Carbone

mewww, waiter was rushing us and food was average (acceptable). The place is falling off

I had exceptionally high expectations for Carbone. After waiting for years and reading through an endless amount of reviews, I finally found myself walking in through Carbone's doors in New York. No review I had read could have prepared me for the actual dining experience. It was much more relaxed than I would have thought but also much more detailed. The service is more thought out than many other restaurants I have been to. Think wait staff folding your napkins every time you get up from your seat to use the restroom. You feel special here.

For the food itself, the appetizers guise you through a culinary journey right through to the main courses. For our starter, we enjoyed the Carpaccio. I would come back ten more times just to order this dish. It is nutty and meaty but light in the most balanced of ways. I have never tried something quite like this dish. It is something I wish I could try for the first time over and over again. The spicy rigatoni vodka had a perfect chew to it and a perfect spice level. It lives up to the hype and is a must order. The veal parmesan is not talked about enough. The flavors and textures blended so well together and were topped with such a bold flavored cheese. It was an unexpected dish to stand out and something I would order over and over again.

If you are in the city, dare to dabble into the hype of Carbone. Adventure out and try the dishes that are not so hyped as well, your taste buds will thank you!

Reservations were pretty easy to get through my Visa Infinite Concierge service since it was for lunch (1:30). Personally, nothing stood out to me, not even the Spicy Rigatoni. We ordered the Assorted Baked Clams, Caesar Salad, and Spicy Rigatoni Pasta. There was also complimentary bread, meats, mozzarella, and rainbow cookies at the end.

Spicy Rigatoni - The best dish we tried was the Spicy Rigatoni, but I would rate this a 3/5. Don't get me wrong, it tastes decent but nothing extraordinary. It also wasn't that spicy? I have definitely tried better elsewhere.

Clams - (2.5/5) I would pass on this. Some of the clams had a very fishy aftertaste.

Caesar Salad - (3/5) The best part of the salad was the crouton by far. I guess it was fun because they made it tableside? Really nothing special.

The restaurant is on the pricier side, but I don't mind that if the flavor is there. Sadly, I was pretty disappointed. The staff, however, were very kind, and the restaurant decor is very beautiful; it felt like we were transported back in time. If you get a reservation, I would say just go try it, but it is overhyped, and you will leave feeling like you could have spent your money elsewhere

The spicy rigatoni sauce wasn't really like any vodka sauce I've tasted before - it was sweet and spicy, had a good amount of red pepper/onion flavor, and was creamy but not overwhelming. I do get the hype! The veal parm was tasty and breaded perfectly but overpriced and not special imo. I liked the free apps.

Wouldn't jump through hoops to come back here but I did enjoy my experience and would return if I could easily get a res.

You guys will likely never understand the sheer willpower and determination it took to not open this review with a Drake lyric, and I just want my pat on the back. Thank you.

After loosely trying to get a res here for years, we finally got it. Shoutout to my girl Nicole K. on Yelp. She really the plug. I seen she always be in here and asked her how. She flexed up on me and said "You want one? I got you." DAMN, SHE'S LIKE THAT.

Walking into Carbone, I actually felt like the MAN. Was the Drake line "Last table left in Carbone callin plays on a rotary phone," on repeat in my head while walking in? Yes. Yes it was. But it's lowkey been on repeat in my head since 2017 so whatever.

But yeah, right upon entry, I got it. Vibes are IMMACULATE. I'm checking in at the host stand with a classy Italian dude in a beautiful navy blue pinstripe suit, Frank Sinatra playing through the speakers, a vintage Italian decor with low lit lighting, customers dressed to the nines, etc. Just everything you could want out of an experience like this.

We sat down and I wasn't gonna drink, but that glass of Chianti Classico was looking at me soooooo crazy... I folded like a lawn chair ahahaa.

