Abbiocco by A Mano — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

A Mano Kitchen and Bar was a conflicting experience of, that's incredible to, that's made really well but I've had better. I'll make this clear there was nothing bad, not remotely, maybe it was the hype or the prices on the traditional menu that was swaying our opinions. We went for dining week, which is amazing that they participate in because it gave us an opportunity to try so much we otherwise would be hesitant to because of total cost.

A Mano itself is really beautiful inside, a great spacious layout with unique designs. Music is playing loud enough to hear, quiet enough to easily converse with your table.

Our server was pleasant and attentive, and did his job well. I was impressed that after every course they cleaned everything up and gave us new silverware.

For drinks a wide variety of choices of cocktails, wines and beers. Everyone who had a drink enjoyed them.

The food, this where mixed positive reviews start coming in and I'll go course by course. The complimentary bread, very soft and fresh, the butter with it was different than a traditional butter, but not our favorite. I used the delicious bread to soak up the sauce from my appetizer. I had the Polpette and this was hands down the best restaurant meatballs I've ever had. Cooked to perfection and the flavor of the sauce left me wanting more. The Caesar salads were very fresh and well made. Someone order the special goat cheese appetizer and they adored it.

The main dishes. I had the Gnocchi stuffed with Ricotta and they were cooked perfectly, they nailed the texture. I was underwhelmed by the flavor profile of the sauce they were in. Making it a simply enjoyable main. My wife had the strip steak and again they cooked it to perfection, underwhelmed by any flavor. It needed more of a favor punch to put it over the top. The twice baked potatoes that came with it were very good.

Those that ordered the Cavatelli were in love with it. I got to try some and again cooked to perfection! This time with the sauce having flavor that makes you go wow with each bite! Someone also ordered the pepperoni pizza and they said it was good, it's pizza.

The desserts, the deconstructed cannoli with orange ricotta and the lava cake. Both were very nice. We weren't a fan of the orange flavor but you can't knock it for accuracy, it was well executed and a fun take on the traditional version. The lava cake was very good and they used peanut butter in it which was a preferred twist on the traditional.

Overall A Mano is easy to recommend, everything was good to great. I want to give it another try to have the opportunity to be fully blown away. I do encourage you to check the menu for pricing and to reserve a table as it's very popular and will easily...

I brought my friend for her birthday dinner earlier this week. We started with a Prosecco at the bar. Bar tender friendly. 615 reservations seated shortly after we chose the high top seating when booking reservations. No other patrons were seated in the area. We were delivered menus and water promptly we luckily still had our Prosecco’s. No one checked on us for at least 25 minutes. Our glasses were empty and we were waiting on ordering drinks and appetizers. A waitress finally arrived she was very pleasant and listed specials. We ordered a pomegranate martini a pear and thyme martini, Arancini and a misticanza salad. Shortly after Focaccia was delivered with a blueberry butter. The blueberry butter was interesting twist, May have been appropriate with a brunch or charcuterie. Arancini was hot and delicious, best item we ordered. The misticanza salad never made its way to our table, just forgotten. My friend liked the Gnocchi served with sausage, small portion for the price and other Italian restaurants offer choices of meat or seafood. No seafood on the menu at all except for calamari, disappointing. The menu is very limited and doesn’t have many of the meals I had viewed on apps when choosing location. I had the Bolognese which was awful. I’m not sure what the Mystery meat was, supposed to be veal, pork, and beef, I can’t be sure what it actually was and the sauce was not any better than Prego. Even the left overs I brought home for my BF were thrown away still wondering about mystery meat he thought it tasted plant based. Once everything was served we were pretty much left unattended for long durations. A young man did bring us boxes. But we had to waive help down for an additional wine and to see dessert menu. I specifically noted this was for my friends birthday at reservation and dessert menu or suggestions were not even offered without asking. When we finally received the wine we ordered there was lipstick on the glass. The dessert menu has nothing without nuts, except for an Espresso ice cream. At this point it was just a flop of a choice for a celebratory dinner. The ambiance was nice, staff was pleasant but close to non existent service and meals were less than...

We were excited to eat here, but that excitement faded pretty quickly. We had dining reservations, and were seated immediately.

Our server was friendly, but not attentive at all. We needed to ask another server for salt, pepper, cheese, etc…. This second server was great. She noticed we were trying to leave and came over and asked us if we needed our check. The second server working near our table is the one who actually cashed us out to go. She was very kind and apologized, presumably for our server being MIA.

Our server never returned during our meal to refill or ask for more drinks.

The food quality varied. We ordered the calamari for an appetizer. That was actually delicious; maybe the best I’ve had in a long time.

My wife ordered the seafood pasta special; it was so-so. Underseasoned and bland. Again, it would’ve been better if someone brought grated cheese with it, but they didn’t.

I ordered the steak special. It was a ribeye, served with twice fried potatoes. I inquired about the meal and was told, “it’s the best steak you’ll ever have”.

While I understand that’s what they have to say, it was not, in fact, the best steak I’ve ever had. Actually, it was barely mediocre.

The actual cut of the ribeye was chewy. It was served sliced, had zero seasoning on it, and was undercooked (I ordered medium rare). I ate approximately 2 slices of it before I had to push it away. The worst part, was that it was $80. Yes that’s right…$80. Just the steak. $80.

The potatoes were burnt, not twice fried. And again, bland. I used the butter that was served with the bread to add flavor to almost every bite of my meal.

Overall it was a pretty bad experience. The server that actually helped us was nice, but we weren’t her customers. There was a guy bussing tables and replacing silverware, etc…. He was the rockstar of the entire restaurant.

We won’t be going back there...