I popped in on Sunday evening and there was an amazing bartender working there. Turns out she was Ukrainian , and her name was KsenIa. She concocted a Manhattan for me , and I swear it was the best Manhattan I e ever tasted. She was super friendly, and engaging also. What a pleasant surprise, and it’s great to see that attentive, and competent bartenders still exist in NYC !!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
JMGNYC
They charged $3 to split a salad on separate plates which could have been done at the table. They didn't disclose that it would cost three dollars to put it on two separate plates. Ridiculous, and bizarre.. stealing money indiscreetly. Buyers beware.
Node
Food came out cold Gluten free pasta was $5 extra and unhealthy white pasta Cheese tasted like kraft Cacio e Pepe came out with no pepper on it Brussels sprouts salad was blended pate Extremely disappointing evening
Carmenuu
Serafina always have the best pizza in town! Thin , tomato sauce is excellent! Really good. In general pastas are amazing. Porto cervo salad is the best with romaine, corn, heart of palms it's my favorite. Service in impeccable very professional. They have a very good bar, also have upstairs place. Really excellent place.
Melissa Blau
sadly i have to write this review after 30 years of frequenting my local go-to pasta restaurant. the management has clearly changed and in my last (very last) visit the bar staff and manager were awful. i kindly asked not to reuse my glass because it was disgustingly dirty and the bartender lost it.. i wasn’t complaining nor returned the drink (which i probably should have).. just asked for a new glass.. her response was unacceptable(she said it was the last glass in the restaurant) and so was her aggressive friends sitting at the bar..the only sane person was the maitre d’ at the door whom i shared the story and clearly she knew there was an issue with the bar staff…sadly I’m writing off the 61st street restaurant.
Service: 1
Petrice Martin
Had dinner with my sister and her family tonight for my nieces birthday. We had reservations were seated immediately on the second floor and offered water. Didn’t see a waiter for another 30 mins when he came to take our order. Got our entrees and they messed up my son’s order. The waiter had a nasty attitude and tried to tell us he was correct as if we can’t tell the difference between chicken and shrimp. Said he would fix it but never apologized for the mistake. He never checked on our table once but was busy serving the other tables. We wanted to order drinks but never got the chance. Only had the water which was never replenished and we all literally left thirsty. When we paid the bill the waiter asked “all on this one card?” Meanwhile there was only one card in the folder and we did not ask for the bill to be split. Food was mediocre at best. We ended up going to the Lowe’s Regency Hotel around the corner for drinks and dessert which was amazing. Wish I could give the service a zero. Was very disappointed.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
yuliya padey
We had to keep calling for a server to come over to take our order and bring our check. Additionally, the server didn't stop by to inquire if everything was good or if we needed anything else.I wouldn't recommend the Bruschetta; it was very plain.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
Joey F.
One star and I loved the food...but the service was shocking. As someone who used to work in the service industry I try not to overjudge, but besides the receptionist the service was really disappointing. It took us way too long to get water, a drink, order, and the check. When greeted by our server it was just "what do you want". Not accommodating at all. Then, I left my card to pay the bill and when I walked away they had my date pay the bill w my card instead of just waiting. Really just bizarre stuff. The food was actually really good. The filet was slightly undercooked from what I asked but was incredibly tender. The downstairs atmosphere was much better than the upstairs and the bathroom was absolutely disgusting.
TIffany A.
Had a party of 21 women for a ladies fashionista weekend. Milan, the general manager really made sure my event was special. We had a semi-private room set up to accommodate my party. Service was phenomenal. Food was simply delicious. I cannot wait to return.
Francis
We love the food and the location. However, we arrived 12 minutes early (NYC in February is not exactly ideal to stand in a drafty vestibule). We were not allowed to wait inside and had to wait in the vestibule. A good restaurant would have let us stand inside the foyer. A great restaurant would have seated us at the bar or at a table.
We were placed in a back room with a table where they then brought in 6 or 7 number 13-year old girls with no parent. They were loud, rude, and totally out of control. It was an fing nightmare and ruined our experience at a restaurant we have generally had a lot of good memories at. Not returning. Really really bad.
