Maialino (vicino) — Restaurant in New York

Let me start by saying, I would give this a 4 or 5 star rating. As the food was memorable! However, the service was incredibly disappointing for the price of the dinner. Due to a hotel situation, we had had to cancel our original Friday night reservations. So we called back once we got settled in and refreshed for dinner. We called back and made a reservation at the wine counter for 9:30p as that was what was available. Had we known the bar would have had seats open, we would have sat there. We were not given any instructions about the wine counter. When we sat down it was at least 5 minutes before we were acknowledge. Though there were several people buzzing around and behind the counter. Finally, we had a young woman who I guess was our server though she never introduced herself and only asked if I would like something to drink. My friend had stepped out to the restroom, so I stated I would wait until she returned but would love to see a wine list. In which I was handed a very large book of wines. I briefly looked through, overwhelmed by the many choices and returned it to the counter. Once my friend returned, the server came back and my friend said "We would love a bottle of wine and to look at a list." She didn't know I had briefly looked at the book. The server seemed irritated and sent over who I assume was the sommelier. She was very knowledgable but did act a tad bit annoyed. (Let me say...We are 2 gals who were just looking for a nice bottle of red wine to enjoy with dinner.) The somm did suggest a bottle after asking a few questions. Which we did enjoy but nothing that I would order again. When our server came to take our order, all I can say was it felt her attitude declined every time she came over to us. Yet she barely had any interaction with us. I asked if they had any specials which she said they did not. I said "Alright, we will start with the winter greens salad." In which she said, "The Radicchio?" I said "Yes, please. Also, we will take the Polpetti as well." She responded "The lamb meatballs?" "Yes, thank you." I was somewhat aggravated by her contradictory responses and attitude. As it was clear she did not like her job at all. Note, I understand this is a hospitality included establishment. And I typically will tip on top of this. Especially if the service is good! Our food came and we loved the polpetti! I will DREAM about these delicious meatballs. They were incredible. We told our server we would like to order the bolognese and cavatelli. As she cleared our plates from our starters, she did not ask once how they were. There wasn't an ounce of friendliness at all from her. The bolognese was delicious and I ate every last bit. The cavatelli was pretty good as well, but not a dish that we would order again. At this point, it was so clear the server did not want to be there that we paid her and sat to finish our wine. The bill was over $400, which typically I would have tipped the server another 15-20%. But the way she treated us, we did not. We sat to finish our glass of wine and they were making delicious aromatic coffee and espresso right behind us! So we decided it would be nice to enjoy an espresso and dessert. Though there was what I assume a manager behind the wine counter. She was busy talking to a patron at the end of the bar. Clearly they were friends. So I flagged down the sommelier as she walked by and asked if it would be possible for us to order a dessert and espresso. She sent over another server who asked if she could help us and I said "We would love to order an espresso and a dessert." She responded, "Well since your server is gone and you closed out, we will have to open another ticket for you. And let me see if the kitchen is still open." Again, another person annoyed we were there. Please note, the restaurant was still pretty full at this moment. We ordered the espressos and tiramisu while we discussed how terrible the service had been but the food was worth it. I have to say this experience put such a damper on our annual NYC trip. Service terrible....

Honestly dinner was just mediocre. I live in NY and go out frequently to the standard midtown restaurants that are kept in business by the corporate card crowd. When dining on my own dime, eating at a place that’s actually worth the money is very important to me. I was excited to eat at Maialino because the original restaurant that closed during Covid was one of my favorite restaurants in NY - it was worth every penny. To start, the bread that came out was cold - not just room temperature but actually cold. The waiter then Recommended the veal appetizer which was just ok. The capers were extremely hard and difficult to chew and the veal dish seemed more of a dish I’d get sitting at the bar, not the main dining room. We also ordered the Burata which was the best dish of the night. The actual burata was pretty standard, but the sauce and squash it was served with was incredible. For pastas we had the linguine with clams and the bucatini with guancale. The linguine with clams was just fine (personally Becco on restaurant row is my favorite in the city after Don Pepe in Queens). The bucatini was awful. The guancale in a dish like this is supposed to be cut thin and become soft when absorbing the sauce. Tonight it was hard, almost crunchy and way too salty as it didn’t absorb the sweetness from the tomato. Lastly we had the lamb shoulder. This was delicious but at $42 did not even come with a garnish on the plate. It was sloppily thrown onto a plate and brought out. I’d expect at least a garnish from a restaurant like this, or some sort of plating. Last but not least, it was my wife’s birthday and we didn’t order dessert but a lone candle was brought out on a plate. Understandably we didn’t order dessert but if you’re going to bring out a candle, it needs to at least come out with a cookie, piece of biscotti, chocolate or something. It was pathetic to bring out a candle on an empty plate and then bring the check. Was hoping to love this place but for the price there is no shortage of upscale Italian restaurants...

We took our daughter to dinner at Maialino's last evening for her birthday. She resides in the neighborhood and has walked passed the restaurant many times and suggested it to us. We are NOT frugal people. My wife and I make a good living but we would consider ourselves upper middle class. We knew the restaurant was going to be pricey but that didn't deter us. "Price" is often dictated by many factors ..neighborhood, food quality and preparation, wait staff, wine list, etc. I suppose when I go to a pricey restaurant my expectations are high as well. We started out with cocktails first. At this point we were hitting close to the $100 mark ( remember there were just three of us! ) but again, it's an evening out and I just decided to go with it. We ordered a shared appetizer but unfortunately we made an error in that it was a pasta dish where we had thought it was something else however, it was tasty. Our meals came and they were equally good ..no complaints but seriously .. I had a $50 dish of pasta ... there was nothing nearly spectacular about it .. My wife had the salmon .. again very pricey and nothing particularly special here as was my daughter's meal. Listen .. I'm sure if we had limitless funds to have dinner here many times, we would have probably had dishes that we might have though were spectacular and worth the high price but seriously .. I just don't get it. I suppose wealthy people who dine here probably;y don't bat an eye and of course, there are restaurants at a quarter of the price whose food I enjoyed far better. If I had this meal at a less expensive restaurant, my opinion of the food would have been the same .. there was nothing...