Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici — Restaurant in Town of Hyde Park

My friends and I went on Saturday for their pasta sampler manu. We didn't have reservation but the host did an effort to squeeze us in and told us that we'll need to leave in about 2 hours because this table is reserved for later. We agreed and thought that 2 hours is more than enough. The startes were amazing - especially the burrata. Then, we waited like an hour for the entrees and even told our waiter that the host told us that we must leave before a specific hour, but it didn't help and we kept waiting. When the pastas finally arrived, there were nothing special and everything tasted like a regular pasta that anyone can make at home. The big surprise was when we got the Risotto - it was sooo undercooked and tasted very bad - everybody agreed it was the worst Risotto we ever ate. No one like a chef or supervisor tasted it before taking it out to the tables?! As a culinary institute and something that suppose to be a chef restaurant - this is totally unacceptable! When we told our waiter about it he was just sorry and didn't suggest a replacement. After that we requested more Ravioli (it's "all you can eat" and we ate only once and very small portions) and the waiter came back after a few minutes saying we couldn't have more food because we soon need to leave the table. This is so rude! What kind of a chef restaurant does such things?! If they were serving us the entrees on time we could leave on time but they didn't - we got the dishes 20 minutes before we needed to leave... I gave 3 stars because the place looks amazing, the service was excellent (the issues with our waiter came from his managers, thus I don't think it's his fault) and the starters were good. My friends disagree with me and think it should be 1-2 stars. Anyway, no matter how you're looking at it - on that day it wasn't a chef restaurant that suppose to represent...

“Simply and Substantially Dreadful. Embarrassing Food, Awful Service.”

I selected Caterina de Medici to celebrate the birthday of my partner. We had been to the Culinary before, and had a wonderful meal at American Bounty. Since we both appreciate Italian cuisine, I thought this would be a great place to visit. I was sooooo wrong. World renown? Surely you jest.

It is like Olive Garden without the bread sticks. The food was literally of food court quality, thoughtlessly prepared and presented. Upon arrival, we were told the menu was limited to just the items for pasta night, with no real options. Menus were folded paper a la fast food Italian places. The environment itself was quite disappointing; beginning with a tacky display of retail items in the foyer. Inappropriate music was playing (Muzak), punctuated by a noisy kitchen.

The wait service exceeded the food in terms of poor preparation. Servers appeared confused, inexperienced, and poorly trained even for a budget mom and pop restaurant. As a teaching institution, this was really embarrassing. We were rushed throughout dinner by multiple servers who while charming were clearly not being appropriately trained/mentored.

The final insult was really awful cappuccino, and a bill north of $160.00 for two. Simply dreadful. I cannot recommend more strongly that you go elsewhere. CIA clearly has jumped the shark in terms of quality. Someone is asleep at the wheel.

If CIA would like the gory details, I would be happy to provide them. I...

Enthusiastic staff, disappointing menu. I haven't been to the CIA for quite some time and then always chose the French restaurant, The Escoffier Room at the time. For a change and a Birthday celebration we tried the Italian. I was anticipating a higher caliber of menu items. The roasted beet salad appetizer was delicious but fairly common. The Kale Salad was prepared chiffonade which created a seaweed appearance and a drier texture. Taste was good but nothing special. The first course Tri-starch selection featured Al dente risotto, rigatoni and agnolotti. The asparagus risotto had no real flavor and lacked the creaminess that is intrinsic to the dish. The meat filling of the agnolotti was dry and oddly seasoned with no sauce to complement it. The Rigatoni had small cubes of Guanciale tossed in but neither the meat or sauce stood out. A "pan fried" pork cutlet Milanese seemed to have been deep fried but was tender. The accompanying sauce was flat but necessary. The fish of the day, King Sole I believe, was the highlight prepared with almonds and was the freshest of our selections. The Salmon was so so, a little dry, a little dull. We all traveled about an hour to lunch here and I can think of several restaurants that would have been closer and better. It it an experience? Yes. Is it worth the trip and rigamarole to reserve way in advance and park in a college campus following signs to "restaurants" to find that Caterina de Medici is not among...