Trattoria Villagio — Restaurant in Clifton

TL; Dr: Mediocre at best. Manage expectations.

My husband and I went here for our anniversary dinner. Made reservations earlier in the week for a Sunday night dinner time, noting purpose of visit was special occasion. Arrived right on time, and was greeted by five staff members at the hostess stand. Initial impression was of a gossiping group - slouched posture, two people leaning on the stand, and a very disinterested greeting by a blonde woman who did not feel compelled to make eye contact. Asked for outside seating, as I am hard of hearing and the inside was quite loud, and were asked to wait. There isn't really anywhere to stand and wait such as a vestibule, and we were not offered a drink at the bar or a place to wait by the staff. We were seated within 5-7 min, and our waiter appeared within another 5 min. It doesn't seem like that long objectively, but we arrived at 6:41 p.m. for a 6:45 reservation and were not asked for our drink order until 7:05. We ordered without incident, as we're both very familiar with Italian food. The waiter was unable to answer questions about some of the ingredients, but was very willing to ask the kitchen questions, and he returned very quickly with answers. Our waiter Rick was competent, if soft spoken, and seemed a little awkward, so it may be that he's new to this restaurant or the industry. He was unfailingly polite, however, and was the one aspect of our evening that went as expected. The food was decent, if uninspired. The dressing on beet salad was very sharp, heavy and vinegary, and the pasta was overcooked. We did end of getting bread (only after requesting it, and that may have been a small oversight), and the focaccia was soft. My husband noted that our food expectations may be too high, as we've both spent significant time abroad. However, I do expect a decent meal if even the appetizers are $15 each.

There doesn't seem to be a dress code. My husband and I had dressed respectably to have a nice dinner out on a Sunday night, but there were patrons in gym, clothes and tennis shoes, and many young women clubbing attire. One young lady at the table next to us had shorts so short that I was concerned any sharp movement on her part would violate public decency laws. Not necessarily something I want to see as she's walking by with her rear end at food level, as the tables are not very far apart. All in all, for dress code it seems anything goes. The ambience otherwise was lovely. We sat outside, the weather was perfect, and the tables relatively uncluttered. The salt comes out too fast, but that's a minor thing. One star deduction from atmosphere as the bathrooms were poorly cared for and some stalls were out of order. Dirty bathrooms do not good ambience make in a restaurant.

As we were leaving, one of the managers (I'm assuming grey shirt is managerial staff) opened the door from the back patio for us, and before we could pass through, three aproned servers walked through while we waited, none of them carrying anything. I was a little nonplussed.

Overall, for $140 dinner, neither my husband nor I was impressed. If Rick had been less attentive, this review would only have one star. I think the intent is a nice restaurant for special occasions and borderline fine dining, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. It did not feel any more personable than eating at any chain restaurant. If you're looking for a (positive) memorable evening,...

I want to start by saying I've frequented Villagios at least 2x per month for the last 7 years and supported them every Friday night during Covid with takeout and sangria, so I'm extremely disappointed to have to write this - but I may save someone's life by doing so. We brought our family, who was visiting feom Scotland on Memorial Weekend. We explained to the server that we had 2 severe nut allergies at the table and we'd just like the entire table to be nut free to avoid issues. Our first course came out which was the Octopus. We all took a bite and within seconds my nephew started to break out in hives and his heart started racing. We quickly asked the server if the dish had nuts and she said no. We asked if she could quickly check and she said she did already. I got up and asked what seemed to be a head waiter or possibly assistant manager and asked if the Octopus had nuts and he also said no. By this time my nephew took some Benadryl and had his epi-pen out. I asked the "manager" to go check and he said they had already double checked so I asked him to please triple check - and when he came out we learned that the sauce was indeed made of almonds. There was no apology. He offered to bring another one out without sauce not understanding the severety.. My sister-in-law is a doctor so she went home with her son to keep an eye on him while the rest of us finished dinner. We spent over 400$ and was not even offered a drink to apologize. No one asked how he was or where he went. We sent an email a week later and was promised a gift card and told that nuts would be taken off the menu. I replied that I thought it ridiculous when you could just train your staff and have it noted on the menu. The gift card never came. I'm sad that a place that I once loved and spent so many times with family and friends would be so careless. My nephew was very sick for 24 hours and I'm writing this to help anyone who might suffer from a food allergy. This is just not safe. We had another experience when eating in the igloo during covid. My son has a dairy I tolerance and we always ordered the short rib ragu without the cream and always let the server know he couldn't have dairy. We got our meals and he took a few bites when I looked and noticed his dish was too light to not have cream. He didn't eat anymore but was still sick for 2 days with gut issues. We let it go since it was covid but this last issue was much...

• in depth review *

Wanted to start out first by giving a huge so Shoutout to our server Lauren, we came on a Saturday night she was extremely knowledgeable about the dishes, gave great recommendations, and took great care of us, we had a great experience because of her!

Ambience: the place is very comfortable and way bigger than expected, the outdoor patio was awesome and had tons of heaters, we were out there for a couple hours when it was 50 degrees out and were quite comfortable.

Food:

Bread for the table - the focaccia tasted fresh and was nice and spongy 9/10

Appetizers - we started with the burrata, the burrata itself was awesome, but the prosciutto wrapped bread sticks were a little disappointing, the breadsticks were really hard and impossible to cut through without it breaking into pieces & a Little light on the balsamic. But over all I would recommend getting just be aware of the hardness of the bread for this one. 7/10

Entree - we got two dishes the carbonara with blackened chicken & the Cavatelli Arrabbiata. The carbonara was amazing, enough pancetta to have some in every bite with the right size pasta for the dish, Lauren recommended adding blackened chicken which took the dish to the next level. The Cavatelli was extremely flavorful and exactly what I was hoping to get out of the restaurant, such a great dish with the perfect level of spice to make you want more. Both 10/10

Cocktails: we got a seasonal Pumpkin spice espresso martini that was dangerously good. A must try if you’re there and see it on the menu.

Dessert: we got the Tiramisu, it was good lots of cocoa powder on top, the flavor was there but wish they soaked the ladyfingers in more espresso a little dryer than others tiramisu’s we’ve had, still a great way to end the meal. 7/10

Final notes: overall experience was great we really enjoyed our time there and the food, we will definitely comeback in the future to try more dishes out - perfect date night spot. Again shout out to Lauren for...