As we were scanning the menu-PLOP! The waiter puts down a basket of bread, a plate of cold cuts, and some pickled cauliflower. This was lowkey a lot of food for just being on the house, I was JUICED. My roommate (Former USC Basketball Superstar) and I tore into this leaving no remnants of any food, we gettin our money's worth ahahahaa.

We both ordered the Spicy Rigatoni and opted to split the meatballs. I almost went with the Lobster Ravioli, but idk. Maybe I'm CRAZY, but lobster just doesn't really do it for me like that. Y'all know Lobster used to be prison & peasant food? What a crazy come up Lobster had lmao. I'm tryna be like Lobster.

The Spicy Rigatoni, as pictured on your friends instagram stories every time they go to Carbone, was delicious and worth every last bit of hype. The Carbone Spicy Rigatoni has to be the world's most photographed pasta.

It's a top 10 plate of pasta I've ever had. Number 1 is easily the Penne Alla Vodka from Alla Vecchia Bettola in Florence, though. That's the LeBron of the pasta game. Oh you haven't been to Florence??? COULDN'T BE ME!

After we demolished the meatballs, I noticed the veal parmesan getting delivered to the table next to us and got the worst FOMO you could ever imagine, as it looked unreal. I can only equate it to the level of FOMO when I was in high school and I saw my close friends all out at a party I wasn't invited to in the back of someone's snapchat story..... No? Just me? Oof.

We were essentially the last table left in this place, with my roommate actually making some business calls on the rotary phone lol it was pretty cool... He does work at Bloomberg though, so.... I ordered a glass of Domina to go with me home.

Typically restaurants that I have high expectations for let me down worse than Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods, but Carbone exceeded them, and quite easily. They got 5 stars in the holy trinity of the food industry: Great food, great ambiance, and great service. It really is that simple at the end of the day. BELIEVE THE HYPE!

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Boy oh boy. I've been wanting to come here with my partner for many months as we wanted to come try this place for our pasta craving appetites. We managed to snag a table outside by spamming the Resy Notifications and staying chronically online for my emails and I finally snagged a table. It was in the AMEX patio which I found to be even more romantic than the inside??? I thought I wouldn't have enjoyed the patio since many people said there wasn't that much room but I thought there was enough room to breathe and maybe even stretch out your arms so I'm happy with the space. There's even windows so on rainy days it's extra romantic because you're right at the window with great lighting!

Onto the food experience- the menu was gigantic and I wasn't sure how to react when I received it. Our waiter was really great- he matched the vibe completely. Like he was from Italy but he's randomly in New York working for Carbone with an extremely Italian American accent. Old school New York music was played everywhere and it made me reminisce on the old Christmas movies I enjoy watching. I almost can say I enjoyed the service and ambiance more than the food as I wasn't as impressed as I hoped I would be.

The Free Bread Section
The complimentary bread wasn't just bread but garlic bread, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto - I was simply impressed. It's like the courting before dating someone new.

Caesar Alla ZZZ
Some people didn't like this on the reviews but I enjoyed it so much because I love anchovies and they were so fresh here! I would also recommend to cut everything up before eating because they kind of leave this salad full (think huge croutons and full anchovies, uncut romaine)

Scallops
The scallops in this case were cut up micro sized and the sauce was very interesting. I've never had anything like this and I'm assuming this is very Italian style dish as I've had something similar to this in an expensive prefixe Italian dinner in Vancouver. However, did it blow my mind? No. Was it fresh and tasty? fresh - yes, tasty - still thinking on this one as it's not quite my taste palette.

Spicy rigatoni
Since our server noticed we were sharing this he split it by the plate and I would say that this is super underwhelming for me. I thought it was a tad bit too spicy for me and the flavor of the vodka was not as simple as I'd like it to be. It's quite complex and we think that they've added pimento cheese almost in the sauce because it tastes like a little Smokey and cheesy.

Lobster ravioli
This was more of my jam although I had no idea most of this was pork dumplings with a side of fresh lobster. I enjoyed this very much however feel like it could use more lobster.

