Roberto's Ii Ristorante

Recommends

nigelbijan

Joined 3 years ago

Amazing Italian food. The best Zuppa de Pece!. I have lived in Edgewater for years, and drove past the Roberto's II restaurant almost daily, but for some reason had never ventured in. A few years ago when friends of ours said "you mean you LIVE in Edgewater and you never went to Roberto's?" with shock in their voice, we decided to give it a try, and boy were we glad we did. Hands down, Roberto's food is the best Italian in the area.

Let me preface my review of their food with this preamble... The decor is "circa 1980 suburban Italian" Mirrors with grapevines draped around them, waiters in tuxedo and starched napkins and Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett playing in the background. Buy hey; retro is back in, right? Get over the lack of a current "hip decor" and venture into the time warp for a wonderful meal!

The owner is "Bobby" and his father is the senior Robert and I believe the founder (aka “Roberto”). From time to time, you will see the senior "Roberto" (who goes by the nickname "chi-chi") busy greeting patrons with his sort of “old man grumpy way” (don’t let it deter you, he is a sweetheart) and his son "Bobby" will be busy in the kitchen performing his magic. From time to time you will see Bobby come out of the kitchen in his checkered chef pants and white chef' top to check on your dining experience. On weekends, Momma will be there chipping in too!

Ok, now on to the food...

The regular menu is the basic stuff one would expect from a family Italian restaurant in the burbs'. Stuffed clams appetizer, Chicken and Veal Franchese, Eggplant Parmigana, and an array of pasta dishes. All of these are very good. Bobby makes his own red sauce from fresh ingredients, so any pasta side or main course calling for red sauce is graced with this wonderful "just like Grandma's" goodness.

The specials are what we tend to order... and every night there are at least 4 or more special appetizers and salads and 5 or more special entrees.

If you are lucky to see "Nauni's Meatball" on the specials, order it!! I promise you will not be sorry. Bobby makes one GIANT meatball that weighs about 1lb, and is at least the size of a healthy grapefruit. It is slow simmered for hours in his amazing red sauce. The end result? A meatball that can feed a family of 5 that is miraculously the most light and fluffy delicious meatball I have ever had.

The other special we love is the Shrimp Labella. You get about 6 very large shrimp butterflied and grilled served over a bed of imported Italian white beans, fresh garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes mixed with excellent quality olive oil and the juice of the shrimp make this dish wonderful. But I must mention that Bobby has a heavy hand with garlic, so if you are like my husband, order it "light on the garlic" otherwise you will keep vampires at bay for at least 24 hours. Another amazing sure to please for seafood lovwrs is the “Zuppa DePece". Another mammoth portion of pasta that is ALWAYS cooked perfectly "al dente" with a generous portion of jumbo shrimp, sea scallops, clams, muscles, calamari in Bobby's amazing red sauce. I dare you to be able to finish it. We always wind up taking a doggy bag home!

I always say the test of how serious an Italian restaurant is about their food can be determined by the quality bread they serve. Roberto's passes my bread test. Bread comes to the table old-fashioned Italian restaurant style; Warm and crusty, served wrapped in a white starched napkin and placed in a traditional oval bread basket with sesame bread sticks. You can enjoy your bread with the complimentary garbanzo beans marinated in virgin olive oil and fresh herbs.

I can go on, and on but if you live in the area, like Italian food, and want to go someplace that consistently had good food and excellent choices Roberto's is the place.

Doesn't Recommend

vargas101

Joined 5 years ago

Sub-Urban Italian. Amidst so many kudos, I almost hate to submit a dissenting review, but our experience at Roberto's was anything but on par with New York Italian food. It was your typical suburban Italian food, oddly conceived and not of the best quality. The Caesar salad was comprised almost entirely of lettuce stems and the dressing itself completely unremarkable. The shrimp dish was basically not worth eating, the shrimp clearly not fresh if not re-heated (they swore that the shrimp arrived that day - from where remains the question.) My pounded breaded pork chop was covered in tomato and onion in giant chunks that made it hard to eat, and with no sauce, very odd. Potato served on the side, what looked like hash browns - how could you mess up fried potatoes? BLAND. And these were the specials! Each dish 20 some odd dollars so not 'inexpensive.' Both dished were recommended personally by the wine steward AND the waiter. Of course, there are exactly 91 choices on the menu - is there any way a restaurant can make all 91 choices well? You would think at least one of the three courses we ordered would have been good, especially those on the special?s list. Whoops ? that?s right, the cannoli at the end was good. Wine choices also curious and toward the sweet side. Sorry, but this place is lame, and at 9PM on Friday few other patrons, which should tell you something. Too bad as it is conveniently located for us, even if the kitschy atmosphere and tuxedoed waiters are kinda fun.

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foodcritic20

Joined 7 years ago

Absolutely Delicious !. MMM excellent Food !!! I especially enjoyed their remarkable sweet Tomato salad. Wow, they were very Sweet & Delicious, just like garden tomatoes. The waiter told us that they were called "Ugly Tomatoes" purchased from an Italian Store in Fairview, called Dante's...never had such wonderful tomatoes ever in my life. The Tilapia fish was also very tasty, accompanied by a glass of fine Italian wine. What a fine Italian restaurant !

Recommends

mrdavey

Joined 9 years ago

Superb!. Excellent food, portions & service in a very comfortable & friendly atmosphere. Very reasonable priced menu. There is something for everyone on their menu or daily specials. The choices are difficult. Why you might ask? Because it's all good!! Choices are plentyiful, from seafood to Steaks & Chops. My Favorites are too numerous to list. I've been dinning at Roberto's for at many years & I'd recommend this restaurant highly to all. I always look forward to our next delicious meal at Roberto's!