83 1/2 — Restaurant in New York

This place is a neighborhood gem! Upper east side Italian with a definite downtown vibe. Classically trained chef-owner Vincenzo Mangiafridda displays his passion for seasonal, locally sourced ingredients with a creative flair grounded in traditional Sicilian flavors. A warm welcome greets you along with a tray of warm Orwasher's peasant bread accompanied by a mound of Italian hummus and a pool of fragrant olive oil. The menu is varied with the stuzzicare being the stars of the starter menu - arancini with oxtail ragu and a hint of citrus rind, home made ricotta, frico (fried Parmeggiano Reggiano) accompanied by a smooth aioli with a hint of chili and honey, home made caponata are just a sampling of what you'll find in this section of the menu. The pastas are all hand made in-house - no spaghetti al pomodoro and meatballs here. The pastas are paired creatively with seasonal vegetables in interesting sauces. The wild sea bass special was served with a side of grilled ramps (talk about seasonal - the ramp season is about a minute long) and farro. The perfectly fried veal Milanese, wearing a crown of bright pea shoots, sat atop a serving of fregola in a tonnato sauce - a very interesting riff on the classic vitello tonnato. We couldn't even think about dessert, but Vincenzo graciously offered a generous pour of home made limoncello along with gracious and warm conversation. The decor is trendy but welcoming, the kitchen is open, clean and calm, the service is attentive and caring without being overpowering or stuffy. We can't wait to go back. What a...

We decided to go local for a "taste of Italy" and not to one of the establishments we frequent regularly. 83 1/2 has been around for quite some time now and most of the reviews were on the plus side so we said let's give it a shot.

We walked in and were seated promptly, and the server poured us water and brought menus. He saw we brought our own bottle of wine so, there was no need for the wine list. We sat for 15 minutes until we were able to get someone's attention to at least open the wine and tell us what specials that were available that night. It took another 10 minutes to get someone to take an order. We ordered the baked clams, the pear and gorgonzola salad, an artichoke and the insalata di polpo. For entrees we ordered the pork chop special, the chicken Milanese, the veal chop and chicken scarpariello.

So, in-spite of the slow service we were all hungry hoping that the food would make us forget the wait. Of the 3 appetizers the pear salad was the best, not great but good. The clams looked really good, but they were swimming in liquid and were tasteless, the polpo was too chewy, that shouldn't happen. Of the entrees the pork chop was perfectly done, the chicken Milanese was as dry as cardboard and if I knew what cardboard tasted like.... the other 2 entrees not worth coming back for, the funniest part was they couldn't serve the correct plates to anyone at the table. Next time you go local there's at least 3 other very good Italian restaurants within a 2-block radius. I gave a 3 because it wasn't horrific, and I've...

My parents took me here for my 40th Birthday. The wait staff and manager were extremely rude from the moment we stepped foot in the door no hi,how can I assist you and looked us up and down. We ordered specials with lobster and the lobster under the tail shell when lifted up was black. When we brought it to the waiters attention he took it off the table and completely ignored it and hid in the back of the restaurant. Then proceeded to ask a member of the kitchen staff to put raw lobster tails on a plate and slammed it on the table to try to prove they weren’t frozen but couldn’t answer why the lobster tail meat was black. We were never asked if we wanted anything else since 2 out of the 3 of us were displeased with our meal. We had to call over the manager who asked “what do you want me to do?”…. Instead of apologizing and trying to make it right due to the overall bad food and now bad service. We were offered a dessert on the house- they didn’t put a candle in it and didn’t offer coffee or tea. The place was snooty and subpar. Now we know why it was half empty on a...