11/09/09

A trap for the unwary

by Rupert Bear

This has to be one of the worst restaurant experiences anywhere, let alone in NYC. A deceptively small menu which promises quality but the extensive specials (of course unpriced) rattled off by rushed and solely profit driven wait staff are the key profit driver for these people. The aim is turnover and large tips so you will be rushed in if a table is available, your wine will be poured incessantly to get you through the meal, then you will be treated in a threatening manner if the tip is not adjudged sufficient. The owner admits he does not pay his staff and they depend almost entirely on tips. the food was awful and they cannot even make a decent ragout. The green salad was tired and bruised. Wait staff and proprieter were uniformly unpleasant. So, a piquant combination of really poor food made with second rate ingredients, unpleasant wait staff and really nasty owner-proprieter, what more could you want for a very bad experience? There is one more thing: over charging for the awful experience.

Some readers may be familiar with the British TV program Fawlty Towers, this is the restuarant equivalent - but without the charm and with the threat. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS.

• Pros: None - it deserves minus stars!
• Cons: it is indeed a con

03/11/09

Great Service

by kateimurray

Really good food. Nice wine list. Great table service (only draw back was there was a hair on my plate near my food... didn't complain because it wasn't touching and the food tasted really good an I didn't want to wait for another meal). Great place for a intimate date. Just don't dress too casual (made the mistake of wearing a hoodie).

• Pros: great setting and table service
• Cons: a bit pricey

02/14/09

Never been treated worse in a Manhattan establishment.

by keanbmcd

First of all - whoever disagreed with the bad reviews clearly has not had the "true" Il Bagatto experience. My Girlfriend and I came for V-day after 2 good experiences in recent years. Menu was drastically different and over-priced. After an inexplicably poor antipasto that contained neither meat nor cheese, my girlfriend was given a 3-hour-old $19 plate of tomato and cheese pasta which was mush to a chef-boyardee extent. When sent back, we were accosted by the manager, who not only told us the pasta was fine, that his wife was from Rome so it couldn?t be bad, and that I was a p*ssy for not telling my girlfriend who was ?wrong? to shut up with her complaints. He then kicked us out. On the way out, he tried to physically fight me. On the whole, the food was inedible, the menu inexcusable, the manager/owner, the worst in New York. As a non-confrontational person, I was glad to see that the last 5 reviews are almost identical to this one. This restaurant should be avoided at all costs.

• Cons: Tried to eat here

02/02/09

Best Italian Food outside of Italy

by janedoe2000

I have been coming to this restaurant on and off for the last 5 years. When ever I leave New York its the first place I wanna go to when I get back in town. I have read the negative reviews and I am shocked. I honestly believe that those who had a horrible experience here are very "special" people. At least in their own minds. Even the negative reviews could NOT say anything bad about the food. The food it AMAZING! If you chooses to eat out on a friday and/or saturday night and can not wait to be seated then maybe you should go somewhere else. i really don't believe that the management/owners don't wanna feed you and if your table ISN'T ready then do you suggest they ask people to hurry up so YOU can sit down? Well, I have been there and have been asked after finishing my meal if I wouldn't mind moving to the bar downstairs to finish my bottle of wine. We HAD been sitting for a while just enjoying ourselves. I didn't think it rude at all. He even offered us after dinner drinks. He went out of his way to please both parties. Some of you people are just spoiled brats and need to stop looking for someone to kiss your BUTT. No the customer is NOT always right. But the food is always deliscious. When you go out to eat and enjoy yourself, just do that! Enjoy yourself. the waitstaff was Very attentive, the music was fun and the bartender kept us entertained while we waited for our table. Treat people how YOU would want to be treated. If you walk in with a bad attitude anywhere you will definately have a bad experience.

• Pros: Amazing food, Great Music, Reasonable Prices, Cute Decor, Great Staff
• Cons: parking on the weekend can be a nightmare.

01/29/09

Il Bagatto- Exceptional Food and Value

by urbanepicurist

The most reliable and satisfying restaurant in the community for the past 14 years bar none. Exceptional food quality that is on par with many high priced NY Italian eateries I have been to.

The menu, well its more than the menu its the daily Specials that keep me coming back. I had an amazing Frise salad with Spinach, Assagio cheese and pancetta, simple but terrific. My main was a terrific grilled Branzino (mediterranean seabass) served with broccoli rabe and Truffle Polenta, makes me hungry just writing about it. My wine selection options were very good and from a variety of Italian regions. Ending my meal I polished off a shot of fine Italian Grappa and a Tiramisu that was was like eating a sweet cloud.

Overall and as always a great meal, bargain and experience. A real NY homestyle experience, no pretension or unwelcoming people. The host was jovial, accommodating and offered his best suggestions for our wine, which was on point and complimentary to our food. The ambience of the restaurant was informal yet welcoming, a good spot for a first date or meal on your own, there are celebrity sightings, wont say who but they come in often it seems. I found the staff attentive even in the midst of the capacity seating. They have a great DJ at the downstairs bar, we had a drink before seating and it was a good way to start a meal.

I would recommend this place over many simply because it is reliably good and the Specials Menu is so diverse and often times offering too many delicous options. You can easily go there and not have the same meal over a year it seems.

As for the last unfavorable posts I would not accept the notion that it is a bad restaurant, maybe it was busy, the best restaurants are always busy and if you are not accustomed to NY dining you will have a tough go at it here or anywhere else thats worth eating. Ive never had a bad experience with management nor have the countless friends I have recommended from NY and abroad.

Bon Appetite!

