CityGuideMagazine.com Member Reviews
Register Now to review, and rate this listing!

I would never suggest it to an italian tourist. Disappointing. - by Adriano_Altorio on January 5, 2007 I just came back from a Christmas vacation in New York. Being a tourist, I wanted to celebrate Christmas Eve with my girlfriend in a good restaurant. Searching with Google I chose Sandomenico, mainly because it was really close to the apartment I was staying at and then because it seemed a nice place. I was born in Rome and lived there for most of my life, I've tried thousands of italian restaurants all over the country and some of the best ones too. I was raised by an italian mamma universally renowned as a great cook. Plus I'm the founder of one of the most visited italian sites on cooking. So I can say that I'm not at all an unexperienced reviewer. The place. Never in my life, in any of the restaurants I visited in Italy or throught Europe, I felt so much treated as an "Economy Class" visitor, though paying the same amount of money of the others in First Class. In Italy too there's a particular attention to regular and well known customers, but in Sandomenico you could feel the net distinction on your skin. There's the main room on the right with candles on the nice rounded tables, comfortable sofas and a view on Central Park. And then the Economy (but just for the standard, not for the final price) room on the left with squared and long tables that made impossible any attempt at conversation, being the room too noisy. The tables seemed cheap and the chairs were cheap for sure. In Europe we have the same ones in public high-schools! Huge mirrors on the walls that don't help at all to create an atmosphere. We had to wait at the entrance to be seated, together with a party of 6 people. The owner (or who I guessed to be the owner) came and offered them a glass of Prosecco to apologize for the long wait. Most likely they were regulars and not the occasional tourists like me and my girlfriend. Only four of them accepted the Prosecco and the owner had two left. He looked at us and brought the glasses back to the bar. Even though we were standing really close to those people and we've waited for the same amount of time. The food. I laughed out loud when I saw the menu. And my girlfriend, being from Paris, was wondering why. I made her notice that spaghetti with tomato sauce were charged 21 $, and the really funny thing that spaghetti cacio e pepe (one of the poorest and simplest plate of the roman tradition) were charged 24 $. It's as if an american restaurant in Rome would charge 20 euros for a plate of macaroni and cheese!!! The quantity of food was abnormously out of proportion with the price charged for it. As an appetizer I chose "Cannoli di polenta croccante" that were charged 24.50 $. Cannoli is a plural word in italian. But I received only one single and tiny cannolo, lost in the huge whiteness of the plate. The quality could be considered only slightly superior to average in Italy, but I imagine that in the States is valued as excellent. But most of all for the same price in Italy you would eat in a restaurant where your eyes would roll over in pleasure. The bill. Out of proportion with the quality and quantity of the food. I'm not complaining on the price itself, because I've paid even much more in some italian restaurants. But eating much better and much more. At the end they added a 14 $ Tiramisu that we didn't eat and I made the waiter notice it. Pros. The only pro has been the kindness of the italian waiter Felice. Suggestion. I'd bet you can find many better places in NY. Avoid.