Inatteso Pizzabar — Restaurant in New York

Despite some very tempting NYC Restaurant Week options, I had a very specific hankering for Neapolitan style pizza yesterday and didn't want to walk too far during a heat advisory. This place caught my eye (and nearby Sauce & Barrel, which I really liked during my first and only time there, closed earlier this summer), so my chum and I wandered over yesterday.

I've walked by this place a handful of times; it's a very gentrified area and for me, a lot of the buildings/businesses kind of blend together - it's basically the NYC equivalent of Newport right across the river. That's not a ding on Inatteso, but I think a lot of the establishments in this neighborhood by definition have difficulty standing apart because of it. Your mileage may vary. That said, this is a very pleasant location in many respects. If it hadn't been insanely hot, we likely would have eaten outside and taken in the view - this is about a block from Battery Park and right on one of the rare wide avenues in downtown Manhattan, so it actually feels more laidback than a lot of nearby counterparts.

I decided to go with a Margarita pie ($21), which was okay. It came fairly quickly - one of the great selling points of traditional Neapolitan pies - but personal palate-wise, I'm not crazy about big chunks in my tomato sauce. There were a few noticeable pockets of oil still lingering on the top of the pie, and the dough was more chewy than airy for me. The cheese was fine, but fairly indistinguishable. I still had four slices, but I left the remaining half of the pie in the work fridge for the public to consume. I also had a Paloma ($16); also fine, but I think I'm officially over that cocktail - it's refreshing on a day like this, but for me it just seems bland and a little too tart. That's also not something I think is necessarily an issue with Inatteso specifically, but their cocktail menu isn't lengthy (and half of it is negronis) so in the future I'd stick with a glass of wine; THAT part of the menu is pretty extensive.

The service was fine, and the price point here is pretty competitive for the area; underscoring that fact was that the clientele was a solid mixture of nearby residents and tourists passing through. This isn't a bad place but I just personally wasn't...

Long story short: bad customer service, and I'm calling out the server named Bernard (based on the receipt). First my family came into the restaurant, and my mom took grandpa straight to the bathroom, while me and my lil sister stand outside looking at the menu. Bernard walked by and said "it's okay if you dont order anything from menu, but i have to charge for bathroom fee". Turn off number 1. My family was there to eat, not to use your bathroom only, and we as tourists have money to pay for it. After that, I ordered 2 pizza togo. Bernard took my card and went get the check. When he came back with my bill, my mom changed her mind and wanted to eat in, so i told him. He threw the biggest annoying attitude ever and said that's why he asked if i wanted to do togo or dine in. Ok, I understood that it was my fault to changed my mind, and it might messed up his turn of taking customer. But does that mean he entitle to throw tantrum at customer? He showed bad attitude so I didnt want to eat in anymore. I finally tip him anyway in hope his life would be better and he would have better attitude to the future customers. About the food, I ordered Pizza Bianca and Diavolo. Bianca was okay, but the Diavolo was not great. All the tomato sauce and tomato clumps just conveniently slided off my slices....

I stumbled in here for a quick dinner and it was better than I expected. It was not as busy as one would expect for a Sunday dinner, but that also meant faster service.

They have a LOT of employees for the small space and number of customers they had and it gets a bit hectic because of the employees passing by and running into each other.

I got the black pepper tagliatelle with boar ragú and the Parma pizza (large). The food was delicious, as can be seen in the pictures.

However, when I asked for my half pan of left over pizza boxed up to go, I found myself waiting for a while....the check came but the pizza never did. When I asked where my boxed up pizza was, they ran around trying to find it - only to realize the busboys/servers ate our leftovers. My server was quick to figure out what happened, and remedied the situation by offering to bake a new small pan of pizza, and a round of drinks for my table while we waited. Despite the confusion, I was happy with the service and their reaction to the unexpected situation, and the quality of the food. I would definitely...