TIffany AUSBY-FRAZIER
Serafina Always hosted a group of 22 of us in a Saturday evening. The service was phenomenal, the food was fresh and delicious and the ambiance in the semi-private room was perfect! Thanks so much to Milan, who helped me plan this diva themed evening! I look forward to visiting again. Neighborhood gem!!! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Anna
We love one of the other locations and were going to in this neighborhood so we made a reservation here assuming quality would be similar. Wrong!We arrived 5 minutes early for our reso, waited a while to be greeted (there was nobody at the host stand) then we were brought around upstairs, just to the top of the stairs, where we had to wait for the one and only staff member up there to clean tables in between waiting on tables. My heart goes out to that guy. as you can imagine, we waited quite a while for him to get there. We even went back downstairs to check with the hostess stand from waiting so long the whole night dragged on like this even after we sat down, there were long periods. Clearly all the bad service from that night was due to low staffing. In most restaurants when you don’t have enough staff, you don’t open the entire floor and you don’t take on reservations and fill the space. If you can’t wait on the tables, our food came out cold, although they graciously took it back and reworked it and brought it back, but by then I was so hungry and tired of the situation that I eat half of my partners plate and didn’t really enjoy my own which was the simplest one on the menu in my opinion (Cacio E Pepe). I expected the bill to come back at a discount for all the trouble, but it didn’t. No apologies know nothing although I understand the problem, it doesn’t make it OK on a night that I set time aside to try and have a romantic date. Very disappointing.Wheelchair accessibility: Stairs immediately when you go in, I didn’t see any assistance to make it down those first few steps, but, they had seating outside too, good only when weather’s permitting though.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Service was poor, waiter ignored multiple requests and did not put a candle on the desert despite it being in the reservation description AND being told when the order was being placed. Had to ask to refill water and take away plates. additionally, we were sat next to a loud group of children who were constantly screaming. We also had to wait 30 minutes in the cold for our party to arrive because they couldn't seat us early despite having more than half the party there.
TimeToEat
Efficient and pleasant service, good variety of menu items. Wagyu burger served with generous amounts of avocado. Pollo Milanese with thinnest chicken ever, pounded round to cover the entire dinner plate. Would have been tastier and less tough to cut if not quite so thin. Tasty arugula and tomato with easy/squeeze fresh lemon wedge, netted to trap seeds Excellent snap-shut plastic take-home containers with zero risk of opening or leaking along the way in plastic carry bags. Very nice second-floor space for groups and special events.
I popped in on Sunday evening and there was an amazing bartender working there. Turns out she was Ukrainian , and her name was KsenIa. She concocted a Manhattan for me , and I swear it was the best Manhattan I e ever tasted. She was super friendly, and engaging also. What a pleasant surprise, and it’s great to see that attentive, and competent bartenders still exist in NYC !!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
They charged $3 to split a salad on separate plates which could have been done at the table. They didn't disclose that it would cost three dollars to put it on two separate plates. Ridiculous, and bizarre.. stealing money indiscreetly. Buyers beware.
Food came out cold Gluten free pasta was $5 extra and unhealthy white pasta Cheese tasted like kraft Cacio e Pepe came out with no pepper on it Brussels sprouts salad was blended pate Extremely disappointing evening
Serafina always have the best pizza in town! Thin , tomato sauce is excellent! Really good. In general pastas are amazing. Porto cervo salad is the best with romaine, corn, heart of palms it's my favorite. Service in impeccable very professional. They have a very good bar, also have upstairs place. Really excellent place.
sadly i have to write this review after 30 years of frequenting my local go-to pasta restaurant. the management has clearly changed and in my last (very last) visit the bar staff and manager were awful. i kindly asked not to reuse my glass because it was disgustingly dirty and the bartender lost it.. i wasn’t complaining nor returned the drink (which i probably should have).. just asked for a new glass.. her response was unacceptable(she said it was the last glass in the restaurant) and so was her aggressive friends sitting at the bar..the only sane person was the maitre d’ at the door whom i shared the story and clearly she knew there was an issue with the bar staff…sadly I’m writing off the 61st street restaurant.
