Babbo

I too had high hopes for Babbo. We had a reservation for four at 10:15 on a Sunday. We had cockles and arugala salads for appetizers and were good. Next, each ordered pasta. The sausage rapini orecchiette and lobster pasta in red sauce were good, but not earth-stopping. The other two dishes, though, the clams linguini and the special of the night, black pasta with bay scallops were uninspired. There were no herbs or seasonings in either! I could make and have made, better myself. On an up note the wine was delicious and service good. I might try it again to prove it wasn't a fluke, but seeing I only get to NYC once or twice a year, it probably won't happen, unfortunately.

I have to admit, I had very high hopes for Babbo. Honestly, it was nothing special. I felt like everything tasted "too done".. not done in terms of overcooking, but you could barely taste the main ingredient in the dish because of everything else going on in the dish. Our server was terribly rude (to the point of insulting) as well. For the money, I would definitely go to one of the other restaurants in the city. It's not a bad place, but just not great.

New Years Eve Dinner. After all these years, this was my first time to Babbo. We have been to Del Posto and enjoyed it very much (although it was pricey) and expected that Babbo to be great! I was very disappointed. My husband is a vegetarian and he started off with a beet salad which was good but nothing special. His entree was the pumpkin luna ravioli's which were tasty but again nothing out of this world. I started off with the grilled octopus that was also okay but a bit too smoky and squeeshy for my taste. I ordered what i thought was the favored pasta after reading a bunch of the reviews and got the spagetti with rock shrimp and salami - it was not good, i ate some of it and had to order another pasta. It had no taste but salami, no sauce. Felt like something i put together myself at home. I am guessing I read the wrong pasta from the reviews because it really was bad. I then ordered the flat pasta with mushrooms and that was tasty. All in all, the pumpkin ravioli and the mushroom were both good, though at the end felt it was a bit too buttery. We also ordered some sides which i thought were great, the fingerling potatoes and the brussels sprouts sin pancetta. As for as atmosphere, we sat in the main dining room on the lower floor which was near the kitchen so it was busy and loud. i think the upstairs would be a much more enjoyable evening. At the end of the night - the bill wasnt outrageous, $225 for the two of us so if you want a decent restaurant with decent food I guess you can go back but there are probably a lot more other choices.

the foods lost its dazzle. muddled flat flavours which would be forgiveable at half the price. a menu thats starting to feel a little tired....

My friends and I really enjoyed the experience of this place. I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for an extraordinary experience. I had the Black Spaghetti with Rock Shrimp I really enjoyed it. I also tried the Papperdle Bolognese, it was very good. Try this place you will love it.

I ordered the steamed cockles (good but not all shells were opened), lobster spaghettini (the lobster chunks were almost too big to eat, the pasta was decent) and shared a warm brioche with concord grapes and honey for dessert, which was a little too dense and moist. The portions are bigger than they need to be, which makes it hard to try multiple things. Service was okay but they cleared plates when they shouldn't, and didn't clear plates when they should. We waited a while for our check and then were overchanged, however the GM noticed this and fixed the error. Our waitress seemed less than enthused to be there and was bad about checking back with tables and didn't seem to enjoy helping people decide on dishes. I probably won't be back, simply because i can get an equal value of food for less money elsewhere.

Had an excellent meal last night with a couple of friends: spaghetti nero with rock shrimp and some kind of salami, wild striped bass, steak, grilled octopus, sardines, apple crostini for dessert. However the service, while friendly, was definitely neglectful upstairs at primetime. Drinks came slowly, and waiters were tied up with larger tables. Also, our vegetable (rapini) came well after the main courses were served, basically too late. They should have offered to take it off the bill. That said, the food was memorable, and my friends loved the atmosphere, even in the quieter upstairs room.