Da Andrea — Restaurant in New York

I don’t suggest this restaurant if you are searching for a good spot for any celebrations on Friday night or weekend when they are busy.

I was organizing my friend’s birthday dinner and I chose here based on Google reviews of its great service. Unfortunately my experience didn’t match all the reviews.

We came last night (Friday). The host was kind and helpful to get us a table earlier than our actual reservation while the restaurant wasn’t so busy. We were a group of 4 people but 1 person was delayed due to work. She joined us about 30 mins later after we got seated. I did explain our situation to the host and asked him if we had to leave within certain time limit. He said it was fine at that time but if things changed, he would let me know. We understand how the restaurant works and how they needed to turn the table to serve more customers. So we got seated at around 6:50pm. 3 of us ordered drinks, appetizers and 3 entrees. The food was tasty and it was brought out very fast. We already finished all our entrees by 7:30pm. Our friend arrived around that time and ordered her entree right away. The food came out within 10 mins.

Before my friend could finish her entree, multiple different servers came to ask the 3 of us (who already finished our food) if we wanted to order desserts. I told them we would wait for our friend who was still eating to finish then we would order desserts. The manager came to apologize for his staff to ask us too many times. I explained to him why we wanted to wait to order desserts. First being polite to my friend who was still eating her entree. Secondly it’s one of my friend’s birthday. We would like to order desserts with candles and sing her HBD song. That was the purpose of our whole dinner. We went there to celebrate birthday. The manager said he understood and left.

2 more servers came after to ask my friend finished her entree again. She felt rushed so she decided to just not finish, so we could order desserts. We ordered 2 desserts and coffee. All of these came out within 5 mins and guess what, none of the desserts came with a candle. We felt speechless especially after I clearly told the manager it’s my friend’s birthday and we wanted to sing her HBD that’s why we were waiting. We ended up holding the little tea candle on the table in front of the birthday girl and sang her HBD song. It was not what we expected and I felt bad to make the choice to come here for my friend’s birthday. We left the restaurant by 8:10pm. So it was 80 mins we were there even with my friend came late at 7:30pm. We still finished within 90 mins of a regular turnaround time for a table in a busy restaurant. However, we were asked at least 10 times if we were ready to move onto next order of desserts and if we were still working on finishing our plates when clearly there were still half plate of pasta on it.

I felt this place would be suitable for a quick dinner if you are running late for something but you really want to eat pasta rather than McDonald’s. Honestly, I feel I would get more peace to enjoy my meal if I had chosen to go to McDonald. We understand we were taking their table and waiting for our friend so we ordered quite a lot of food so they didn’t lose money on us. But I don’t feel we were treated with dignity to have the right to sit at our table with a bill of over $200, not including tips. The way servers approached us was not elegant and more like impatient and just trying to rush us out.

This is not a dining experience that I expected at all. If you are hoping to find a place to spend time with your family/friends for any celebrations, it’s not for it. You would feel rushed for every minute you are seated at their table.

But the service is very quick if you are impatient at waiting for food. I would recommend coming here for some tasty pasta when you...

I hate doing this, I really do, but when it is warranted, it is warranted.

The food is amazing. It tastes like it was literally made right in the restaurant, the portions are decent, save for my dessert, and my server was cute, but I dock points for the lackluster service, high prices, and overall atmosphere, plus I found the restaurant very bougie for the neighborhood it is in.

The cavatelli is superb. It is cooked perfectly. It is also served in a beautiful pesto and with a perfectly cooked salmon. There also happened to be some shrimp thrown in. The blend works well, and it is a nice portion. Not too small, not too large. The fact that it comes with homemade focaccia adds points. It is also complementary if you want a second basket, which I will keep in mind for future visits. My dessert, which I ordered the panna cotta, is also delicious. It is a beautiful wobble, with three nice amaretto cherries. Yes, it is a bit on the small side, but it is good.

Now, for the dirt. Some of you may not like this. If so, stop reading now.

The prices are high. $25 is a bit on the high end of the spectrum for me. If I am paying for homemade value, fine. Lower the price $5 and I am happy. This was almost gouging because they were also offering free bread. The dessert is small, almost too small, small enough for a child to eat and still want another. For $11, it needs to be bigger and better than a small base, topped with three innocent cherries that look like they are quivering in fear for their lives.

I also want to point out they had only one server doing everything. ONE! For a Friday night dinner rush, this is unacceptable. Luckily it was not too busy so she looked like she was managing despite the throngs of crowds walking in. I give her credit, she was even keeled and worked her butt off, never really showing her displeasure. Still, it would have been nice to have some more help for her.

At least everything comes out quick. There is little wait between order and food. That allowed my mind to wander about for very little.

Next time I come here I hope to have better service, and maybe a bit more of a cost weighing the benefit, for now the only benefit to returning here is the amazing food.

This could be one of the greats. One of the best reviews for a restaurant I have been to. Instead, it will have to settle for simplicity...

These Tigelle buns with Parma Prosciutto are the best appetizer I have had in nyc and I'm STANDING ON BUSINESS. Okay sorry I just had to get that off my chest. I also just learned what the phrase "standing on business" means yesterday, so I apologize in advance.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like many Italian places in nyc are trying so hard to be authentic, but the dining experience feels like getting a McFlurry when you really want a DQ Blizzard..... It may scratch the itch but it's just not the real thing.

However, the second I walked into Da Andrea I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I literally felt like I had transported back to my time in Northern Italy. Oh yeah I'm well traveled haha :)

But fr, this is authentic as authentic gets. From the interior to the homemade pasta options to our waitress holding on tightly to her strong Italian accent and sense of humor, I felt I had teleported straight to Bologna.

For a starter, thanks to my fellow amateur food reviewers, it had become abundantly clear we needed to order the Fresh Baked Tigelle Buns with Prosciutto. It came with five PIPING hot buns, about as hot as me when I see my first two shots of the game go in, my nickname in highschool was "The Microwave'' haha :) ----- Okay yeah my fault, 5 PIPING hot buns and thinly sliced Prosciutto that was a deep pink color with white ribbons of fat. You could just tell it was about to SMACK.

I'm really shy but dug deep and mustered up the courage to ask our waitress the proper way to eat them, and she stood on business and informed me you are supposed to slice the buns and put a slice of prosciutto in the middle and eat it like a cute little sandwich. Thank GOD I asked, as I was just gonna rip and dip.

For mains, we got the Lamb Shank and the Squid Ink Pasta. The Lamb literally fell off the shank (haha) and was paired with a risotto that was to die for. The Squid Ink pasta with those little tomatoes sprinkled around also really got me going. Delicious.

I need Il Buco and Emilio's Ballato to move over a bit, as Da Andrea has taken over as my new favorite Italian spot in nyc. I'm standing on BUSINESS with that.

IG...