Armondo's Italian Resturant — Restaurant in New York

Should be called Armand-NO's!

I've been going to Armondo's for over 30 years. They were originally located on 37th Avenue and 75th Street, and at one time, they were first rate. I last ate in their old location about three years ago. At that time, I had a terrible experience and told the owner that he'd lost a long-time customer. I hadn't been back since.

After the terrible fire in the Bruson Building, Armando's closed. About a month ago, I heard they were opening again in what was La Trieste on Northern Boulevard. I'd also heard that they hired a new chef and had revamped the menu.

OK, I thought, I'll give them another try. What a mistake.

First, let me say that the service was impeccable, and I'd give it five stars. Now onto the bad news.

I went on a Friday, the second week they were open. The place was crowded and I had a bit of a wait, so I had a drink at the bar: a Grey Goose martini. It was good. In fact, it was very, very good. They use double martini glasses and this was full. Yeah, it cost $10.00, but that's not at all bad (hell, the same drink will cost you $9.00 at a dive in Queens, and upwards of $20.00 in an upscale joint in Manhattan).

About midway through my drink, I was told my table was ready. I sat down and was presented with the menu. It's pretty standard Southern Italian (what a dissapointment after La Trieste's Northern Italian fare) with lots of red-sauce pasta dishes, a few chicken standards (cacciatore, parm, etc.), and the usual soups and apps.

I was told the specials, and opted for two of them: the meatball app, and the pork chop and pepper main. I also asked for a glass of house red wine to be brought with my entree.

A basket of crappy Italian bread (soft crust, dense interior. What else is new? Is there anywhere in NYC to get a decent loaf of bread anymore?) was placed on the table along with a saucer of olive oil. Not even very good olive oil, at that.

About 10 minutes later, my app was brought out. Three meatballs, about the size of golf balls, were on the plate. They were covered in red sauce and sprinkled with mozzarella. It looked good! I cut into the first meatball and to my surprise, it looked as if the meat for them had been house ground! I took a bite and oh, brother! What a letdown. The sauce had no seasoning to it. It tasted as if the chef had taken a can of crushed tomatoes and poured it over the meatballs. The meatballs themselves were cold in the middle and undercooked. I have no problem with rare meat, but meatballs should be warm throughout.

After about 10 minutes, my entree was brought out. I was flabbergasted. On the plate were two boneless slices of pork loin, about three inches in diameter, and about 3/8 of an inch thick. They were smothered in juilliened and sauteed green and red peppers. That's it. No side, no veg, no pan sauce, nothing. The pork (which I ordered medium) not only looked like hockey pucks, but they had the same consistency. They were cooked to death. I had to remind the waiter about my red wine.

When I was done eating, I asked for a glass of grappa and my check. The grappa arrived, but the check was nowhere to be seen. I flagged down my wiater and asked her again for my check. She found, and brought it over. I presented my AmEx card, and sat waiting and reading my book. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes later, and my card and bill had still not been given to me. I flagged the waiter down again and asked her what the problem was. She informed me that they were having communication problems with the credit card machine, but that it should be working in a minute or two, and could she get me anything else while I waited.

I told her, "Yes, you can BUY me another grappa while I wait." She looked panicked, but she sought out the owner who nodded. When my grappa was brought to me, I was asked to write down my phone number so they could call me when the machine was fixed. I complied and handed her $20.00 as a tip.

I'm not cheap, but the total cost for one person was $130.00. With the inferior food, and the lousy location,...

We went to this Italian restaurant for my mom's birthday dinner. The decorations make the restaurant cozy, and it is a very good spot for date night also. Service 10/10: The service here is on point. There are people taking the coats for you. They have a lot of waiters, and they are friendly and helpful. The head/boss? walked around and even made fun conversations with people. The foods we ordered came out right away that we were surprised that they were so quick. Food 7/10: At first, they give you free bread and butter as well as free bruschetta. We really liked those. The chicken scarpariello and the beets ravioli were special that day, and the eggplant parmigiana was on the menu. The dishes were big in portion, but they didn't stand out to us: the chicken dish was a little bit too sour, the flavor of the beets were not strong. The eggplant parmigiana didn't awe me, but the more I ate it, the more I liked it. We also got a carrot cake for dessert, but it was a little too sweet for our taste. Overall, it was a good experience for us but maybe because we didn't choose the right dishes. We would love to come back...

Hands down the best food and service, those both get five stars, it was our first time dining here and HAD quickly become our favorite local Italian spot! However, I will say it was very disappointing to overhear a conversation between a server and what seemed to be a manager, where he shamed the server and told him “ if he made the same mistake next time he would personally take 6 dollars off of his check next time to make up for the mistake” I don’t think this is how we should be speaking to staff considering they do a great job of providing AMAZING AND EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE. If this is the way their servers are treated in front of customers I can only imagine what goes on behind closed doors. If this is a manager he needs a role revision because this is NOT how you manage people and this is completely opposite of a respectful workplace, and if this is the Owner, I rather give my money to a different establishment. Please let this serve as a wakeup call to all of management, be respectful ALWAYS, regardless of anyone watching...