Il Bambino — Restaurant in New York

This place was recommended by a co-worker. Came here with 5 people. It's a small place. Luckily we were able to get seats. Service was excellent and the people were really friendly. We were seated but were waiting for one more friend and they didn't rush us to order or what not.

We tried their Brunch Panini menu. In summary, it was awesome. This is definitely a hidden gem of a place in Astoria. I loved the creative names for the paninis!! From what I remember, we ordered "The Big Booty", "Cheese Us Christo", and "The Fun Guy".

Overall, the portions were excellent. You definitely get enough. Was stuffed afterwards. I however thought that all the paninis were over buttered.

For the Big Booty, the bread was toasted perfectly, didn't see one burnt coloring on the bread. Every ingredient complemented each other. I liked the spicy mayo. Added flavor to the hash and eggs. I would definitely recommend this.

The Cheese Us Christo, I would recommend this for cheese lovers. The farmhouse blue was too strong for my taste. To me, it was the strongest cheese out of the 3.

As for the Fun Guy, I think they need something to cut down the earthiness from the mushrooms. They give you a lot of mushrooms. I think they should add some spice to this dish and something raw vegetables.

One added thing, the place is nice and cozy. Kept us nice and warm while it was cold and raining outside.

I would...

The purpose of this review is not to hate or harm this restaurant in any way, shape, or form. That being said, I hope you take this review as an informative review.

Atmosphere: This is quite a warming place to go to. Spotless, bright, colorful, and well organized. Their restroom is also clean and tidy. They also have a patio, but I didn't see it completely.

Service: Service is pretty good. Food was ready a few minutes late than the time promised, but the lady kept me updated.

Food: I ordered to go. I got two paninis, The Tree Hugger and the Roast Chicken with Goat Cheese. They were not bad. The flavors were good, but they were missing something for me to feel they were worth paying what they cost. I know the ingredients are not cheap. However, if they were organic, it would be a different story.

Price: As mentioned before, I felt like the flavors were not quite close to the price. That is just for the paninis I ordered. Perhaps, other things on their menu are...

I would give this place 4.5 stars if I could. The paninis are so inventive and creative, and are so gosh darn tasty. We went on a double date here on Saturday, had to wait about 20 minutes for 4 people - not too bad. The alcohol is reasonably priced--they have several bottles of wine for less than $30 and Monday is half price wine night. My bf and I split the special panini, which we termed "Thanksgiving in my mouth." Super yummy. Although I think I liked the sweet sausage one more. We also had the crostini with spicy queso, salsa, and cilantro cream sauce. I could have skipped that one as it reminded me too much of college in a bad way but my boyfriend loved it. We were too full for dessert but everything sounded great. My friend got the peanut butter hot chocolate and that smelled delicious. Also, random note, there's a super cool old map of Astoria/Long Island City in the bathroom that I would highly recommend checking out. I'll...