07/18/09

Great Southern Italian Restaurant!

by nycwino

I took my boyfriend here for his birthday because he loves italian food. We had an amazing experience here. The decor and ambiance was perfect for a romantic night out. The wine list was extensive and yet had some surprisingly tasty, yet affordable kinds. The prix fixe option was a really great deal, but probably too much food for two people to get. I would recommend the fusilli primi dish, this was an excellent dish! For my secondi, I had the prime skirt steak which was tender and thinly sliced and perfectly cooked medium rare. The pastry chef was equally as great as the main chef too! Make sure to save room for dessert =) Our entire meal came to an affordable $150, even though we left with extremely full stomachs! I highly recommend Convivio!

• Pros: Extensive wine list and prix fixe menu

05/29/09

Fabulous and to die for!

by LT1175

This place is spectacular. I found the service was superb. Our waiter really knew the menu and tailored the food to fit our vegetarian lifestyle. And the food? AMAZING! Check out more of our review at www.urbanherbivores.

• Pros: service, food, wine, dessert
• Cons: can't think of any

01/10/09

Nice Restaurant, Good Food, Terrible Hostess and Coat Check

by Randiesel

Everything at Convivio was very well done, the Food, Ambiance, etc. It all was ruined upon checking out of this Restaurant when it took them 25 minutes to locate my Coat. To make matters worse the attitude from the Hostess was horrendous. I was made to feel as though I was putting her out when all I wanted was my Jacket. It was an absolute fiasco. I won't bore anyone here with details but it absolutely ruined the whole evening. I missed my Train home to LI, had to take a different Train line and then a Cab to get Home. All because this young lady was hell bent on being "Right". I would NOT go back becasue of this.

An Italiante design and dishes from southern Italy are the winning combo for this Tudor City restaurant.

by Josh Ozersky

In Short
When Michael White, formerly of Fiamma, inherited L'Impero in 2007 he inherited an aging clientele and somewhat fuddy-duddyish space. In summer of 2008, in an effort to truly make the place his own, he gutted and reworked both the menu and the room. The latter is now marked by a lighter, more Italiante design featuring shiny white walls and crimson banquettes; the former, by a $59 pre-fixe menu featuring a vast array of the chef's characteristically bold but balanced southern Italian dishes. The result was both a critical and commercial hit, resulting in a perennially difficult reservation.

07/22/08

Excellent except the scaffolding!

by AmityM

I live in Tudor City so I thought I'd check out the "new L'Impero". Sat outside last week with a friend and had a variety of appetizers and the special of the day - the polpette. Everything we tried was excellent especially the arancini (riceballs). We had a great wine too I think called Grecco. Our waiter was very helpful and made us feel right at home which is exactly what I wanted out of my neighborhood restaurant. Although I have to say it would be 10 times nicer dining outside if they'd take the scaffolding down already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!