Allora Ristorante

What a wonderful experience we had at Allora. First let me start with the service and experience with the head waiter fadil Morina. He took tremendous care for us.we will come back just to spend another evening with Fadil.

The food was equally great. The Brazino was superb with wonderful flavor. Prepared superbly by Fadil. It was the star of the meal. Both the veal Marsala and mushroom risotto was also great. The flavor was all spot on.

Back to Fadil, he made our experience special. A lovely recommendation on a simple super Tuscan and great conversation.

We finished with a great cheesecake that finished the meal perfectly. We will be back for certain and you should certainly stop by and say hello!!!

Food 3/5
Service 5/5
Ambience 4/5

Came here for a birthday celebration and the food was quite mid but service was phenomenal. They gave us complimentary drinks (limoncello + champagne) too. Fadil and Noli provided amazinggg service but I also don't appreciate when someone keeps telling me to write a review either so I can see how this place may be over rated because of that particular reason.

We had a big group of 9 so we gave him the list of things that we wanted to order. What I didn't appreciate was they placed a few extra items without asking / consulting us first (what if someone's allergic?!) because they thought it wouldn't be enough. And our group doesn't eat that much so not surprised we didn't finish.

30 feet pasta 3.5/5: pasta here wasn't all that great but hey they're known for the 30 feet long pasta and they ordered another one so everyone had enough. They told us when it came too lol which was better than not knowing at all

pesto Ghocci 3/5: quite bland and not good

Lobster crab meat ravioli 4/5: one of the better dishes here

Four cheese ravioli 3.5/5: this was mid

Veal chop 2/5: didn't touch this because I didn't realize it was breaded

lambchop 4.5/5: best thing here!! They do a great job with lambchops and the show was amazing too. For someone that doesn't like lamb because of the aftertaste - they do a good job here!

Porterhouse 2/5: this was very disappointing and lacked taste and was rough. Prob the worse porterhouse I've had

Filet of red snapper (denture Mediterranean) 4/5: this was a good change in palate after all the carbs

prosciutto melon 4.5/5: this was one of the best things here - first time try prosciutto with mozzarella and melon and it was a great combo

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Chicken parm 1/5: we did not order this and no one touched it - but they put it in because it pairs well

Would I come here again? Maybe for a celebration b/c they know how to get make you happy

Selected this restaurant based on midtown location and star rating. I try to rate my dining experiences based on similar criteria for food quality, hospitality and ambiance. Unfortunately this meal was a disappointment, some fundamental issues which can't be overlooked.

There is access to the restaurant from the lobby of the Meridian Hotel or the street. Decor is very basic. We were seated and waited almost 5 minutes for a server to approach with menus, a greeting or water.

We ordered bottled water that was poured at a 180 degrees angle, very abruptly, to the very rim. Why that bugged me was, we could easily have used 3 less bottles of water and it was so aggressive. Cocktails took a very long time to arrive, approximately 40 minutes into the meal.

We ordered a couple of appetizers, again took a long time, which were ok but I did not like the way the server reviewed the options, quite negatively, which was weird. Complimentary bread was quite hard and dry, but we were so hungry at this point it was good to have something to eat.

My main course chicken was plentiful (4 pieces) but so hard I could not cut it, left most of it and I was not alone with this problem. The side of potatoes was meagre and served on a flat plate which is crazy considering it was so runny it was like water.

I'm not going to detail every occurrence but the most crazy thing that happened was the server took one of our groups partially consumed wine glass and emptied it into mine. ?? Totally not food safe, shocking and unsanitary. Never seen anything like this before. I was in shock, others saw this and didn't understand why he did that. As a result I left an almost full glass of wine because it was co-mingled - yuck! Makes me wonder what they do in the kitchen, but reading some of their reviews it does seem like they have a serious service issue.

I asked our table for their review and all said it took too long, service was sporadic and food was so so. Based on the food and service I left a 15% gratuity, which all things considered was generous. Admittedly less than normal but it wasn't great.

When the server collected the cheque and saw the tip, he asked one of our party if there was a problem with the food or service. Really put him on the spot, particularly since he didn't pay the bill. After we left he mentioned this to me and I was upset. This was the same waiter that co-mingled my wine and should have, in my opinion, been fired right there and then.

This was not an inexpensive meal. It should have been much better. They need to focus on food quality over pretence and fix the service issues.

Sorry for the honesty, but L'Amico close by is much better.

I really wanted to like this place. When I've walked by in the morning, I could see a few patrons inside enjoying an aesthetically pleasing meal.

The opportunity presented itself on NYE 2023. We went there for an early dinner and I was hoping to impress my out-of-town guests. Unfortunately, we felt rushed from the moment we sat down to the time we finished our meal. The overall service wasn't up to par, and it left me feeling embarrassed, enough so that I felt compelled to apologize to my guests afterward.

