Wendy L.'s Profile

Cute place, lively, romantic, and perfect for a date... who knows nothing about good pasta.

Ok, I admit, I am being a little harsh here, and perhaps it is because I've been spoiled by great Italian restaurants, but for a better price and a just as lovely atmosphere, I'd go uptown to Celeste. There they know how to cook pasta without leaving it a sad clumpy overcooked mess. (At least it was sitting in a delicious sauce, I got the tagliatelle)
They dont take reservations (or cards), and it gets extremely busy and slightly understaffed, so patience is virtue here.

That said, the crostini misti was amazing.

Please. Don't. Do not enter.

Terrible crepes for a terrible price. I instantly regretted placing my order as I watched the girl behind the counter fumble around with a too thick batter and torn edges from trying to flip it too soon.

The strawberries tasted like they had been swimming in sugar syrup for days, and the crepe itself ended up being a mushy soggy mess blanketed in powdered sugar.

There is nothing that disappoints me more than going on a date with someone who would rather skip dessert -- especially since I am a huge huge fan of sweets. But I think I've found the solution to my problem...

Enter Sweet Revenge. It is a cupcake bakery cleverly disguised as a bar. So your man can do his macho man beer chugging thing and you can pat yourself on the back for tricking his hairy ass into a secret cupcake shop.

(Love the dark chocolate cupcake and also the raspberry red velvet.)

Very nice servers here, although perhaps a bit clueless to help with those unfamiliar with the menu (psst.. that would be me)

In any case, the ground beef enchilada I got was very good. I got to sub the rice and beans with wild rice and brocolli (which was more underdone than I'd like, but fine) Sangria was delicious, but I do wish the prices here were a bit more reasonable, especially since most restaurants in Sunnyside, if they are not "top-notch," are usually more wallet friendly.

Caution: in warm weather, do not sit by the window thinking you'd have a great view for enjoying the sunset or people watching... the frequent arrivals and departures of the bus directly in front will soon ruin the little romantic atmosphere you set out to create.

Lively atmophere, great brunch.

I had deviled eggs and the most amazing pancakes with caramelized bananas and cinnamon butter. I also got to try the turkey sandwich which had a nice sweetness to it from the berry jam. Very reasonable pricing. Great place to bring friends, a little loud for a date.

Even though I've only lived in NYC my entire life, I've never been to Tudor City. So imagine my surprise and delight at this super cute hidden neighborhood with its old-money expensive brick apartments and a view over the river.

Convivio has a courtyard off the sidewalk with a couple of tables for dining. As a major fan of dining al fresco, I would have loved to have had dinner at one of those tables, but the atmosphere was just not there... perhaps it's because it is just a little too quiet and awkward an area. Inside, the decor was comfortable, but leaning towards the boring side. It's ok, the food more than made up for that.

The four course prix fixe is definitely the way to go. It is an incredible deal considering the amount of food you are getting, and a great way to explore all that the restaurant has to offer. For starters, I shared the saffron risotto croquettes, which were ok, but I wouldn't order it again. Appetizers were polenta and lingua. Between those two, the polenta was definitely the winner - the crunchy crusted chicken liver really makes it sing. For pasta, we had the malloreddus and maccheroni carbonara. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the chewy thickness of both made me want to do a little dance on the table. I really enjoyed the malloreddus because I am a die-hard fan of seafood - the pieces of crab and creamy sea urchin... I was ready to die happy right then and there. Compared to Marea, the pasta dishes here were a lot smaller, but there was still the Secondi to be had...

We ordered the lamb chops and pork chop. Both cuts were pretty fatty, but the sauces were not bad. Honestly I would have been happy with another pasta dish... or a bigger portion of the first. I wonder if there is a way to sub the secondi for another pasta...

For dessert we got the budino and affogato, which some crazy lady was raving about at the table next to us: "I've had it 15 times!!!!! I love it!!!!" -- it was really not all that amazing. Budino was good, the candied hazelnuts provided a nice crunch. I'd try something different next time.

Service was fantastic and everyone was super polite. For the location, reputation, and price of the food, it could have been one of those stiff uncomfortably haughty establishments, but instead, the staff there just made us feel so at home and warm. Definitely worth the splurge.

The mac&cheese is also really fantastic, with a crunchy breadcrumb topping, and so is the speck and manchego.

The wait for 2 wasn't so bad at 7:30pm on a Thursday night. The place is cute, a lot more comfortable (seating wise) than Mary's Fish Camp. We ordered the bucket of steamers, really good, but smaller than the ones at MFC, mussels that were covered in this amazing cream sauce, and split the lobster roll (which as previous reviewers mentioned was very mayo-heavy, but delicious and had generous and huge chunks of lobster). It was the perfect amount of food, especially since we ordered dessert afterwards - the apple crumble pie, which was served warm with a slab of vanilla ice cream.

This place is comparable to MFC, and a good place to go if you love seafood and lobster rolls. I still prefer my lobster rolls with a little less mayo, which can be found at Lure in Soho, but would be more than happy to make this place one of my favorite dinner spots.

I heard a rumor that the fusilli pasta dish is ridiculously delicious here, and that rumor was true!

Dinner started with good and salty olive focaccia. For apps, we had the crudo sampler (I'm not a super fan of ordering sashimi when I'm not in a Japanese restaurant, but the 3 we chose were all so good I'd love to come back and try the whole list! It's definitely the pairing of the raw fish with various flavors that makes it exciting.) Also, the lobster stuffed squid was really good, the tomato juices it was sitting in was unbelievably tasty. The star of the show - my show - was the fusilli with octopus and bone marrow. Pasta was perfect, al dente, and the sauce was so flavorful... highly recommended. If you only go once in your life, make sure you get that pasta. Dessert was a fried polenta, its richness was nicely offset by the tart blackberries.

Not a place to go to for the decor, but the food is fantastic, and the staff was awesome and sent me home with a lemony muffin for  breakfast the next day. (I have no idea why, but it was thrust into my hands as I turned to make my exit out the door. Hey man, free food, I'm not complaining!)

Cute place with a great $10 lunch special, just don't get the pho. If you do, don't expect the pho to be in any way authentic. The app I got as part of the lunch deal was a yummy plate of green papaya salad topped with sliced shrimp. The anise oxtail broth that the clumpy noodles were sitting in was fantastic and the best part of this soup dish, but the beef was sliced way too thick and maybe they ran out of bean sprouts that day, but they decided a satisfactory substitute would be a basket of shredded lettuce. I kid you not.

I would probably come back here to explore the rest of the menu, but when that craving for pho hits, this won't be my "go-to" spot. (side note: really awesome looking list of desserts)