Ornella Trattoria Italiana

One of my favorite places to eat in Astoria!  Here are my two reviews.


2/14/2011
After a few more visits, Ornella has become one of my favorite restaurants in Astoria.  From he value, to the service, and most importantly the food, this place is fantastic.  Recently I had a wonderful dinner here on a Monday which is steak night.  The steak was amazing, well seasoned, a tender beautiful porterhouse, for $15!  I had the sheet of fresh pasta stuffed with a melange of chicken, pork, mushroom, cheese and various other things, served over a pink sauce.  Fantastic flavors, great rich filling entree.  Then the owner walked over with a new entree he is working on, knowing I enjoy funkier foods as well as the classics he offers me something I've never had, sheep.  This was a great cold sheep salad with vinegar over greens.  It was not as gamey or funky as I would expect sheep to be, this was clean and very nice, although not very lean.  I liked this very much, fun flavors, great match of heavier meat with fresh crisp lightly seasoned greens.

I've also been here for the Pork Night, which I have to say really excited me.  It was by complete surprise and i was thrilled with this dinner.  It started with Porketta over greens, a good cut of meat not featured often enough, love this start.  As with everything, this was a big starter.  The The best course was the pork tenderloin in red wine sauce.  One of my favorite cuts of meat, in a very rich sauce, rich and velvety.  Pork heaven.  The pork blood pudding was very good, the texture was strange but delicious.  Love the creativity and the fun that Ornella brings to the table.  The standards are excellent and huge, from the Parmesan to the steaks as mentioned.

They have excellent wine by the glass, or half carafe as it seems they serve.  Great value again.  The owner cares about the food he serves, its something different than you can get pretty much anywhere.  Quite a few dishes i've never seen and are I hear from various little towns in Italy, as well as wonderful house creations.  This is one of the places i recommend most to people in NYC, or looking an amazing meal at Queens prices.  Half a block from the train, this place is highly recommended!


10/17/2010
Really interesting well made Italian food.  Very nice relaxing place, very friendly service.  They serve some traditional Italian dishes (parmigiana) and many smaller dishes you can only find in certain towns in Italy.  They do not limit the food to region either, its diverse Italian food.  We started with a small carafe of Chianti for $15 which was about 1.5 glasses each, very nice price for dinner.  For an appetizer we had the Duck Meatballs in what I believe was a cognac sauce.  Really nice appetizer, like nothing I've had before.  They were large and stuffed with cheese, the sauce was very sweet but i thought it went very well with the meatball.  For my entree i had the Chestnut fresh pasta with pistachio cream sauce.  Fantastic dish, a bit heavy, but that's what i expected.  Very rich creamy sauce, lots of flavor, highly recommended.  The veal parmigiana was very good, standard.  For desert we the lemon cake and the eggplant cake are both good choices, not very sweet, but a good refreshing end to the meal.  Excellent flavors and service, I'll be back here for sure.  Looking forward to trying other things on the menu I've never had before.

DiWine

I've been here about 3 or 4 times, its quite good.  Here are my 2 reviews:

1/1/2011

I was here the other night and had some food that tasted fantastic but suffered in the technique department slightly.  The Gorgonzola fondue was amazing in the flavor and very creamy rich cheese, but the bread was cold and not toasted  The cold seafood salad was filled with very good fresh seafood.  The way the squid was cut was unique.  Sliced very thin, fantastic texture, but the dish as a whole could have used a lot more flavor, some citrus or vinegar or something to take the dish to the next level.  The Datil (dates wrapped in bacon) was excellent but the bacon did not hold its wrap around the date, they need to cook it with a toothpick to keep it from falling apart.  This is a dish I always enjoy and they did it right with the texture of the bacon which was perfectly crunchy, and their own spin with a spicy sauce.  A nice variation on the tapas classic.  We enjoyed this very much.  We shared the Smokey Swine pizza, which was disappointing.  The bacon was not cut into pieces and was very difficult to eat on the pizza.  A bit too much cheese.  But lastly the crust was a bit overdone but the center of the pizza was very underdone.  I think the oven might have been too hot.  The last dish we had was the Foie Gras, which again was fantastic in the flavor department but the delivery was a bit off.  Again the bread was not toasted, which would have made it a more enjoyable dish.  But the Foie Gras itself was incredible.  Good mixed drinks too.  Overall I love the music they play and most of the food is very good.  Great friendly service.  I will be back very soon. 


