Restaurant Review: Da Gennaro Restaurant in Little Italy, New York

* Name: Da Gennaro Restaurant
* Location: Little Italy, NYC
* Open For: Lunch, Dinner
* Under Review: Dinner
* Price Range: High
* Fare: Italian
* Full Bar: Yes
* Food Score (out of 10): 5
* Service Score (out of 10): 6
* Reservations: Yes
* BT Blog Recommends?: No
* Booking Information:

129 Mulberry Street
New York, NY 10013

* Website: None
* Review: First of all, I should know better than to eat at some tourist trap on Mulberry Street. That being said, my roommates and I plopped down at a table at Da Gennaro last night after a LONG day of walking around the city. A chilly glass of wine and maybe an appetizer sounded great at that point and I wasn’t really interested in the cheap eats in China Town for once. We split a pitcher of Sangria for $30, which was okay. But then the time came for food.

I wasn’t that hungry, but I couldn’t resist ordering the special with jumbo shrimp, spinach and portobello mushrooms. I didn’t care that I KNEW I wouldn’t finish the plate for $25. I could have it for lunch the following day. I don’t mind paying for a good meal, but it has to be a GOOD meal. The pasta was decently cooked, but I only received a measley 4 shrimp on the plate and the sauce (whatever it was supposed to be) was non-existent. When the waiter returned with our dinner after a short 10 to 15 minute wait, I knew we were in trouble. You just can’t whip up good Italian food that quickly.

We were all sorely disappointed and came to the conclusion this business relies solely on location to lure unsuspecting tourists in to eating there. In other words, they don’t care if the food is crap because they don’t count on repeat business. This was reiterated when I was searching for a website for the restaurant and couldn’t even find reviews on the place. Yuck. Skip it.

P.S. If I suddenly disappear, you’ll know the place was actually a front for the mob and I screwed up terribly by giving it a bad review 🙂