I took my brother (in town for interviews) here as a surprise a couple of days ago... It was mostly excellent, with one notable exception that had little to do with the food.
1. The espresso (Lavazza) is extremely good, though the cafe's placement at what seemed to be the main doors to the entire hall makes it somewhat of a thoroughfare even at 10:00 am.
2. Mario waltzed through as we were having a bicerin and espresso con panna, and seemed peeved that no one registered his appearance beyond a New York "Oh, really?"
3. The selection and arrangement of goods is pretty amazing, in a faintly EuroDisney way.
4. The one off note I found was in service at the charcuterie (Italian speakers, maybe I mean salumeria?); we ordered a mozzarella plate and promised our server that we'd get around to ordering a second dish in due time. He returned a few minutes later and asked if we wanted anything else. My brother ordered a glass of wine and I ordered a mortadella, speck, and prosciutto platter. Our server interrupted me: "Let me just tell you about the other platter; it comes with five cheeses and five meat selections."
"Okay, but we've already ordered--" At this point, the server cut me off.
"Yes, but you actually get more for your money here," he told me.
"I see--" I tried again. And he cut me off again. Finally I just stopped talking to him and let my brother deal with it, but I was fuming: a) at the attempt to upsell by $15 (Mario's M.O., I know, but give it a rest, dude), and b) because I can think of few other places where I've been interrupted twice by a server...and stood for it. I found it incredibly rude, and if Eataly had any sort of halfway decent website (or any indication that they care about what we plebes the customers think), I'd write an email of protest.
In short, the service was rude and grating.
5) The gelato is out of this world: fresh and better than many things in life.
I'm not sure I'd go back, though, for anything but espresso, at this point. I can get very good Italian meats from the Abruzzese place 30 seconds from my apartment, and (bonus) those guys seem to care about their customers.
1. The espresso (Lavazza) is extremely good, though the cafe's placement at what seemed to be the main doors to the entire hall makes it somewhat of a thoroughfare even at 10:00 am.
2. Mario waltzed through as we were having a bicerin and espresso con panna, and seemed peeved that no one registered his appearance beyond a New York "Oh, really?"
3. The selection and arrangement of goods is pretty amazing, in a faintly EuroDisney way.
4. The one off note I found was in service at the charcuterie (Italian speakers, maybe I mean salumeria?); we ordered a mozzarella plate and promised our server that we'd get around to ordering a second dish in due time. He returned a few minutes later and asked if we wanted anything else. My brother ordered a glass of wine and I ordered a mortadella, speck, and prosciutto platter. Our server interrupted me: "Let me just tell you about the other platter; it comes with five cheeses and five meat selections."
"Okay, but we've already ordered--" At this point, the server cut me off.
"Yes, but you actually get more for your money here," he told me.
"I see--" I tried again. And he cut me off again. Finally I just stopped talking to him and let my brother deal with it, but I was fuming: a) at the attempt to upsell by $15 (Mario's M.O., I know, but give it a rest, dude), and b) because I can think of few other places where I've been interrupted twice by a server...and stood for it. I found it incredibly rude, and if Eataly had any sort of halfway decent website (or any indication that they care about what we plebes the customers think), I'd write an email of protest.
In short, the service was rude and grating.
5) The gelato is out of this world: fresh and better than many things in life.
I'm not sure I'd go back, though, for anything but espresso, at this point. I can get very good Italian meats from the Abruzzese place 30 seconds from my apartment, and (bonus) those guys seem to care about their customers.