5/24/2009
I live right around the corner from this, and i agree with the reviewer who said this block needed a place like this.  I'm sorry it took me so long to try it.  Wonderful environment, excellent food! The service was casual and friendly.  The ambiance is excellent, dim, lots of wood, dark and lovely.   They have an impressive wine selection, as expected, good prices too.

We had the Kampachi Sashimi to start, excellent fresh Tuna with what i think was spicy mayo, and a soy based sauce.  Very nice sized portion, excellent start.  We also had the 5 cheese plate.  This was very good, but non of the cheeses jumped out at me as being special, or something i could not just pick up at a decent cheese place.  Still, all the cheeses were excellent, especially the Port.  The fig on the side was a nice touch, another great appetizer.  

For the main course we shared a white pizza with fresh mozzarella, blue cheese, peppers and i believe oregano.  I've lived in Italy back in college for a few months so I tend to know what good brick over pizza is, this was not the best i've had but certainly an excellent pizza., prepared perfectly.  The flavors were fantastic, perfectly matched together.  The dough was flavorful and crisp.  At $10, the pizza's are a good size and very worth the visit.  Tiramisu and Cream Brule were both excellent as desserts.

2 Drinks, 2 Apps, 1 Pizza, 2 desserts came to $67.  The music was mainly folk pop, which does match well with the environment, although it can be nauseating at times.  Thankfully there was some Marley in the mix also.  I will definitely return, especially for the pizza!

Chirping Chicken

Most of this food is not good at all.  Under-seasoned, overcooked, bland food.  I've had the ribs, which were alright, not a lot of meat, on the small side, boring ribs.  The fried shrimp were terrible, don't order these.  For the sides it was all terrible.  The corn was extremely overcooked, actually i bet it was swimming in a warm bath for the majority of the day by the time they sent it over to me.  The rice was very bland, even for rice!  Mac and cheese, well you can guess, soft mushy pasta with a bland cheese sauce, same for the lemon potatoes, which although boring were the best of the sides i tried.  Overall, not a good value at all, and terrible quality.

Sabry's

So glad i took the 10 minute walk here from my house, absolutely loved this meal, as did my company.  We sat outside, perfect summer evening, not to humid, not to hot.  Great relaxing atmosphere, great attentive service, friendly and calm.  We could have sat there all night if we wanted to, that's the impression i got.  The food was outstanding, simple, and excellent.  The Tahini was excellent and the Babaganoush was the best i've ever had!  Served with excellent toasted thick round bread.  I like these dips so much i ended up ordering more to take home.  We also had the grilled octopus which was excellent and very fresh.   The shrimp soup was spicy and packed with shrimp in a great broth.  For the main course we had the Branzino which was as expected excellent.  Perfectly cooked, slightly crispy skin, great garlic and oil sauce, just a perfect dish.  Even with the extra 2 appetizers to go, we spent about $65 for all this food, fantastic value, and makes this place a must visit.

Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company

As far as bagels go, this place is about as good as it gets.  Huge fresh bagels cooked the traditional way (boil first, then bake).  Great selection of cream cheeses and other goodies.  Fresh orange juice, great coffee, nice service.  They pile on the toppings so much, that it feels like an order of cream cheese with a slight topping of bagel!  Too much for me, so i usually ask for just a smear.  They even deliver which i appreciate on Sunday mornings.  Highly recommended for a huge NYC bagel.

Renaissance Event Hall

Just 3 months old, Renaissance Steakhouse is a real gem in this area.  A really beautiful restaurant/banquet hall used for private events (weddings, etc) on the weekends as far as I can tell.  There is a nice balcony overlooking the dancefloor or you can sit in front or outside the restaurant also.  They are very new and are still working out some kinks but the food is excellent and the atmosphere matches.  I've eaten here twice and been really impressed with the food thus far.  It is cooked perfectly and decently priced.  Clearly they have a talented chef.  The menu is usually small and changes each time I go, but I like that, it shows me what is fresh and it is good to change things up.  It's not a typical steakhouse, they offer far more than just steak and seem to be heavy on the fish.  That said, the steak is excellent.  I've had the Filet Minion and the sirloin (blackened on our request) and they were both excellent, tasty, cooked perfectly, and lean.

