Bello Giardino
“On the side street on the UWS, this place is a cozy, more traditional Italian restaurant.”
“I feel like the Upper West side is loaded with Italian restaurants that tend to be pricy.”
“The pasta here is perfectly al dente and it's swimming in fantastic rich sauce.”
Bello Giardino
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
OK. We know they are cash only. Just stop at an atm on the way there. If I owned a restaurant and could get away with it I'd be cash only too.
Menu had lots of typical pasta and chicken/ veal options. Our meals were very well prepared and the staff and owner (?) were very friendly. Not a stellar wine list.
One of the nicest outdoor gardens we've seen on the UWS.
Cash only. Very plain trattoria fare not all up to par with some nearby Italian spots. BUT! They have a nice garden/outdoor space and the tiramisu and hazelnut gelato were fantastic.
Super homey-feeling, intimate restaurant in the neighborhood.
I don't love that it's cash only, or that each glass of wine costs $10.
But the food is fantastic — I've had pasta, meats, meatballs, pears, you name it — and loved it all. And the company is even better. Sit around the bar with Megan and you'll feel like you're in your living room with all your best friends and the family members you actually like.
Since it's hard to get that true "feel at home" feeling, especially so quickly, I'll keep coming back.
Plus when it's warm they have a patio for eating outside. Score!
A friend and I stopped by at 6:00 PM on a Saturday evening before a show at Lincoln Center, and it was not very busy. I ordered the tre colore gnocchi, while my friend ordered the special rigatoni stuffed with veal. The warm bread that comes out before the entrees was well appreciated, although the bread itself is not anything special.
The meal itself was not too bad. Pretty standard Italian fare, reasonably sized and slightly on the pricey side. Nothing special, but not a terrible place to go for a meal in the area.
It's taken me three years to visit this, even though this is a stone's throw away from where I live. There's a big sign in front about how their meatballs won some kind of meatball 5 boro competition. I'm 1/4 Italian, so I consider myself a pretty good judge of meatballs. Of course, I had that gold standard of Mom's and Grandma's meatballs to base my judgment. Well…this place didn't exactly bowl me over with their proclamation of best meatball. In fact, I feel like it fell way off the mark. The place gets points though for intimacy – very cute place. I heard they have a "garden" in the back, but I was there on a night where I presume it wasn't open. My friend ordered the eggplant parm, and this was it for me. I have a tough time with eggplant – I am a very harsh critic of it, and I rarely order it unless someone else orders it and I try it to make sure I like it (no seriously – this happens a lot). Luckily, my friend was game to try it…and I ended up bringing it home :). It came with a small side of pasta but the plate was so huge, you can bring it home for sure. I had a spinach salad that had mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and crispy bacon and OMG. It was delish. All in all, I was pleased with this place and luckily for them, I can forgive the meatball transgression, but I expect to be blown out of the water. I wasn't.
Stopped by around 2:30PM and ordered off the lunch menu – reasonably priced, nice sized portions and excellent tasting (fresh bread, good salad and delicious pastas). It was late in the afternoon and we were the only customers – very quiet and extra-attentive service. My wife had a handmade cocktail that she LOVED (asked for and was given the recipe). What a charming little place…recommend. The only oddity? CASH only.
Unfortunately I think I came on a pretty off night for Bello Giardino. Of course to note the positive before I start to go off… The staff was really nice and friendly. They're super knowledgeable and I really appreciate that. Plus their bread isn't too bad. But that's about it.
I ordered the rigatoni pomodoro- a fancy name for rigatoni cooked in a cream-less tomato sauce with a bit of basil. The sauce was pretty delicious but the tomato in it was oddly chunky and not cut too well. Maybe that's just me being texture OCD- but you know what's not texture OCD? Expecting al dente pasta and not exactly getting it. The pasta obviously wasn't cooked well enough and it was a little hard to eat all of it, as somewhat raw pasta is kinda hard to eat. I did come in later (8:30pm) but my dish lacked meat- it's not that hard to boil pasta. Anyhow- they made extra and served it as a "side dish" for my other family member's meals, which was hard for them to eat as well.
Including the fish. Which was really fishy… And probably not fresh. That's pretty disgusting. So no- this dinner was not worth it. The prices are typical in Manhattan but I promise you, you're not getting Manhattan quality- it's more like crying out for some people to really learn how to boil pasta longer.
I've been here a few times before checking out ABT over at Lincoln Center, but this time around, I decided it was necessary to downgrade my 4-star rating from the past to a 3-star rating. The sole reason for this is price. While very good in every other respect, Bello Giardino is simply overpriced. Last night our meal, which consisted of 2 glasses of wine, 2 pasta entrees, and 1 latte came out to $64 pre-tip. Ouch. Minus let's say, $6 for the latte (I'm guessing here, prices are conveniently absent from most things here except the food menu and the wine bottle list), that still comes out to $26.50 per person for one pasta entree (ranged from $14-$18, I chose a $15 dish) and one glass of wine. That's a wee bit on the pricey side.
FOOD: very delicious all things considered. I can't comment on the meat or seafood dishes, but I've had both the stuffed and non-stuffed pasta dishes, and they have all been delicious. They tend to cook the pasta on the al dente side, so if that's your thing, you'll enjoy this. I've also had the vodka and alfredo sauces, which are both excellent.
SERVICE: also pretty good. Once you order, they bring out warm bread to start. There is oil and salt on each table, but if you want pepper, you'll have to ask. Nothing fantastic about this service, but nothing bad about it either. Pretty run of the mill.
AMBIANCE: there's a really nice outdoor garden in the back, which we've used before but last night it was (kinda) raining, so we opted for indoors. Big mistake. There was no ventilation at all, and for some reason they did not have the A/C on, so it was HOT. On a day where temps maxed out at 80-something degrees, that is not a good idea. By the end of the meal, we just wanted to get out of there.
PRICE: commented about this above, but Bello Giardino is overpriced for what you get. The dishes are big enough that you could probably split an app and entree between two people assuming neither one of you is famished. I was literally starving last night, so I ate everything (what, I'm a runner…sue me), but Margot G. did not. Assuming two reasonable appetites, you could probably lower your overall costs that way.
Next time we go to see ABT, we'll probably look for something else in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I can't justify the prices here even though the food IS good.