Piccolo Bistro — Restaurant in Ridgewood

I chose this restaurant to celebrate my mom's birthday because it had a lot of 5 star reviews and the plate photos looked great. It was such a disappointing experience.

The restaurant is extremely small and we were packed into our table like sardines. It was a bit uncomfortable and every time the guy behind me moved, it felt like a kid kicking the back of my seat. Our table was also close to the front door, so every time someone arrived or left, we were hit with a burst of cold air. The table in front of us (closest to the front door) tried to move but no other tables were available, so the owner brought out a heater for them. So everyone at the heater end of our table was sweating and everyone at the door end of our table was freezing. It was so hot and stuffy at the heater end, between the heater and the body heat of the tables being so packed together, that my brother had to step out to get fresh air several times during our dinner.

The restaurant seemed short staffed, as it took quite a while to get our drink order and to wait for our waitress to come back for our appetizer order. She was very nice and accommodating, but it seemed like she was working almost every table. One of their policies, which doesn't make a lot of sense to us, is that they will not take your appetizer order separate from your main course order. You have to be ready with both orders at the same time. We had several theories as to why this might be - one was to perfect the timing of the food but when we realized our main course had been seemingly sitting a while, waiting for us to finish our appetizers, we see it as more timing for the kitchen rather than for the customers.

The other theory, now that we have eaten here, is that if anyone has the appetizers first, they would skip ordering the main course.

We ordered frito misto, arancini de mare, and mozarella stuffed mushrooms for appetizers - it all tasted the same. Very bland, like something was missing from each recipe. We were a bit regretful that we chose this restaurant at that point, however our main course orders were already in. When the main course came, two out of the five orders were tastety. Thankfully, my mom's was one of them, since this was her birthday celebration and she ordered the $50 steak and jumbo shrimp combo (which did not include jumbo shrimp - just two regular sized shrimp, that looked quite whimpy). The roasted potatoes and Parmesan truffle fries were very dry. The salmon was tastey. And that was about it. Everyone else dumped salt on their food.

My sister's order was incorrect and had to be sent back twice, so she actually wound up not eating. The owner was very apologetic and took the order off our bill, and then offered us free dessert. We definitely appreciated the offer, but we were very disappointed with the taste of our food, especially for the price, so we declined. We wound up going to another restaurant across the street to get my sister dinner and have dessert for my mom's birthday.

After re-reviewing the reviews that made me choose this restaurant to begin with, it seems like a lot of the professional-looking photos were from 7 years ago and do not accurately represent the food today. Many people gave this restaurant 5 stars for food, and I can't understand how. If a simple ravioli dish tastes that bland, maybe those people have never had good Italian? I had high hopes for this restaurant but it, unfortunately, did not live up to it's review rating at all.

TLDR: Atmosphere was terrible, food was very bland. Owner and waitress were attentive and personable. I definitely regret spending almost $300 on food here that no...

An old-fashioned Italian gem hidden in downtown Ridgewood that begs your visit. It might have become my favorite Italian spot for now. I had the pleasure of dining here on rainy evening at the end of September with my family and we all left happy. I. ATMOSPHERE (4/5) - Old-world charm & Cozy, definitely going to rub some elbows if group-dining. They have decent-sized outdoor seating in the front that would be lovely during the warm weather. It was Saturday evening and the place was packed despite the drizzly weather outside. We had to wait a bit watching diners enjoying themselves for like 5 minutes, then was led to sit at the only available table for us (party of 5) at the back.

II. FOOD (5/5) - We ordered family style which is, in my opinion how to dine in Italian trattorias, and here's how it went down. Bread & Pesto Olive oil dip (FREE, 5/5) - You're served a basket of warm rolls with this herbaceous oil dip. Once you start, you can't stop. Barbabietola ($15, SALAD, 5/5) - This is what you want to pair w/ heavy main fare. Just order it unless you can't stomach goat cheese. Generous sized bed of spinach and juicy sliced beets matched by ferocious clumps of goat cheese, topped with nice sized pear slices & balsamic drizzle. This and the bread would be much more refined version of Olive Garden's Bread & Salad combo. Rigatoni Bolognese ($27, ENTREE, 4/5) - Do you need your basic tomato & beef pasta fix? This is it - Simple, delicious full-bodied tomato sauce & meaty flavor, you can't lose. Seafood Linguine ($39, ENTREE, 5/5) - Large party sharing food? Get this. A bit pricey, but they give you a lot of shellfish - every one good (only had 1 stank mussel). The sauce is very well-balanced between the hearty tomato & seafood flavors, and not watery without being too dense. They even give you baguette slices to mop up that delectable sauce with! Chicken Marsala ($27, ENTREE, 5/5) - A classic well done. Chicken was super moist and well-seasoned, and the sauce w/ the fun juicy mushrooms just made me keep going back for more Chicken Francese ($25, ENTREE, 3/5) - This was the only slightly disappointing one because chicken was tad bit dry though not bad by any means. Other dishes were just much better. Homemade Chocolate Mosiac Cake Served with Vanilla Ice Cream ($11, DESSERT, 4/5) - They give you like 4 large scoops of ice cream, and the cake was tasty & FUN to eat with variety of nuts on firm yet chewy browny-esq cake. Homemade Tiramisu ($11, DESSERT, 3/5) - Done right! Amazing with a cup of cappuccino. Was kept frozen so the cake layer needed a bit of thawing w/ that cappuccino mouth if you get my drift. III. SERVICE (5/5) - Waitress that tended our table was super patient in explaining the menu to ravenously hungry yet inquisitive group of five. At one point, one of us even asked about where the painting on the wall is from and she just shrugged, "I dunno" - the right answer. She accommodated all our dipping oil & bread refill request and take out requests efficiently and politely. Definitely made our experience pleasant, thank you. (Kelly? alas, forgot her name - tall lady w/ long black hair). An added bonus - Owners are locals who believe in what they're putting out and seem to have many return patrons.

I'll definitely be visiting...

Piccolo is a mediocre Italian restaurant that masquerades as a 5 star dining experience.

When I order a pasta entree over $20 I except an above average dish. When my homemade parpadelle with lamb ragu arrived my first impression was that it seemed like a small portion. Unfortunately, the size of my plate was not the worst part of my meal. The ragu was undercooked, leaving evey bite with a canned tomato taste. To make matters worse, I'm not convinced the meat in my sauce was even lamb. I think they served me beef instead. Someone else at my table also had the same dish and thought there was something off with the ragu.

We ate with a large group and most of us had a sub par main course. From overcooked burgers to unseasoned baked potatoes and everything in between, no one was served a satisfactory meal.

Best part of my dinner was the bread and pesto dipping sauce.

The only reason I'm giving this place two stars is because the staff was great. Very helpful and polite waiters and bussers work here. The staff is probably the only reason why this restaurant stays in businesses

I do not recommend Piccolo unless your willing to drop 40 bucks a person (without alcohol) for...