Maialino (vicino)

It has been five years since I ate at m Maialino on an anniversary trip to NYC with my then partner. This place has lived rent free in my mind ever since. Back then, this stretched my budget, and it was a treat to go out and eat at a restaurant like this. It was a great excuse to get dressed up, and live the good life. The pork butt was perfectly cooked, and I think about how the fat on the outside feels and turned into a rind often. I'm hungry now thinking about it. The service was superb, and would hands down repeat. Maialino is ideal for celebration or a night to you want to remember.

Top tier service, sophisticated and warm atmosphere. The girls and I sat at the bar and had a few drinks. The bartender and all of the wait staff were friendly, polite and professional. One of the best espresso Martinis I’ve ever had. Speaks volumes because I’ve had quite the fair share of espresso martinis in NYC. The bartender was a blond guy with shaggy hair and I wanted to personally recognize him! He made our party happy! I can’t wait to try their renowned Italian food next time!

Sashank, one of the servers, made our experience so wonderful. We (group of 4) did a walk-in on a Saturday night around 7pm. We first sat at the bar and then was able to move to a table. Sashank was working the bar area and answered all of our questions and made fantastic recommendations. Something about how he took his time, genuinely recommended the dishes, never rushed us, and kept his eyes on our table and proactively brought out what we needed — it made a huge difference in our dining experience. After we moved to a table he later came back to check on us before leaving. Our friends and I decided that we can make it our neighborhood meet up spot on the nights he’s working so we can again have a great dining experience! Food: - Great: Insata, veal tonnato, bolognese are my fav - Eh: Didn’t love the lamb shoulder (it’s super tender and generous portion - but didn’t have any special element to it), bucatini was so great.

Went for lunch but it was awesome. I had prosciutto and mozzarella for antipasto and the ham was so tender and tasteful, so as the mozzerella. The pasta was great too. There were great selection of wine and it said "BAROLO bar" at the bar at the entrance which I would definitely like to try next time. You will need reservation to get a table.

Top 5 meal of all time!!!.. get the duck, best of my life. We had a large group and they were able to seat us early. We had a Cabernet/ sangiovese blend that was amazing too. The carbonara was also the best carbonara I've ever had. We also tried (and liked) the squid ink pasta, tortellini, and lamb meat balls. Lastly, we had lemoncello, which was not my favorite, but that's only bc it's an acquired taste, not a bad product. That all said, I went and thanked the chef, personally, for the fantastic meal. Share with multiple people so you can try everything! By the way, tip is included in the price, FYI.