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Cavatoppo -NYC Restuarant Review #12

Cavatappo Wine Bar and Grill…..don’t waste your time or money

To be honest, I had high expectations of this place when I walked in the door. It was relatively packed and had a few people waiting in line for a table; which is always a good sign on a Friday night. As my party of six was seated, we were looking forward to a relaxing wine bar atmosphere with some delightful finger foods. To our dismay, the delicious sounding pizza didn’t even compare to DiGiorno, the finger food portions were not so plentiful, and to add insult to injury, the waiter gave me a weird vibe the entire night. He was not knowledgeable about the menu and didn’t live up to my minimal standards for restaurant service. He was unsure about the answer to every question asked, forgot to bring out plates and pushed for one of the more expensive bottles of wine. As I continue to blog, I feel it is my duty to report the good and the BAD dining experiences I encounter That aside, the wine was decently priced and they had a wide variety to pick from. We ordered the 2006 Montepulciano and the Pinot Grigio. On with the review…..

APPETIZERS:

Shrimp and Garlic Pizza

The pizza’s had good intentions with their ambitious sounding toppings. They just simply were not executed well. The shrimp and garlic pizza was a low point. The crust was thick and hard but not crusty. The sauce was dry and you could tell it came right off the grocery store shelf. Huge chunks of roasted garlic were scattered atop the pizza along with little pieces of shrimp. I did not enjoy anything about this pizza and would highly recommend against ordering it. I don’t even know why I am telling you not to order it, because IF you are actually reading this blog post I am guessing you will never step foot in Cavatappo unless you are going for just the wine.

Assorted Italian meat plate

Again, this dish was not up to my standards. I am not a food snob, but when I go out to dinner on a Friday night in arguably the food capital of the world, I expect a little better quality then packaged lunch meat and frozen pizza. The only thing worse would be the packaged lunch meat on top of the frozen pizza which I am sure was an option on the menu.

Assorted Cheese Plate

Our table, full of cheese enthusiasts, chose three cheeses to share: Taleggio (a brie-like cheese), Pecorino, and a Humbolt Fog goat’s cheese. The cheese plate was decent and although I enjoyed the toasted raisin bread that accompanied the dish as it nicely complimented our cheese selection; the preserves that also shared the plate, were less than memorable. Anyone who knows me well knows I enjoy a good piece of cheese. This was probably the highlight of the night, which is sad, because the cheese from some gourmet shop in the city and put on the plate.

Mussels and Calamari

I am grouping these together because I just can’t wait for this review to be over. The mussels themselves had no flavor and were a plastic-like consistency. Each mussel I put in mouth was a struggle to chew; I had no beef with the mussels but each time I ate one they just wanted to fight me.

Calamari is not a hard dish to execute, especially fried calamari. Cavatappo must have missed the Rachel Ray episode on “Do-it-yourself Calamari”. The breading was falling off and lacked the fried flavor I expect from a calamari appetizer. The sauce was cold, and didn’t enhance the dish at all. Although, they were nice enough to include a lemon so we could add some flavor to this awful dish.

There really isn’t much more to say about this place. It may have seemed that I was miserable all night by the way I described the food, but I was actually able to hold in my feelings for the food and have a great time. It was a nice triple date with friends, who will continue to remain nameless, followed by a night out at the Guggenheim for First Friday’s. For those of you not familiar with First Friday’s, I would highly recommend checking it out.

	Restaurant Review Rating Scale
			Total Points Available
Food	4		10
Service	7		10
Ambiance	7		10
Bang for the Buck	7		10
Overall	6		10
	31		50

Cavatappo Wine Bar ($$$)
Italian, Tapas, Other
1728 2nd Ave, New York 10128
At 90th St
Phone: 212-426-0919