467271 Fri Dec 07 07:46:39 -0800 2007 7 20 Tristate Region 0 3187602 Dinner at Aperitivo, Angelo Mazzone’s new place, on 12/5. He just opened this Italian small plates restaurant near Proctor’s theater in Schenectady about three weeks ago, but we’ve been so eager to try it out, we couldn’t wait. Service was pleasant and attentive if a bit rote at times. The hostess was quite personable despite a small reservation mix-up (our fault – we gave one name when reserving and another at the door) and offered to show us both the lounge and dining room so we could decide what atmosphere we preferred for dinner. We wound up in the lounge, which seemed a bit livelier (preferable for this kind of eating, we find.) Our server did some things very well – the dishes were well-paced and she even offered to hold back some items when she saw our eating slowing. On the other hand, her continual and somewhat robotic “How’s the x?” “How’s the y?” “How are you doing?” seemed a bit like a chain restaurant. Remember, though, that this place just opened up. I would hope to see this smooth out. There was also some slowness at refilling water (often a problem for us, as we drink lots of it.) Overall I’d rate her as average, or even slightly above; not exactly to our taste, but she handled things well. Although one could eat a traditional meal here, we stuck with the small plates this time. Our dishes: Eggplant ricotta sandwich – this looked a bit like a round ice cream sandwich. I only ordered this because I had heard it was good, and I was afraid it would turn out to be too pedestrian. Happily, we both loved it – crisp at the edges, tender and non-greasy interior, with a generous serving of ricotta that was marscapone-like. It came with some fried basil and a pleasant pomodoro sauce. $4 Beef tenderloin carpaccio with truffle oil, truffled cheese and shitake chips - not bad, but not the explosion of flavor we expected. The shitake “chips” were terrific; probably the best thing about the dish. At $10 we also found the portion slightly small – we would get this in the future, but probably not until we’ve tried everything else on the menu. Broccoli Rabe – one of our favorite dishes, so we were excited to find it here. This version wasn’t bad; it had a spicy, lemony undertone that distinguished it from the usual family garlic-fest. On the other hand, I am rather partial to the garlic-fest. Again, we’d order it another time, but not too soon. $4 Roasted mushroom blend – excellent. A particularly good choice for a cold night. Nothing crazy, just good ingredients prepared well – we longed for another serving that night! $4 Gorgonzola dolce w/ grilled peaches and a balsamic syrup – the only small downside with this dish was that the server brought it first. We would have much preferred it at the end of the meal, but didn’t specify so I can’t hold it against her. This was also terrific, sweet and rich. We had a hard time choosing a cheese as they all looked good, but this didn’t disappoint. $5 Risotto balls with prosciutto and peas – two good-sized balls on pomodoro sauce, with a thin sheet of cheese on top. We’ve only had these couple of times before, but these ones seemed pretty true to form. Again, good work with the fryolater. $5 Fennel dusted lamb chops – Two small chops; one was particularly wee, but I was feeling pretty full at this point, so it wasn’t an issue. Cooked just right, tender and juicy, with a nice demiglace. At $9, while relatively pricey, this seemed more reasonable than the carpaccio. They could lamb chop me up again anytime. I should note that this was the one area where we disagreed – my husband was not as impressed by the chops (though he ate 2/3 of the dish happily enough.) He noted, correctly, that any fennel dusting was so subtle as to pass by our taste buds without a trace. As he is very partial to fennel and I am slightly averse to it, this may explain our disparate reactions. The wine list is extensive and seems well thought out, with an array of interesting grape varieties, half-bottles, wines by the glass and even some flights. This time, having just spent loads of cash in Paris, we chose an inexpensive Primitivo, which was fine. I look forward to taking better advantage of their choices in the future. I was especially excited to see the half-bottles; these work so well when dining out and yet are hard to find. They’re definitely trying for that hip, urban feel – exposed brick, open kitchen, funky lighting, etc. That works for me as it’s not like Schenectady is in the position yet of having too much of this. We joked about how we could take out-of-town guests here and make them think our city is cooler than it is. Near the front door was a very interesting nook with large leather benches that could be used as seats or tables, and some brightly colored chairs with oversized backs (very Tim Burton.) Even from where we were seated, about halfway back in the lounge, it seemed a bit chilly when people would enter or leave the building. A good-sized group had nonetheless claimed that area. I can imagine that in good weather, this will really be a coveted spot to see or be seen. Total bill with tax and tip was something like $80, which I thought was quite reasonable. The website is here: http://www.aperitivobistro.com/aperitivo_bistro.htm Fri Dec 07 07:46:39 -0800 2007 25664 meg944 1 3214042 Thanks for the report, meg944. We went to Aperitivo Bistro this weekend. We sat in the back dining room. The atmosphere in the room we were in is not as lively and fun as the larger bar area which has a bistro vibe. My SO requested the back dining room when he made our reservation. He had been previously and sat in the bar area. We had the following: Warm bread was