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Trendy sophisticated nonsense! quail eggs -beef tartar- pumpkin paste - i have travelled all over this world and never saw a restaurant so Full of it- some people think this restaurant is so exotic that they are ashamed to admit that they find the menu odd and expensive- true it is creative- but who cares! i would rather slum around a trattoria eating something more mundane like lasagne or veal meatballs and spagetti!!

I finally tried this cozy restaurant and am so glad I did! I read some of the earlier reviews - maybe Alloro hadn't hit its stride yet. The food was fabulous - innovative, unusual, and fabulous! The basil ice cream was surprising delicious and the eggplant appetizer was to die for! They are starting their new menu next week and I will definitely be going back soon to try it out!

I dined here for Restuant Week and prehaps the most fitting thing I can say is that is worth the trip from my officen downtown. The food was imaginative and complex enough to evoke meals at Alinea in Chicago. Prosciutto with foamed cantelope; strawberries with basil sorbet and nutella mouse; pasta with rabbit ragu, fresh mozzerella and truffles; each dish was materful in the combination of flavor and texture. My server was friendly and warm as well. All and all an excellent choice.

Before I begin, If you are looking for traditional Italian cuisine, do not come to Alloro. There are at least 5 other Italian restaurants within 3 blocks which serve traditional Italian fare (some even do it well). If you want traditional spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, or pasta primavera - go somewhere else. If you're looking for something completely different, come to Alloro. At first glance it looks like your normal neighborhood Italian restaurant, but a quick peek at the menu, and the furrowed brow that follows says this place is anything but normal. You will (and should) ask your server a lot of questions on how the dishes are prepared and what to expect. The chef takes a lot of familiar foods and preparations and starts to play. The dishes are unconventional, whimsical, and tasty - although you may have some trouble wrapping your head around some of the preparations - like cantaloupe mousse (for prociutto et melone) or anchovy ice cream with mozzarella. It's not what you're expecting. This is advanced eating, the dishes are complicated, there are a lot of subtle "jokes" about traditional Italian food. Some of the preparations are confusing and there will be moments that you will have no idea of what you are eating. But if you go into it with an open mind and a sense of humor, you'll have a great time.

After reading the menu online, in addition to the review in Time Out, I was excited to give Alloro a try. I think the best way to explain the food was that it was so underseasoned that for the first time in my life, I actually had to add salt to the dishes. For composed food with such a theoretical attention to texture and flavor, I was shocked at how BLAND all of the dishes were. Beautiful, but dull, boring, irritatingly flavorless. Sigh. The service was attentive perhaps too much so. At times, my dining companion and I were actually made uncomfortable by the waiter hovering over us. Leering, is more like it. Perhaps even lurching. y companion asked me if we should pull up a chair for the waiter. Funny, yes. But an illustration of how oddly intrusive the server was. The manager (owner) asked repeatly how we enjoyed the meal. At first, I thought she was being inviting. But I quickly realized, the third time she came by, that she may have actually been self-conscious and worried that the meal was awful (maybe she had some inside information and a reason for concern?). I'm glad we tried Alloro I think it's important to support local commerce. But I would most definitely not return. I wish that the food that was actualized had in some way delivered on the promise of the menu. I'd like to think that it will improve, but I'm sorry to say that I seriously doubt it. All smoke, no fire.

Clearly the head chef has a vision here at Alloro. Each dish serves as a study of texture and innovative use of familiar flavors. With that being said, I found my dishes to be poorly executed and at times, even slightly stale. My first plate of steak tartar included a sort of horsreadish sorbet which was alarmingly sweet for a supposedly savory dish and icy in the way that old ice cream gets when it is in the freezer for too long. My dessert was some sort of brulee/flan, and I discovered a single glob of gelatin in an awkward spot. That clealy was unintentional. Look, I think alloro has some good ideas flying around and if you live in the neighborhood and dont feel like traveling south to have a unique dining experience, give it a shot. Otherwise, stick to the basics somewhere else.

I was looking for a place to meet a visiting friend staying on the upper east side. She wanted Italian, and although this fare would never be my choice for summer, I conceded to my guest's request. I'm very happy I did. As the UES is not my usual stomping ground, I found Alloro through TimeOut (It was first on the list and convenient to where she was staying). We asked our server for his recommendations, told him of what we were hoping for my one request was for nothing too heavy. He started us with an eggplant parmiggiana. It was delicious and remarkably delicate. I ordered the swordfish with a crust of spinach and lavender as a main, and my friend, the risotto with parmisan and cantaloupe. We were both delighted by the way the subtle tastes worked so well together. Our very charming server informed us that the light and fresh menu uses seasonal ingredients and would be changing throughout the year. I'll definitely make the trek back uptown the next time I'm craving delicious, authentic, Italian!