Osso Buco was recommended to us by a reliable source who had been there for a bachelor party. I'm not blaming him, but MAN...our waiter was pretty much the worst. Sat down with my pal, ordered glasses of wine, and got down to the business of catching up. THREE different men came over to see if we were ready to order, despite the fact that we'd arrived all of 8 minutes prior and had opened our menus after the first query. We were constantly aware that they were looking over or hovering nearby--never indicates good things for the experience to come. We ordered fried zucchini to share (it was, actually, fabulous), more wine, and an order each of linguine vongole and chicken parm. Extremely quick delivery leads me to believe that nothing is *exactly* cooked to order...when my friend asked for clean smaller plates, the waiter sniffed that he didn't realize we'd intended to share and quickly busied himself DIVIDING UP OUR FOOD FOR US. Absolutely not allowed! No! Never! We tried to dissuade him, to no avail. My friend was laughing so hard she had to excuse herself and go to the bathroom, leaving me with the surly bald faux- Italian, his hands all over my dinner. After a hundred, "thank you, we can do it, really, really, really"s he finally left in a huff, only to helicopter around behind us for the remainder of the meal. $90 later, we were through, and it was time to pay the check. He put it down for TWO SECONDS, walked away, returned, picked it up, and GLARED at us because we hadn't yet paid. Seriously? I'm ashamed to admit that I left the guy a 20% tip *JUST* to avoid having to ask for change. I wanted it to end. End end end. Sidenote? The food wasn't anything special AT ALL. Edible, sure, and the clams were shucked, which I always appreciate...but the red sauce was a little off and our dessert Napoleon wasn't actually a Napoleon at all. Ugh.
Pros: Close to the subway? Inexpensive and decent wine.
Cons: Surly, hovering waitstaff. Boring food. Cheesy atmosphere.
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