Pulcinella on the Green — Restaurant in Town of Riverhead

Four of us dined at Pulcinella on the Green in Wading River on a Saturday evening. We were greeted by a friendly host and seated in a dining area warmly lit with stunning hanging lights.

SPECIALITY COCKTAILS I ordered a pineapple concoction specialty drink which was overwhelmed by the pineapple juice. My husband ordered a something that had a splash of red wine which distorted the other flavors. Not a fan. The specialty drinks were served in smallish martini glasses and looked pretty, but were nothing special. Order a glass of wine or a real cocktail instead. The BREAD BASKET was put on the table quickly, and suddenly I was covered in water as the person filling the water glasses knocked my glass over and the water cascaded down the table and onto my lap. They staff was very apologetic, but I had to ask them to mop up the water next to my chair where I had put my, now soggy, purse. Okay. Accidents happen and I was glad it was not red wine that was spilled. THE SPECIALS. The restaurant has a lot of specials. I mean, a lot. At least 8 different appetizers and about 15 dinner choices. These numbers may not be accurate, but there were a lot of choices. Trust me. Here is the problem: the specials were read to us. This is something high end restaurants tend to do and it is extremely annoying to those trying to listen . PLEASE. Type the specials on a card and hand it to the diners. Let us look over the choices and ASK QUESTIONS if we want to know more about the Veal Chop. Oh, ask for the prices of the specials. Don’t be embarrassed or you will be greatly surprised when you get the bill. Some of the specials are very pricey. I don’t like surprises, and we had been warned by a friend who dined here recently and was charged about $79.00 for an appetizer. Just saying.

THE APPETIZERS. POLPO ALLA GRIGLIA $25 Our dining companions shared the grilled octopus served with fava bean salad. The Octopus which came with a tentacle stretched out on long dish surrounded by red and yellow cherry tomatoes and olives. They loved it. We shared the EGGROLL PULCINELLA $18 which consisted of (2) eggrolls cut in four pieces stuffed with broccoli rabe, crumbled sausage and fresh mozzarella served with a side of tomato sauce. Excellent. The tomato sauce was really rich and savory, and the combination of the broccoli rabe and sausage was nicely balanced.

THE ENTREES. Everyone ordered a different dish and each dish was spectacular (well, maybe not the pesto...) PACCHERI PESTO: creamy pesto, chopped shrimp and crab meat looked just okay. Visually it looked a little dry and it was not something I would order but our dining companion liked it. TOMAHAWK VEAL CHOP: I was surprised they did not need 2 people to carry out this huge tomahawk cut of veal. Beautifully served with mashed potatoes. For the price, a dab of the broccoli rabe that seemed to come with every other dish would have been nice. Bring a lot of cash because this dish requires a withdrawal from your savings account. AGNOLOTTI PUCLINELLA consisted of five half-moon shaped ravioli in a light brown sauce, Dutch cream, crumbled sausage, mushroom and truffle oil. The dish seemed to be swimming in the sauce when it was served, and I was afraid the sauce would overwhelm the ravioli, but everything coalesced together beautifully and the dish was really good. I also detected shallots in the dish. Who knows if they were in the recited list of ingredients? I really could not tell you. PAPPARDELLE BOLOGNESE the sauce was meaty and hearty and delicious.

DESSERT: we shared a Tartufo because we were quite full. After dessert, we sat and talked for quite a while and noticed the restaurant had emptied out. The noise level was a lot more tolerable when fewer diners were there, and the waiter did not bring our check until we requested it.

OVERALL: Pulcinella on the Green in Wading River offers a fine dining experience. The evening was really enjoyable. If they would just type out the specials and not spill water on the guests, they would earn five, instead of...

Before I get into this review - 2 things are true. Look at my other reviews , I am always complimentary of restaurants and experiences We dined on Valentines day (Not that it should matter)

I had high expectations for this first time visit, as I loved my experience at the Pulcinella Massapequa location.