Dessert
This had me so happy! I enjoyed all the desserts a lot more than the actual meal but I confirmed with the waiter that you cannot come here just for dessert. They gave us almond flour rainbow cake and i loved it as it gave me a lot of nostalgia with growing up in Brooklyn living in Bensonhurst.
The chocolate cake with the hazelnut and vanilla gelato had my heart and I enjoyed it so much. It literally is a Ferrero rocher cake and I could not be happier. It's not as sweet as other cakes and I enjoyed every bite! The carrot cake was really interesting as well because the ginger gelato had an amazing real ginger flavor and it went well with how moist the carrot cake was and the icing was so smooth and addicting. The downside is that the espresso is $7 each for a normal espresso. I know this is Carbone but this espresso isn't any different from other espresso I've had throughout my life.

This place took me around my nostalgia track of being a New Yorker and the dream of being here compared to everywhere else versus like an Italian restaurant from Italy. I enjoyed a good fraction of it and I would tell people to just come here to experience it once because now I would probably not go back because the pasta was just ok and I would prefer to just eat somewhere else with my time and money.

Everything was so incredible from the food to the service. We had a 5:00pm reservation for 2 and we were pretty much the first ones in the restaurant. We were seated in the heated patio and immediately the servers were super welcoming towards us. They were super charismatic and patient with us as it was our first time, offering their recommendations through the dinner and check in on us multiple times.

Food wise, they started us off with free bread and it also came with salami, pickled cauliflower, and Parmesan - a huuuge spread. We also ordered the octopus to start and this was FIRE, probably my favorite course of the dinner. Then for the main of course we had to get the spicy rigatoni as well as the meatballs. This was super yummy and a hearty portion. We saved room for dessert of course and had to go with our waiter Steven's recommendation, the chocolate hazelnut cake. Steven was right about this one - it was super yummy.

Overall, very impressed all around and would definitely come back again if I can get a reservation!

Truthfully more like 3.5 stars, but rounding up because the great service made up for the mediocre food. I had high expectations for the NYC classic because it's so hyped up and figured it was nearly impossible to get a reservation for a reason!

The iconic Caesar salad was good- gigantic croutons were great. Assorted baked clams were also good, a little on the salty side but still yum. The iconic spicy rigatoni vodka was just subpar at best. I can handle my spicy food but I found that the sauce was too spicy for a pasta sauce and overpowered the vodka sauce flavors! The pasta was perfectly al dente though, i'll give it that. Mario's meatballs were good until they were too salty after the second bite. We also had their daily special- a tagliatelle with black summer truffle. This was our favorite dish!!! which is a bit sad to say because I expected their classics to be better.

Overall, glad to say I've tried it but i would not bend over backwards for a resy.

Coming here always feels a little lame, but I think anyone who says the food is overrated is just wrong.

The lobster ravioli is way too good. Better than the spicy rigatoni, which unfortunately still slaps. The pasta is cooked so perfectly I really don't quite understand how they achieve it.

It's expensive, but you also get a ton of bread and cheese and meats at the start and little Italian cookies at the end. All of which are delish.

If you block out the terrible crowd that this place seems to draw, and manage to snag a table indoors, it's a a fairly enjoyable experience.

Also saw recently that they stuck SELENA GOMEZ in their OUTDOOR seating which tbh is iconic behavior on their part.

Iconic or overhyped?

Here's our honest review: although we enjoyed our meal and loved the presentation of our food and the overall vibe.. we've had better Italian food at a better price point.

Service was great, our waitress was very sweet and helpful.

Worth to try atleast once if you can manage to snag a resy.

Complimentary starters:
garlic bread
fresh mozzarella
meats

What we ordered:
Caesar salad - yummy
assorted baked clams - nothing special
spicy rigatoni vodka - yummy but has better
whole branzino - parts of the skin was burnt