Sereneco — Restaurant in New York

Came alone, as is usual when I dine out. Service was great, I had a young girl server and she was very charming. I had been wanting to try the butternut squash soup for a while, so I knew I was going to order that, but for my main I was torn between the burger and the tagliatelle, which features short rib ragu and ricotta. Everyone in the reviews seemed to love the burger, and I was starving, so I didn’t want to be disappointed, as I usually am when trying new things haha.

Funny thing is the girl at the table next to mine was torn between the exact same options! I overheard the boy server recommend to her the burger rather than the pasta, and that solidified my decision to choose the burger. However, when I asked my server, she strongly recommended the pasta. Am I’m so happy that I did. The girl at the other table got her food before me, and she immediately told her date how disappointed she was with it. When I got my pasta, the first bite was shocking.

The pasta was adorned in ricotta, and when mixed, created the exact creamy consistency I was hoping for. However, I was unprepared for the level of complexity and deep flavor that seemingly simple sauce contained. Cinnamon, red wine, caramelized onion… It tasted like a multi-hour slow roasted beef Bourgogne, which is just astonishingly impressive to achieve. Paired with the ricotta, it was bliss. The flavor did give me some fatigue, however. It definitely needs some bread to cut through the intensity and give the palate a slight break, but the bread was a bit charred and I didn’t butter it, so it wasn’t as complimentary as it should have been. Avec the right bread, this pasta would be elite. Highly recommend.

The butternut squash soup came before the pasta, and it was just what I needed :) comforting with crunchy toppings, and notably they included a crispy cauliflower on top, which was bursting with flavor and was my favorite part of the soup!

The drink I had, which was the Sereneco Derby if I remember, was just what I needed. Cute, served up, complex and not too sweet.

I will definitely...

UHG! I don't like giving a less than wonderful review. If you look at my reviews, you'll see they are mostly very positive. LOVED: Nice atmosphere. Simple and clean. Spotless. It's just got a warm but simple feel to it. Rebecca (I think I've got it right), the hosts was awesome - bubbly, friendly, accommodating, and fully present. LIKED: The menu looked yummy. My two companions really liked their food. They had a wrap and a sandwich. My sugar snap peas were super fresh and yummy! MEH: The black lentils in my dish were super plain. My dish normality comes with hummus, which I didn't have. I'm sure that would have helped zhuzh it up. Also, it was great that they gave us the wrong menu, took a long time to take our order, and then when we asked them to take the order it turned out we had the wrong menu and so had to figure out something new. Super minor detail... normally, I wouldn't even mention it. But when you have food restrictions like I do, it's necessary to read the menu before choosing your restaurant so that you know they will have food you can eat without being a pest and adding for changes. NO THANK YOU!: My chicken was almost inedible. It was tough, dry, and so, so salty. And I love salt. I put extra salt on everything! So, for me to say it was too salty is saying something. Really... it was pretty bad. The whole dish could have really benefitted from some olive oil. I must emphasize-I had them omit an ingredient - so my dish was not served as normal. But that doesn't explain the chicken.

It can be really tough eating out when you have food restrictions due to health. I love food. I don't want to miss out. I know it's a pain when I ask for changes. And I really really appreciate those restaurants who take the extra care with...

I have lived in NYC for 25 years and this was the single worst service experience I have ever had (August 23rd check #150 if the owner wants to reach out to me). I plan on posting this on all social media in a few days to make people aware. We had a 6pm reservation but were slightly early. The place was empty. The waiter finally came to our table for drinks, my drink (a lemonade) came 10 minutes after my husbands Aperole Spritz. Eventually he took our order, did not make any eye contact, made me repeat my order 3 times, and he mumbled. The food took 30 minutes to arrive and the waiter said the kitchen was backed up. The plave was 25% full. My second drink took 20 minutes (he took it off the bill without me asking as the waiter knew this was just getting stupid at this point). The worst was when I asked for a coffee and only if its fresh, instead of the waiter telling me they will of course make a frrsh pot, he said the coffee woile likely be terrible and sitting all day. Finally the waiter abandoned us and I had to get another waiter to pay the bill. When we left I asked the lady working the front to speak to the manager. She said the manager didnt come in today. I said..."clearly".

In all frankness, they have a good menu, and the food is excellent. However you could tell no employee there took pride in their job or was interested in making eye contact with any customer or covering for gaps in service. I will post an update if they...