Rethinking Babbo
We were able to snag a reservation at Babbo for our upcoming NYC visit. However, after reading some of the negative comments, we may need to substitute another Italian restaurant. We were considering doing the tasting menu with wine pairings but need to be mindful of the cost and keep below $200 each. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011
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Had dinner at Babbo last weekend. If you synthesize all of the Chowhound posts, the positive and the negative, you will know what to expect: a menu of well-honed favorites, an excellent and fairly priced wine list, helpful waitstaff, and loud rock music. At this point in its lifecycle, Babbo offers congenial familiarity, not surprises. Also ate at Del Posto last weekend and it was certainly a better experience in every way, but it is also substantially more expensive.
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011Del Posto
85 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10011›1 Reply -
I would recommend Felidia highly. You will be treated like family, and just the atmosphere there feels like home. It is warm, and intimate, and the food is real, rustic Italian. Some of the entrees are pricey, but you get so much for free that it makes the experience all worth it. You will get an amazing bread basket, a trilogy of flat breads, and wonderful cookies after dinner. $200 dollars will be plenty, and you will feel so satisfied.
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Felidia
243 E 58th St, New York, NY 10022 -
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There is nothing wrong with Babbo, and since you have never been there I am sure you will enjoy it, but there have been better places that have opened in the last few years. Scarpetta, Maialino and Ai Fiori are examples of these, but my current absolute favorite is Ciano. I really feel it beats all the others, and the prices are not excessive. They have a great wine selection, too.
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Ciano
45 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010›2 Replies-
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re: Simon
fluke crudo
veal meatballstagliatelle with crab
pappardelle with duck
garganelli with mushroomslamb loin
When we were there this week, we had 3 dishes from the tasting menu (all of the dishes on the tasting are available a la carte) and they were amazing:
gazpacho with lobster
soft shell crab sliders
crisp duckI also had a special of gnocchi stuffed with sausage. They looked like agnolotti, but the dough was made of potato. It was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had.
For dessert, the tiramisu semifreddo is excellent.
It's great that is is in your neighborhood, but I would not call it a "neighborhood" restaurant. It is definitely worth travelling to.
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I think you are going to find negative comments on this board about every restaurant in NYC. Was there something in particular about the negative comments that has turned you off Babbo? For instance, you might not care for the loud music. Otherwise, I think there are enough positive comments about the food that you should keep the reservation. One way to save some money might be to order bottles of wine instead of doing the wine pairings, particularly if there are more than two of you. I had a really great meal at Babbo and have nothing really negative to say about it apart from the noise which was a little loud. If you are interested in a quiet, romantic dinner Babbo may not be the best place.
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011›8 Replies-
re: ChemWork
InfoMofo and ChemWork, thank you both for your positive comments. There will only be two of us at this particular restaurant and we are both "Mario Fans." So I think we will just keep our Babbo reservation. Do either of you have a preference to the tasting menu or just ordering from the menu?
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011-
re: cjml
They will seasonally have special tasting menus, and I had a really stellar tomato-focused tasting menu one time.
They also had a pasta tasting menu, where every course including dessert was pasta- and that was interesting... but way too much, I wanted to die by the end.
If they're not offering a special tasting menu, I don't think the normal tasting menu is anything that special versus the a la carte, especially if you're not doing wine pairings.
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re: cjml
I would advise that you order a la carte, if only because the most famous dishes are NOT on the tasting: pig's foot, tripe, octopus, lamb's tongue with three minute egg, mint love letters, goose liver ravioli, the pork chop, the sweetbreads, etc.
I've had several meals there a la carte and always been pleased.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/527074Of course the trade off is missing out on the wine pairings.
More on dishes at Babbo:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/754619
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/583928
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/701188
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/563179
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/543101
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/524042-----
Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011-
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re: nohofoods
I am a huge Babbo fan and find the staff incredibly accomodating. I tend to design my own tasting menu with my gf. Basically, we share 4 to 5 dishes (pastas and appetizers usually) and ask for wine pairings. The server gladly splits each dish for us and serves one at a time. It's a great way to sample a lot of the menu and can be quite affordable. Enjoy your babbo experience!
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011
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You're going to find negative comments about any restaurant, to be honest- the most important thing is to see the context from which they came, and if the reviewer has brought up legitimate concerns that you would be troubled by, then you should take them to heart.
I do like Babbo, but another upscale italian place with tasting menu/wine pairings that I like would be Scarpetta. Al Fiori is very nice, but probably not going to clear under 200 each.
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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014Ai Fiori
400 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018
