelato but we were definitely wrong about this as well!
I ordered the chocolate gelato which I was really excited about because my meal was so bad. I lived in Rome for 4 months last winter and ate gelato "artiginale" or artisian style at least 3 times a day with my native Italian friends. The Artiginale gelato in Rome is made carefully in small batches daily with the freshest ingredients so I think I know a little bit about gelato and what they served me at Felidia was worse than than the gelato they served at McDonalds in Rome!
In fact their "gelato" was not even gelato. It was regular American ice cream and to add insult to injury they put chocolate sauce all over it which they would NEVER do at real gelateria's in Italy. How do I know it was regular American ice cream? It had a lot of air in it and the flavor was very weak and not intense like a real Italian chocolate gelato. The color was a light brown due to the fact that American ice cream is made with cream while Italian gelato is made with milk and pure chocolate so when you go to Italia you will see the the chocolate gelato is a very dark dark brown like a bar of 72% dark chocolate would be.
I was so upset about this that I told the server that this was not real gelato and she said "Oh I thought gelato just means ice cream in italian" which is true but gelato and ice cream are made totally differently and with different ingredients which she did not seem to comprehend.
She even brought the Italian manager over who told me that this American ice cream was in fact "gelato" and that he was from Rome and this "gelato" served at Felidia's was better than the gelato found in the artisinal gelato shops in Rome. I was absolutely horrified. If they ran out of gelato and had to run to the store to get American ice cream as a substitute, they can just admit that fact instead of insulting me by thinking I would be stupid enough to believe that this ice cream they were serving me was gelato.
I am sorry for ranting but this was the biggest disappointment from an Italian restaurant that I have ever experienced in New York and I think that Lidia should perhaps look into why the quality of her food was so poor last night. I will never be going back here again even if they offered me a free meal.
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What a delicious meal! I love watching Lidia's Kitchen on PBS and had to try her restaurant. I tried the Bastianich (Lidia's last name) white wine, which was fabulous. I had a delicious ravioli dish with pear and cheese in a white wine and butter sauce it was quite deliciouso.
For desert I had a butternut squash tiramisu and they served complimentary linzer tart-type deserts. They also brought over a complimentary "box of cigars" that were filled with espresso cookies. I felt like I died and went to heaven. I totally recommend this restaurant to anyone who appreciates good italian cooking. Yum!
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I had the Ravioli di Burrata. SO SO good.
I also had a smoked seafood appetizer which was absolutely astonishing.
The service is amazing....my water was never near empty...they were very attentive and professional.
I highly recommend!
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Oh ma god! The food was AMAZING here! I've been wanting to check out Felidia for 1 yr now after seeing Lidia's show but just never got around to it. FInally I went last week and am so HAPPY that I did! Normally, I find expensive gourmet restaurants disappointing and not worth the price, but I can honestly say the food is absolutely worth it here!!
After reading Charlotte's review (THANKS!), we tried the Rock Shrimp appetizer......uh.....I'm trying to think of other adjectives besides YUMMY, DELICIOUS, AMAZING, PHENOMENAL...but nothing seems to come to mind...hahaha. I love the surprising hint of lemon in this dish.
I had the Seafood pasta which was pretty good (although my pasta was a little too hard, 3 more min of boiling and it would have been a 10!). My friends had the calamari linguine and the special: veal chop on top of some greens (the chop was as big as my arm!) Both loved it and it was cooked perfectly.
They also served us complimentary cookies which was great! The service was a bit on the slow side especially considering we had an early dinner and there were only 2 other tables, but I am DEF going back there!!
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Audrey was right, that pear and pecorino-filled ravioli is awesome, I should've ordered it as an entree though the soft shell crab special was delicious as well.
my only gripe about this place was when I made the reservation 2-3 wks ago, they made me give a credit card to hold the reservation and when I called the day of to confirm, the hostess was very rude and said there was no reservation etc. and damn near close to hang up on me. after making me spell my long last name 10 times, she finally figured out the person who took the reservation initially made it for June 29th instead of may 29. thankfully she said not to worry, that there would be a table for us when we got there, but she never apologized for being rude and not wanting to help at 1st. she's lucky I didn't see her there when I arrived, I was ready to get stank
ps: the bathroom was kinda smelly
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First, Fortunato Nicotra is a genius. I've been craving the food we had at Felidia since I went with my fiancee in February, but I refuse to go back based on the service we got there.
It took us 30 minutes to get seated and another 15 to get menus. We were almost totally ignored by the wait staff. The waiter told us the specials while filleting a fish for another table, lost our wine order, leaving us to eat the stellar broccoli rabe and burrata appetizer without wine. When I complained, he didn't even turn around from fawning over another table.
Our mains appeared and I was given a fork with a bent tine. No big deal, but it was five minutes before I could flag anyone down to replace it, and no one ever checked up on us.
