Stella 34 Trattoria — Restaurant in New York

Stella 34 Trattoria, is a truly incredible experience. My family and I were visiting New York for a birthday, and based on a previous recommendation we decided to try this establishment.

We called to make a reservation a few days in advance (we were ecstatic there was an opening since we had a larger party), and upon making said reservation we were given the option to list all allergies in our party. This is extremely important to us as multiple family members have different ailments/allergies that are extremely volatile. To name a few we have a nut allergy, seafood/shellfish allergy, Celiac Disease (wheat allergy), lactose intolerance, and fructose intolerance ( this intolerance covers 50+ ingredients, fruits, sugar alcohols, etc.). We were surprised by the extremely detailed questionnaire we were able to fill out, and above all else we were delighted to see our family member with Celiac Disease could eat without a worry.

We received a call from Stella 34 a day before our specified reservation. The woman who called us wanted to confirm our reservation, and before I could even finish my sentence to clarify the wheat allergy the woman quickly rambled off all the allergies we listed. We were overjoyed to know how seriously these allergies were being taken, and we were informed that the head chef already had our information/allergies ahead of time. This put us at ease immediately.

A day later we arrived to get our table. Promptly when they opened we were immediately taken back, and we were given an incredible rounded booth table that comfortably fit our large party. It had a stunning view too. Later on an incredible Santa arrived to say hi to everyone, and it was a pleasure to take pictures with him. It truly amplified our family members birthday experience. Our waitress was kind, and extremely helpful when it came to explaining the items that were ok on the menu for the members with allergies.

Our food arrived in a timely manner, and it was delicious. The rotisserie chicken was moist, tender, and extremely flavorful. This is the option our family member with Celiac Disease got. She was overjoyed to know she was safe to eat it, and they took the upmost care in making sure all the other ingredients didn’t affect her other allergies. The majority of us got the Chicken Pagnottella with an aioli. The chicken had a crispy crunch, a flavorful breading, and it was extremely tender. The arugula salad was lightly dressed with a lemon vinaigrette, which did not over power the freshness of the arugula. It added a level of freshness to the overall richness the aioli provided to the sandwich. There was a nice balance of acid (lemon) for the aioli in the sandwich. The pairing of the arugula really amplified freshness for the dish. The bread was toasted, and tasted freshly made. The pickled red onions on the sandwich also helped the balance as well. Overall it was perfectly sized for a lunch portion, and extremely satisfying. The majority of our party ordered this sandwich, and there were no complaints.

Towards the end after asking for a check we were surprised with a dark chocolate cake with a perfect ganache, which was paired with a coffee ice cream. This was provided free of charge for our family members birthday. I will mention it was incredible, and I highly recommend their deserts. Furthermore, I want to note for being an extremely nice restaurant (especially in NYC) it’s prices were very fair. It took us all by surprise, and we can not thank the staff at Stella 34 enough for the incredible service!

Moreover, I highly recommend, Stella 34 Trattoria, and it truly made an everlasting impression on us!!! After describing our experience a group of our friends are visiting Stella 34 next week! We will be returning again, and I highly...

This is a Hidden Gem on the sixth floor of Macy's. We attended the Sunday Drag Brunch which was loads of fun but the food and service was a bit of a disappointment. First off let's talk about that burrata waffle. It arrived at the table displayed on the plate, just like in the picture. A huge waffle topped with vin cotto, prosciutto, strawberries and a delicious burrata. The waffle itself was probably an inch thick. It was absolutely ice cold and was so dry you would have thought you were eating styrofoam except the waffle was extremely heavy. Basically the waffle itself was unedible. Ice cold, dry, heavy and tasteless. I ended up just scraping this stuff off top and eating that and letting them take the waffle away when I was done. I've never had a waffle that big and that horrible in my life. The stuff on top was good though. My partner had the chicken Milanese, which was basically nothing more than a thinly pounded and heavily breaded chicken cutlet on a plate with a huge pile of arugula on top. Also quite dry although tender, it needed some kind of sauce or glaze or something to make the plate less dry. Drinks were extremely expensive and very small but that's okay because I sort of expect that in a place like this. However the service was quite unimpressive. The girl that was waiting on us basically just dropped our food and forgot all about us. Anytime we wanted her we had to hunt her down. The most impressive thing was The View. When you dine at Stella 34 trattoria, you are dining on the 6th floor of Macy's with a spectacular View of the city and the Empire State Building. Like all restaurants in New York these days, this one was extremely understaffed and we were forced to wait in line until 2:45 p.m. when the show and our reservation was supposed to start at 2:30 p.m.. we had been told that they would begin seating at 2:15 and I could clearly see that at 2:15 the tables were all set and could not understand why they weren't seating us. When I asked one of the attendants when we would be seated she very rudely remarked that the performers were not ready and we would not be seated until they were ready. Frankly I don't understand what that has to do with seating us and getting our drink orders at least. Nobody really expects the show to start the minute they sit down and most of the time you are seated and have ordered before the show starts anyway. It made no sense and when we were finally seated this show still hadn't started. I don't know what the problem was but I know that the girl that I asked was extremely rude and not welcoming at all. The Drag Brunch show was fun and entertaining. The food was subpar and honestly I've had better food at local diners. I understand the Staffing shortage can cause serious problems in food service but they had a chef and what he was serving was as beautiful as the pictures on the menu but as tasteless as eating a cardboard box. I had originally planned to attend another time to enjoy their dinner menu which is not so limited but after tasting what was available on the brunch menu and being so disappointed I think I'll save my money and take it...

I wish I got to experience what some others claim to have had at this restaurant. What a pile up of bad at Stella 34. I cannot recommend this place, even if it was just an atypical night for service. The food was lackluster and the only appeal is to see the view from above Macy's. Not worth the experience, see below.

I went here with some friends for a 7pm dinner. Though they close at 8, I thought things would be speedy and efficient to get us our food. Alas, it was just a clusterF of bad:

-Took awhile for a waitress to even come to the table. She seemed frazzled and busy and eventually another server came and took our order again. -We said to bring out the food whenever it is ready, no need to course it. The food took forever and we waited over 45 mins for apps, which were messed up. -Cicoria salad was super gloppy, bitter, and had a really weird taste. Sent it back and got a Caesar instead. Where is a simple house salad or something without 12 different ingredients in it?

-First batch of calamari was room temp and the breading was falling off. Second batch was better. Still don't understand how this was messed up.

-The $21 margherita pizza was so bland and flavorless that parm and pepper flakes couldn't save it. The sauce was watery, crust was floppy, and we only ate it because we were starving.

-Paccheri pasta dish had potential but the pasta was overcooked and the ragu was watery. Again, lack luster on seasoning (salt & pepper).

At a certain point, you could tell the staff was just avoiding our table and cared more about cleaning up to go home. They gave us no plates or utensils for dinner so we grabbed off other tables until another staff member brought us some.

We asked for the manager who eventually came over. She listened to the feedback, apologized, but only offered us dessert. She seemed quiet and couldn't really converse about the problems. She ultimately took the apps off the bill but never said anything else. Couldn't tip much because everything was just bad and we had next to no service. Would give 0 stars...