• Pros: Exceptional food quality for the value
• Cons: not my personal kitchen

01/18/09

Owner needs therapy - Stay away

by girlbomb

We went here to celebrate with 3 friends and after arriving 5 mins late for our 9:30 reservation we went downstairs to wait on our table over a bottle of wine. After 45 mins one of our friends went upstairs to check on the table and were told since we were late, they gave our table away and to wait as something should open shortly. After an hour and an half (and a finished bottle of wine) we sent one of the women in our group to check. The owner comes storming down saying how he and his wife work too hard to put up with "us" and were told we would not be served and to leave. On the way out (we politely were leaving) the OWNER CALLED OUR FRIEND A BIATCH. ThE OWNER and his WIFE clearly are in need of a vacation. DON'T RISK YOUR EVENING AT THIS PLACE...THIS IS A MAN ON THE EDGE! STAY AWAY.

• Pros: LONG WAITS AND CRAZY MANAGEMENT
• Cons: IF YOU ARE A MASOCHIST WHO LIKE TO BE ABUSED - YOU'LL LOVE IL BAGATTO

12/29/08

Management can be terriable food is good though

by rocketdog3

The food IS amazing and they have great prices but the owner is rude.

I ate there once and the food was amazing and the staff was helpful. So we decieded to go back and take some friends. I called a couple days in advance and made the reservations but when we got there they had no record of them and that it would be a 2 hour wait!! They insisted that I must have called a different restaraunt and that they would never make a mistake!! what?! They didn't even try to get us into the next avaliable table b/c they said it was our fault. They need some serious customer sercvice help.

• Pros: great food
• Cons: terriable management

11/02/08

Rustic Italian fare in a decidedly laid-back, East Village setting.

by Contributor

In Short
The subterranean area is darker and quieter than its ground floor counterpart, which boasts open windows during warmer months, but both levels have appeal to cooing couples. Perhaps as a result of its East Village location, the atmosphere is romantic without feeling overly intimate. Go on a first date, or with family and friends, but make a reservation, because solid Italian food at fair prices make for a constantly crowded restaurant. The menu runs the gamut from grilled calamari to homemade pappardelle and gorgeously braised meats, in addition to a plethora of scrumptious specials listed by the competent wait staff.

10/18/08

good food, AWFUL management

by melissaem987

I made reservations to go to Il Bagatto for my birthday dinner for me and ten friends. All was going as planned until we got there and the manager gave us major attitude from the start. He wouldn't seat us because one of my friends was running late. We didn't know when her train was getting in, so one of my friends told the manager that we'd be ordering a lot of food and drinks, and that we promise that he'd get revenue. He walked away and said "I can't deal with this right now." He came back like five minutes later and said, "I'm about to tell you guys to just go somewhere else."

That's just the start to it...

The waiter comes over and asks if we want either "sparkling" or "flat" water. Thinking those are our only two choices, we said flat... we thought that meant tap. He didn't specifically ask us if we wanted tap water so we just assumed that that's what it meant. He comes back with two open bottles of water. Other restaurants in the city may put open bottles of tap water on the table, so we just thought that's what it was. After finishing those two bottles, we asked a waiter for some more "tap" water and he came back with two more bottles. So we didn't even question it... we just thought they kept refilling (the water levels weren't even the same for the two bottles).

Long story short... the check comes and we were charged $32 for the four bottles of "flat" water that we apparently ordered. I asked for the manager, and believed his waiters over us. All ten of us were telling him the exact same thing: we weren't given a choice for tap water, so we just assumed that the "flat' water that we were offered was put in these open bottles of water and put on the table. He said that if we didn't pay for it he was going to call the cops... didn't even listen to what we were saying. He started fighting with one of my friends. He told us that we weren't allowed in his restaurant again. AWFUL management.

• Pros: good food, awesome ariabbata sauce, nice ambience
• Cons: awful management, table wasn't ready

06/26/08

Best reasonably priced, authentic Italian in NYC.

by pixelnyc

I felt a need to throw my 2cents in after reading a couple of bad reviews. I've been frequenting Il Bagatto for at least seven years. In that time the food has maintained it's high level of quality and consistency. The specials are ALWAYS out of this world and the wine selection impeccable. The gracious proprietors spend 24/7 hunting down the best ingredients and coming up with the best home-cooked Roman dishes and on creating a warm, chilled out atmosphere. The one thing that has changed over the years is the crowd that inhabits the neighborhood and city. Il Bagatto was one of the first true restaurants to open i the Lower East Side back in 1995. They are pioneers in the once crime ridden neighborhood, an oasis for bohemians, artists and old-school New Yorkers. Since that time the city, and I fear the restaurant, has been overrun by the "Sex-In-The-City", suburban trust-fund, sense of entitlement crowd.

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As a quick response to some of the people complaining in the reviews...consider your own attitude before chastising that of the staff/owner/manager. The owner/manager has zero tolerance for those who exalt an attitude of entitlement. I can't say he's always 100% on mark, I'm sure he has his bad days. But more often than not I see patrons creating their own bad scenarios and ruining their own night/experience. One final thing. Most of the issues that people complained about regarding credit cards, waiting for whole party to arrive, ordering appetizer with meal, etc....are common NYC small restaurant practices. These are due to high volume, small spaces, high cost of operation and large credit card processing fees...among other things.

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If you are of a good natured, mellow demeanor and love great Italian food, this is the place for you. If you're the type who is more concerned with who they might see or be seen by than you are about your food, please don't go to Il Bagatto. Also, don't miss brunch at Il Posto Accanto next door...same owners.

• Pros: Amazing Italian food, atmosphere, neighborhood, very reasonably priced
• Cons: Sometimes the patrons, can get pretty busy and crowded