Maialino

The title of this review describes the food and the experience. Pseudo-Italian/Roman, both over-hyped and overpriced.

Well here's a new one...the two little greeters /bouncers were so hideously mean that my guest and I decided to skip the whole ordeal. After we were stared down by the creepy greeters/bouncers we were informed that the wait would be forty five minutes at least. Considering the space was nearly empty, it seemed quite clear that we just weren't good enough. Oh poor us!

Dinner bar side tonight. Fried artichokes as an appetizer which took more than 1/2 to come, claiming it was because the kitchen had no more paper to print orders. Although bar tender was smart enough to say that he thought something was wrong, he said he made sure he placed the order, which I saw him do. He had good attitude and making it no big deal. Then the primo was fettucine with artichokes, Fava beans and mint in a butter sauce. Pasta should have been one notch thinner. No where were artichokes to be found. But it tasted good. They brought a big raviolo with spinach ricotta and egg yolk in a butter sage sauce filling was way too liquidy, to the point of being a choice of too wet of ricotta. Although this was a chefs compliment given the wait, it was disappointing. It's now month since opening and now I think the only safe find is the meats and cheese and vino. PS stay away from the guanciale tequila mix, nothing unique about it and not worth $13. $6 yes but $13, no.

we are from the neighborhood and have dined there three times now, every time thinking that "well, they just opened, things will be better next time". well, they have only gotten worse, much worse. we will never return, even if we got the meal for free. the waitstaff is a joke. the food is borderline disgusting and so uneven that it is hard to believe that you are eating at the same restaurant each time you go there. the first time we tried the lasagna it is over salted to the point of being inedible and served bubbling hot like lava, the second time warm around the edges and cold on the inside and tasteless. the house special, fried artichokes, are soggy, previously frozen affairs that arrive luke warm and gummy, the pasta vongole tastes like clams in dishwater, everything else is absolutely forgettable. only two pluses: the bread is passable and there is a very nice 30- something man who works at the reception desk, very nice and the only one who seems to have brought his brain to work that day. yuck, yuck, yuck.

Mediocre food, friendly but slow and poor service. Seriously overrated.

I have dined here 3 times. Each time the food has been very good and the waitstaff possibly the worst in NY. They are untrained, uneducated and unconscious. It is too bad that the management doesn't hire professionals and relies on kids with no restaurant or dining experience.

why all the hype? mediocre food, nothing more.