09/16/09

Best Italian in NYC

by scottie78

This little hole in the wall Italian restaurant is fantastic. A rustic, down-to-earth, no reservation needed home cooked place that serves phenomenal pasta. You need to come hungry because they serve large bowls.

• Pros: Great spaghetti and meat sauce
• Cons: Only takes cash

02/02/09

Good food, rude waiter!

by karps

Four of us had dinner at Max Restaurant on Saturday night, and while the food was pretty good, our waiter was incredibly and unnecessarily rude. we were seated under a speaker and asked VERY NICELY to turn down the music a little bit, the waiter said "no. we play loud music"

a little later, when the music had become even louder, the hostess responded to my plea and turned it down, only to have the same waiter turn it up even louder than before! we left soon after, and took our business (dessert and more wine) elsewhere.

also, there were candles sitting on a sideboard, and we use one to read the menu then left it on our table. the waiter came over and told us we had just created a fire hazard!! how this was any more dangerous than having a flame inches from a wooden shelf made no sense, but it was the way we were treated, like children who had to be slapped on the hand, which was offensive.

this had been my first time at Max and nearly every interaction with the personnel (with the exception of the gentleman refilling our water glasses!) was unnecessarily contentious. needless to say, i'm not going back.

• Pros: food is simple and straight-forward
• Cons: very loud music, rude waiters

01/13/09

NEVER AGAIN!

by puiyin1031

We walked into a fairly empty restaurant on a Monday evening. The hostess tried to seat the 3 of us in the back by the bar & next to the bathroom. When we asked if we could sit in the front room instead (which was empty!), she shot us a dirty look & squeezed the 3 of us into a tiny table for 2. The steamed asparagus w/proscuitto appetizer consisted of 4 measly sprigs of cold asparagus wrapped in bland, dry proscuitto. Pasta entrees were way too salty, I probably drank 8 glasses of water while I was there. My friend's steak was tough to chew & dry. We thought maybe the dessert would be their redeeming dish for the night..but no way! The tiramisu was horrible. It was obvious it was prepared days ago & was just sitting there with a goopy consistency. The ladyfingers were hard & stale. Waiters were rude. This place was a good standby in years past, but after this recent visit, NEVER AGAIN!!!

• Cons: No longer cheap, food gone downhill, rude service, awful kitschy decor.

01/13/09

What? this place is OVERRATED.

by poprock

Ordered delivery from the famous "Max" tonight. I am not kidding -- it was UN-EDIBLE. The rigatoni with meatballs and sausage had sort of a brown sugar taste. The meatballs were dry and crusty. The bread came cold and stale. The salad -- bland and boring. I am so grossed out. I will never order from Max again. With places like Perbacco, Lavagna, Il Posto and Supper within blocks, do not bother. This must be an old school Alphabet City restaurant that will not stand the test of time. Seriously... I am so bummed out by my dinner. I feel sick.

• Pros: Can't think of one.
• Cons: Bad food.

12/13/08

Great

by Columbia00064

I found the experience very enjoyable - highly recommend it.

10/19/08

best meat sauce

by i222

I have to admit that Max has great pasta at affordable prices. Service is good and the atmosphere that the employees create makes it a fun place to go. No reservations which I do not like but ok.. the wait is worth it.. However please tell Hostesses to be more kind with customers since I felt it was not polite with us...Overall I have to say that highly recommend this place for diner.

10/07/08

must say is really good

by rh529

I was at max last Thursday night and had a really good experience. I had heard a lot from Max before so I had to give it a chance. I have to say that I had a really good time. My meatloaf was the best I ever tried ( and I love meatloaf so I know when is good). The service was friendly and polite, not Italian waiters though but friendly and handsome Southamerican...The athmosphere of the place is awesome, good music and great deco. .The only thing I would say is they should put tables little away from each other but I guess that's New York.. .

• Pros: great food , service and ambience
• Cons: only one toilet

10/02/08

fabulous atmosphere

by rennynorway

Hi I'm from Italy, living in NY for some months, I was really missing my country till I found MAX!

Ask to be seated outside even if it's cold, a bottle of red wine will help u to feel better.

the hidden garden creates a friendly atmosphere.

We enjoyed a delicious entree of bruschette and crostini with a whole bottle of sicilian wine!

I definitely reccomend this Italian, I would say Tuscan, restaurant both to newyorkers and italian people!

Ciao!

10/02/08

Terrible service! Bad Gnocchi.

by Dee007

I had dinner there last night with a friend. I arrived 10 mins early and sat at the bar. Two employees behind the bar totally ignored me. Not once in the 10 mins was I asked if I wanted a drink. After my friend and I were seated and handed menus by the hostess, we waited 10 mins and had to flag someone to take our order. We had a play at 7:30pm and we told our waiter. He never once checked on us and again we had to flag someone down to get the bill. My friend who had been here before raved about the gnocchi so she ordered it and I got the lasagna and we shared. I had to bites of gnocchi and couldn't eat the rest. It was no good. She didn't finish her portion either. The lasagna was excellent. She ended up feeling sick during the end of the play and had to leave early. I blame the gnocchi. The staff there don't seem to care much about their customers. Not a place I plan to eat at again.

• Pros: The place is really nice decor wise.
• Cons: Horrible service, you are basically ignored and bad gnocchi.

08/25/08

NOT on the menu

by VJ818

I've been to Max about 3-4 times in the past 3 years and always enjoyed my experience there. Yes, the waiters are a little lacking in the english department, the hostess is a bit rude and the service could always be quicker. None of this tended to bother me. After eating there last week, however, I will NOT be going back. I went with 2 other friends who also frequented Max. When my friend and I ordered the gnocchi and asked for the pink sauce instead of the marinara, we were told it was impossible. We have ordered this special request each time we had been there before and told the waiter this. He looked at us like we had 8 heads and we asked to speak to the manager. The manager reiterated that it was not possible as that dish was not on the menu. When we gently pointed out that both gnocchi and pink sauce were on the menu, he simply said it was not possible. How about just bringing us a bowl of pink sauce on the side? Not possible. It was my birthday and I was coming specifically for THIS dish so we decided to leave. My sister calmly informed the manager that we would need to cancel our appetizers as we were leaving and he completely freaked out. Lo and behold, somehow the kitchen staff was able to throw some gnocchi in a bowl with pink sauce. But we were told that they would NEVER do it again when we came back. I don't think they'll have to worry about that... I can understand that special requests are difficult for smaller kitchen but this was not a difficult request and we were treated so rudely that it is just not worth it.