Scarpetta

I just went to Scarpetta's last night for Valentine's Day with my girlfriend. First they required a credit card hold for my reservation "because of the high demand" and explained that a $95 a person charge would be charged if I happened to cancel. Along with this form came a fixed menu that showed the options for our Valentine's Day meal without prices. I looked for prices on the regular menu to get a basis of the price and guessed I may pay about 100+ for a meal including drinks, tax and tip. When we arrived the restaurant was essentially empty, (so much for the high demand) and the price shown on the menu now was a fixed $150 a person! By this point I had lost my appetite but since i was already locked in and they had all my credit card information I tried to grin and bear it. The food that came to us was bland, unexciting, and the portions were miniscule. The best past of the meal was the bread basket. I hoped that for a $150 dollar meal I should be eating like a king. When all was said and done my bill came to $400 dollars (including tip). This is an absolute travesty I felt completely cheated, as if I had fallen for some elaborate scam. I am still sick to my stomach over the experience and would recommend anybody looking for a fine dining location to look elsewhere.

While the service was good, our food was not. Considering we spent over $100 for 2 entrees and one appetizer, I expected fireworks. The 'world famous' spaghetti was undercooked and nothing spectacular, it reminded me of canned spaghetti sauce. The pork loin consisted of 2 TINY pieces of pork and some corn/tomato relish, yet cost $38 and did not taste very good. Like some of the other reviewers, after watching Chopped and hearing about Scott Conant for years, I was extremely disappointed with my experience at Scarpetta. I had been excited for weeks, expecting a fantastic dining experience, and this was a huge bummer. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Expensive prices for mediocre food and tiny portions. Not a good way to run a business or maintain a reputation.

Very disappointed. Got seated 45 min after our reservation. Food was not ggreat. Very small portions and pasta was overcooked, even by my standards (i like softer pasta). I agree with all the recent posts, this place will disappoint.

My seafood was not fresh. It tasted awful. The service is excellent though and they have great wines by the glass. Appetizers and dessert were very good. But I wouldn't go back here.

After seeing Scott Conant judge people on Chopped all the time I figured I'd see if he could put his money where his mouth is. Walk-ins with no reservation that approached hostess stand ahead of me were told there was a 30 min wait. I got seated 25 min after my reservation. Apps were a mise busch size and entrees were an app size and everything was totally unremarkable save for my scallop which was raw.

The fish (halibut) was spoiled:the chef tried crispy broiling but it still stunk. Then, without my request for, the waiter produced the skimpy tail of a Branzino. Shame on all of you involved in this caper. The waiter should be grateful that he got a 20% tip.

Sloppy, distracted service and shockingly overcooked pasta (both my black tagliolini and my dining companion's spaghetti). Given the prices and this place's reputation—particularly in terms of the pastas—the whole experience was surprisingly disappointing. The spacey service and mushy pasta would have been a let-down even in a lesser restaurant, but here those issues are especially egregious. Scott Conant is all over TV cooking shows talking about high standards for pasta; he needs to keep an eye on this disappointing, overrated kitchen.