We had a 6 pm reservation, so at 5pm , 2 of us had a few drinks at the bar and a calamari appetizer. Nothing extraordinary but enjoyed it. I let the bar staff know, we were ready to sit at our table anytime it was ready - This message didn't seem to resonate with staff , so we found ourselves getting up from the bar and then competing to be seated with the new rush of people coming in for Valentines Day dinner reservations. We were finally sat by a not so friendly host. We would have appreciated the bar staff saying "so and so" has your table ready - please follow them to be seated - That is the correct way in a "high end restaurant"

We ordered Caesar salad. a Sushi appetizer - The veal special and lobster risotta special - Salad and appetizer were good, not great , but its the entrees that made up my mind about this restaurant. My dish was a veal special with mushrooms - the dish was not served hot , and probably for the first time in my life - I did not finish my entree. I ate less than half - I cannot say exactly why - it wasn't bad - it just wasn't appetizing enough for me to want to finish (and I wasn't full)

The core of our experience was my wife's lobster and risotto , which came as a very small split whole lobster over some very mediocre risotto. As my wife struggled to crack the lobster claws open - she noted right away the lobster was not cooked thoroughly - parts of it were slimy and raw. The restaurant was busy but by no means packed and there seemed to be plenty of staff. I understand this can happen - so upon me bringing this to the waiter’s attention, he took the dish back and said “he would stick it back in the oven.” Problem is - when the dish came back the lobstermeat was dry and became very difficult to dislodge. Add to this , the lobster just being small and dull , not tasty.

My wife did not finish her entree either - so we asked for the bill and when we received it, I literally thought it was for another table. Everything was overly expensive for the quality being offered - but I can live with that - the shocker was the price for the lobster entree(It has to be a NYS record) ..... $120 for (1) undercooked small lobster over some very mediocre untasty risotto.The total with 2 drinks - $360!

As expensive as that is - I still would have no problem with this , if the dinner was amazing. It was not.

I politley called the waiter over to check that the price of $120 for the (1) lobster was correct - he exclaimed that it was and that I had to understand that Valentines day dinners were "alot more money" - as if I had to accept being gouged!

The lobster dish was deemed to be a special and just given a choice to us by our waiter - verbally - Maybe shame on us for not asking the price first - we certainly would not have ordered it if we knew that was the price. The real issue was the undercooked, under par quality of the lobster (and for that matter the veal dish at $58)

Relaying these sentiments(on the lobster only) to my waiter and a manger resulted in a $60 credit for the lobster dish, which I did appreciate - but didn't satisfy my desire to return anytime soon.

In summary - I think anyone reading this review would be shocked snd surprised by the $120 entree price - Look at the picture please. I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in the USA and have never come close to approaching this single entree price.

The other point is , we as diners, should not expect Valentine's Day dining to be any less in food quality or service - just because it is a busy holiday - as a matter of fact , we should expect better. Unfortunately - I think we will stay...

My wife and I tried this restaurant for the first time last night and while I consider myself a foodie and a critic, let me detail why I was disappointed and could only muster up a two star review at best. Let me first highlight the one entree that was truly a five star dish. I asked if they offered the Agnolotti Pulcinella Pasta Dish as an appetizer and when they said no I ordered the entree as an appetizer because the photos on the website depicted small portions which they are. This dish was truly outstanding and spot on. Sadly that was the only food dish that deserved a five star rating. Before I detail the other appetizers and entree's let me say that the Host was cold and almost rude. Not a great way to great guests. I also need to point out the the prices are extremely high considering that they portray themselves as a high end restaurant. OK now for the food review. The Figs stuffed with Goat Cheese came out cold and because of this the goat cheese was firm. My wife ordered the Spaghetti Alle Vongole that was seriously lacking any flavor. She had to brake the cardinal rule about putting grated cheese on a seafood dish to garner some flavor. I ordered the Veal Pulcinella and while the Veal was very tender the dish was served with fresh mozzarella and cut up tomatoes. Sadly the tomatoes were all hard and far from fresh. A couple of pieces even had part if the stem attached and couldn't even be eaten. Very bad prep in the kitchen and to make it even worse my plate had a chip in in and for a high end restaurant that dish should have never been used to serve such an expensive dish. Don't get me wrong if I was eating at a local pizzeria restaurant I wouldn't even care. I am not the type of person to complain while out for dinner and maybe I should be, but since I never close the door on a restaurant after one visit I may elect to try Pulcinella's one more time hoping for a better...