Serafina Fabulous Pizza 79th (UES) — Restaurant in New York

I don't like writing these reviews. I really don't. Even though I have mixed feelings I feel it's necessary. First because of an injured party member I have to mention the hostess or manager was amazing in accommodating us to a booth rather than a table. Genuinely awesome of them. The waiter then served us pretty cold bread(not the worst but odd). We ordered and I asked that I have my salad first, pizza second. Within ten minutes my salad and every ones entree arrived. Anywhere I have worked(15plus years ive been a chef) and eaten , my app would have arrived before and I wouldn't be receiving/finishing my entree after every person had been done with they're meal. My Caesar wAs not seasoned with salt only dressed . My girlfriends mother was served a cold veal scaloppine(considering-the speed at which the entrees were served,we were given a mis-fire that they just refused to throw out). THe veal was eaten because frankly why would we wait to have further issues (they would just re heat it and dry it out) . Then I received my pizza that I ordered (4 stagioni) that was not much better than your average brick oven pizza wIth the toppings cooked separately and just placed on top(artichokes clearly pre bought or jarred)and clearly not even on top of a hot pizza (toppings barely warm ). My girlfriend entrees sides were hot but her tuna barely warm. I then asked the waiter with no disdain why it was I got my salad with everyone's entrees and he seemed to be the only one puzzled suggesting my only other option would to be get all my food at once, I also mentioned the cold food , he responded by saying he asked if he we wanted it to be taken back( not replaced or something different, and a good waiter should have insisted not asked considering the manager/hostess was so accommodating). After plates were cleared he announced he would bring a comp dessert ( again not asking if we cared for it, or if there were dietary issues( my girl has multiple health and actual gluten issues, the mother sugar issues) and when we finally received the bill, there was no considerations left on the bill or discussion of said issues. My final point when we ordered veal we were told they were out. The waiter then said they had it, we ordered without capers, he then brought the dish with capers informing us we can't take them out because they are in the sauce. Clearly it seems again this was a misfired dish they just needed to push because we should or could have been offered sauce on the side or another option. I wouldn't recommend anything except that management address all...

In honesty I feel this ought to be a 3-star review but our server was very friendly and helpful, so I'm rounding up significantly on her account. The food, though, was very disappointing. My date and I had pasta (in my case, touted as their homemade/handmade fettucini) and in both cases it had the consistency of wet tissue, and was very flavorless. Dousing it in parmesan and black pepper--which were promptly and courtesouly offered to us when the food arrived--helped, but once the top layer was eaten we just had a flavorless mass left underneath. Unfortunately there was no salt or pepper on the table, which might have helped a bit. (And though our server really was lovely, I didn't see her pass by after she came to wish us bon appetit for quite some time, by which point I'd given up on the rest of the dish.) Our table of 4 also shared a pizza, and although the staff were again very helpful and gladly did a half/half topping for us, the pizza itself was not something to come back for. Not terrible (but then again I reserve "terrible" for the pizza you get at JFK Terminal 5), just kind of limp and sauce/cheese didn't taste very high quality. My glass of red was the sugariest Pinot Noir I've tasted but my dates's Syrah was good. On the plus side, the atmosphere was lively, lighting was good, space attractive, mood overall was buoyant and bright for a Sunday evening. We were seated near the door which was a little cold with take-out orders coming and going, but it was okay, and fun to see the pizza oven at work at the back. Pricing would have been reasonable had the food quality been higher. (i.e. Pasta entree in the $22-29 range, given the location, I would normally consider good value.) In summary, an easy 5/5 for hospitality, and a thin 3/5 for the food. I'd stay away from the pasta at this place (or if you must, get a short robust pasta like penne or ziti, unless you like a mashed-potato consistency to your noodle). Opt for an unmemorable but acceptable pizza instead, or maybe try a...

Walking into this restaurant with my boy, I felt like this place was going to have decent pizza. It seemed cozy and it was crowded. The average customer was of retirement age the time I was in. Makes sense for the upper east side, but I should have clicked in my mind that this restaurant would appeal to boomers and in my experience boomers love restaurants that young people do not care for. Anyway, the waitress was very kind and we got our orders quickly. Another red flag looking back. I ordered a Margherita pizza and it looked like a regular cheese pizza. Worse yet, the diameter was small, meaning it was plausible that it came from a box. 10-15 minutes and this small pizza was ready. Do you see where I'm going with this? Me and my boy love going to restaurants and having a new pizza every time. We try to pick places that look good; we do not go for dollar slices. To my dismay, this pizza tasted exactly like a dollar slice. The most flavorful part of it were the olives (who puts whole olives on a Margherita pizza?? There weren't even enough whole olives for each slice. And why were the olives all in the center?). The sauce tasted literally like nothing. The cheese's flavor was essence of cheese. I am convinced that this pizza came from the freezer isle of the supermarket. It was a 1/10 by my rating. I know there is no such thing as a dollar slice in New York anymore, but if you calculate the surface area of this and multiply it by the cost of a today's dollar slice, this pizza should have been $5.00 and come with a free soda. Instead, we were robbed of $24 plus tip. I've had more fabulous pizzas when I was standing on the lunch line in elementary school. While I was not disgusted, I was severely disappointed. This was worse than the pizza I had that one time in Little Italy, and that is saying something. Why do boomers love...