Arte Cafe — Restaurant in New York

Arte Cafe has the worst corporate representation. 3 years ago I contacted the then manager, Marc Ornetti, to celebrate my baby shower, they took my deposit and then Covid hit. The city went into lockdown and according to them, they were issuing refunds to all clients who scheduled events.

Months after months I kept following up and out of my good heart I decided to give them $300 gratuity from the deposit so I told them they could keep it.

Covid-19 affected the restaurant industry a lot and I understood they needed time, so I was patient and flexible. But they just kept ghosting my emails and calls.

2 years later I submitted a small business claim in the BK court and I won the case. They owe me over 2,100 dollars + all the interest that has been accumulating. That was March 2022. Life kept happening and I got busy so I didn't contact them again until November 2022. I went in person, spoke with Zoe (who was a social media intern who told me was a manager), Alejandra on the phone. I emailed Luciano the "general manager" emails kept falling through, I heard Marc Ornetti was let go due to bad findings and sketchy stuff.

I finally got to speak with another manager (Raul Escarza) who seemed personable and nice, and after sending all the paperwork from the court that they were already supposed to be getting"he and his team" realized that apparently I was suing the wrong corporation. The Arte Cafe I rented for my baby shower was the location in Chelsea, and even though the manager for both restaurants was the same, he "was working" for two different bosses. With no relation to one another, two completely different Arte Cafes, same website, not a franchise. Are they for real?

All my trips to the court and attorney fees were in vain, at this point I paid more for lawyers fees than for what I was fighting (my deposit). Mr. Escarza said they didn't have any connections to the Chelsea people which I know it was bs because afterwards he reached out to tell me that one of the ex bosses from the Chelsea location was still with them and "out of the kindness" of their heart wanted to give me $600 and call it a day.

I said I will think about it and to give myself a break and not to file another claim to the "right corp"... I contacted him again and asked for $900 instead...that was back in January 2023 and I never heard back again! He never acknowledged my emails, never replied back.

The whole corporate aspect of this place is a scam, full of people who work and at the same time do not work for them. Workers that leave because of the bad payment and a restaurant with so many years, have such a bad reputation.

At least they could have replied back and owned their mistakes. Mr. Ornetti was their worker and he took my deposit while working for both companies. It's not my effing problem that he is no longer with them, they need to pay what they owe (as a corporation).

I decided to post this today as a reminder of the baby shower I didn't have on a day where the baby shower was supposed to...

We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving close to home and since it didn't make sense to cook a 10lb turkey for just two people, going out to a restaurant for a price fixe meal was the next best thing. We got a reservation at Arte Cafe in the Upper West Side. Was very convenient as it was less than a mile walk from the apartment. Checking in was pretty much the same as every restaurant since they asked for your vaccination card. After that, they showed us to our table. I already had the Thanksgiving meal as a choice. My wife though didn't really like turkey so she opted for the Ala Carte menu of Calamari Fritti (with spicy tomato sauce), Fucilli Norcia (sweet & hot sausage in pink sauce) and a dessert of Profitereoles. My meal consisted of a four course meal ( Chestnut & Butter Squash soup, Pappardelle ( Black Truffle with aged grana padano, Roasted Organic Turkey with chestnut and granny smith apple stuffing, cranberry sauce, giblets gravy and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie with cinnamon gelato and toasted pecans). My wife really liked her food. For me, everything was good maybe with the exception of the turkey which was a little dry. All in all though, food was delicious. However, the service was awful. We were almost served twice the wrong dish, first with the appetizer and then again with the dessert. Both times we told them they had the wrong dish..but did they apologize, of course not. There was another instance where my wife wanted her main course to go. Instead of following her wishes, the waiter took the plate and put another plate on top of it (as if to throw away). I would think that if he didn't understand initially her instructions, all he had to do was ask. and of course he didn't. I wish that the servers mistakes were a one off thing. Unfortunately, I experienced first hand how disorganized they were. One of the servers brought out a stack of 2nd dishes from the price fixe menu. He left it in the middle of the room only to realize that these orders were not for this side but for the area closer you the entrance. The saving grace was our main waitress who was very attentive, extremely nice and apologetic. The staff could learn a lot from her. I would not recommend eating in the restaurant but as mentioned, the food is good but service totally degrades the experience so recommend taking the food...

Unbeknown to us, we went during a week when the restaurant was running some promotion to raise their social media profile and rating. It was probably for that reason why the wait staff was particularly more attentive that evening. Our waiter introduced himself, took our orders, and the food came timely. The wait staff was always nearby to fill our glass or clear the plates. At service conclusion, we were asked to write a Google review and mention the waiter's name for great service so they can get an extra bonus from Management.

In term of food, we really enjoyed their complimentary olive/cheese condiment and the cannoli/cookies dessert (free only for that visit). We had their 3 course prix fixe, most of the food looked appealing and tasted delicious, though some pasta entree dishes could be better. The sauce in our Spaghetti Carbonara was already solidified when it reached our table. The chicken Parmigiana with Spaghetti came out also a bit burnt and dry. Perhaps it was a one-off. We would definitely go back and try them again.

UPDATED: We did revisit two weeks later on a Monday evening but the service was 180 degree different than the previous. The food was good but the service wasn’t. There was hardly any wait staff on duty. Our ‘tall and slender’ waiter never introduced himself, he appeared unmotivated and was pretty much MIA during the entire service. We had to hunt him down even to get our check, yet he was spending most of his time standing aside looking down at his phone. We all had their 3 course prix fixe and supposed to receive a complimentary bottle of Pellegrino for the table; however that bottle never came. When we finally got the attention of the waiter, he simply said: “we went out of Pellegrino, I can give you still water or Tap water instead.” So if we didn’t ask about our complimentary bottle of Pellegrino, the waiter thought he could have let it slide? What he should have done is to substitute with something comparable or better, not just ignore. Maybe this waiter was preoccupied and had a bad day, but he should not have spread his unhappiness...