In this economy, when you've got a good thing going, run with it. Clearly the brothers Denton have gotten the memo. Accordingly, they've turned 3rd Avenue's Bar Milano into a second outpost of their mega-popular LES hit, 'inoteca. The place has barely been open a week and already the boards are filling up with early, (and might we add), mostly positive reviews. Sounds like good news for the Denton team, although good news never comes without a bit of bad news as well. Up next, the good news, the bad news, and everything in between.
The Good News: One Yelper and ‘inoteca fan was more than pleased: “Had a wonderful dinner here tonight. Root vegetable salad and cauliflower pasta were the favorite dishes of the evening. I've never had anything less than a great meal and a lovely time at inoteca in the LES but it is generally too crowded and takes too much effort to get a table (i am getting old). so, it's really nice to have this new location open. I know it was only their 2nd night open, but everyone was so helpful and nice, it was really a pleasant dinner and I look forward to coming back (often).” [Yelp]
The Bad News: This Yelper was not a fan: “We ate there tonight for the first time and the food was awful. The service was really bad and all the staff seemed unorganized. The worst part was I found a really long hair in my appetizer! I would never go back.” [Yelp]
The Mostly Good News: Another Yelper was mostly happy with her meal but found some unevenness: “The paninis are sort of predictable, but my baked rigatoni and cauliflower was incredible-crispy baked breadcrumbs on top and the pasta was cooked to perfection. The wine was a Lacryma from Campagnia- probably the most interesting white wine I've ever had- think smoked meats and ash. Very cool. Dessert was a toss up- the panna cotta was flavorless, but the chocolate pudding was superb.” [Yelp]
The Very Good News: eGulleter gastrodamus has high hopes for the place: “Dined at the new location last night. First thing I noticed was the unmistakable smell of truffle oil from the egg toast; a good start. Overall, the quality of the dishes is very comparable to the LES location. I only got to try the tagliatelle w/lamb ragu off of the new pasta menu, which was excellent despite its resemblance to linguine…‘inoteca is such a welcomed format change and a much-needed spot in "gramurray bay" neighborhood. I think it's going to perform extremely well.” [eGullet]
The Pretty Good News: This Yelper had to wait a bit and prefers the LES dining room, but liked the food: “A friend and I stopped by on Tuesday night at 7pm and there was already an hour wait for a table. Though packed, we quickly got a spot at the high table and were greeted by a lovely server who immediately brought us our order. The Rose was really nice and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the bruschetta, though none of them wowed me so much that I would go ahead and order them again. We were seated in about 45 minutes in the dining room, which is nice, though I prefer the atmosphere of the LES location better which is a bit more rustic.” [Yelp]
