Buona Sera Restaurant

(212) 627-9200

94 University Pl (at 12th St.)
New York, NY 10003 40.7338 -73.9931

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Neighborhoods: Greenwich Village, Downtown

Hours:

Sun-Mon, 11:30am-11pm

Tue-Thu, 11:30am-11:30pm

Fri-Sat, 11:30am-12:30am

Last updated 8.16.11

Category:

Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Visa, MasterCard

Cuisine:

Italian

Editor's Tips

What People Are Saying About Buona Sera Restaurant

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

Upper East Side Italian restaurant accompanies traditional dishes with live piano music. Delivery and weekend brunch also offered.

Editor's Tips

When to Go:
Live piano is played during weekend brunch from 11:30am to 4pm, as well as on some weekday nights starting at 7pm. Call to confirm the schedule.
ambiance
100.0% positive
  1. “nice wines, cozy space - a window seat affords great people watching.”
  2. “Amazing atmosphere, delicious food and great service.”
drinks
33.3299994468689% positive
  1. “We ordered a $30 bottle of wine; the waiter mistakenly brought a much more expensive bottle that we drank without realizing until the check showed up - when we asked for a correction to what we had ordered the manager started shouting at us as if it was o”
  2. “nice wines, cozy space - a window seat affords great people watching.”
  3. “The two of us are standing there with red wine spotting our clothes and my pretty expensive handbag, and it took a good minute for a waiter to come over offering club soda.”
food quality
60.0% positive
  1. “had eaten here once or twice before and the food was decent.”
  2. “could have handled this place a lot better if only the prices had better, but fifteen dollars for a piece of lasagna I couldn't even eat because it was nothing but lukewarm pesto sauce was ridiculous.”
  3. “The food wasnt the best, but the service was horrible.”
  4. “The mussels and clams appetizer was garlicky but good, with just enough broth for sopping up with the focaccia (and yes the tomato essence that comes w/ the bread basket is good--just serve a bigger portion of it please!)”
  5. “For the price of food at this restaurant, one would expect a decent meal.”
  6. “Well I enjoyed the food there, specially Linguine alle Vongale very tasty.”
  7. “Amazing atmosphere, delicious food and great service.”
  8. “In addition one of our friends thought the cobb salad nicoise was just full of string beans and nothing else, so asked the owner if we can replace the salad with something else, and he gave us this indifferent look and flatly said no.”
  9. “My wife and I, and two other friends went to this restaurant for brunch because they advertized a live jazz band and the food looked pretty good.”
  10. “pretty good food”
  11. “but I have to say it was tasty and they have big portions.”
  12. “good food though a little overpriced”
  13. “The tomato sauce that accompanies the bread basket is pretty good so we ordered some additional sauce with our meal, but the owner came by and said that he would charge us for an additional bread basket, when we didnt even ask for more bread.”
  14. “Although our food took forever and our waiter was really aloof, the food was pretty good, though overpriced.”
  15. “The food is pretty bad and the service even worse.”
  16. “at least give me a fresh entree!”
  17. “consistently good food: excellent varieties of polenta and the lasagna is awesome.”
  18. “Good food, poor service”
  19. “Mediocre food, bad service”
  20. “The cold chicken parm had a leg bone hanging out of it and the first bite was only a bone.”
  21. “Bad food, terrible service”
  22. “Ironically the food wasn't all that bad, but in NYC there is no reason to tolerate bad food OR bad service, both of which are important when you eat out - and despite a decent kitchen, Buona Sera has bad service in abundance.”
menu variety
66.66999816894531% positive
  1. “should have asked about the price of my entree, but really, looking at other reviews I note a theme here - poor service that tries to drive the check up by presenting expensive off-menu items.”
  2. “consistently good food: excellent varieties of polenta and the lasagna is awesome.”
  3. “Then, he tried to get us to order some appetizers, he described several of them (again, not on the menu).”
overall
100.0% positive
  1. “The waiter we had was really nice and I kind of feel sorry for him that he has to work in a place run by a manager who is so degrading, mean and plain and simply rude.”
service
39.40999984741211% positive
  1. “The waiter we had was really nice and I kind of feel sorry for him that he has to work in a place run by a manager who is so degrading, mean and plain and simply rude.”
  2. “nice wines, cozy space - a window seat affords great people watching.”
  3. “The two of us are standing there with red wine spotting our clothes and my pretty expensive handbag, and it took a good minute for a waiter to come over offering club soda.”
  4. “Amazing atmosphere, delicious food and great service.”
  5. “should have asked about the price of my entree, but really, looking at other reviews I note a theme here - poor service that tries to drive the check up by presenting expensive off-menu items.”
  6. “Slow service.”
  7. “The food is pretty bad and the service even worse.”
  8. “The service was attentive but a little too much so: coming over and turning up a really bright light when we were trying to read something (it is dark in there); but that was just to be nice really.”
  9. “We ordered a $30 bottle of wine; the waiter mistakenly brought a much more expensive bottle that we drank without realizing until the check showed up - when we asked for a correction to what we had ordered the manager started shouting at us as if it was o”
  10. “Bad food, terrible service”
  11. “Mediocre food, bad service”
  12. “The food wasnt the best, but the service was horrible.”
  13. “Ironically the food wasn't all that bad, but in NYC there is no reason to tolerate bad food OR bad service, both of which are important when you eat out - and despite a decent kitchen, Buona Sera has bad service in abundance.”
  14. “Good food, poor service”
  15. “Although our food took forever and our waiter was really aloof, the food was pretty good, though overpriced.”
  16. “And the overall customer service was the worst I've experienced.”
  17. “did get an attentive waitress.”
value
43.75% positive
  1. “We ordered a $30 bottle of wine; the waiter mistakenly brought a much more expensive bottle that we drank without realizing until the check showed up - when we asked for a correction to what we had ordered the manager started shouting at us as if it was o”
  2. “should have asked about the price of my entree, but really, looking at other reviews I note a theme here - poor service that tries to drive the check up by presenting expensive off-menu items.”
  3. “Although our food took forever and our waiter was really aloof, the food was pretty good, though overpriced.”
  4. “The two of us are standing there with red wine spotting our clothes and my pretty expensive handbag, and it took a good minute for a waiter to come over offering club soda.”
  5. “good food though a little overpriced”
  6. “could have handled this place a lot better if only the prices had better, but fifteen dollars for a piece of lasagna I couldn't even eat because it was nothing but lukewarm pesto sauce was ridiculous.”
  7. “For the price of food at this restaurant, one would expect a decent meal.”
  8. “but I have to say it was tasty and they have big portions.”
wait time
0.0% positive
  1. “The two of us are standing there with red wine spotting our clothes and my pretty expensive handbag, and it took a good minute for a waiter to come over offering club soda.”
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

