Puttanesca

I ordered chicken parmesean from Puttanesca the other evening (having ordered from there before) and it was one of the worst meals I have ever had delivered. The food portion was unusually small, an over-cooked piece of dried out chicken, over-cooked dried out cheese on top, tough chicken, minimal linguine, over $25.00, and took over an hour to be delivered. It was absolutley terrible. I don't know if they have a new cook or what, but it was not worth it AT ALL. more

A friend and I went to Puttanesca some months ago at the suggestion of a coworker of mine who absolutely RAVED about this place. Well, forewarned is forearmed, as they say. The place wasn't packed for a Friday evening, and we were seated fairly quickly. The waiter had an indifferent attitude, and made himself relatively scarce throughout the evening. A waitress nearby, however, did recite the evening's specials, but somehow, ours couldn't be bothered. I had cioppino, which was middling; nothing special. My friend had some veal dish, which she said was so-so. Even the two men seated next to us agreed that you almost literally had to grab this server, which was theirs as well, to get something extra from him. No enthusiasm, no personality, nada, whatever...We paid our bill and left the table, waiting in their front lobby for car service. God knows the place wasn't crowded, but the snotty little hostess asked us twice to wait by the bar -- long story short: we ignored the request. We looked pretty decent, neat and clean; did they think we were going to bring the property values down because we aren't ""twentysomethings"". The hell with that attitude. My friend has been there before, and wasn't impressed then, but went back because of my colleague's recommendation. I should have listened to her. Save your money and go across the street, or to any of the number of fine restaurants on Columbus Avenue further uptown. Stay away from this one; you aren't missing a thing! more

This place is ok not horrible but not great. I heard about this place from a friend who gave it a little better of a review which made me want to give it a try. All around I say the place is ok but I'm heading back there anytime soon. Service wasn't that good, food was ok, and I wasn't really digging the ambiance. more

NO WARM Greetings to welcome customers FOOD is good for the price. I love Saut?ed Mediterranean striped bass here; excellent. Other dishes are not bad either compared to other Italian restaurants for the price. SERVICE is slow and not friendly, so be careful if a show is waiting for you. You will get so frustrated that you cannot enjoy the show fully. AMBIANCE is nice; noisy but has a calm tone to it and it looks like you can reserve one room for a party. But regular TABLEs are so TINY that feel very uncomfortable. So, I would not go there to enjoy a nice dinner, but I go there for a quick dinner before the show. (allow at least hour and half before the show though)I will go there again not expecting to relax or to enjoy the dinner, but having the stripe bass before the show. Pros: food is good for the price Cons: table are so tiny...slow service more

Nothing is really special about Puttanesca. The service is terrible, music way too loud and you're greeted by trashy looking scantily clad hostesses. To make matters worse waiters never seem to get your orders right. Only pro is that the place is reasonably priced. Avoid if you can. Pros: Reasonably priced Cons: Bad Service, bland food and fake feel more

Awful service! Pros: Nothing I can think of Cons: Food. Service. Wait Staff. Hostess. more

Worst food experience that I have had in the city since I've been here. Ordered two dishes for delivery that were both supposed to have wild mushrooms as the main ingredients. Both came with nothing but noodles with cheap canned mushrooms...the supposed ""stuffed ravioli"" came as noodles...delivery guy was a moron....not to mention it was way overpriced. Ugh... Cons: Horrible food, False menu descriptions, Overpriced more

For years, this was the reliable, inexpensive neighborhood Italian standby. Then came the renovation, complete with speakers blasting the most execrable, inappropriate music (think Beach Boys) loud, Loud, LOUD. Pros: good food at a good price Cons: loud; rude, indifferent staff more

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

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 more

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 more

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 more

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 more

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. Pros: none!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cons: the service - RUDE RUDE RUDE -- DOWNRIGHT RUDE more

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. more

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. more

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!!!!!! more

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?! more

Trying to be adventurous, we walked in for dinner on a pleasant summer night. We were in a good mood and looking forward to a nice meal. What a disappointment. The food was heavy and more does not mean better. The appetizers were huge, and so were the entrees. But the food lacked focus, freshness and refinement. The service, what service? was non-existant. The only nice thing was the wine we selected. They do have a nice selection of reasonably priced Italian wines. Pros: Nice wine selection Cons: Too big a portion of unrefined, mediocre food; service is lacking more

Aside from the very rude booker I was forced to deal with for my large-party reservation, Puttanesca, which seems to be a popular destination for large birthday parties (I counted 6 others the night we were there), was a pleasant surprise. It could have been that they were super-attentive to us as an apology for the blunder caused by their booker! But actually, the food was pretty good. Huge appetizer portions - easily share-able for a party of 4-6 - and very tasty (calamari, tonno battuto (pounded raw tuna - delish), spiedino alla romana, carpaccio di manzo). The insalata della casa was delicious and enough for 4! For my main course, I had the venison with homemade (in house, they told us) pappardelle. The pasta was a bit undercooked and a little chewy, but the venison was rich and not gamey. Others in my party ordered the paglia e fieno, tortellini della nonna, pollo ai ferri, saltimbocca alla romana (my favorite!!) and the branzino marachiaro - all were proclaimed ""delicious"". We had a party of 14 and the service was excellent. This is a great deal for the price! Nice atmosphere/decor, but a little noisy due to the size of the dining area. I will try it again with a smaller party. Pros: atmostphere, service, food Cons: noise more