Altro Paradiso

Never been to a NYC dinner prepared with such talent. Every item was incredible, from the salads, vegetables to the pasta and bronzino, which was like velvet. Attention to every detail. Watched the chefs cooking with precision and care. A sensational place for food and vibe-incredibly beautiful woodwork, clean and shiny marble tabletops. Go.

Great intimate Italian food in the city. Had amazing cacio e Pepe, the aranchini balls were great and so was the snap pea salad. Management and service was also very nice as well as the ambiance. Would recommend and come back

HORRIBLE service. For a place with upscale prices and presentation, I expected a level of service to match. That was not the case here. I was visiting NY with family and saw this cute restaurant and decided to have lunch there. The hostess was really nice and seated us immediately, but then we were completely ignored. No water, no menus, nothing. It's not a big restaurant so it wasn't like we were lost amongst a sea of tables. In the meantime, staff are walking by attending other tables. The wait was getting to be too much so I finally just flagged someone down. I did not get the Server’s name but She noticed that we did not have anything, like water or menus, she promptly attended to us. She took our order (Zuppa, Mozzarella in Carrozza, Alto Burger, Tagliatelle, and a side of fries). Shortly after, another server (Miles I think) was supposed to be our Server—came over, and his attitude was noticeably rude. He poured water carelessly, spilling it onto the table, and when I mentioned that we had already ordered, he simply stared at me for a moment without saying anything before walking away. The interaction felt unnecessary and very rude. When the food arrived, we were given two orders of fries. I pointed out that we had only ordered one. The server explained that the Alto Burger already comes with fries. While that may be the case, the menu didn’t indicate this, nor was it mentioned when our order was repeated back to us. To be clear, the extra fries weren’t the issue—I was perfectly fine paying for them. I'm ordering a $29 burger, $20 single piece of Mozzarella, and a $33 pasta dish. I can pay for a side of fries. It wasn’t about the money, it was the attitude. She needed to point out that she repeated the order to us, which she did. But she did not say “Alto Burger with the side of fries.” She just said Alto Burger. I did not appreciate her confrontational tone and her need to place the mistake us. It just felt unnecessary. As for the food review, the Zuppa was amazing. It looked like a mess, but it was delicious. The Mozzarella in Carrozza was ok, borderline bad. Being that the Mozzarella is fried, I expected it to be hot or at least warm, but it was cold. I don't know if that was how it was supposed to be served, but that's what we got. The Tagliatelle was good with big pieces of pork. The Alto Burger was good as well. Overall, I was surprised by the lack of basic customer service. There was no need for the dismissive or defensive attitude we experienced. For the prices they charge, this level of service is unacceptable.

I came for lunch with high expectations, but unfortunately every dish we ordered had major issues, except for the fries. The cacio e pepe was extremely dry, and the pasta was genuinely undercooked—not al dente. It was so raw that I could actually hear it crunching when I bit into it. The burger was just as disappointing. The bun arrived completely charred. I asked if it could be replaced, but the new bun came out just as burnt. On top of that, my friend ordered the burger medium rare, but it was served well done. The fries were well seasoned and plentiful. To finish, we ordered the budino dessert. The menu describes it as having a caramelized sugar topping, but ours tasted more burnt than caramelized. There was almost no sweetness—just an overdone, bitter crust that overwhelmed the dessert. Given Altro Paradiso's reputation, this meal was incredibly disappointing. We left feeling like basic quality control was missing from every course.