Aita — Restaurant in New York

The night we strolled into this place, it was 1° windchill weather. We had a reservation for outside gazebo and after sitting for 2 minutes it was clear that it will be a very cold dinner. The staff was very accommodating and understanding. They lead us to a bar next door- The Mayflower. And a promise to get us a better table in about an hour. The Mayflower was an incredible bar. No menus. No eats. Just a cocktail bar where the bartender chats you up and makes you a cocktail per your palette. Our party had more of neat scotch drinkers and the barkeep let me taste a top shelf scotch before getting it. It was a very smooth experience. Now for Aita! I didn’t know walking in on how the food would be, none of us has been there before and the first response on the google search had left me amused and curious. We ordered 3 appetizers for the table. Wagyu carpaccio. Roasted fall vegetables. Crocchette di baccala. Roasted veggies were amazing, and some of us went for second helpings. Wagyu Carpaccio was beautifully crafted with pomegranate acting as the perfect bridge between the Wagyu and the veggies. If raw red meat makes you queasy, maybe this isn’t the option for you but for all the carnivore out there, try this out! But the show stopper was the Crocchette di baccala. We all took one and then fought for the last one by butchering it on the plate. The sauce on the side was perfectly crafted to go with a white fish crocchette. Perfect appetizer to get us up for the main course. We all decide to get a plate for ourselves instead of doing family style since the portions were large. So, we went with Beef wellington & Oxtail burger. About the main course. Imagine cooking your beef to a perfect tenderness that it doesn’t fall apart on the plate but the moment it touches your tongue- you barely have to chew. It was pan seared with layers on bacon on top and bottom giving it a perfect finish of crispness. My girlfriend and I were fighting till our last bite. Oxtail burger was all right too. I’m sure if you got it by itself it would shine. But in our opinion, it’s like comparing the light from the Sun and the moon. However, ask for the aioli sauce with your fries. You will not be disappointed. We both couldn’t get enough.

On a side note, I would highly recommend the Oxtail Ravioli, one of our friends got it and it looks delicious! We are definitely going back to try that and any of their 15 options.

We went with the servers recommendation of a Chianti - 2015 Piemaggio Chianti Classico Riserva to wash it all down and it was a perfect pairing.

PS. If you’re still wondering what the name means, Google the name. We still don’t know what it means but let me know if you find out. I’ll just say the staff were...

It was for brunch that we returned for our third visit to Aita in Clinton Hill. Previous brunch and dinner experiences were five stars and this one did not disappoint either. We sat outside and I want to mention that they have one of the better outside dining setups. It's well enclosed, warm, and reasonably separated from fellow guests. As it was brunch, we kicked things off with cocktails. The brunch cocktail menu is kinda brief but I'm sure they'll make you whatever you want. We got the Fresh Photos and Bomb Lighting and the Woke Up Like This. The first was kind of a riff on a Dark & Stormy with Cynar and Amaro subbing for the rum and the second was similar to an Aperol spritz w/o the soda, so kinda boozy and bitter. Both were quite enjoyable. We tried the Bomboloni to start, they were delicious. Rich but not too rich, if you know what I mean. A real treat. I chose the Vanilla French Toast for my entree, others chose the Crab Cake Benedict and the Porchetta Sandwich. The toast and benne's were very good but I think we were all jealous of the porchetta. It looked amazing and our friend loved it. The accompanying fries were also quite good. Lastly, our waitress was perfect, attentive and friendly. Can def recommend and will be back for more...

I went for brunch recently. My food was good. The pancakes were great. The bacon was good, but looked like the crispy leftovers of a batch of bacon, rather than fresh pieces. I ordered two drinks. One was okay, but I did not personally like it. The second was an espresso martini, a bar staple which I ordered because I did not think it could be messed up, but it was actually bad. The strange aspect of the service is we asked our wait person if we could have help with a wobbling table where we were seated outside. They said that we could fiddle with the leveling knobs on the bottom of the table legs if we wanted to and went away. Later, they gave us a stack of napkins we did not ask for saying we could fix it ourselves again offering no help. This has never happened to me in 30 years of eating out in NYC. Usually, a waiter or bus person will fix a wobbling table. That being said, we had a nice table outside and otherwise...