The Filet Minion was really out of this word.  It was a filet, wrapped in bacon, topped with cheese (Roquefort perhaps, maybe blue I forget), fried onions and onion rings.  Overkill for sure, but fantastic flavors and textures.  The crispy onions and the soft caramelized onions are a great contrast, really work with the meat, cheese and bacon.  Yea this is a meal you shouldn't order more than say once a year, which may not be a problem, as it was not on the menu the 2nd time I visited Renaissance.

For appetizers I've had a salad, which was huge and very tasty.  The calamari in tempura batter was extremely tender calamari, not chewy at all.  Perfectly fried in a great tomato sauce.  Not a large appetizer and a bit steep for $11, but excellently cooked and very tasty.  My fiancé loved her Shrimp stuffed with crab with a lobster sauce.  Great flavors, cooked well.  The only problem is that it did not come with a side dish, yet the other entrees came with a side dish.  The last time I ate there I had the baby lamb chops.  Not a large portion but cooked and seasoned well, served with spinach.  Good dish.

Overall the service is a bit slow, but they are very nice and the food is just excellent.  The prices are decent, better than many steak houses in NYC.  Highly recommended for a great meal, but only if your not in a rush, this is dining.  They also have a nice bar, and show movies on Tuesday nights.

Gowasabi Astoria

Not great, but not terrible.  Went on Mothers day, and my mom loved it,although she is easy to please when it comes to food...  Personally I'd say almost everything was a decent to not so good.

Our waitress had no idea what she was doing, and was not listening at all.  I had to repeat a few things, and she ended up standing over me looking over my shoulder while i pointed to the menu... Even then she got a few things wrong.. Really bad service.

The miso soup was bland and it tasted fishy.  Strange miso, not so good.  The Shumia was the same standard stuff you buy in the freezer section.  This was ok but not hot enough.  We had asked for all the sushi together, which being in a sushi restaurant i expected to be served in some kitch boat or something, instead they put 3 rolls on 1 huge plate, and 1 big roll on another large plate.... So we each had to reach over a plate to grab the rest of our meal, terrible presentation...

The rolls themselves were not put together well at all, maybe that is what they are going for? Or maybe the sushi chefs are amateurs..  The spicy salmon tasted alright, the best roll of the 4 we had, but they cut it into 8 thin slices instead of 6 and the salmon was falling out... the spicy tuna was good, same problem thu.   The smoked salmon roll was mostly cucumber, but what salmon was there was not fresh even for a smoked fish.  We ordered some big role with about an entire eel on it... Sounded good, but by the time it arrived the eel was nearly room temperature.  Still a good roll, but unless its cut in small pieces and served hot from a toaster I shouldn't order Eel.  We ordered 2 pieces of White Tuna sushi to finish off the meal.  Of course what we got was 4 pieces of sashimi... This i enjoyed a lot, but it was cut way to large.

We waited forever for the bill but when it finally came we were informed that they have a special where you save 5% if you pay cash, which is nice.  So i paid cash and it was surprisingly inexpensive, it came to about $40.  The food and service was pretty bad, but its inexpensive.. So maybe if you went for some avocado or shitake rolls it might be worth it?  Not recommended.

El Mariachi Restaurant

My favorite Mexican place in Astoria, I would give this a 3.5 were it possible, but I'm always so satisfied that I'll bump it up to a 4.  The food is very good, taste fresh, huge portions and its cheap!  I've ordered in from this place a few times, but have yet to eat in the restaurant so this review is mainly about the food.

I really enjoy the tacos.  Queso is excellent, its grilled white cheese, i usually get it with guacamole.  Its a nice size taco with tons of flavor for 2.50.  The carnitas is very good.  Its lean, cooked well and tasty.  The rice and beans are very good, standard.  I've had the green and red tamales, they are excellent and taste fresh, with lean chicken or pork inside.  The nachos are standard, very good, and the chips were not stale, which is the norm when I get mexican in Astoria.  What we usually order are the Tortas.  They are HUGE, excellent value for $6-$7.  I enjoy the Piernas Torta, the spicy pork leg is very good.  Excellent sandwiches, big enough to have 1/2 for lunch and 1/2 for dinner.  Their fried shrimp is a dish I like very much, they use large shrimp, fried well in I believe breadcrumbs until crispy. 

If you are thirsty they have an excellent Mexican hot chocolate!  Its warm and perfectly seasoned, really unique hit sweet drink.  They also carry large bottles of Jaritos, Tamarindo is my favorite.  They are very nice over the phone and the food arrives very fast.  Huge portions and cheap prices, highly recommended for delivery!

