Borrelli's — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I have mixed feelings about this place. My friend and I went there last night before a concert at the Coliseum. Most reviews looked pretty good and it was close so we gave it a shot. First impression was that it was PACKED, but it was around dinner time and a concert that night so I wasn't surprised. We noticed the bar was empty except for one person so we asked the bartender if we could sit there and order food. Talk about RUDE!! He said, the line would go fast and we'd get quicker food service in the dining room. HUH? Your bar is empty pal. What's the problem?? SO I said, it's ok we're not really in a hurry and I'd prefer to sit here. He gave me a dirty look and reached down with an attitude to get us menus. SO of course I said never mind I don't want to sit here. A bartender that has an attitude like that is REALLY bad business. Turned out the wait really was only about 10 minutes to sit in the dining room. I should say that the HOSTESS (which I'm pretty sure was an owner) was GREAT. Very friendly and professional. Ok, on to the food. The lobster bisque was pretty good, no complaints. Their Italian bread was DELICIOUS! Nice and hot and crunchy. Found out they make it there fresh. YUM! After asking the waiter which pizza he recommended (from what I'd read they were well known locally for their pizza) I went with the margherita personal size and my friend had the buffalo chicken personal size. Both we just "OK"...nothing special as I was expecting. Too doughy and the fresh mozz maybe not so fresh. Waiter was super friendly and accommodating even though the place was so crowded and he was running around like crazy. All in all, I'd probably go back here before a concert, but I wouldn't go out of my way for the food...OR the grumpy,...

My fiancé and I were in town from Syracuse for a Lacrosse game at Mitchel field. Borrelli’s was recommended to us by two separate people born and raised in this area and it did not disappoint! We sat right behind the hostess stand so people watching was great. Older couples to families with children to a large birthday party for a millennial passed by. Our server appeared to be related to the hostess and part of the family. Either I forgot her name or we never got it (my fiancé is much better with names and she can’t remember it either so I don’t think we ever got it, which is a bummer because she was great)! We started with the garlic bread with bruschetta..the bread was light and crispy, the bruschetta was super fresh and the balsamic drizzle was amazing. My fiancé had the Borrelli chicken which was super tender and juicy. I had the Atlantic salmon over broccoli, it was cooked differently than I am used to at restaurants back home (a regional thing I’m sure) but I was pleasantly surprised, it had a nice crust on the outside and the center was light and fork tender..perfect. We both had sides of pasta with an excellent marinara sauce. After dinner we had espresso and cappuccino that were both fantastic. For dessert we shared a cannoli that we cannot recommend highly enough, probably the best either of us has ever had! Overall Borrelli’s was exactly the experience we were looking for in a family owned Italian restaurant on Long Island… atmosphere, people and food were all fantastic, we really hope to get back...

Had a great dining experience last night. Visited Borrelli's with my daughter and son. Started with a Tuscan Bistro salad which was fantastic as usual. Ordered a pizza to split which was delicious, the only problem with the pizza is that the large is 16" instead of the usual 18", it tasted great, but left us wanting a bit more! I ordered off the price fix menu and the tilapia was very good. The kids split a Tartufo for dessert and the spoonful that I had was very good. The price was fair for all that we had and the server pleasant and helpful.

EDIT:

We have gone back to Borrelli's more than once since my review. It's one of our go to places for good food and service at very fair pricing.

Last Sunday six of us went for dinner.

Again, we started out with the Tuscan Bistro family sized salad. It never disappoints.

Five out of six of us had great meals. The sixth ordered the scallops and they were soft and tender, but drowned in butter and garlic. That's a shame because the ones that were on my Zuppa de Pesce (in tomato sauce) were fantastic.

We enjoyed the bottles of red and white wine that the server suggested and everyone enjoyed their desserts.

Service was great across the board (waitress, bus boys, etc).

I would have rated our most recent visit as a 9 out of 10. But those scallops didn't ruin the experience enough to rate...