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Some friends made reservations here for a group of 8. The ambience was quite nice, but the food was a DISASTER. The specials sounded but great but were much more expensive than menu items and not well prepared. The arugula in the special salad was barely fresh. The soft shell crabs were mushy, tasteless and sitting in a puddle of goop, and had to be returned, as did an overdone steak. The deserts were mediocre at best - very large, but not well prepared. The chocolate desert was not very rich, and the crumbles on the apple crumb desert -- which should have been crisp and dry - were soggy and too large to be cooked to a proper temperature. This place puts on a good show, but the food was dreadful and the price was high -- skip it if you can.

I finally checked out Nino's, a neighborhood restaurant that always intrigued me by walking by. Upon entering this restaurant, we were immediately greeted by the owner. I felt like that fact that the owner himself, checked us into the restaurant made the dining experience much more personal and special. The appetizer menu had so many good options on it that my dining partner and I had a lot of trouble picking one out, but were so happy to have the Mozzarella Di Burratta! Loved the Mignonette Rossini & the Pappardelle All Anatra. The serving of filet mignon in the Mignonette Rossini was a generous size and was cooked to perfection. It was just as good, if not better than steak I have had at many steak places. It was also a much better value than being at a steak place, because for the same price at a steak place you wouldn't get the foie gras, port wine reduction sauce, spinach, or potatoes. Those would all be extras! My dining partner and I both agreed the steak was awesome, as well as the sauce. The Pappardelle All Anatra had ragu sauce was extremely meaty and delicious! Nino's doesn't have a written dessert menu, and only offered up a list of homemade desserts that our server verbally told us. I am one that prefers seeing an actual menu rather than being told verbally whats on the list. So picking a dessert was a little more stressful than usual. We picked the zabaglione. Zabaglione is an italian custard that is made with milk, eggs, sugar, and alcohol of choice of the maker. Our server made the dessert right in front of us which I thought was extremely cool! It was like having a performer perform at your table. Our zabaglione had champagne in it and some other type of liquor and was served with fresh fruit. Although, it was a little on the watery side. I wish that it was a little thicker in texture so it wasn't like sipping on a soup. Otherwise, the taste of it was nice and light, and refreshing. We also were served homemade biscotti compliments from the kitchen. This biscotti was actually the best biscotti I have ever had. I am used to eating packaged biscotti, and these were very fresh and flavorful! They had a definite taste of almonds, with a finishing hint of licorice. A definite highlight! We also received a complimentary fruit platter which we loved! A definite place to check out if you live on the upper east side!

In comparison to other restaurants that I frequent, Nino's is the front runner hands down. It's the complete package a wonderful dinning experience. On several occasions my wife and I were fortunate enough to be present when this gentleman with a powerful tenor voice began to sing at the table and to our amassment he was just a customer. He sang beautiful love songs in English and Italian. This was truly the Complete Package, delicious cuisine, attentive service and entertainment. We’ve been coming back ever since and hopefully you’ll be as fortunate as we were to be there when this tenor is present. Bono Appetite.

For a celebration we went to Nino's and ordered a 4-5 lb. lobster. It arrived--perhaps 1.5 lbs.-in dreadful fra diabola sauce (minus the claws), was inedible, as well as a huge spaghetti portion, covering the lobster bits, removed from their tiny shells.We did not want or order the pasta but "that's how they serve it." As a gift, the meal had been paid for. The restaurant is tacky, smells of antiseptics, but has one virtue, a shame to be wasted here, a talented pianist, great at jazz and vocal renditions of Cole Porter. This, however, did not compensate for a costly, inedible meal and an indfferent, tacky maitr' d.

Let’s start from the beginning; my parents were visiting me in the city so on a recommendation of a friend we chose Nino’s. I arrived and met my parents in the front who were reviewing a board announcing a price fixed meal for 35 dollars. We entered and were sat and after reviewing the wine list, ordered Chianti (56 dollar bottle); each bottle brought was at least a year or two newer than that stated on the wine list (CHECK YOUR WINE). After complaining to the waiter that the wine being brought was not that stated on the menu and the price should be reduced we were told that the wines were very good and that it just came in and lists hadn’t been updated. I know this is a very typical thing to look out for in NYC but the explanation was clearly nonsense as the wine list pages were folded and very old. The waiter brought the menu and listed the specials and left us, no mention of the price fixed meal advertised outside. After questioning this upon his return he snottingly told us people don’t’ typically order the price fixed on the weekends, so why the big chalk board outside? My parents split the ceaser salad for two, which for 22 dollars was a good size salad for one. I had the Chilean Sea Bass over asparagus and mashed potatoes, which although tasted very good punished me the rest of the night in the bathroom (I live 10 blocks away and barely made the walk home) I have to give kudos to a server name Paolu (sorry for the spelling if in error) he was very attentive, we didn’t see our waiter again until the check, hopefully the majority of the tip did not go to him. This restaurant is trying to create an atmosphere of something it is clearly not.

I also came for the restaurant week menu. Loved the food! Cooked perfectly, lots of flavor, and creative pairing of ingredients Unfortunately, our experience was ruined by the rude, snobby waitress. My mother and I noticed she was acting rather rigid so we tried to lighten up the atmosphere by being friendly and joking. She rolled her eyes and overall acted that she was too good to be serving us. We ordered from the lunch menu but were charged for the dinner price on the check without warning. When I brought up that she should have notified us of the "manager's" change of mind after giving us the lunch menu and CONFIRMING that we could still order lunch, she was condescendingly unopologetic. However, she complained to us and then to the manager within our earshot for the 15% tip we decided to leave...

What an excellent restaurant! My husband and i visited Ninos Restaurant over the weekend and very completely satisfied! The food is absolutely delicious. My husband had the fra diavolo whihc was prepared tableside while I had the pan roasted tuna. Both were just as tasty. The atmosphere is romantic with a live piano player and the wait staff was very attentive even on a busy night. We will definitely be going back to this upper east side restaurant