Piccola Venezia Restaurant

Excellent northern Italian food, my favorite Italian place in Astoria.  Someone at my table said, in an affectionate way "They have not changed the menu in 25 years".  The meal was just like i expected it to be, fresh food, great service, expensive, busy for a Tuesday night.  When we walked in they had about 5 cooked dished to view which was a nice touch, and did influence our choice in entree.  The roast veal looked amazing, although we did not end up ordering it.  Nice decor, simple and effective.  A warm place.  I've eaten here many times, this review is based on the first experience there.

The meal started with warm bread, always a plus.  Butter, which being northern Italian cuisine I guess i should have expected that , but i was hoping for olive oil.  We were also given a complementary plate of small pieces on cheese, a cured meat and some olives.  Nice touch, good starters.

For appetizers i had the Fussi alla Grappa (bowtie shaped pasta with mushrooms, grappa and parmigiana. This was alright.  The pasta (which i was informed is made fresh daily) was not great, it was not a bowtie at all and more like thin flat pasta rolled over itself, not a great texture.  The sauce was good, again not great. Very heavy on the garlic, which I love but it might turn some people off.   We also had the crab cocktail. That is an item I order ofter, this one was excellent.  Very large portion (which it should be for $16.50), large pieces of moderately sweat crab, lemon and cocktail sauce.  Standard but excellent.

For the entrees I had Salmon with a white wine, garlic, lemon type of sauce.  Huge portion of fresh salmon, nothing else on the plate but the salmon and its fantastic oily sauce.  They removed the skin and the gray part which I appreciate.  Strange presentation for sure.  The side plate had spinach (excellent, sauteed, standard ) and potatoes gratin (on the cold side but full of flavor).  Both were excellent, but it would have been nice to have it on the plate with the salmon, so the sauce would flavor both.  Overall this was an excellent dish i would order again, the salmon was bursting with flavor.  My table also ordered the Arrosto d'Anatra (Roasted LI duck in Gran Marnier Sauce), which is another dish we have shared many times in other restaurants.  The sauce was fantastic, not the usual orange sauce i'm used to, it was thicker and richer.  The duck however was on the small side.  I love a crispy Long Island duck, but they can run on the small side. Once you have had a very large 1/2 duck with the fat between the skin and meat trimmed off by say La Primavera on Long Island, its hard to enjoy this duck.  Aside from on the small side, it was way to fatty.  Still the taste of the meat and the sauce was excellent.  While not every dish was totally satisfying, the food overall was very good.  Quite expensive, but worth it for the right occasion.

After multiple visits it keeps getting better and better.  The Buccoloni is amazing and very unique, fresh sheets of pasta wrapped around Osso Bucco in a light tomato cream sauce i believe.  One of my favorite dishes in all of Astoria.  Order it for an appetizer, then get fish for your main.  The Oysters are always excellent, so you could also start with those then finish with the buccoloni.  Almost everything I've had here is great and the service is attentive and friendly.  Every time I go here its packed, every single time.  Its worth a wait.  Highly recommended.

Cavo

I had a good meal here although nothing was great, besides for the fish, which they did next to nothing to, so if anything the fish gets the credit!  If i had the option i would give this place a 3 1/2 star rating.

I went on a Tuesday night, it was busy but not packed, still a few tables and we did not have to wait.  Very nice large open space, great staff, helpful friendly and professional.  Meal started with warm pita and olive spread which was very good.  For Aps we had the chicken suvlaki, it was not great.  In a tomato and onion sauce, not alot of flavor, kinda a miss.  We also had the Greek spreads: Humus, tzaziki and a feta and red pepper spread.  It was all good, nothing great, the humus was a bit flat, the feta and red pepper spread was a bit intense and not easily spreadable.

For the main course we had the black sea bass, head left on but deboned, very nice fish, very fresh, cooked perfectly.  The spinach on the side was bland, could have used garlic, the same can be said of the potatoes, which were slightly undercooked.  There was a special with sirloin steak over mashed potatoes (with of course a much fancier name, was it 'pureed'?) which came with a 'garnish' (???) of short ribs!  This was alright but misleading, it was not sirloin steak, but a few cuts OF a sirloin steak, my father was disappointing.   The steak it self was ok, not very tender.

Overall not bad, not great, kinda overpriced, but a very nice place that would be perfect on a date.  They have red and white sangria, the White i preferred much more, i think i tasted a hint of peach in it, more like a fruity beverage than a wine drink, but very good, recommended, although it was $10 which is crazy high for basically  1/2 a cup of wine.

