Fragole — Restaurant in New York

First time I dined here alone; awesome service, food and atmosphere.

Second time I highly recommended to a friend because it was so awesome. We dined here and again it was amazing.

The 3rd time I was so looking forward to eating here. I was dining alone like the 1st time, same male waiter, but this time he couldn’t be bothered with me. He rarely came to my table. I had to flag him down every time he came to my table. There were jovial people sitting at the bar having a great time. They must have been regular’s because he was right in there with them 75% of the time I was there.

The 4th and last time I’ll dine there, I went to give it another shot. I have food allergies which they accommodated the 1st 2 visits. The 3rd time I think it was a little annoying for him. This 4th visit he was defensive and a little aggressive. Ive been to restaurants where the chef is happy to make accommodations. Not here. It’s insulting.

I finished my salad and waited for the main course for almost an hour. I had to flag someone down to check the status. In 5 minutes my meal came and it was cold. Rather than asking them to make it right, god forbid, I just wanted to eat and be done with it. I’m a 25% tipper, maybe more for exceptional service. This night this service wasn’t worth 10%.

I discovered this restaurant after I moved from NYC. Out of all the restaurants in all the boroughs, I made it a point to come back here when I’m in town because of my 1st and 2nd experiences. I thought the 3rd visit was a fluke. I gave it another chance and it was worse than the time before.

You know, if someone is dining alone giving excellent service, attentive service is what I think would come naturally. I really don’t like writing a negative review. When I’m read reviews, I appreciate the ones that help me make the right decision for myself. I’m writing this for anyone who is planning to dine alone and/or has food allergies. There are SO many amazing options in NYC. This might be a...

Never before have I faced such a discrepancy between the quality of food at a restaurant. The appetizers were fantastic. My partner and I loved the calamari and brussels sprouts.

When the pasta came out, I could not have been more disappointed. This was the worst lasagna I have had in 8 years, and maybe ever at a restaurant. It had no ricotta and it was not baked long enough to be firm in any way. It was just a red sauce that was overly salty and suggested it was store-bought with ground beef that clearly had not been cooked with the sauce in between floppy layers of pasta. There was a small amount of mozzarella on top. I was astounded at the poor quality of this dish. It felt like a joke. When my partner's rigatoni bolognese arrived I noticed the sauce was orange indicating there was cream in it, rather than the dark red color that results from the meat stewing with the tomatoes properly. Her pasta was also overcooked and soft, nowhere near the proper texture.

The difference between the appetizers, which again were very impressive, and both pasta dishes indicates to me that this was not an issue of one bad day in the kitchen but a leading philosophy by the people designing the menu. They simply do not know how to make pasta here. It seems to be borrowed from an Italian-American's secondhand knowledge of food their family makes, rather than an understanding of the proper methods. Were I to recommend this restaurant, I would advise one steers clear of any pasta, or find it somewhere else. There are too many good Italian restaurants in New York for this to...

In about 10 years of ordering in food in the city, I haven’t once felt a need to leave a review. Ordered in based on the pretty good reviews and press. We’re not particularly fussy, but we were honestly incredibly disappointed. We tried three pastas, the vegetable platter, broccoli rabe, and tiramisu. As a whole, dishes were bland and overpriced given the quality.

Vegetable platter: Not well cooked, and particularly overpriced - you get maybe a couple pieces of zucchini, eggplant, pepper, artichoke, mozzarella, and beets. But for the price, it really should have been either greater in quantity or quality.

Pasta: ordered gnocchi, ravioli, and ragu. All of them had similar weaknesses: little flavor, watery sauces, overcooked pasta.

Broccoli rabe: there was a hair in it and it was surprisingly over-seasoned with hot pepper flakes.

Tiramisu: just not great. The cream was fine, but the cake was doused and pretty inedible.

All in all, I wouldn’t recommend it. Just wasn’t appetizing. Do yourself and your wallet a favor and head over to...