Puttanesca

07/21/2008 Posted by rodney2

I can't accurately express how much I disliked this restaurant. The service was completely horrible. Not just slow. Not just bad. But slow, bad and RUDE. Had the food been better and the atmosphere more enjoyable, I might have given the place a pass on the terrible service, chalking it up to a bad night. But reading over the comments here on Citysearch, I see I'm not alone and my experience wasn't uncommon. Many, many others have clearly experienced the same at Puttanesca. So, the bottom line here: Awful service. Inexcusable attitude. Lousy atmosphere. Mediocre food. Awful service. Awful service. Awful service.

Pros: none

Cons: awful service, bad attitude, lousy atmosphere, mediocre food

07/20/2008 Posted by teddynyc

I just enjoyed an *excellent* 6pm Sunday dinner with six friends here. We've dined at Puttanesca several times over the past 2 years and have consistently gotten reliable service and the food is always satisfying. We ordered 5 different entrees tonight, all of which looked appetizing and tasted even better. It certainly can get noisy during the dinner rush and they unfortunately had difficulties with air conditioning on this hot, summer night, but the quality and freshness of their menu will keep me coming back.

Pros: Delicious food and cocktails

Cons: Busy and sometimes noisy

07/13/2008 Posted by hkit19ss

I have a visceral reaction to this Puttanesca place. Merely walking by it makes me ill and reminds me of one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. The surly service was absolutely horrible. Clearly, though, the management couldn't have cared less that we waited for a long time (with a reservation) before being seated, waited even longer for a waiter to pay attention to us, and even longer still for our food (which was far from special).

Pros: nothing

Cons: bad service, bad food

06/04/2008 Posted by Yasmine79

This restaurant is incredibly noisy, the service is slow, and the food mediocre. I remember when this restaurant opened as a small storefront --- it had about 10 tables in a narrow room. Then, the food was really good. After they expanded, the food is not much better than what you would get at a college dorm cafeteria at much higher prices

05/12/2008 Posted by koala82

I took my family (8 of us) to Puttanesca for brunch on Mother's day and had no reservations. The place was very busy, as usual I learned, and I was afraid of not beeing able to ge a table. Without wanting to turn us away, they offered to arrange a table for us wihin ten mintes. But within minutes the manager, who was very kind and polite, informed us that our table was finally ready. So we sat down to enjoy our meal. We were very pleased that they could accomadate such a large number. We were also happy with the food selection and the prices that went with them! We will definitely be back, but with reservaions next time! Overall, good atmosphere and nice crew!

Pros: service and prices

04/06/2008 Posted by 3169

I went to Puttanesca with a former boyfriend last year. The incident within that food establishment has left such an unsavory memory that I am now, after such a lapse in time, still fuming. We went after a performance, still early enough to be seated in the "lobby" section of the place. Not the best seats in the house - near the entrance and in direct line of busy diners coming & going. We had our entrees, my bf had a soda and I had 2 wines (I think) and then lingered over a few sips of water for just several minutes, discussing the events of the day - check already paid, when all of a sudden the very brazen maitre'd came over and stated: "I don't want to be rude, but I am going to have to ask you to leave since we need this table" - Can you imagine???!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never before had I received such a rude comment from anyone in a dining establishment. I didn't say anything nor did my bf. However, after removing the tip from the table i asked the waiter where the manager was and he stated that it was the same man who requested that we leave. I approached him saying that what had just occured was highly boorish and I had never encountered such behavior before in a restaurant. He then became nasty with me, saying something like "too bad" - Such obnoxiousnous. One of the worst restaurants ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and when my bf asked about the etymology of the name of the restaurant as we entered, he made a snide remark about how it applied to his waitresses! From the beginning he was an obnoxious pig!

Pros: none!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cons: the service - RUDE RUDE RUDE -- DOWNRIGHT RUDE

02/13/2008 Posted by CarolynO

My boyfriend and I went here a few weeks ago and I can honestly say it was hands down the worst meal I have ever had in NYC. I ordered the penne a la vodka, something you would think would be pretty standard at an Italian place, and it was horrid. The "grilled" chicken was diced (who dices chicken when you aren't at a salad bar?) and tasted and had the texture of chicken that had been cooked that morning and had been sitting out since. The actual sauce was bland, and while some of the pasta was chewy, other pieces were hard and stuck together as if my meal had been prepared for someone else 45 minutes ago. While my boyfriend's calamari fa diablo was not much better, at least it was hot. The place was packed... go figure.

12/16/2007 Posted by rfa41

Absolutely horrendous!! Besides waiting 20 minutes to sit when there was clearly plenty of tables available, the food was just garbage. The cold antipasto was a plate of cold cuts, the mussels in white wine tasted of sea salt. Yuck! My wife ordered a simple dish, penne a la vodka, it was consumed by the asparagus that was added to it and un-edible. My mushroom stuffed ravioli was clearly pre- made at some restaurant factory, was tuff, and looked like it came out of a chef-boy-ardee can. (i think the chef-boy-ar-dee would have been better) Stay far away, how it's been in business so long is a real mind blower.

10/09/2007 Posted by cherryblossom2007

My friends and I were just trying to have a good Friday evening. Choosing this restaurant turned out to be the worst choice that night!!!!!!! The service was just HORRIBLE!!!!!! Not only we waited for 20 mintues to get seated, while we waited for the table to be open, the waiters were so RUDE and had some attitude. There is no excuse for such service!!!!!! On our way out, one of the waiter almost bumped into my friend, oh yes of course, she did not even apologize and just gave a look!!!! AWEFUL experience!!!!!!

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10/02/2007 Posted by katypsu

I have never encountered such terrible service as I have at this restaurant. The restaurant was crowded, so my friend and I were anticipating a good time. Boy, were we wrong! Not only did we wait over 20 minutes for a menu, but after the menus arrived, we had to wait another 15 minutes for the waiter to take our order. To make matters worse, our waiter forgot to put our order in the system and we didn't get our food for another 45 minutes! When I called the manager over for an explanation, he was not only unapologetic, but had a nasty attitude and blamed the busy atmosphere as a reason for our poor service. He didn't seem to care one bit when I told him that he had lost me as a customer. What kind of service is that?!

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