Point Brazil

This place is excellent.  The food is tasty and CHEAP!  I believe its 5.95 a pound.  The staff is very friendly and welcoming.   The restaurant itself is quite small, about 7 tables or so, all close together, I have yet to eat in.  They do amazing take out.

The food is mostly salad bar style with the grilled meats in the back.  Typical churrascaria selection, but quality ingredients for sure.  They usually have talapia in a coconut sauce, it is excellent thu.  The rice and salads are good, standard.  They usually have a pasta that is always tasty and platanos.  As well as rice and beans.

For the meats, it is exactly what you would expect, lots of styles of meat.  Rotisserie style.  Lean cuts, usually on the well done side.  Lots of flavor, lots of salt too.  Very juicy meat.  I really like the turkey wrapped in bacon.  The sausage is great too as are the cuts of red meat.

Sometimes when they are slow the grilled meat can be a bit overcooked when served, but its still a steal for the price.

Highly recommended for take out, good to eat in if you don't mind it being small.  They have great deserts and juices also, this place is a wonderful addition to the area.   So cheap to!

Astoria Diner (Closed)

I have eaten here once.... And ordered from here about 100 times!

I live this dinner.  I would give it 4 stars, but its just a diner.  Almost nothing they do is excellent, but nothing is ever bad.  Fast service, very friendly people taking orders, large portions and cheap prices, basically its your typical dinner.

One thing you have to try is the large fried shrimp as an appetizer, its amazing.  Excellent large shrimp, really good portion and well cooked always, worth the price.   They seem to always have cream of turkey soup, which is alright, a bit bland, but the red peppers in it add a nice touch.  The french onion soup is very good, and the matzah ball is ok.   The turkey burgers are good, standard.  The burgers are better then usual dinner burgers, i really enjoy them.  Panini's are great, good bread.  The crazy fries, like the Disco fries or the lord of the (onion) rings are good but arrive soggy most of the time, those may only be good for eat in, avoid smothered fries for take out.  Shakes are fun, the Elvis shake with bananas and peanut butter and chocolate... yea its great.  The baklava is usually very fresh and excellent, this being Astoria i would expect no less.  Salads are great, fresh quality ingredients.  I usually order a turkey sandwich of some sort, its always lean.  Good turkey.  

24 hours, cheap, fast, and about a million items on the menu.   Love it.

Nuevo Jardin De China Restaurant

Good Chinese food, decent Cuban style food, not much mix.  I guess i expected more of a mash between the two styles, instead either one or the other, not really fusion.  Still good food overall.  Better than the usual Chinese food in Astoria.

The meal started with hot bread which is certainly not usual.  We started with the fried dumplings.  Not enough meat, all breading, thu it tasted good.  The Yat Gaw Mein Roast Pork was my favorite item of the night, the port was very tender, lean and tasty.  The broth was simple, a tad salty, but good.  The Corn Chicken soup was decent, also a bit bland.  For entrees, the Shrimp and salmon were not very good.  Both overcooked, bland and not as fresh as they should have been.  The General Tso's chicken was good, typical.  The Arroz con Pollo con Jamon was not very good.  Bland, boring.   The platanos were exactly the same way you would get anywhere, they gets points for that.

The service is good, they are nice and attentive.  They make good mix drinks, surprisingly.  The prices are a bit high for food of this quality.  Recommended if you love Chinese food.  If not, its not really worth it.

Seva

Decent Indian Food.   Nothing special, not worth going out of your way for.  The one thing that this place has going for it, are the VERY cheap prices, it is one of the cheapest Indian places I've had.

We waited about 10 minutes to get menu's after being seated and the manager took our order after waiting another 10 minutes.  They were very busy with take out as well as it being a packed restaurant, so they need more staff.  I asked the bus boy for the check at the end of the meal, since our waiter (the manager) was very busy.... Of course the bus boy never passed on our request and we waited another 10 minutes before i simply asked the manager for the check.  Frustrating.

The food was OK, and that's because i just love Indian food, but it was some of the worst Indian food I've ever had.  The Crab Cake Masala tasted like fake crab (should have expected that...), the chicken malai kabab was very tasty but i had a huge chunk of fat or grissel that was just nasty.  The chicken samosa, a first for me, was good, simple, nothing special.  The maleghotony soup was bland.

