okay, my experience is based on take out, but in some ways that should make things easier for a place. having read the raves (which, frankly, were suspiciously uniform....who notes lack of parking a con in a nyc eating experience? are all these overly exuberent and easily impressed diners from the suburbs? or are these reviews written by the same hand?) anyway, dialed in for the calamari and a sausage pizza and my hubby toddled off and stayed gone for an hour and a half. seems that the 'pearl' couldn't be bothered to call the number i left and tell me they were out of sausage (out of SAUSAGE?!), requiring hubby to order a replacement once he showed up and wait. and wait. and wait. the fill-in pie was a smoked bacon in a vodka cream sauce. sounds divine. except there was no bacon (alright, i exaggerate, there was a half a slice of bacon scattered meagerly over 8 slices. really). and no vodka. which left a crust with the character of cardboard lashed with an okay tomato sauce and a rather nice mozz. the calamari was, in a word, tough. will we return to the black pearl? with so many better alternatives and intriguing new places popping up, why bother?
Pros: edible. but we were starving after waiting
Cons: muddled service, disappointing food
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