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just got home and had to share a wonderful experience. for a new york restaurant staff is very friendly and great service. the food is wonderful. i even overheard tables next to mine how great the meal was. the wait staff could not be nicer or on the ball. never a crumb on the table. loved my swordfish it was the best i have ever had. i would definately go back. it is a little pricey though.

Was a little hesitant about going here after reading the reviews but I must have been in a different restaurant. The service was wonderful - helpful, pleasant, timely. The food was excellent and certainly not small portions. We couldn't finish our shared pasta - it was so rich and delicious - but after the very ample appetizers...... Little room for the main course, the branzino for two - very good - and a good contrast to the very rich dishes that came before. No room for dessert, but the little cookies that appeared on the table were great. And the coffee was terrific too. We will be back.

although every Mario establishment has very good food. he trains his people to make you feel that they are doing you a favor to eat there. there are enough great places to in NYC that his condescending attitude shouldnt be tolerated.

I had some of the best food I have ever eaten in NYC at Esca. The tuna carpaccio was amazing and so, so fresh. The heirloom tomato salad was bursting with color and flavor. The pasta was cooked to absolute al dente perfection. The bus boys were great and majorly attentive, constantly cleaning every crumb that fell on the table and changing all of the silverwear and side dishes with each course that came out. Unfortunately the waiters were pretentious and rude and ours completely ruined my evening by talking down to me. When I ask for parmesan cheese on my pasta, I expect it to be given to me. I don't expect to be condescendingly told that it's a "major taboo" to ask for shredded cheese on pasta. (As if I asked for ketchup on it or something!) I did notice after that there were no salt and pepper shakers on the table either. That would probably be a taboo as well. I do get the concept of enjoying a meal the way a chef intended it to be prepared but I don't appreciate being rudely denied something by a server when I am paying that much for a meal. Then he did not bring me the muscat I ordered with my dessert. That must have been taboo as well even though they were paired together on the menu. So unfortunately, I can never go back no matter how fresh the fish is.

Arrived 30 min. late for our reservation and were still seated right away in the garden. We had the tasting crudo which the chef picks and all were great, but just a touch too salty. We then had the tuna ravioli as a second dish. Main course was the Branzino for 2 which was baked in salt and drizzled with olive oil just like being in Italy and sides of a mixture of sauteed vegetables and potato. Wine completed this great meal. There is so much on the menu to try that I will have to go back several times to taste it all.

My boyfriend and I went here for lunch during restaurant week on Friday. We had the crudo and white anchovy (alici) appetizers, the capelini pasta with pesto, squash and mussels, and the seared striped bass. Then we had the dessert, which was something like a very light cream puff with a crunchy exterior and fresh fruit. Everything was fantastic - especially the crudo. The crudo of the day was seared bluefin tuna with fennel pollen and sea salt. It was the best seared tuna I have had in a long time and trust me, I have had a lot. I was a little nervous because of the negative reviews I read on menupages and citysearch, but I would say that Esca meets all of the high standards of any Batali in NYC.

Our experience started off with kindness at the hostess stand but ended when we sat down at our table. Surly waiter that treated our order as if it was taudry. Good food but small portions. Waiter accidentally knocked a full waterglass from my friends hand and didn't bother to apologize. Wait staff let us clean up the glass while the stood and watched offering napkins once we were done. My friends joked at possible compensation, a simple apology would have been nice. Bill was higher than expected as even simple diner salads were $11 a la carte to a small portion of fish.