Chazz Palminteri Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

While the wait staff was on point, I usually rate a restaurant solely on the food, because ultimately, that's the reason that would get you to leave your dining room for someone else's. I been visiting Italian restaurants for over 30 years, and the quality of the food did not match the price range at all. I visited for restaurant week, so I'll review each course: First, the plate on the table was covered with lint and dust. Great seat for a reservation. They sat us in the back corner at a table that is hardly used. Immediately, I could tell they didn't want me back.

Bread was served first. The oil with garlic was delicious- 5 stars for that. The olives and cheese on the side were a nice touch, and honestly the most memorable part of the meal.

The appetizer was a fried calamari- can't really mess that up. It was fried to a light golden color. Could have been a tad crisper, but with the lemon squeezed over it, I couldn't complain much. The marinara sauce that was served with it was not tasty at all. It needs to go back into whatever jar they got it from and made fresh. 5 stars for the calamari, but 2 for the sauce, so 3.5 for the appetizer.

I had a chicken parm dish over penne pasta (not the best choice for chicken parm, but I wanted a dish with fresh pasta). The pasta did not taste fresh, but that may because it was drowned in that bland tomato sauce. The chicken was okay, definitely not beaten to the high quality texture that i've seen at cheaper restaurants. Very disappointing. I could taste the oil it was fried in rather than the parmesan and mozarella that's supposed to cover the chicken. And the cheese looks like they just laid sliced cheese over prebreaded chicken. I had higher hopes for such a standard fairly simple dish. Go for a grilled chicken instead. I imagine anything not covered with that sauce tastes way better. And to make matters worse, the waiter put too much cheese on the chicken. Granted it's nice that they keep grating until you say stop, but another waiter was asking me a question while he was grating. A smarter waiter would have stopped and waited until he had my attention. The dish was also very salty- too salty to enjoy thoroughly. I wanted to ask for more sauce, because I like a lot, but it was so bland, I couldn't take it. Overall, I give this dish a 2.

Finally I had the tiramisu. Good lord, if this is the best thing on the dessert menu, I would definitely not return. It was frozen, which was understandable, but the customer shouldn't be able to tell it was frozen.. they tried to doctor it up with whipped cream and berries on the side. It actually got better towards the end, as it thawed more, so I give it a 3 for the attempt and after taste. It needed a little more coffee liquer or something. And no powered sugar. No! Finally, my biggest complaint: the small pasta portions. My friend had a spaghetti and meatball dish. I was shocked, because italian restaurants are known for serving large portions. Someone's Italian grandmother was rolling over in her grave when that dish came out. If you are thinking of coming here, don't order anything I ordered. Orderd something in a light sauce. Skip the dessert. The drinks were nice and strong, but at that price, they better be.

My recommendation: go to the Vault near Wall Street, and enjoy great food, superb service and...

One of the quickest fine dining meals I've ever experienced.

First let me start by saying that our party of 4 had high expectations to eat here and was debating to eat at this location or the one in White Plains. Unfortunately we choose the wrong location. We did not have any expectation to see Chazz at the restaurant, however, our friends who were eating at the White Plains location the same night did infact get to meet and take pics with Chazz. So we were a little bummed out about that but not the end of the world.

The waiter explained the specials for the night which all sounded very scrumptious. We decided on the scallops which were part of the specials he mentioned to us which were cooked very nicely. We also got the grilled octopus which was equally tasty, although one person mentioned it was a bit spicy for their liking. For me it was good enough, not to rubbery and cooked just right.

The issues we had which is why I am giving the star rating I am is because of the service. We literally had a 3 course meal within about 40 minutes from the time we entered the door. The entire experience just felt very rushed, like they couldn't wait to get us out and make room for the next people that could take our table. There was even a scene where the waiter was taking away my friends entree plate and at the same time I am trying to share some of my food with him but ended up I couldn't because they were so quick to take our plates away without even asking if we were finished.

I am happy we did not order the appetizers and entrees together because I fear everything would have came out at once. The other thing to keep in mind is that there is no bathroom inside the establishment if you can believe that. You literally have to walk out of the restaurant into the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel lobby, open a door which leads to the basement and walk down about two flights of stairs to find them.

Overall this restaurant felt like an after thought for Hilton which is the restaurant for the hotel. But not taking the time to think about bathroom placement for the restaurant is really bizarre. They do have elevators which go to the basement for accessibility purposes.

I've dined at many fine restaurants throughout NYC, most notably Rao's numerous times and for the amount we spent here which was about $160 a person for a table of 4 I would have expected more. I think this restaurant is a good spot for tourists visiting times square since they would probably not know better, but for native New Yorkers I think it was a miss. Not so much the food, but the customer service experience was just lacking that fine dining experience that you would expect from a restaurant name of this standard.

I honestly hope that Chazz reads these reviews for his restaurant but do not have high expectations of that either. I am sure I will get a response from the restaurant manager saying that they are sorry they didn't meet our expectations, please contact us and blah, blah, blah which is the normal templated response you would expect to see but hopeful that since this is a fine dining restaurant I would be interested in seeing how and...

We booked a table at Chazz Palmenteri as it was close to our hotel and Grand Central Station, so the location was very convenient. The restaurant wasn’t crowded and was very intimate. The antipasto was served promptly and very fresh. The bread has a great crumb and a perfect crunch. The small wedges of Parmesan were clearly broken in the traditional way, rather than sliced, which was a great detail that is often missed. The bitter olives paired well with the rich bread and cheese.

We ordered an appetizer of calamari which was some of the most tender that I have ever had. The breading was the perfect consistency and the tomato sauce was light enough to complement the squid without overpowering it.

My fiancé ordered the four cheese tagliatelle. The pasta itself was very clearly made in house and had the lovely characteristic elasticity of egg noodles. The sauce was rich and cheesy without being too thick or sticky.

I ordered the minestrone and found that the vegetables were cooked perfectly. The vegetables were seasoned well and cooked to the point of being tender without losing all of their textures.

For my main course, I ordered the gnocchi with ragout. I was skeptical ordering this as there were so many phenomenal options on the menu that I was worried that I may be missing out by ordering something so simple. I was wrong. This gnocchi is the second time that food has ever made me cry. It was so perfectly light that it almost melted in my mouth. The sauce was rich but let the flavor of the dumplings shine through. The meat was evenly cut and fork tender, but stayed hearty. This gnocchi made me cry. I haven’t had such incredible gnocchi since my Nonna passed away. The first bite took me back to being four years old, sitting on her kitchen floor, tasting it fresh off the stove.

This entire meal was a fantastic experience and the perfect way to end our brief stay in New York.

I’ll give this restaurant the highest compliment that I can possibly give a restaurant, and one that I have only given once before.

I would have payed more, much...