La Finestra Ristorante — Restaurant in Sea Isle City

In our quest for fine dining experiences, we went to La Finestra (Sea Isle) last night. We had difficulties getting a reservation even a week out, so book early. My recommendation is to try to get a 4:30/5P reservation (for 2). La Finestra translates to 'The Window', and it is one of the reasons to come here. There are three deuce tables on the 1st level fronting the window, offering a grand view of the beach. The other reasons to come here are for the food and the service.

Our appetizers were fantastic: asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and the calamari. The asparagus was perfectly cooked, al dente, and generously wrapped in prosciutto in a nice white wine sauce. The calamari was done old school; simply dredged in seasoned flour and fried to perfection. A previous reviewer dinged the calamari as being pale, but perhaps they were expecting the heavily breaded version that many restaurants lean on. My only complaint was that there were no tentacles included. I also wish that a side of marinara would have accompanied it. Otherwise, a 'chef's kiss', two thumbs up. The entrees were no less spectacular: A special of PEI mussels, scallops, and shrimp over hand-made cavatelli in a marvelous white wine cream sauce and a Bronzini fillet (would have loved it whole) with shrimp, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. Both were outstanding. The filet lost any crispy skin as it was covered with the tomatoes, etc.

There were a few deficits though. The bread seemed like an afterthought as it was dry and uninspired. My steamed veggies needed a bit more cooking as the were not even close to being chewable. I was limited to the very tips of my broccoli and asparagus. I couldn't even cut the carrots.

Dessert was a commercially baked key lime pie with a berry coulis.

Service was excellent (Thanks Norah), but the staff's pacing was a bit rushed as our entrees appeared as soon as the appetizers were cleared. But the staff was very attentive throughout.

All-in-all a very enjoyable a meal and truly worthy of a...

Dining last weekend at La Finestra, the experience was as stellar this time around as it was my first two visits to this exceptional Italian restaurant, located in the very heart of Sea Isle City. The hecticness of it being a busy Saturday night didn't deter the kitchen from producing outstanding dish after dish: Roasted Long Hots stuffed with ricotta and wrapped in bacon were a delicious confluence of heat and salt tempered by the creamy cheese filling. My wife's veal piccata was the perfect rendition of the dish, and my halibut steaks (2) grilled to perfection, served atop toothsome risotto and asparagus with tender crab meat in a saffron cream sauce was truly a memorable repast. We loved being served complimentary chilled limoncello with the Irish Cream gelato affogato enjoyed at dessert.

Our table could not have been attended to any better - Katie and Enzo are the perfect team. Both offered appreciated suggestions. Too, the other peripheral staffers always kept plates cleared and waters filled.

As stated, it was very busy, so the 20-minute wait was expected at prime time on a Saturday night. The gentleman host was understandably hard pressed as he kept taking guests up to their tables and then rushing back down to retrieve the next round of guests. Unfortunately, he wasn't attempting to conceal those challenging efforts - his was the only frowny face in an otherwise hospitable haven. No matter. The rest of the visit, from start to finish, was otherwise outstanding. We love La Finestra. Kudos to the team there.

FYI's - Call well in advance to (try and) request a window table. Remember, in warmer months the street parking is...

We have been to the restaurant many times and looked forward to another good dining experience. First, the gentleman where you check in seemed very irritated with us for no reason. He asked my sister four times what her name was and each time she repeated it. We were seated 25 minutes late. The third floor does have some round tables, but it’s extremely loud. We were told that service team of two would be helping us, but we constantly had to flag down servers to help us. Frankly, it was very chaotic. We finally were able to give our orders 45 minutes after our intended reservation time. When they delivered food instead of walking around the round table and placing dishes in front of the appropriate patrons , they reached across the table, handing it to the guest instead of simply placing the dishes in front of the guest while calling out who ordered the fish, who ordered the chicken. OUCH!

On the other hand, food was excellent. We loved the artichoke appetizer, octopus appetizer, which had very very few pieces of octopus, but to die for sauce and mussels yummy and with a slightly too salty, but very tasteful sauce. Entrées were uniformly good including the Pollo Finestra which I loved, veal Piccata, and a mixed seafood pasta dish, which was great

They may wish to think about their service algorithm, which was pretty poor throughout. One easy to please person in our group looked around and said it really felt quite chaotic But because it was so loud, we had difficulty even hearing what they had to say . On the other hand, food was delicious and certainly among the best Italian choices at the...