Bamonte's Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

I made the mistake of taking my wife here two weeks before Valentine’s Day. You know, I really wish I can get my money back on this one because I’m beyond pissed. More so outrageously disgusted with how this joint went from being one of the best joints in green point besides Frost… to becoming just another name.

First off, it’s a weeknight and the place is empty. So you expect some extra attention. But no, the owner who I assume is the older woman put us on the pay no mind list… I don’t know her name. I got quite a few names I want to give her though.

So we’re seated and the waiter is sounding off the specials for the night and what got my attention was the Veal Rollatini. I should of asked what it came with because if I would of known what it came with I would just gotten the chicken parm with a side of pasta and I would of been okay. But no…. In my mind I think I’m getting a dish that I haven’t had since my mother made it… it’s an easy dish to make but never mind that’s besides the point.

My wife orders the chicken parm and again…. Unfortunately bells didn’t go off in my head thinking shouldn’t this come with either a pasta or salad?

We also made the mistake of ordering appetizers which were painfully small portions for the price…. Better off getting another entree by the time you knock off a few stuffed clams, mushrooms, fried calamari….

Did I mention how stale the bread was? And the butter was frozen….

So our meals come and lo and behold I sat there with a “I can’t believe this” grin on my face. What did they serve me? Watered down wet giant grain white rice… I have never in my life seen rice that big before. And one little pathetic portion of Veal Rollatini….

Again, learn from me and just stick with the chicken parm, because apparently my wife said it was excellent. But what perplexed us both was that it came with roasted potatoes and string beans….instead of pasta or a nice garden salad?

I lived in Brooklyn/Queens my whole life. Never did I ever get served potatoes and vegetables with a chicken parm. That’s just a piss poor excuse for saving money.

So to top it all off we got dessert, I figured maybe this would redeem them? Nope, fat chance. You ever had something that was old in your freezer….. maybe tartufo? And it taste like freezer burn? Exactly what they served us…. And again the penguin waiter who realized we’re two people should elaborated on how many cannolis come on a plate.we ended up sharing one extremely underfilled cannoli.

I really have nothing good to say...

AN ITALIAN CLASSIC TREASURE CHEST OF GREAT TIMES & GREAT FOOD

Bamonte's is a true celebration of life, and it's joys of sharing love and friendships, and also life transitions and the markings of time, around a table of delicious foods, the way it has bee done for centuries.

The waiters are totally old-school. Black jackets; kind and jowled but "dedicated to service" faces with smile almost imperceptibly hidden under folded cheeks, that looked like they had been around tables their entire life. It's not one of those modern white tablecloth fancy and formal upper Eastside places.

Rather, discovering Bamonte's is discovering an old school Italian restaurant with an atmosphere like entering into the warmth, charm and tradition of the 1940's, and the kitchens of classic grandmother's from Venice, or Rome or Florence, sharing their food and recipes with their families, as if it's the weekly Sunday meal.

It is filled and bustling with young people in their 20's and 30s and 40s, - just because Brooklyn is happening; it's totally comfortable for all ages. In its own way, it feels spacious, with opportunity to intently hear each other's conversations or share laughter and the thrill of togetherness around the humanity of lovingly prepared foods that truly touch the heart, the soul, and the palate.

We were on our fifth date; clearly at 70 the oldest in the house of hundreds, along with Anthony, the owner, proudly sitting at the bar presiding (with his daughter Nicole), a totally lovely Italian gentleman who made that motion to stand up from his stool as we came over to introduce ourselves. Obviously filled with wellbeing for the total satisfaction he was offering tonight, and had offered over the years to hundreds of thousands of happy clients, Anthony and Nicole's genuine charm and caring touched both of us.

Bamonte's is exactly the kind of place you might walk into back in the day with your big family or a bunch of friends to sit down for a fabulous dinner showered in the warmth of a proprietor and staff who delivered wonderful food, clearly sharing a wonderful gratitude that they had found a way to reach...

Tldr: Food amazing; service awful I came here for eggplant parmigiana and was not disappointed. The red sauce is good, the texture of the eggplant and breading was great, cheese tasty, and side green beans were excellent. The side potatoes were not good, but 5% of the the meal can fail and it can still be a great eating experience. The service was quite poor. I made a reservation for 4pm figuring that a reservation probably wasn't necessary for such an off-time, but polite to do. I arrived at 4pm and explained that the other members of my party would arrive in a few minutes. The restaurant was empty except for patrons at maybe three other tables. The man behind the bar said that my friends better hurry or else he would have to cancel our reservation. Again, virtually every table was empty. He explained that they needed our table at 6pm, so we needed to hurry. My friends arrived by 4:05. We were seated without a problem. The waiter handed us two menus for five people, explaining that they didn't have any more. We read the two menus and made our selections. It took at least 15 minutes of sitting with menus closed before the waiter returned to the table and took our orders. Is that why they worried that it might take us more than two hours to eat? The wait staff was clumsy and not friendly at all, often dropping bread, dinner plates, etc. on top of unfinished plates of food already on the table. I watched many other groups arrive and get seated without any hassle around 5pm. Perhaps they all had reservations AND were people who were known to the staff since they didn't check in at the bar or with any waiters, but that seems quite unlikely. It also took about 15 minutes after asking for the check to actually get it. I will not be back, despite the...