IL Punto — Restaurant in New York

First, I want to say that Charlene and Antonio were working very hard on the busy night of Sat., December 5th. We had made our reservations on November 10th for 6:30 PM on December 5th - party of four - and received our confirmation at that time. I also received a phone call at 3 PM on the afternoon of December 5th, confirming our reservation. We arrived about 5 minutes early of our reservation time. Charlene immediately explained that a rather large group had come late of their reservation time. Charlene' seemed sincerely apologetic that our reservation time would have to be delayed. However, as we had plans at 8:15, our party indicated that we could stay for one drink at the bar but we couldn't sit and wait so long that it would go into a second drink - at that point we'd have to go elsewhere. Antonio said that our drinks would be on him if we would wait at the bar while he tried to locate a table for us. While we were still just inside of the door, by the way, a couple came in behind us and I heard them say that they were late, too. We waited at the bar for about ten or fifteen minutes and were never waited on. We really could not blame the bartender. He was working alone serving drinks AND working the register and there were no available seats at the bar. There should have been a second bartender on duty. I told Antonio that we had not been acknowledged at the bar and asked if it would be much longer. He said he thought a table would be available soon. He approached the bartender and I assume he asked him to serve us because very shortly after, the bartender took our orders. As we were served, Antonio had a table for us. Our food and service were excellent. However, when the bill came, we were charged for our drinks which Antonio had said would be on him. One of the women at our table approached the server who said he'd check with Antonio. Afterwards, we received a new bill and the server apologized, saying that he had not been told. Again, the food was excellent and Aone could see that both Charlene and Antonio were trying very hard to provide a positive customer experience. They did the best that they could. Is there not some way of seating customers who do the right thing by being considerate and arriving on time so that the restaurant may show the customers that same...

UPDATE - 12/14/24 New York City excels at many things, but one of its finest achievements? Italian food. As the birthplace of red-sauce Italian American cooking, it has plenty of top-notch options, and these days, it can feel as if all of Italy is represented here.

Located on the corner of 38th Street and 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, Il Punto translates from Italian, meaning the point is where my partner, my cousin, and I came tonight for some of us as a repeat performance for dinner. Reservations via Yelp are highly recommended, as it gets crowded inside this cozy establishment, as experienced from our last visit a year ago.

Upon arrival a bit early, we were greeted by Antonio, who welcomed us with joy and showed us the passion in him for what he does. He escorted us to our table.

Their menu serves classic Italian dishes from the regions of Florence, Naples, Milan, Rome, Puglia, and beyond, featuring the star of the show, their house-made fresh pastas.

As an appetizer, we each decided on the arancino stuffed with bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese. For our entrée, we opted for Tagliolini neri ai Frutti di Mare with homemade fresh squid ink tagliolini, Pappardelle alla Bolognese with homemade fresh pappardelle, and one of the specials featuring homemade ravioli with pancetta. We even saved room for dessert and got tortino al cioccolato (chocolate cake), cuore di Sicilia (homemade Sicilian almond pastry), and cannoli di siciliana .

Complimentary breadsticks and bread started our meal.

Our food was fresh, seasoned well, and beautifully presented.

Their staff were extremely friendly, helpful, and very attentive, especially our server, Luis. The price was relatively to the area.

We loved everything about Il Punto. We were made to feel welcome from the moment we walked through the door and continue...

The poor: When you first arrive prepare to be underwhelmed both by the buildings facad and general upkeep. There are spackle sections exposed, stickers for the bathroom location, what I assume we're vats of sangria sitting out at room temperature with plastic wrap still on the tap etc. This is not a place you go to impress someone, it's unkept and not in the rustic charm sort of way.

The tables are also very close together and cramped. The restaurant was more or less empty so carrying on a conversation was not an issue today but could be if it was crowded.

The decent: The server was very attentive but not to the point where it's annoying. Drinks showed up quickly as well as the bread basket. Unfortunately the quickness in which the bread showed up was the best part about it.

My coworker and I both had a ceasar salad which also arrived quickly and was above average in taste. I would say that 20% less dressing and 20% more crouton would have made it spectacular. The fresh grated Parmesan cheese was also very good.

I had the rigatoni and my counterpart had the linguine with clams. My dish was very good with the exception of the unnecessary handful of random green garnish that was thrown on top if it for seemingly no reason. The linguine with clams showed up with the clams out of the shell which caught me off guard but we both agreed our main dishes were above average.

In short, there is nothing specific that would cause me to avoid this place but with the 10s of thousands of chocies in the city there certainly wasn't anything that would cause...