SCALINO GP — Restaurant in New York

The owner was incredibly rude!!! My husband and I walked in and asked for a table; we did not have a reservation. The place was pretty busy but there were two or three empty tables. We were told they had to hold them for larger parties (two tables were small fourtops). No problem. The owner said you can sit at the bar, we said sure, thanks. There was a large table opposite the bar with families. They left shortly after we sat and the owner said we could have a table once they cleaned up that area. There were two fourtops and a deuce, the deuce farther from the center of the restaurant (and ambiance) and nearer to the kitchen and just down a hall, the bathroom. We were directed to the deuce. In the meantime other tables in the main part of the dining room opened up. I said to my husband, in French, I hear the dryer from the bathroom. The bartender apparently understood as he asked if we wanted to move to one of the other tables - we said yes thank you, and he started to separate two tables. The owner came over and LOST it!! In response, we said, politely, we prefer to be closer to the action and not near the bathroom. He said: You're lucky to have a table! In Paris you eat in this much space, indicating a tight space. I said, Yes when there are no other options... and then he went on about his bathroom being the cleanest in Brooklyn. My husband was about to sit down where the bartender had made room, and I said no, I don't want to frequent a restaurant where I'm being YELLED at... and, bizarrely. the owner kept at it. He was saying how the restaurant was going to fill up in no time. No sense of service, or civility for that matter. It made no sense. We eat out often and have NEVER experienced someone so unhinged... completely irrational; we were perfectly normal, polite, happy to sit at the bar (not relegated to the last table as if being punished). I thanked the bartender for trying to accommodate us. We've eaten there a few other times and the food was decent, but I will NEVER go back, and I will be sure to let everyone in the neighborhood know. And they said the French are rude. Also, Italian restaurant but nobody who works there is Italian....

We recently had the opportunity to reunite with family and friends whom we hadn’t seen in a while. Initially, we had reservations at another location, but we decided to move our party of 10 adults 2 toddlers to Scalinos, knowing it would provide a delightful experience with delicious food.

While we were enjoying our time catching up, our two toddlers, who are cousins, were being their playful selves. They found joy in playing with the laminated menus, enjoying their time together as only little ones can. Unfortunately, the owner of the restaurant, who had initially been friendly, abruptly snatched the menus from their hands and scolded us— they weren’t being bad, just being kid sitting and laughing playing with the menus. This unexpected behavior deeply affected our evening and left us feeling unwelcome.

At this point, our big party, felt trapped, as we had already settled in. Despite our disappointment, we chose to stay, hoping to salvage the evening.

On a positive note, our female server was wonderful. She understood the challenges of dining with children and provided excellent service, which we appreciated.

It’s disheartening to share this experience, especially since Scalinos was once a place we loved. The owner’s actions left us shocked and saddened, and I hope he reflects on how his behavior impacts families looking for a warm and enjoyable dining experience. After all, I’m sure their cheap menus are nothing compared to the $600 check we paid, which sadly supports an owner that doesn't value...

It pains me to leave this review because the food was absolutely stellar, but our server absolutely ruined our experience. Our night started with our server berating a bartender and demanding she give me her glasses despite both of our very obvious discomfort and refusal. Throughout the night he continued to very loudly berate us calling my partner a “little girl,” “bambino” and other various inappropriate remarks. Even involving other tables in the restaurant and buddies he had at the bar with remarks like “look at this guy he eats like a little girl” etc making my partner extremely uncomfortable and offended- not to mention the other tables. I then ordered a top shelf amaro which he refused to serve to us until we had finished our food. Fully refused. I have never experienced such inappropriate and intrusive behavior from a server, it felt like we were on an episode of Bar Rescue or Kitchen Nightmares. These amongst other remarks and loud exclamations from our very hot and cold server left us with such mixed feelings as, had the service been better, I would have left a 5 star raving review. We will not be returning on any nights...