Il Corallo Trattoria — Restaurant in New York

Seafood pasta is usually what we come here for, and it is a perfect place for casual dining and comfort food before the “second round” of the night. As an Italian restaurant, their price is unbelievably reasonable given how devious their dishes are: most pasta dishes are under $30, and appetizers WITH meat or seafood are under $15. The sauces for every dish are so fresh, flavorful, but not heavy at all, and we always wipe our plates with bread before letting the staff take them away. This time, we chose here for my husband’s birthday. And we had a great night at IL Corallo Trattoria, again! My friends all live either in Queens or uptown, and I work in midtown, but IL Corallo Trattoria is the reason why we go to lower Manhattan. I skipped seafood pasta and tried their veal shank this time - it was such a hard decision to make, but the veal dish was one of the best I have ever tasted. Not sure why they don’t advertise this, but they have a legit pizza oven, and all pizzas we ordered were beyond good. They are NOT “just a pasta place.” The restaurant is very very very popular on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and since they are closed on Monday, from Tuesday to Thursday, even it’s not as busy, the restaurant is always full. So, for party of 5+, I’d say definitely make reservations several days ahead. They added semi-“outdoor” seating during COVID, so it is less hard to get a table without reservations. And the “outside” part was actually quite nice. The whole place is heated, with decorations, staff come check on the guests quite frequently....

It's so hard to write this review… 😥

The food was okay, nothing special, but somehow Italian tasting. So, the kitchen is doing an okay job. Not sure why there was powdered chocolate topping the tiramisù rather than cocoa powder. Perhaps to meet an American sweeter taste. 🇺🇲 It completely ruined the flavour's balance, though.

Food critique. 😐 The lentil soup tested fine. The pasta was slightly overcooked and a little insipid. The espresso was good. The tiramisù was surprisingly good and made with correct ingredients but for the sweet and fat (chocolate = cocoa + shortening + sugar) topping.

Now the service. 🙄 The staff does not speak any Italian. 🇮🇹 The menu is a mix of Italian and English. 🇬🇧 I've been asked if I wanted parmesan on my fish pasta!!! 🧀🐟 WTF‽‽‽ And, if you check others' photos here, you'll see they actually do serve it to other customers!!! This is just outrageous! 😡 Finally, the waiter started arguing with me when I've asked what brand of coffee they have. And started telling me “cappuccino, latte, macchiato…”.

It seems the previous owner was Italian, but sold the restaurant to someone who has never been to Italy or knows how to run an Italian trattoria. It's so disappointing. 😓 This could definitely be a nice spot. The food was fine. But the overall experience was rather bad.

Educate yourself and your staff if you'd like to carry an Italian name. Moreover, a “buongiorno” and “grazie” are not hard to...

Caution!!!!!! The restaurant II Corallo Trattoria has many positive reviews, but the case that happened to me last Wednesday cannot pass in silence and everyone who plans to come must know it ! My partner and I arrived at the restaurant, ordered pasta, the Chicken Pomodoro dish and a pizza. In the pizza we asked for olives and onions toppings. In the beginning, we enjoyed the food, and everything seemed normal, but suddenly after I took another pizza slice I noticed something hard and sharp, I removed what I have had in my mouth into a napkin and discover a bolt sticking out of my mouth. Bolt in the middle of nowhere was at my pizza. Mistakes do happen, but the restaurant was not able to explain how it got to my pizza. I am glad I am alive and that I can write to you and warn you. Do NOT trust this place ! My partner after the incident went into the kitchen to figure out where the bolt came from and unfortunately the kitchen was dirty and looked horrible, everything was a mess and visibly dirty. From a restaurant that has so many visitors I would not expect such a failure. Think twice before you visit the II Corallo Trattoria restaurant, there are many better (and safer) restaurants in the area.

*response to the restaurant owner: Stephanie, I am still waiting for your explanation how a bolt ended up in my pizza. I’m still very upset and shocked. It’s over a month and you still didn’t explain. Can you...