served with basil butter, tapenade and olive oil (they add balsamic vinegar tableside if you want it). Nice to nibble on while you select a bottle of wine. Verdure ($5-$8) Stuffed artichoke hearts with roasted garlic cream - delicious and very garlicky Crudo ($8-10) Spicy tuna tartare with wasabi tobiko, ginger scallion sauce and tempura flakes. We asked for this to be served first and it was. Good, nothing special. This was our least favorite dish. Fritti ($4-$7) Calamari arugula and a sweet chili glaze - this was one of our favorite dishes. Eggplant ricotta sandwiches with basil, and pomodoro - simple, fried and delicious. Meg944's description encouraged us to order the eggplant and we were not disappointed. Formaggio ($5-6) Gorgonzola dolci grilled balsamic peaches - delicious. The balsamic syrup was a lovely accompaniment to the grilled peaches and bleu cheese. Agree with OP this would make a nice finish. Frutti di Mare ($5-9) Seafood scampi - sea bass, scallop, shrimp with roasted garlic butter. Our second least favorite dish. The fish was fresh and cooked perfectly. Dessert Pizza frite bites with 3 dipping sauces (wild berry, warm chocolate and macadamia caramel) - I thought this dessert sounded awful so of course we ordered it. It was delicious! Mini fried pizza dough dusted with powdered sugar. We also had espresso. The menu also had salads ($9-10), pastas ($12-18), pizzes ($12-18) and piatti ($17-27) which we did NOT try. All but two of the dishes were delicious. The presentation was also lovely. We were satisfied with 3 small plates each and still had room for a taste of dessert. We wiill definitely go back. As mentioned by OP the service needs some work. Maybe they can have some of the experienced, veteran servers from The Glen Sanders Mansion train some of the "chain" staff at Aperitivo. My SO had a good server (Derek) when he went previously and the server (Mike?) for the table next to us also seemed good. When we asked him if he could get our server when he had a moment, he asked what we needed and ensured our tuna tartare came out first. Now that's teamwork. Our server had tables in the bistro bar area and the room we were in. This may have impacted our service. Our server was pleasant and perky, a bit TGIFridays-esque ("absolutely"). Some of the minor service issues included: not remembering the wine we ordered and coming back to ask us (luckily a sommelier served us the wine), not pouring our wine and bottled water (we took care of that ourselves), pacing (we received 3 small plates at once), slow clearing of plates. To recap: +Food (and presentation) +Lively, bistro, atmosphere +Small plates +Wine list -Lively, bistro atmosphere (it's more mellow in the back dining room) -Service needs fine-tuning Sun Dec 16 19:55:22 -0800 2007 3187602 73159 financialdistrictresident 2 3222806 I'm so glad you had a good time as well! Be warned; I tried to take my mom in for her birthday last Saturday at noon, and despite the hours posted on the website, the place was shuttered. I emailed - I'll post here if I hear back. I am curious as to wheteher it was just a typo or whether they are still in their "soft opening" phase. Good weekend lunches and Sunday dinners are definitely more difficult to find in the city, so I very much hope they will be offering them and our experience was just an anomaly. Wed Dec 19 12:58:47 -0800 2007 3214042 25664 meg944 3 3225887 Had a nice lunch there recently. We did a sampling of their pizze: had the pizza al funghi, a Margarita (the pizza, not the drink) and the Buffalo chicken/Gorgonzola. All good-very thin, cracker like crust, like a flatbread. Had a nice Dolcetto and a Barbera D'Asti that were both decent. Had the Caesar salad which, for a different twist, came with white anchovies, which I really like. We'll be back. Thu Dec 20 11:54:25 -0800 2007 3222806 46008 markabauman 3 3232180 I should add that I received a very nice email from the folks at Aperitivo. Apparently the website was not changed when hours were changed - it's fixed now, but here are the hours: Lunch: Monday – Friday 11:30am – 2:00pm Dinner: Monday - Saturday 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm; Sunday 4:00pm - 9:00pm Pub Fare: Monday - Friday 2:00 pm – Close Sun Dec 23 06:11:27 -0800 2007 3222806 25664 meg944 1 3263977 We went to Aperitivo for lunch yesterday. We had the crab cake sandwich and pizza margherita. Pizza crust was thin and crispy - superb. Per the menu the pizza said fresh mozzarella. Not sure what type of mozzarella they used but it didn't look (wasn't white) or taste fresh to me. Crab cake sandwich's spicy sauce was very good. Crab cake was okay but overshadowed by a large, fluffy hamburger type seeded bun. Fries were okay. Might have been frozen, except there was a bit of potato skin on them. To be fair, I'm pretty particular about my french fries and only like them fresh, not frozen. Service was excellent (Tracey) and what we would have liked to experience when we had dinner there. The lunch menu is very different than the dinner menu (no tapas). Maybe we didn't order well and should have tried the soup or salad. We would probably not return for lunch. Sat Jan 05 09:57:57 -0800 2008 3187602 73159 financialdistrictresident 2 3267817 I received a gift certificate from my sister for Aperitivo for Christmas. Was very excited about going here before I read financialdistrict's review. Perhaps will follow Meg944's review and keep an open mind! Sun Jan 06 17:05:10 -0800 2008 3263977 154733 SnobsisTER 3 3269036 SnobsisTER, we really enjoyed our dinner there. The place is still new and getting the kinks out. Suggest you go for dinner and not lunch. Mon Jan 07 06:57:43 -0800 2008 3267817 73159 financialdistrictresident