11/03/09

GOOD FOOD AND SERVICE

by village08

Amazing atmosphere, delicious food and great service. Highly recommended

1 Star Rating: Poor

02/28/09

Worst experience at a restaurant ever

by Sleepensheep

My fiancee and I were read the specials very quickly. All we really heard was clams, mussels, bla bla bla, lobster sauce. Sounded good...until we got it. Our waiter spoke very quickly when giving the specials, but fiancee and I was absolutely sure he never mentioned squid ink pasta.

It was absolutely disgusting. We asked if we could have it switched with a pasta made from flower, water and egg but were told by the manager, who did not seem to care that his waiter never mentioned the squid ink, that we would be charged for the additional meals. We eventually got them to simply make a little more pasta and simply dump the clams, mussels, etc. on the pasta. What we finally received was very good.

Unfortunately, the service continued to be rude. At one point another waiter, not ours at all, decided it was his place to come over, asked if we liked what we ate, then went on to say that people come to their restaurant and ask for the squid ink specifically, essentially saying that we were out of place to dislike the squid ink and should have eaten the food.

This waiter's comment was completely uncalled for. Furthermore, I don't care what other people request. Some people request some pretty sick things in this city. Does that mean I should be into it too?

Finally we got our check and discovered another thing people should be warned about. You don't get the prices with the specials. While a normal pasta and clam sauce will cost you $15 a dish, the specials go for about $32.

Overall, the food was okay, but not worth the money at all! Rocco's off W. Houston is far FAR better. And the overall customer service was the worst I've experienced.

  • Pros: None
  • Cons: Draft, rude, cramped, slow, argumentative, bland, OVERPRICED
1 Star Rating: Poor

12/21/08

Worse service and food!!!

by Michael1975ny

I went to this over expansive restaurant few days ago with my girlfriend, and what I got???? 120 dollars check for 2 SPECIALS that waitress never warned us about that they are 34,75. Waitress was very bad and how about owner? Screaming at staff in front of guests. This was worse dinning experience I had in my life. Poor very poor restaurant. It doesn't even deserve to be on citysearch list. Please avoid this place.

  • Pros: none
  • Cons: service,food,owner
1 Star Rating: Poor

04/29/08

Horrible Food for the Price...

by dulcet

The food was bland and the seafood was overcooked! For the price of food at this restaurant, one would expect a decent meal...but it's not what you will get! I did get an attentive waitress.

  • Pros: live music
3 Star Rating: Average

04/25/08

Good food, poor service

by danpatten

Well I enjoyed the food there, specially Linguine alle Vongale very tasty. But I agree with other people the service needs some work.

  • Pros: Food is tasty
  • Cons: poor service

The Details on Buona Sera Restaurant

Place Categories:

  • pretty good food
  • bad food or bad service
  • overpriced good food
  • great service
  • not even warm actual lasagna
  • excellent lasagna
  • very bad waitress
  • just full cobb salad nicoise
  • cold chicken parm
  • nice wines
  • ridiculous fifteen dollars
  • decent meal
  • really nice waiter
  • pretty good tomato sauce
  • good lasagne
  • good bread basket
  • horrible manger sarcastically
  • big portions
  • cozy space
  • decent kitchen
  • amazing atmosphere
  • pretty expensive handbag
  • fresh entree
  • order appetizers
  • much more expensive bottle
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