Mezzaluna
“Their brick oven pops out some pizzas that may not quite stand up to the ones you'll find in Naples–but for NYC and the Upper East Side come pretty close!”
“The dishes I recommend are the Prosciutto di Parma Con Melone o Fichi (both are excellent), La Caprese, Penne alla Bisanzio, Linguine Nere Sciue' Con Gamberetti e Rucola (my fav).”
“The pizzas were nothing to really rave about, they are on par with most of the new thin crust pizza places that offer the brick/coal/wood oven pizzas.”
Mezzaluna
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
6 reviews
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Pretty basic Italian food. Packed place- we went around 7pm on a Tuesday and all the seats were filled. Liked the food, prices were kind of crazy. $17-20 for an appetizer-like salad. Didn't realize going into it that it would be so expensive. Wine was $12+ for a glass of red or white.
Not sure if I would go back- service was good; however I think there may be some less expensive Italian spots right nearby.
Horrible! Lets start from the very beginning.
We walk in and are seated by a waiter with an attitude who doesn't even let us know he put the specials menu on the table.
We decide what to order carpaccio and grilled calamari salad. We are quickly told no calamari salad, fine. We order a pasta dish for a second appetizer. The waiter does not write down anything we order and that's where we start to get concerned.
The beef arrives without incident but as we sit with the dirty dish and empty wine glasses we are wondering where the hell our waiter went.
About ten minutes after sitting with an empty dish the owner ( I guess possibly manager) comes over to ask how we want out main course served. But what about the pasta course we ordered?!
We decided to let the pasta slide as my boyfriends Branzino comes out.
Then the owner/manager asks if we are sharing it, when I responded that I ordered salmon, he put his hands is the air and with a nasty attitude says " I don't know anything that's going on." Then why are you serving me food if you don't know what I ordered?
As my boyfriend starts to put his fork into his dish I see something funny and reach into his dish. I pull out a pepper with a sunkist sticker still attached, meaning the pepper wasn't washed thoroughly or at all. We told he manager because our waiter was MIA.
At this point we were so disgusted with the service and with the sticker cooked in our food we just asked for the check for our wine and appetizer, which I think as an apology for crap service and serving us an inedible, unsanitary dish, I think they should have waived… but they did not.
I think they actually thought we were going to continue eating there. This place is over priced, stuffy and seriously gross take your money elsewhere, you won't be sorry.
Service and owner are very friendly. I tried two pasta dishes both were amazing. They have pizza bread for an appetizer that is really good. They make a really good iced tea also. Probably tied with Uva for best Italian restaurant on the UES.
It was a Friday night. We (3 girls and 3 guys) just finished exploring Georgia O'Keeffe's exhibition at Whitney. All girls were still excited and inspired by the feminism and colors. But all guys looked gloomy…
E: I am lost, period. (Yeah, guys are concise)
S: There is no focus in her paintings (S is a director, no surprise)
X: I am starving (He even wouldn't give any comment)
I knew, we must find a nice place to sit down and feed those guys soon or they would hate Georgia forever… As we walked along 74th toward east river, I became more and more anxious — there was nothing on Madison apparently; there was only traffic on Park; China Fun is not too far but there is definitely no fun eating there; folks became more impatient and grouchy since it was really a cold night… Then we saw Mezzaluna on 3rd. I didn't know why we chose this restaurant which was the most crowded one on this block. But maybe pizza and Italian food are quite safe for an ethnically diversified group.
We had to wait for 15 min at around 9pm. But those starving guys didn't turn into wolves under moon while waiting. Instead, they enjoyed themselves much by the restaurant decorations and even found an Andy Warhol's signature framed somewhere in a corner.
We finally sat down in the back close to the brick oven with fire in it. The dinner was impeccable — waitress was friendly and hilarious; food was pretty fast; wine was so satisfying and we even ordered a second bottle; pasta was very authentic; thin crust pizza with Italian prosciutto was everyone's love.
We even got a little surprise as the complimentary fruit wine with dip-in almond candy came along with the check. God, this is way much fun and sophisticated than Chinese lucky cookies and the wise but always confusing messages inside.
4 stars if not for the price. Good food. Fast, friendly and attentive service. I highly recommend the focaccia bread as an appetizer – warm flat bread sprinkled with seasoning and olive oil. Lasagna bolognese special is very good. The only downside is it can be a little pricey for traditional Italian.
Dropped into Mezzaluna for lunch yesterday…overall it was just okay for us.
Ambiance is a big problem because tables are SO CLOSE together you can't move. The claustrophobic atmosphere didn't exactly lend to a pleasant dining experience. The restaurant is also very noisy so conversation can be challenging.
Service is just okay. Our server didn't come to our table for a good ten minutes and when he finally did he wasn't friendly in the least. Maybe he's just overworked?
Food was mixed:
— Initially I ordered the halibut special but was told 5 minutes later that they were sold out. Had the shrimp salad instead which was quite tasty but ridiculously small for $21.
— Daughter had the funghi pizza which she loved. I can attest to the fact that the crusts were excellent.
— Husband had the pollanca salad and finished the whole bowl. Was it worth $19? Not really.
— Complimentary bread basket wasn't great as the bread was a bit dry and cold.
Mezzaluna seems to be popular in the neighborhood, as evidenced by the fact most customers knew the staff by name. It would have been nice to have been welcomed as warmly as other diners but we really weren't.
Based on yesterday's experience it's doubtful we'll return.