Buttero — Restaurant in Town of East Hampton

We had very high expectations for DOPO, but unfortunately were utterly disappointed.

The ambiance was ok, aside from the loud and out-of-place house music playing. The songs gave me the feeling someone had picked a pop playlist and let it run. The volume was also much too loud for an already loud restaurant.

But the first real problem came with our starters. We placed an order for their bread to share with our table. Described as "rosemary, olive oil, sea salt, flatbread" and priced at $18, we expected some top-notch stuff. What we received was the equivalent of a large, circular Stacy's pita chip drenched in olive oil and sprinkled with seasoning. Not bad, but not good quality. It was too bad we had already placed our order and couldn't cut our loses then.

The second major problem came from the time. We waited easily an hour for our food after ordering. To be fair, it's a busy Saturday night. But at a nice establishment, I would've expected the hour wait to come with either comped drinks or a comped appetizer.

All these problems, however, would have been fine if the food we ended up getting was superb. Food is and always will be king for me -- I'll suffer poor service and mediocre ambiance if the food is mind-blowingly good. The food here was mind-blowing, but only in that we couldn't believe they would try to pass it off as fine dining. We ordered four of their pastas: the eggplant penne, the calamari tagliolini, the lobster ravioli, and the clam linguine.

Of the four, only the tagliolini was up to par. It was delicious and savory, and the spicy tomato sauce added a nice kick to the scallops and calamari.

The eggplant penne was embarrassingly simple. Given the fact that it was one of two vegetarian options (the other being plain spaghetti), it was disappointing how banal this dish was. It was not good, and not worth the price.

The ravioli was decent, for a mouse. We were served six small raviolis, which, while tasty, contained bits of lobster shell.

The clam linguine was the biggest failure of all. The last dish to arrive at our table, the plate was less of a clam dish and more of a clam shell dish. It contained easily two-dozen clam shells, and a grand total of 4 pearl-sized clams. Yes, we checked the bottom of the dish to see if they'd fallen out. It looked as though the kitchen had run out of clams, and in a last-ditch attempt to save face, garnished our plate with empty shells. When we brought this to the hostess' attention, she was willing to comp this dish. But to be honest I'm appalled they served it at all.

SUMMARY: For a restaurant with so much promise, it's a shame that it couldn't live up. If you are seeking quality Italian food, all you will find at DOPO is over-priced dishes you would be better served cooking yourself.

1/5, would...

review for the Wayan & Ma•dé Out East pop-up at Dopo Buttero

TLDR: Not safe for people with food allergies

I have a serious allergy to avocados, which I communicated to the restaurant when making a reservation, to multiple staff when at the restaurant, and when ordering. They confirmed they could accommodate my food allergy. We ordered the tuna tartare, which does not have avocado listed on the menu. When it arrived, I thought the dish looked like it had avocado in it. I asked them if it was avocado, and they told me no, it was “sambal hijau” (which is what’s listed on the menu). Minutes later, they ran out and told me it actually was avocado – after I’d already eaten it. (By the way, sambal hijau is not traditionally made with avocado, so there’s no way I would have known it was an ingredient in the dish.) This was a completely preventable mistake that could have sent me to the hospital. While our meal was comped and the manager apologized and took responsibility for what happened, it is appalling that a restaurant run by the son of Jean Georges does not have better kitchen protocols, staff training, and team...

The first thing that put us off was the music— loud club-y type music blaring. The second was the drinks, I ordered a “cucumber Collins” that was so lemony I couldn’t drink it (and I’m someone who loves sour and puts lemon in my water daily, etc- I’ve never before been served a drink that I didn’t drink because it was too sour). Then the appetizers took 45 minutes to arrive. To their credit, the waiter apologized and brought us another round of drinks on the house! If only I’d liked the cocktail. The portions are small. The main course took its time getting to us as well. The food was fine. It wasn’t bad, I liked it, but I wasn’t struck with how special it was especially given how many amazing Italian places there are in New York. Normally, I give places a second chance before writing a negative review. But with a place this expensive I’m not to keen to shell out several hundred dollars for a second try. Plus, with so many amazing places to eat out here,...