Mafia ties? No other explanation...
Restaurant: Nello's
Where: Madison Avenue btw 62nd and 63rd
When: Wednesday, August 11th, 6pm
Meal: Chilean sea bass in a lobster cream sauce and a house salad.
Drink: Evian water.
Total bill: $180 (2 people)
My Take: The location of this restaurant was very nice - upscale Upper East Side on Madison Avenue. What's not to love, right?
Well, that would be the food, service, prices, and cleanliness.
I've been to plenty of high rent restaurants in NYC and elsewhere. This isn't a matter of sticker shock. Hell, the two of the first three restaurant reviews I wrote for this blog were Nobu and Peter Luger's and both bills fairly outpaced this one.
Food: The sea bass could be described one way - truly tasteless. If there was any semblence of flavor evident in this dish, they forgot to put it in my serving. I could have (and might have preferred) eating a bowl of gruel. It was that bad. After the first bite, I starred enviously at the diners entering and exiting the dive coffee shop across the street. How I longed for something with flavor - any flavor at all.
Service: If there is one thing I can't stand, it's a snobby waiter. His or her livelihood largely depends on treating the customer well. I don't mind a busy waiter, I don't mind an abrupt waiter, but a waiter who looks down his nose at a customer is the worst kind. I simply refuse to be treated like I'm bothering them. Restaurants that cater to this kind of behavior from their wait staff have no worries about me coming back for a repeat visit. There are too many great places to eat in this city to worry about going back to a place that makes you feel inferior.
Prices: $12 for a liter bottle of Evian. $18 for a house salad. $42 for a tasteless piece of bass. Need I say more? For the same money, I could have eaten like a king at hundreds of other restaurants throughout NYC. Robbery anyway you cut it.
Cleanliness: It had rained heavily earlier that day and the restaurant is on the ground floor of a low-rise building so it's not as if they can do much about leaks that may occur. That's really the job of the building's super. However, when a steady drip of water soaks a table would you really seat a customer at a table anywhere near that mess? Not only did we get seated (in a nearly empty restaurant) next to this table, but another gentleman was seated at the table and upon his first request to be moved, the waiter asked him to remain seated and put a towel over the man's shoulder (upon which the drip was dripping). I was truly amazed.
This was easily the worst dollar for quality transaction I've ever been a part of. In fact, it was this experience that convinced me to start writing about my experiences at NYC restaurants.
Verdict: Needless to say, this restaurant is the worst I've tried in NYC. If this blog does just one thing, I hope it helps close this place down.
Where: Madison Avenue btw 62nd and 63rd
When: Wednesday, August 11th, 6pm
Meal: Chilean sea bass in a lobster cream sauce and a house salad.
Drink: Evian water.
Total bill: $180 (2 people)
My Take: The location of this restaurant was very nice - upscale Upper East Side on Madison Avenue. What's not to love, right?
Well, that would be the food, service, prices, and cleanliness.
I've been to plenty of high rent restaurants in NYC and elsewhere. This isn't a matter of sticker shock. Hell, the two of the first three restaurant reviews I wrote for this blog were Nobu and Peter Luger's and both bills fairly outpaced this one.
Food: The sea bass could be described one way - truly tasteless. If there was any semblence of flavor evident in this dish, they forgot to put it in my serving. I could have (and might have preferred) eating a bowl of gruel. It was that bad. After the first bite, I starred enviously at the diners entering and exiting the dive coffee shop across the street. How I longed for something with flavor - any flavor at all.
Service: If there is one thing I can't stand, it's a snobby waiter. His or her livelihood largely depends on treating the customer well. I don't mind a busy waiter, I don't mind an abrupt waiter, but a waiter who looks down his nose at a customer is the worst kind. I simply refuse to be treated like I'm bothering them. Restaurants that cater to this kind of behavior from their wait staff have no worries about me coming back for a repeat visit. There are too many great places to eat in this city to worry about going back to a place that makes you feel inferior.
Prices: $12 for a liter bottle of Evian. $18 for a house salad. $42 for a tasteless piece of bass. Need I say more? For the same money, I could have eaten like a king at hundreds of other restaurants throughout NYC. Robbery anyway you cut it.
Cleanliness: It had rained heavily earlier that day and the restaurant is on the ground floor of a low-rise building so it's not as if they can do much about leaks that may occur. That's really the job of the building's super. However, when a steady drip of water soaks a table would you really seat a customer at a table anywhere near that mess? Not only did we get seated (in a nearly empty restaurant) next to this table, but another gentleman was seated at the table and upon his first request to be moved, the waiter asked him to remain seated and put a towel over the man's shoulder (upon which the drip was dripping). I was truly amazed.
This was easily the worst dollar for quality transaction I've ever been a part of. In fact, it was this experience that convinced me to start writing about my experiences at NYC restaurants.
Verdict: Needless to say, this restaurant is the worst I've tried in NYC. If this blog does just one thing, I hope it helps close this place down.
posted by Hairy Lime at 4:00 PM
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