Nocello — Restaurant in New York

My partner and I enjoyed this restaurant for Valentine’s Day when they opened up at 25% capacity in NYC and let me tell you it was a spectacular experience. First of all, in the COVID environment, safety is always an upmost concern. Nocello staff did a great job spacing out the tables and with the segmented structure of the dining area you really felt as if you were by yourself. All of the staff wore masks and they followed the temperature checking protocol etc. then the atmosphere for Valentine’s Day was incredible. I had read this was an extremely romantic restaurant to dine at and it did not disappoint. From the lights being a different color to the decorations and a special menu every detail was there to really make the experience special.

Onto the food. They start you off with some bread, olives, and olive oil on the table. It was warm, tasty, and a great start to the meal. Then they had some great variety on appetizers we ended up going with the mussels in white wine, which was delicious. As you should we moped up the sauce with the leftover bread. The gnocchi appetizer was surprisingly light as well for restaurant made ones. I grew up making these and honestly would order them again from Nocello, which I don’t say often. I went with the parmesan crusted lamb chops for my entree, the flavor was savory yet light and had everything I could have wanted from the dish although a bit light portion wise. On the contrary my partner’s dish of the Pollo Romántico (Valentine’s special) was a larger portion so balanced out nicely. The chicken was juicy and flavorful well worth ordering even though I generally stay away from Chicken in restaurants due to its simplicity. The dessert was a homemade ganache heart that was adorable and a very nice touch for the holiday. Lastly, as any good Italian place should they had a great espresso and cappuccino to accompany the dessert too.

Drinks wise they have an array of cocktails and an extensive wine list. We went with a Montepulciano Reserve that was delicious and didn’t break the bank. Lots of reasonably priced bottles so would recommend...

If I could give 0 stars I would. I have never been treated so poorly and have never been so embarrassed when for a dinner party I planned in my life. Our industry trade show was this past weekend and my manager asked me to plan our team dinner for Thursday evening. There were 13 of us and it happened to be my manager's 50th birthday so we decided we would celebrate her that evening as well. I chose Nocello because it was a 2 minute walk from our hotel and had great reviews. I emailed the restaurant to make our reservation & inquired about a cake. Constantino emailed me back, suggested either a chocolate cake or pistachio cake. I chose the pistachio, requested a separate check so my coworkers and I could split the cost of the cake. Four of us, including my manager arrived 10 minutes early and were treated quite poorly by a woman (possibly owner?) She seemed very annoyed we were early and rudely asked us to come back @ 7:30. We returned at 7:28, she still had an attitude and asked us to sit at table in front window. The rest of our party arrived and they finally seated us. It didn't get any better from here; service was very slow getting drinks out, I was told by (possibly the owner, Constantino?) that they didn't have a pistachio cake for me - it comes from Italy???????? They only had 1 piece for my manager if I wanted. One of the servers spilt the white wine sauce from my plate while serving my dinner down my left side on a brand new outfit and barely apologized!!! They put the birthday candles in a beautiful fruit tart to sing happy birthday to my manager but did not serve the tart to us. They gave my manager a piece of pistachio cake and took dessert orders from everyone else. Absolutely horrible...

Discrimination! I regret to say that my first visit to Nocello restaurant, my first day in New York, was marred by an incident that left me feeling unwelcome and disappointed in this city.

From the moment my friend and I started speaking Ukrainian, we were met with blatant discrimination. The staff refused to serve us and even went as far as asking us to leave. This discriminatory behavior was not only disheartening but also completely unacceptable.

The waiter assigned to our table displayed a shocking level of rudeness and impoliteness. It was perplexing to witness such behavior from someone in the service industry. Not only did he refuse to serve us, but he also had an impudent smirk when we simply asked about the soup of the day. This kind of disrespectful attitude only served to further exacerbate our negative experience.

The overall atmosphere created by the staff made us feel unwelcome, not just in the restaurant but also in the city and country as a whole. It is disheartening to encounter such behavior, especially when we were looking forward to enjoying a pleasant meal.

Needless to say, the management of this restaurant left much to be desired. Their failure to address and rectify the discriminatory actions of their staff is deeply concerning. It reflects poorly on their commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment.

I cannot recommend to others. It is my hope that the management takes immediate action to address these issues and ensures that such incidents do not occur in the future. Discrimination has no place in any establishment, and it is crucial for businesses to foster an environment of respect and...