Pazza Notte — Restaurant in New York

I rarely write reviews, but after my experience at Pazza Notte, I feel the need to share my disappointment. My family and I, a party of 8 adults, a 5-year-old boy, and 2 babies, had an unfortunate encounter with the restaurant's management.

We arrived and were told there would be a 40-minute wait, which was manageable. When we were seated, the restaurant split us into two tables, which we didn’t mind. However, my baby girl was asleep in her stroller, and I politely asked the waiter if I could leave it next to our table since it wasn’t bothering anyone. The waiter agreed, and everything seemed fine.

Then, the floor manager (if he was indeed the manager) came over and rudely demanded that we fold the stroller, despite it not being in anyone’s way. I tried to explain that the stroller was not causing any disturbance and that my baby was sleeping, but the manager insisted, even though the waiter had already given us approval. His attitude was not only rude but condescending, and it made the situation unnecessarily stressful.

Despite the fact that the stroller was not bothering anyone, the manager came back multiple times, repeatedly insisting that we remove the stroller. I understand that every business has rules, but this situation called for a little humanity and flexibility. It wasn’t about the stroller; it was the way the manager treated us. The entire exchange went on for over 20 minutes, and our food sat untouched as it got cold.

Eventually, we decided to leave the restaurant. The food was cold and uneaten, and we did not want to continue dealing with the manager’s rude behavior. I could have left without paying, as we didn’t eat the food, but I didn’t want to punish the staff who had been more reasonable. Unfortunately, I will never return to Pazza Notte, and I highly recommend the management reconsider the attitude of their floor manager if they want to keep...

My first comment is the real positive one for this restaurant…. The food is incredible! Flavours and authenticity are to die for - the food does outweigh the negatives which can easily be resolved with a bit of an attitude change from the majority of staff… that comes from top down.

When you arrive at this non-bookable restaurant they will greet you and let you know predicted table wait times. They’ll offer you the option to either sit at the bar or return - on our two visits we opted to sit at the bar which is a pleasant experience but be warned the waiting time was double what was indicated when we first arrived. It was also surprising to be “told” to settle the bar bill before moving to the table after a significantly longer period than suggested when we arrived.

After being asked to settle the bar bill (which we did within a couple of minutes) we were told our table was ready… then asked again by front of house whether we’d paid the bar bill… we confirmed we had done so…. Before ushering us to our table the front of house member of staff shouted across to the barman checking we had paid the bill as per our confirmation.

At the point above if I hadn’t been with my wife and children I would have left. Terrible service and rude beyond belief.

Added to the poor experience above the temperature is Baltic due to either the doors being wide open or the air-con on full blast (fake flowers were blown over on our second visit). When we asked if the doors could be closed we received a facial expression that a 3 year old would be proud of.

This is a restaurant with all the potential but lacking management who care.

One to avoid unless there’s nothing...

Five of us dropped in just to get an authentic NY brick oven pizza. We weren't really hungry and justed wanted to share one. Were told, oh, no--you can't share a pizza unless you also order an appetizer or entre. What kind of a stupid policy is that? Maybe a NY City standard, but a dumb one at that. We were talked into ordering 2 pizzas, 3 Caesar salads (that we were told were appetizer size) and a mushroom soup. Even had to pay $3 more just to get some mushrooms on one of the pizzas. Our only drinks were water, tea and a coke. Our total bill was $140. Are you kidding me? You could get all of this anywhere outside of NYC for less than $75. Pizza was very good, but more than we needed or wanted. Mushroom soup was watery and not very good. Salads were excellent, but much larger than we wanted. We were traveling and really didn't want any leftovers. Waiter (Angel) was told when we ordered that we we had had a long day and were in a hurry. Pizzas were delivered promptly then....no follow up service. Had to hunt the server down to get a refill on my tea, which took 10 to 15 minutes to get delivered. Then had to wait at least another 30 minutes to get the bill. Overall I would say the food was OK but the service was poor. Without going into detail, Angel got testy when he announced how much the total bill was and expected me to enter a custom tip amount on his electronic pay pad. I started to explain why he didn't deserve a standard tip and he literally threw the receipt on the table and left in a huff. Cannot recommend this place for the exorbitant prices they charge combined with the sub-par service with...