The entrees were also bland.  The shrimp korma was extremely overcooked, its almost like the chef does not understand that it really only takes 60 seconds to cook mini shrimp.  They left the tails on, which i never understood, i am supposed to dig my fingers into the sauce and rip off the ends of the shrimp???  The Shrimp tandoori was very overcooked and nearly burnt, terrible tasting.  The chicken Korma was boring.  The Korma sauce was very bland, not a good dish at all.

Overall the only reason i MIGHT go back or at least call in, would be the prices.  $12 for 3 courses is quit good.  They need more staff and a better chef thu!

Christos Steak House

I've lived a few blocks away from here for over a year now and I had no idea this place was here!  I went in and was pleasantly surprised, this was a fantastic meal!  I love all the exciting new foods I get to experience in Astoria, I've been eating lots of Moroccan, Egyptian, Spanish, and Thai in particular so my father was thrilled to hear about a good steak house in the area.  He's a meat and potatoes kinda guy, thu he has really enjoyed Brazilian, Spanish and a few other styles in Astoria.  This place exceeded all expectations.

The ambiance of the restaurant is very nice, soft lights, nice size, you're close to but not right on top of the table next to you as you would be in NYC or at either Peter Lugar locations from my experience.  I only bring up PL because so many people have compared the two.  While I did not try the porterhouse, which is the real test of how this place compares to PL, I will say the rest of the meal exceeds PL.

As mentioned by others this place is like the best steak house you can imagine, only about "1/3 cheaper then Bryant and Cooper" as my father stated.  Even more exciting is that because it is a Greek place, they deserts, apps, and sides far exceed anything at most NYC steak houses.

The meal starts with cold bread, and an olive spread.  Decent, very unappetizing looking.  For starters we had the corn chowder with lobster and orzo which was very good thu not outstanding, the lobster was small and hardly noticeable and the orzo was kinda a strange combination with the corn soup.  We also had the lamp cigars which were excellent!  Ground lamb and vegetables wrapped in filo and either lightly fried or baked, I could not tell because they were not greasy at all, they way that type of dish usually is.  Very highly recommended.  They also has sweetbread which I did not get to order but will in the future.

For the main course I had the 14 ounce (!!!) filet minion with a Roquefort topping and a red wine garlic reduction.  Very very good, strong flavors, lean meat, not as flavorful as the ribeye, but I prefer my meat lean, so this was excellent.  My father also got the filet with a béarnaise sauce.  Another excellent cut of meat, perfectly cooked, although the sauce was a bit thinner than usual and not quite as flavor full.

As side dishes we shared the lemon potatoes and the creamed spinach.  The spinach was excellent, less of a blended item and more leaf's of spinach than PL does, which I really enjoyed.  The lemon potatoes were the only thing we did not like.  They were not very lemony and actually very very spicy, too much pepper I think.

Dessert was a real treat... I had the best Greek yogurt I've had since, well, my time in Greece!  Sheep's milk yogurt with honey, walnuts and quince.  Absolutely to die for!  Rich and creamy and worth the trip back is only for this one item!

Overall wonderful meal, friendly knowledgeable staff, nice location and vibe.  Highly recommended!

Brick Cafe

Good food, great atmosphere nice staff, however the food was not great.  The food was exciting on the menu, but somewhat disappointing on arrival.  The bread was not fresh and while it still tasted good, i would have perfected it reheated/baked slightly instead of the the cold somewhat chewy bread we got.  It did come with a good olive mixture.

I started with a salt cod (Bacalao) over polenta.  This was very good, the highlight of the few dishes i tried.  They removed almost of the salt, very nicely done.  It was in a pile, broken up almost like crab.  They could have done alot more with the flavor, but the fish was excellent and went well with strips of grilled polenta.  Very large portion, nearly the size of an entree.  My fiance had the prosciutto and mellow which was good, but instead of wrapping the melon in prosciutto they just piled it on top it, kinda strange.  People at my table said the Onion soup was not very good.

For the main course I had the veal cannelloni which was strange.  2 large cannelloni with a veal and cheesy type filling.  There appeared to be 2 sauces, a Béchamel, which was way to thin, and a brown sauce that might have been drippings from the meat.  It was almost sour like they used vinegar, i did not love it.  There was something a bit off about the taste.  Overall a ok dish.

