This is NOT East Coast Italian food. I repeat... this is NOT EAST COAST ITALIAN FOOD! It was one of the worst Italian meals I have ever had. Three stars for the Mozzarella Carozza and Calamari (which brings this place up to a 2 star average) but that is the best I can do. The waitress was friendly enough and did a decent job. However, she did forget my mussels appetizer which I didn't point out because I didn't want the rest of my group to have to wait.
The baked Clams Oreganata had way too much Marsala wine in them. It overpowered the taste. The pasta dishes were over cooked and not al dente. The Lasagna was average but it tasted like it has been cooked and frozen for a long time. The Carbonara and the Spaghetti with "Joe's Famous Meatballs" were both sitting in a puddle of water in their bowls. Drain the pasta properly please. I want to taste sauce, not recycled reheating pasta water. The meatballs were pale and looked under-cooked. Not sure how or when these could EVER be ranked the best in NYC. They were mushy and instantly fell apart. I have had better frozen meatballs and that's saying a lot coming from an East Coast Italian New York girl (sorry nonna).
And where do I even begin with the cannolis? They were the size of a child's thumb, $6 a pop ($3 would have been reasonable), and lacking citrus or pistachio. They had a gummy consistency; tasted like they used flour as a filler. Espresso was served without sugar or lemon peel like on the East Coast.
The dining room doesn't look half as nice in their staged website photos and is coated with dust. It's on the back of the booths. It's on the lights above the tables. You can see it moving on the chandelier in the middle of the room. Make sure it is not falling onto your pasta in place of the Parmesan!
To top things off, we had made our reservation on OpenTable. We showed up on time and checked in. The next morning I received an email from OpenTable saying the restaurant had cancelled my reservation. I didn't even get my 100 points for this terrible meal.
We won't be back. And please, if you have any decency, any concept of what good East Coast Italian food is, don't bother eating here.