Babbo - Birthday dinner with teens?

[donnapg]

Was thinking of going to Babbo for my husband's 50th. We will have our 16 and 19 year olds with us. Will they be out of place here?

Thanks.

[c oliver]

I was just looking back at some earlier threads and found this again. Soooo, how was dinner? Good, I hope. Please give us a little report back if you wish.

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

Donnapg, have a great time at Babbo! I have tried the last three times to NY to get in and finally we got reservations for this Thursday and we are so looking forward to it.
I guess three times a charm and yes, it took about an hour of dialing.

But hey, you only live once so live it up and have a great time...please give a report, for I will give one once we return home (not Ohio or Nebraksa but BERMUDA) :)

[donnapg]

Thanks so much for all the comments. I will be on the phone 30 days before and hope to get a reservation!

[c oliver]

I just double-checked their website and it's one month to the numerical date, not 30 days. So if, say, you want to go there on Nov. 1, you'd make your res on Oct. 1. We wanted 12/22 last year (my husband's birthday) and 11/22 was Thanksgiving when they are closed. So, in that case, I had to call on the 23rd rather than the 21st. We live on the west coast so I just started hitting redial at 7:00 a.m. PST and got through in about 10 minutes.

[donnapg]

It is 10:32 and I have been hitting redial for 32 minutes. Starting to give up hope. Open to other suggestions. Thanks

[c oliver]

Oh yuck. Well, I'd keep trying til you actually get through and are told no. Maybe it's tourists from Nebraska and Ohio who don't speak English :) Good luck.

[donnapg]

Took an hour of redials but we are in. Basically had my chouce of times even. Can;t wait.

[c oliver]

Yay! I'll repeat that our expectations were very high and Babbo exceeded them. Let's hear back from you in a month, ok?

[kathryn]

Have a GREAT time.

Here's a post I wrote on another message board about how to get the most Babbo Bang for your Buck:
http://ask.metafilter.com/98460/Bemus...

[c oliver]

Oooh, it's not even 10a.m on the west coast and reading your post had me drooling. I've only been to Babbo once but I second the avoiding the tasting menus. They were too heavy on the pastas (hey, it's a pasta tasting menu!) and/or too heavy on desserts (which we can always do without). By picking and choosing our bill for two was $150 which included two glasses of prosecco to start and a bottle of wine. And I agree that they will really work with you on wine selection. I could just say, hey, we're really just not interested in a $100 bottle of wine and that was honky-dorey.

[pastry634]

Have fun! Let us know how you liked it.

[Virchis]

i think babbo is great

[kasiav]

Totally not out of place. While this is a white table cloth restaurant, indie and classic rock albums are the soundtrack to your dinner. The menu has things for both the more and the less adventurous.

I've been, had great service and delicious meals and would definitely go back. I think your kids are very lucky and should have a great time.

[UES Mayor]

I totally disagree w sing me a bar-i live here and been to Babbo maaaaaaaany time and always enjoy it especially the dining room upstairs. Sing me a bar makes tourists sound bad! I love meeting new faces and telling them what to order at Babbo etc. Take your teens!! They will love.

[c oliver]

OK, I'm a tourist living in N. Calif after 20+ years in San Francisco where I assure you, we have our tourists. But the presence or absence of tourists doesn't define a restaurant. Do you see a lot of them at the worst restaurant you ever ate? That said, I can't imagine that your kids wouldn't find plenty of things on the menu that would suit them. AND they can try your more adverturesome things. Every service person we dealt with was just as friendly and helpful as could be. And the reservation issue is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. With the three hour time difference, I started calling at 7a.m. PST and got through in about 10 minutes. Got a res for 745 if I remember correctly. Our expectations were high and they were exceeded.

Boy, I guess I'm a little fried about sing me a bar's trashing of tourists. We're sometimes inconvenienced by them and sometime ARE them. I guess that person doesn't ever travel. Sheesh. Sorry if that's a mini-rant but let's face it, cities like NYC and SF get a HUGE amount of $$$ from those tourists from "Nebraska and Ohio." Enough said.

[pastry634]

I disagree with sing me a bar. I found Babbo to be a very enjoyable dining experience. As long as your teens understand that Babbo is anything but traditional Italian fare (i.e. no red sauce and meatballs), I think they should fit in fine. Take a look at the menu and see if they find it interesting or not. Don't get me wrong, I've heard my fare share of horror stories about Babbo, mainly about the frustrating reservation process and sometimes snooty service. However, as previously stated, I personally would recommend this place to tourists and locals alike.

[kathryn]

Agree. I go to Babbo. My friends go to Babbo. I take out of town friends to Babbo. People visiting NYC from out of town go to Babbo. So what? It's good for tourists and locals (like, oh I don't know, a certain America's New Top Model host that we spotted last time).

[kobetobiko]

Totally agree. A great restaurant will for sure attract locals and tourists. I don't see a problem with that. In fact, a lot of the people who work in NYC restaurants themselves (like in EMP, Gramercy Tavern) told me that Babbo is one of their favorite spots to dine.

Also, to be fair to any tourists, who said they only frequent restaurants that are not good? Don't we NYers become tourists when we travel to other states or countries?

[sing me a bar]

It's predominantly tourists now. People from Nebraska and Ohio and wherever that are here two nights and were told they HAD to have a meal there by someone who wanted to be perceived as a restaurant maven. I would discourage you, as it could be a snooze for the kids. Also the servers patronize you as if you've never eaten TRUE Italian fare before. That's when you can find yours. The last time I went I wished I'd just set fire to a pile of twenties instead of giving this venue my money.

[MellieMac]

I tend to agree that you should look elsewhere. Went to Babbo Sat. night. My companions pasta was so poorly cooked it had to be sent back. They did have the good grace to take it off the bill. The rest of the dinner was just OK. I really dont understand the hype. I keep trying to give it another chance and it just doesnt ever win me over. If you do give it a try, be sure not to set the bar too high that way you wont be disappointed.

[BW212]

I found the service (upstairs, never eaten downstairs) to be incredibly friendly, considerate and thoughtful. Not snobbish in the least.