My fiance had the Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce.  This was a big disappointment.  The sauce was weak, and a poor match to the bland Gnocchi.  It did have a very nice texture, to often from restaurants its gooey and mushy, this Gnocchi had a bite to it.  Aside from it being a bland dish with thin sauce, there was no color variation at all and no herbs added.  Off white pasta on a white plate with off white sauce.  Very boring and kind of shocking they would serve it like that.  Jazz it up!

Over all the food was decent but lacking something.  it is also too expensive for the quality of food, although to portions are big.  It is very cute and you can eat outside.  They do have a nice menu with many options, so i might be have to try something else.   Slightly recommended.

Mombar

This was such a wonderful meal!  I'm a big fan of the Kebab Cafe so i figured i needed to try his brother's place... We walked in and were greeted with big smiles and welcoming attitudes.

My friend and i had the tasting menu, fantastic deal!  $30 for bread, appetizer, and THREE entrees... Sure they were smaller than your usual entrees, but only slightly... We walked out of there totally stuffed!

The meal started with farmers bread in a sauce that i think had balsamic vinegar, hot fresh and wonderful.  The chef asked us what we like and we told him he could surprise us.  He asked if we ate tripe and feeling adventurous we said we would try it.

The appetizer was kinda like sausage stuffed with rice and other things... Like someone mentioned below it was a little bland, but overall very good.  It was definitely stuffed in some sort of Offal.  Good start to the meal.  The first entree was some sorta fish dish, perhaps tilapia,  with tomatoes and peppers with couscous.  This was fantastic.  Moist fresh fish with wonderful flavors.  Excellent dish.

The next 2 meals were almost identical to each other which was a slight disappointment.  They were both with rice tomatoes, peppers, carrots, zucchini, chick peas served with rice.  The first dish was Lamb tagine and was just incredible!  The lamb was very noticeably Lamb, meaning it has that funky lamb taste that i love.  It was extremely tender, moist and lean.  The second dish was the tripe.  This was my first time eating tripe and thu i'm proud that i tried something new and sorta adventurous, i really did not enjoy it that much.  I've never had something so soft yet chewy at the same time... Very very strange texture.  Not much flavor to the tripe itself beside the sauce, which is guess is a good thing considering what it might have tasted like were it not cleaned properly!  It was disappointing that both the last 2 dished were basically identical, thu they were very good.

The house wine was $4 a glass!  Decent wine to.  The waitress was the chef's wife and was very nice.  They were both thankful for our business and i will certainly be back.  We had a feast of a meal for $30 each... No room for dessert, but we did walk up the block for some mint tea and hookah.  Wonderful evening.  I highly recommended this place for those that want to dine.  I believe the meal took over 2 hours, which is fine with me!  If it were possible, this would be 4.5 stars.

El Jamon (CLOSED)

One of my favorite places in Astoria, never ever busy, closed not long after it was open, but it was amazing...


Review #1
I called up, the person on the phone was really nice and explained a few items to me, being one of my first Spanish meals.  For appetizers or Caciones we had the Datil (Dates stuffed with almonds and wrapped with bacon), this was incredible.   Really rich, and layers of texture.  The outside bacon was perfectly crispy, the date was soft and juicy and the almond was a nice crunch to finish it off.  Really unique flavors, excellent appetizer.

The Queso Frito De Cabra (Fried  Goat cheese with honey and Sweet onion) was also very good.  It amazes me how many countries have a fried cheese dish... This was great, i like the combination of honey and cheese.  It was not greasy at all either.  Although we did not order it, in our bag was something that might have been the Patatas Bravas, (Fried Potatoes with spicy sauce)... Although it was more like sweat potato and there was no spicy sauce.  This was very rich, kinda heavy, but not greasy, good stuff.

We skipped on main courses and instead got 3 Tostas (toasts).  I really did not know what to expect, they were offering expensive ingredients for cheap.  I was really impresed with what arrived.  Each  order was 3 peices of bread with topings... We had Hogaza De lomo (Melted Manchego Cheese topped with grilled marrinated pork loin and piquillo pepper).  The meat was very lean, flavorful and jucy.  The Pechuga De patp (Grilled Sliced duck breast with a balsamic vinegar and shallots soy sauce) was excellent, the duck was cooked well, and it was a generous portion on each piece of toast.  I like soy sauce in dishes outside of asian cuisine, it made this dish really stand out, compaired to the other flavors.  This was my favorite of the three.  The last one was also very good thu, Gambas al ajo blanco (shrimp sautee with scallions and almond puree).  No suprise here, a very nice portion of small juicy shrimp.  This one was the lighest on flavor, but still very good, maybe some lemon would have helped.  The bread used for the toast was excellent, very fresh.