The food itself was phenomenal to a morsel. Unreal. But the service makes it not worthwhile to return. I live around the corner and would've become a regular. Maybe they can deliver?
I emailed lidiasitaly.com about this poor experience in February and got no reply.
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Went here with a group of 4 to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was fabulous - from the drink at the bar to desert! We were a tad early for the reservations so we sat at the bar and had a drink, the bar has a menu of drinks and the bartender is helpful and classy. We had a seat on the second floor right up against the banister overlooking the first floor which was great! When you sit down they bring out 3 different pate's - 1 is roasted red peppers, 1 is pesto'ish, and the 3rd olives - all very good. For appetizers we had the rock shrimp (THE BEST EVER), beet salad, and the asparagus (forgot all of the proper names)! For entrees - I had the soft shell crab special, someone else had the pear and pecorino ravioli which i admit were the BEST of the entrees even though everything was delicious, then the other 2 was the other ravioli and the tuna bolognese. For desert we shared the tiramisu and the apple/rhubarb tart... of course I'm going to say they were good... because everything was superb! I am honestly already planning on my boyfriend taking me back for my bday!
We even caught Lidia herself walking around shaking hands and greeting her guests!
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Felidia was pretty dang good, but be sure to order the pasta! I do so regret not ordering the pasta. Italian is for pasta!! :) I had the Maine diver scallops (which were pretty good, but not nearly as amazing as the pear and pecorino-filled ravioli) for my first course. For my second course, I ordered the grilled salmon, which was also good, but I'm STILL fixating on the ravioli!! Dessert was interesting. It was tiramisu, but it wasn't the traditional tiramisu we were expecting. The tiramisu was citrus-inspired, so there was a lemony flavor to it (which was an interesting twist) and candied kumquats as a garnish (which was kinda weird). A solid lunch place with good food and a beautiful, light, open and airy atmosphere.
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Enjoyed an evening of fine dining at this restaurant. The menu changes with seasons, so that all ingredients are fresh. I personally had the cheese ravioli. However having sampled some of my dinner companions food, I would have preferred the meat ravioli or gnocchi. Wait staff was extremely knowledgeable of the menu and showed an enthusiasm for the dishes. The decor was simple yet elegant.
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Excellentissimo
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Expected a lot from a woman who has her own cooking show, but failed to impress me. We did get a chance to talk to her after the meal, so that was a bonus.
Expensive place..Italian cusine is good..atmosphere is good...but the service is awful..they have a wide variety of wines..so definitily go in for a wine..and sip in as you enjoy the pizzas and pastas in a soothing atmosphere
We were so excited to have dinner at Felidia in NYC. We made our reservations, showed up a bit early to have a drink at the bar and after a bit of a wait, made our way to our table. Felidia is small in front, with low ceilings, dark wood paneling and trim and a larger, brighter back room with an upstairs area for additional dining.
We found the staff to be friendly, professional and very helpful. We wish we could say the same for the food. Our meal started out well enough with Liz having Lobster with heirloom tomato, basil and mozzerella. The dish was very tasty and nicely presented. I had the carpaccio, which was also very nicely done and presented.
Our main courses is where things fell down. Liz had the wedding pillows and they were, at least to us, waayyyy too sweet. Tasted alot like fruitcake. If this is the intention, then it was successful and just not the dish for us. Ron had the risotto with Humboldt Fog goat cheese. It was a bit underdone for my taste and lacked the creamy quality I've come to expect from a good risotto. Desserts were also a letdown. Ron's chocolate and Chestnut pudding tasted like jello chocolate pudding complete with skin! Liz had the sorbets which were a bit more successful. A bland selection of cookies accompanied the check.
We hate to be so down, but we were so disappointed!!! We wanted to love our dining experience and while the staff did their best, the kitchen fell down and could have done much better.
Perhaps we'll visit again on our next trip and try it out with better results. -Ron & Liz
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when you're not used to eating like you're rich and powerful, posh places like these are difficult to rate. this is lidia's first restaurant from what i understand. she's a tv cooking personality, so i'm pretty familiar with her food and wanted to see what it tasted like from her kitchen (even though she isn't technically the chef). the atmosphere was as simple as possible, but still elegant. bottom line, phenomenal high end food and good wine to boot.
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I can't begin to express how much I loved the food at Felidia. Yes, it's expensive, but I think it's well worth it, especially for a special night out. We had the chicken liver trifolati (which is chicken liver served three ways). Served with polenta and fois gras. Unbelievably delicious and unique. We also had the grilled octopus, less exciting but good. And what makes this restaurant stand out is the outrageously good pasta- We had the Porcini stringozzi with mushrooms, rabbit, and black truffles. My eyes tear when I remember how divine that was. We also had the 30-yolk spaghettini with braised moulard duck. Also incredibly delicious. We simply had no room left for dessert. But we'll no doubt be back soon. Highly recommend this place.
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great food.......!!! nuff said!
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