Chesterfield's Tavolo — Restaurant in City of Utica

Old Italian meets modern rustic....

Opened 7 months ago in November 2018, this restaurant ‘s atmosphere focuses on rugged contemporary; which has a simple and earthy character with varied colored woods, brick and metal which can be austere for some.

I like that Purell is stationed just before entering the dining area.. personally I like having clean hands before touching my food and mouth. The bathroom is large and clean- a plus in my book.

The atmosphere boasts a good amount of seating space between tables in a large dining room with large windows and butcher block tables; affording plenty of table space for your edibles and refreshments. The lights are dimmed so as to relax while enjoying your company, drinks and fare.

The staff is professional, and attentive without being overbearing; with the owners checking on customers periodically. I especially liked that we did not have to look for our server for a refill of our aperitif nor did we wait to have the drinks delivered. Our server also did not come over too often nor did she take too long to check in on us - her timing was a perfect balance.

For an appetizer we ordered the arancini (rice balls) with a beautiful red sauce. The arancini was too creamy; but the red sauce made up for this as it was light, fresh, flavorful and not overpowering.

I ordered the Chicken Marsala with a side of angel hair pasta with oil and garlic. I was treated to a garnish with three al dente broccoli rabe which was delicious making me crave more. My husband ordered the chicken parmigiana served on cavatelli.

The portions were large. Presentations were excitingly colorful and appealing with my plating shingled and my husband’s stacked. His chicken parmigiana was topped with a whipped like ricotta cheese; adding to the meal’s aesthetic appeal.

We were both very surprised that each of our meals were very hot and the food not over cooked! It clearly did not sit under a heat lamp.

With both dishes the food was not over seasoned; yet each bite was a gentle, flavorful burst.

The dessert menu had typical Italian choices; but they also offer a banana split, which I could not pass up. The banana split was considerable and I had to employed the help of my husband to eat it. I was disappointed to find the banana split served has only two scoops of ice cream - vanilla and strawberry! In place of where the third scoop - chocolate ice cream should have been, was a balled shaped mound of whip cream )-:

The disappointments experienced were not disqualifers; but, certainly need to be addressed . I will be going back and I recommend this restaurant for it’s food and service. Also they make a...

It's a nice space. It has a cozy hometown feel to it without being too cheesy. I prefer the bar top tables to the regular tables and outdoor seating--the latter because, although it is visually appealing, it's near the canal so it's Mosquito Central in the summer.

The dining room is deceptively bigger than one what would think just by looking at the exterior. The layout is neither cluttered nor cramped. And it can be loud inside the dining room, but it isn't Texas Roadhouse-loud. The bathroom appears clean; I like that the stalls have doors that reach the floor and doesn't have that weird gap that expose your legs. However, it does have that weird gap in between the stalls; I guess it's great for passing notes or something. What function that gap truly serves, I'll never know.

Although the parking lot looked packed, we were seated as quickly as we walked in the door--especially for a party of 7. The service was good, and our waitress was attentive.

The food can be a hit or a miss. I ordered lunch here once a few months ago, hats and broccoli, but I received rigatoni and broccoli which really bummed me out because I really wanted to wear the hats on my tongue before eating it, like the 8-year-old child that I am.

But I digress...

The fried calami was good. I liked that Tavolo offered a cocktail sauce and what I believe was a sweet chili sauce. I prefer the latter, in this case, because I'm not too keen on cocktail sauce--except for Delmonico's and maybe Ocean Blue. We also ordered bruschetta for apps. I was surprised by the portion when our server brought it out, because there were 5 big chunks. Taste-wise, it was a 7/10 and wasn't anything to write home about.

The Salsiccia pizza, on the other hand, was fabulous. In general, Tavolo's brick-oven pizzas are solid choices if one isn't sure of what to order. I ordered Rigatoni Pesto for myself. I liked the pesto sauce, overall, but I wasn't sure how I felt about the sundried tomato.

Would probably go back, just not...

Well, this was a horrible experience which almost ruined our vacation. I believe this is the first 1 star review I have ever written. We opted to eat outside which was our only mistake of the evening. Imagine eating along a busy roadside with engines revving every few minutes, it was extremely loud and not relaxing at all. Our waiter arrived after about 10 minutes, not too bad, and took our drink orders. And then he disappeared. Completely. Another server brought our drinks, which wasn't unusual and we waited, and waited. We watched a table near us, a man at it kept looking over at us with sympathy in his eyes though. He seemed to realize we had been forgotten. Finally I managed to catch the attention of a busboy and asked if he could find our waiter. This has been after about 45 minutes, our drinks were done and not even the opportunity to order an appetizer. Long story short, a manager came out and basically admitted that they were very busy and we had been forgotten. We ordered our entrees and waited another 30 minutes for them to come out. I would have thought there would have been a super rush on them but no. They were very aware we were upset. When we went to the the register to pay I explained to the lady that that was probably the WORST restaurant experience I have ever had, I'm 57. When I explained to another manager who arrived at the register, that even after we were able to order our entrees it took another 30 minutes, she SNAPPED at me "well we do have to cook it!". I promptly paid the bill (which I honestly believed should have been comp'd), and stated there would be NO TIP. I don't live in Utica, I was just visiting on a family vacation so I merifuly I won't even be tempted to try this place again, but if you're there,...