Most of the food was inexpensive, the Tostas were $6-7 each, the dates were only $5, the fried goat cheese was expensive at $8.  I want to sit down for dinner and check it out, the pictures on the website look nice. Highly recomended at least for delivery/takeout!

Review #2:
Since writing my first review, i've ordered take out 3 times as well as visited the restaurant for a sit down meal.  I cant speak highly enough of this place.  First off its owner is a very nice person who is a great host.  I brought my father here who is very picky and he described the food as "phenomenal", which is rare for him.

Beside what i have previously mentioned, i've tried many other things.  The shrimp with garlic app is small perfectly cooked shrimp that arrives at your table in what i would describe as an oil bath! its bubbling hot and very garlicky when it arrives at your table, nice presentation.  The lentil soup is the best i've EVER had, its smokey and meaty due to the churizo they added.  For only about $11 we had a half chicken with crispy potatoes and what i believe was broccoli rabe, fantastic juicy chicken for cheap.

Trattoria L'inco

I've lived in Italy for a few month and i tend to have high standards when it comes to Italian food.  This place was kinda hit or miss for me, and it was expensive, thu not to bad.  Huge place, really impressive size and the fact that we had to wait 10 minutes for a table on a Wednesday certainly speaks highly of the food.  The waiter spent literally 5 minutes reciting the specials from memory.  There must have been 40 different specials, and i'm not exaggerating!  It was really impressive, if not somewhat frustrating to not have them listed in front of us.  The meal started with good bread, a flat bread and a tomato spread, very tasty.

The food was decent to very good, thu I don't think anything was excellent.  There were 5 people at the table and I got to try a bite of everyone's meal, one benefit of eating with family :) ...

The pizza was not hot and not impressive, neither the sauce, cheese or bread were that good.  We had 2 ravioli dishes to start, both very small and good thu not great.  One had apple, cheese and nuts, good flavors.  The meat ravioli with a nut sauce was also good.  Both were to small.

For the main dish i had the bronzini which was fishy.  Everyone at the table who had a bite said it was to fishy.  Kinda sad to get not so fresh fish at a place that serves 2-300 people a night, very unexpected.  The flavors for the fish were ok, it was ginger and gran marnier, although i did not taste the ginger.  We had the pork chop in a red wine sauce that was a big disappointment.  Not much sauce, and it was not really that tasty.  The pork itself was hardly seasoned at all.

One thing that was excellent was the hazelnut gelato, the best i've had since Italy!  Really excellent stuff!

Overall i walked into this place with high expectations and was slightly disappointed.  Not sure i will return.

Ristorante Ponticello

I had a very nice meal here, but it was very expensive.  The food was very good although nothing was excellent.  I ate here on a Wednesday night with 3 family members, the place was busy.  Nice looking restaurant, very high ceilings, mirrors all around.

The meal started with cold bread and butter.  Kinda strange not to be offered olive oil.  I don't think i had butter once in the 3 months I lived in Italy, to be fair this was northern Italian and i lived in southern Italy, so for all i know this is typical, although I doubt it.  I ordered the Stuffed Avocado with Crab, it was good.  Crab was good quality canned crab, on a 1/2 avocado with some onions, red peper and lemon.

Others at the table ordered the Lobster Ravioli, which was a very small portion even some a heavy dish, there were only 3 ravioli's.  My fiance had the Eggplant Rolatini, which she liked very much, but it was not actually rolled it was more like eggplant parm.  The table also had the Pasta Vongolette, it was very good, huge portion of small New Zealand clams.

For the main course i had the Stripped Bass with a light tomato and Onion sauce and polenta.  This would have been great if the fish was better, it was not as fresh as i would have liked.  Good but not great dish.  The polenta was a huge disappointment, because i was expecting the traditional version, and instead it was more like polenta cakes, still good but not the best way to enjoy polenta in my opinion.  My father had the Chicken and Filet Minion combination, you would have thought he died and went to heaven.  He loved the meat, very nice size piece of filet with surprisingly a marsala sauce that worked real well.  The chicken turned out to be fransais, well done.  The Swiss Chard potatoes were very good and something i've never seen before.

4 people had apps, entrees, desert and a drink each and the bill came to a little over $200.  The service was  very good and they were very accommodating turning entrees into apps and vice versa.  I would not go out of my way for this place, but if your in the area its worth a visit.