Consiglio's Restaurant — Restaurant in New Haven

Guys, this place truly is THE place-to-be for Italian cuisine in New Haven. Let’s start with good because it outweighs the “bad” by a long shot:

The FOOD? Chef’s kiss. My partner and I ordered the Arancini to start. If you’re not familiar with this dish, they’re fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella cheese and bolognese (slow-cooked pasta sauce with ground beef), sprinkled with parmesan cheese. This was the best starter I’ve ever had. The outside was fried very well. The crust was thick enough to appreciate but thin enough to be able to cut through with my fork. They are decently-sized, and they are very filling.

Onto the entrees: My partner ordered the Lobster Ravioli and Jumbo Shrimp. The raviolis are simmered in a plum tomato cream sauce, which was given generously. He enjoyed this dish, and expressed that the lobster and shrimp were fresh and that everything was of great quality. I ordered the Chicken Rosa, which is simmered in the same sauce, but comes with linguini, 2 chicken cutlets with mozzarella cheese melted on top, and fresh tomato slices. This dish also comes with eggplant, but I asked for it without. I made the right choice, because the amount of meat they give is generous. Not too much, but more than fair. The chicken was tender, outside fried perfectly. The sauce was well-seasoned, the pasta was cooked to my liking, and the entirety of the dish left me pleasantly satisfied.

There’s not much I can say about the service, other than it was great. I’m not sure about y’all, but I love when servers and chefs are so in sync that the food comes out when it makes sense. We got our drinks and our bread together. Then came the Arancini. Then came our server who asked us if we wanted refills. Then came our entrees. There was a reasonable wait in between each serving. Our waitress, Ellie (I believe that’s her name. I’m sorry if it’s not!), was also super kind. She made us feel comfortable and confident in our selections. And she complimented me on my nails. ☺️

The only downside to this restaurant is how cramped it is when it’s full. There were so many people in there (I feel like there may always be) and it was so overwhelming. When you walk in, it seems like you’re right in everybody’s face. It gets loud. We were unable to hear each other talk, let alone our own thoughts (haha). But once that food came out, it didn’t matter. I will say that the inside is clean and seating isn’t horrible. It’s just one of those restaurants that gets cramped and loud when it’s full, and you either deal with it because you love the food, or you order to-go because you love the food.

Overall, this restaurant is one of my favorites that I’ve visited this year. Looking forward to going back (even with social anxiety) to try...

I took my wife here for our anniversary dinner while we were on vacation in NH. The atmosphere is nice, the portions were good and so was the food, and overall it was an alright experience except for how we were treated when we first walked in. No one was stationed at the host stand, but three employees were at the bar. One was busy and not looking up at all before walking away (turns out she was the hostess) and the bartender and server were chatting and made eye contact with us twice and looked at the hostess not paying the entrance any mind without alerting her there were customers waiting. After a couple of minutes, we went over to the bar and I politely asked the bartender if we came in the wrong entrance (as there was a sign pointing toward the patio outside when we came in as well) and the bartender was very rude when she asked if we “didn’t see the host stand over there.” Before I could react, she asked if we had a reservation and I said yes. She had a very condescending tone and look when she then flagged down the hostess from another part of the building to tell her we had reservations.

I don’t know if it’s because we’re a queer couple or because we have southern accents and she thought we didn’t belong, or if she just treats all customers like they’re idiots, but it definitely soured the evening. I dislike feeling like I had to have my guard up for the rest of the meal in case our server was also going to treat us badly (as our server was the one the bartender had been talking to earlier) but thankfully our server was nice.

I understand other reviews about the place being a little slower—we did have to ask for water once our entrees came out since none was brought out with our wine, and then had to ask for refills once we could catch him again before dessert. I don’t fault our server for being busy however.

Overall it was a fine night but I would have definitely preferred our anniversary not starting off with condescending treatment over a...

First time at Consiglios which is funny because it’s located within feet of Pepe’s Pizza, Libby’s and Sally’s pizza and for some reason we never stopped in until tonight. After tonight I learned we have been missing one of New Haven’s best kept secrets. I ordered the chicken piccata, my girl ordered the chicken parmigiana. Both dishes included house salad and there was warm fresh bread for the table. I will say my chicken piccata was definitely in the top 3 of the best chicken piccatas I have ever had and Im pretty fussy. I sampled my girls chicken parm and it was very good. In fact she proclaimed it was “deeeeelicious”. I suspect the pasta is homemade or something similar. It was also very good and cooked perfectly. The tomato sauce for chicken parm was flavorful and not acidic. The house salads were fresh and the dressing good. Everyone else in the group enjoyed their meals as much as we did ours. We don’t drink alcohol but the other 6 guests did and said their drinks were perfect which is a pretty solid testament because they are professional drinkers. The meals were priced very reasonably, ours were $22. The entire bill with booze and gratuity was $475. The staff was friendly and flawless. The only downside is the parking because the restaurant is located in Wooster Square with all the famous pizza places parking can be a challenge so you might have to go around the block a few times...