Service: 1
Had dinner with my sister and her family tonight for my nieces birthday. We had reservations were seated immediately on the second floor and offered water. Didn’t see a waiter for another 30 mins when he came to take our order. Got our entrees and they messed up my son’s order. The waiter had a nasty attitude and tried to tell us he was correct as if we can’t tell the difference between chicken and shrimp. Said he would fix it but never apologized for the mistake. He never checked on our table once but was busy serving the other tables. We wanted to order drinks but never got the chance. Only had the water which was never replenished and we all literally left thirsty. When we paid the bill the waiter asked “all on this one card?” Meanwhile there was only one card in the folder and we did not ask for the bill to be split. Food was mediocre at best. We ended up going to the Lowe’s Regency Hotel around the corner for drinks and dessert which was amazing. Wish I could give the service a zero. Was very disappointed.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
We had to keep calling for a server to come over to take our order and bring our check. Additionally, the server didn't stop by to inquire if everything was good or if we needed anything else.I wouldn't recommend the Bruschetta; it was very plain.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
One star and I loved the food...but the service was shocking. As someone who used to work in the service industry I try not to overjudge, but besides the receptionist the service was really disappointing. It took us way too long to get water, a drink, order, and the check. When greeted by our server it was just "what do you want". Not accommodating at all. Then, I left my card to pay the bill and when I walked away they had my date pay the bill w my card instead of just waiting. Really just bizarre stuff. The food was actually really good. The filet was slightly undercooked from what I asked but was incredibly tender. The downstairs atmosphere was much better than the upstairs and the bathroom was absolutely disgusting.
Had a party of 21 women for a ladies fashionista weekend. Milan, the general manager really made sure my event was special. We had a semi-private room set up to accommodate my party. Service was phenomenal. Food was simply delicious. I cannot wait to return.
We love the food and the location. However, we arrived 12 minutes early (NYC in February is not exactly ideal to stand in a drafty vestibule). We were not allowed to wait inside and had to wait in the vestibule. A good restaurant would have let us stand inside the foyer. A great restaurant would have seated us at the bar or at a table.
Restaurantji Recommends
We were placed in a back room with a table where they then brought in 6 or 7 number 13-year old girls with no parent. They were loud, rude, and totally out of control. It was an fing nightmare and ruined our experience at a restaurant we have generally had a lot of good memories at. Not returning. Really really bad.
Serafina Always hosted a group of 22 of us in a Saturday evening. The service was phenomenal, the food was fresh and delicious and the ambiance in the semi-private room was perfect! Thanks so much to Milan, who helped me plan this diva themed evening! I look forward to visiting again. Neighborhood gem!!! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We love one of the other locations and were going to in this neighborhood so we made a reservation here assuming quality would be similar. Wrong!We arrived 5 minutes early for our reso, waited a while to be greeted (there was nobody at the host stand) then we were brought around upstairs, just to the top of the stairs, where we had to wait for the one and only staff member up there to clean tables in between waiting on tables. My heart goes out to that guy. as you can imagine, we waited quite a while for him to get there. We even went back downstairs to check with the hostess stand from waiting so long the whole night dragged on like this even after we sat down, there were long periods. Clearly all the bad service from that night was due to low staffing. In most restaurants when you don’t have enough staff, you don’t open the entire floor and you don’t take on reservations and fill the space. If you can’t wait on the tables, our food came out cold, although they graciously took it back and reworked it and brought it back, but by then I was so hungry and tired of the situation that I eat half of my partners plate and didn’t really enjoy my own which was the simplest one on the menu in my opinion (Cacio E Pepe). I expected the bill to come back at a discount for all the trouble, but it didn’t. No apologies know nothing although I understand the problem, it doesn’t make it OK on a night that I set time aside to try and have a romantic date. Very disappointing.Wheelchair accessibility: Stairs immediately when you go in, I didn’t see any assistance to make it down those first few steps, but, they had seating outside too, good only when weather’s permitting though.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Service was poor, waiter ignored multiple requests and did not put a candle on the desert despite it being in the reservation description AND being told when the order was being placed. Had to ask to refill water and take away plates. additionally, we were sat next to a loud group of children who were constantly screaming. We also had to wait 30 minutes in the cold for our party to arrive because they couldn't seat us early despite having more than half the party there.
Efficient and pleasant service, good variety of menu items. Wagyu burger served with generous amounts of avocado. Pollo Milanese with thinnest chicken ever, pounded round to cover the entire dinner plate. Would have been tastier and less tough to cut if not quite so thin. Tasty arugula and tomato with easy/squeeze fresh lemon wedge, netted to trap seeds Excellent snap-shut plastic take-home containers with zero risk of opening or leaking along the way in plastic carry bags. Very nice second-floor space for groups and special events.