About the food--our pasta dishes, especially the 30-foot-long spaghetti and gnocchi, were overcooked. The sauces were good, but they couldn't make up for the slight rubber like texture of the pasta. Other dishes we ordered were decent but nothing exceptional to warrant a $$$ bill, which included the mandatory tip. They were nice enough to take the gnocchi dish off the bill when I mentioned it, but we still ended up paying over $$$.

Despite the less-than-ideal experience, I'm still curious to give them another chance and see if things might be better next time.

Unfortunately, I forgot my phone at the hotel, so I didn't take any pictures this time. Next time, I'll be prepared.

Fadil and Noli was super sweet! They were great very nice. The 30 feet pasta was good and lamb chop. I would come again :) espically bc of the service.

Awsome vibe, the owner is funny, I enjoy the lamb, you got order that shit ..........

Fadil and Morina were amazing hosts! Food was phenomenal from the prosciutto and melon to the veal. Made our birthday dinner an amazing occasion

It took forever for them to even give us the menu and there were so many "special menu"s that aren't written on it. (For me that felt like they are going to charge us more money than its actual price. Cuz we won't know the price :P) We only got water to drink and it was $9. I think that's really expensive for just water even if it's Manhattan. Plates were not clean enough. We had lunch in there and seemed like we were the only customer there. Later on when we were passing by near dinner time, it was still empty. We got 30ft pasta and the food was just ok. If you ask if it was worth it.. then.. I'll say no haha.

진짜 개비싸고 메뉴판 주는데도 한 세월 걸려요. 메뉴에 안 적힌 스페셜 메뉴가 많은데 개인적으로 돈 떼먹으려는 느낌이었어요. 음료 하나도 안 마시고 물만 마셨는데 9달러 청구했어요. 물에 9달러는 아무리 뉴욕이라도 너무 비싼 것 같아요. 음식은 생각보다 괜찮았어요. 가게는 텅 비어있길래 점심이라 그런가 싶었는데 나중에 저녁 즈음에 지나갈 때도 비어있더라구요. 그걸 보면서 어떻게 별점 5점이 그렇게 많지? 싶은 생각이 들었어요. 한국인 분들 이 댓글 보시면 아무리 궁금해도 궁금해마시고 그냥 다른 곳 가세요... 맛있는 음식이 많답니다!!

A really great spot and they cater to gluten free

ENTRANCE - lunch so the bartender jumped in to check our reservation and to seat us. Was pretty empty so no issue

AMBIANCE - very fancy but you can dress casual if you prefer. Nice white table cloths and beautiful plate settings.

Sort of an annex to the attached hotel just like Chazz Palmentari's.

MENU - very decent overall with a long list of specials all sounded great

APPETIZERS - we were a party of 5 and all choices were tasty.

The mixed seafood special was exceptional came with a scallop in a great sauce, a beautiful octopus tentacle and a squid body grilled to perfection.

The salads (I was told) were quite tasty.

ENTREES - I had the porterhouse steak special which to my surprise was really large. Very tender and flavorful.

I was informed that the lobster ravioli was excellent. Also the risotto was well made and flavorful. The pork rolatinni was well received but I didn't personally try.

SIDES - we shared the asparagus, spinach, and sautéed mushrooms (the best of the 3 but all great) and all enjoyed

VINO - the house Cabernet wasn't that great a bit sharp and had an alcoholic finish. Maybe a bottle is a better choice. Despite that I had a few glasses as the steak made a good compliment

SERVICE - the actual chef came by and helped with service and was so nice words can't describe. Before the meal treated us to some additional small plates that were great. Some grilled hot peppers, fried zucchini (really good) and a cheese and Supra-sod tapa

Our waiter was also nice and congenial

DESERT - they had a gluten free cake that was really good. The tiramisu was also excellent. The regular chocolate cake was very good as well

PRICE - definitely not for the cost conscience. Total for 5 people with tax and a 25% tip was $765. So really $$$$$$

Note: Like a lot of places now they have the hand held device to swipe your credit card.

This place is a tourist trap. As a New Yorker, I am sorry to say that I got fooled by the positive reviews of this place. The first sign of a place to avoid is when it takes reservations but then serves people on a first come first serve basis. We waited for 30 mins past our reservation (with our 5 year old daughter), others were in the same boat. When seated, our server was missing for another 30, I finally flagged down a drunk waiter who was sneezing into his hands and then shaking hands with patrons. It was like an episode of Curb your enthusiasm, except that this wasn't funny.

If you are New Yorker, you likely wont make the rookie mistake I made. If you are a tourist, pro tip, generally avoid mid town east in the busy season. Go west, go south, anything but this area and more specifically this restaurant. Go to olive garden if you want "Italian food", here you are not family ;)