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| - I am shocked at the horrible reviews. After living in Italy for 8 years, I have spent the last 13 looking for octopus salad and this was the only restaurant I have found so far that has it.
I knew this establishment was authentic when the sommelier (or I guess the "waiter # 1" most people are referring to...) and the very helpful, informative waiter spoke to me in Italian. After much conversation, I learned that the waiter was from Milan and has served at several other reputable restaurants in NYC and the sommelier was a young woman from Rome.
We had the $140 pp prix fix and I found it to be a great deal. The fish is flown in from Italy daily, and in fact, I haven't had seafood cooked and taste like this since my last time in Sicily. This is the real deal.
We started with the 4 appetizers. The scallops on the porcini mushrooms was heaven. Porcini mushrooms are very rare and difficult to find in the US and I was EXTREMELY impressed to find them fresh cut paired with this dish. Usually in the U.S. they can only be found dried!
The octopus salad was also very delicious but I have to admit I prefer the one in Italy because it's served as a real salad, not just paired with potatoes. The clams were very delicious, full of flavor. Our last appetizer, the arugola salad was very yummy and light - perfect pairing.
Our main course consisted of seafood risotto, pasta, and ravioli. I could instantly taste that the ravioli used hand-made dough - which was also impressive. The risotto was cooked to perfection and the pasta was al dente. Everything was perfect.
Finally we had our second course which was the fish. I was impressed with the generous serving and also the side dishes of the zucchini and onion&tomato topping on the fish. The contrast of the vegetables with the clean, fresh taste of the fish was amazing.
And finally, the three desserts, which made our neighbors very envious, was also rich in flavor and delicious. I especially enjoyed the home made gelato & sorbet trio combo as well as the panacotta with berries...
All in all, one of the best Italian restaurants I have been to in the United States and I can't wait to try Bartolotta's sister restaurant, San Domenico in NYC soon...
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