Disgrace to the brand Eataly. I LOVED the Eataly in NYC so I was so excited to bring my husband and daughter. But it was a sheer disappointment.

The flaw starts with the system that you have to pay right after you place the order, before you even get your beverage. We found this strange so we paused a bit and hesitated before taking out our wallet. Then the server from hell named Alessia D. was so defensive in her attitude & tone in saying that this was the system and there was nothing we can do about it. We weren't complaining, we were just taken aback because of such an odd system. Then the other shortcomings followed:

• 2 out of 5 whites and 1 out of 5 red wines on the list were 'out of stock' and it was only about 8pm. Seriously? You've got tons of wines on the retail shelf in the store, but you cannot even keep your own wine list in stock??
• Red wine was served so warm, we think it was about 25°C.
• My octopus was nice but my main course fish was so salty and UNDERCOOKED, it was simply BAD. Also the side items for both dishes were the same: green leaves and potato. For a brand that is based on the whole eating holistically and all, shouldn't they have some varieties???
• My husband's lamb chops, on the other hand, had no seasoning whatsoever that we had to 'transport' my excess salt from the fish to lamb. Needless to say that didn't go too well. I really wonder if there is a real trained chef behind the kitchen overseeing the menu and recipe in this place.

All these disappointments happening but no server comes to check on our food because, of course, if I were the server I wouldn't either. The bill has been paid and there is no incentive to upsell either.... and most customers are one-off tourists and will never be back anyway. so why bother? So we didn't bother to try any other dishes or finish our unsatisfactory meal in the hopes that maybe dessert will do some service recovery. I should have followed the warnings of the previous reviewers.