Nocello

Tacky, over priced and horrible. Please take my advice and skip this place.

The food was pretty good. The carpaccio was tasty, though the serving was mostly mixed greens– a little more meat would be better. The ingredients themselves were a great quality– delicious olives and oil.
I got calamari puttanesca, and the portion was huge, especially compared to the carpaccio. The sides were a bit bland, but the sauce was savory and– again– the olives, capers, and tomatoes were succulent.
The big downside is the service. It is slow, slow, slow. I’m actually writing this review as I’m waiting for my check. I requested it twenty minutes ago and feel held hostage.
Drinks came out after appetizers. We weren’t given menus upon being seated. We waited inordinately long for dessert but our entrees came out within just a few minutes of being given our appetizers.
Perhaps worst of all, we had two waiters waiting on us throughout the night. One was friendly and cordial, the other was tepid. The male and female managers/​owners (?) were friendly and enthusiastic, but I couldn’t see myself coming here or recommending it to anyone. There are too many other places with as good or better food and more organized service.
If service improves, the food and ambience would be more than enough to make this a great spot!

If youre into bland food that arrives an hour late. this is the place for you !

The Unilocal average was between 3 – 4 stars, and my girlfriend and I would rate this at about 3.5 stars.
The mushroom soup special was excellent. The endive salad was poor. (Skip the balsamic vinegar pooled in the bottom, please?)
The ravioli nocciolle was excellent. The pasta was fresh and the sauce was very tasty. The combination was memorable — I can still taste it.
The calamari puttanesca entrée had good calamari, but had kalamata olives which were very bitter.
Service was meh.
Serving sizes (for the regular menu, not the fixed price) were good, and the wine serving was generous.

Was very excited to try this restaurant out for a celebration – made a reservation for 9:30 on a Friday night. We got there at 9:32 and when we told them our name for the reservation, someone who seemed to be an owner came out from the back waving his arms and yelling «no no no we are closed», in the middle of about 10 tables who were all mid-​meal. Then proceeded to tell us they wouldn’t seat us because they thought we weren’t coming. Eventually they rudely said fine, you can sit. At that point we just left, they were so rude and not accommodating at all.

Many NYC restaurants are tight, overly busy, impersonal and rushed. The experience at Nocello was warm, friendly and casual. The food was outstanding combined with attentive service. Dinner was a customized chicken picatta topped off with veggies and a fantastic house salad and accompanied by a very nice Sonoma pinot noir. My wife loved her penne pasta and Caesar salad. After dinner, perfectly executed cappuccinos were served to make our romantic dinner complete.
The atmosphere is warm, comfortable and not overly noisy. Don’t miss this place.

Family been coming here for years when we are in the city whether all together or on our own with friends or significant others for a nice dinner. Food is great and servers are attentive. You can’t tell there is actually a nice area in the back when you first walk in so if they try to seat you in the front, I’d recommend requesting the back if it’s your first time!

We went here for lunch and it was… uh, no thanks! The calamari may have had plastic from the microwave box it came in. The hummus neither looked like nor tasted like hummus; there’s no hummus in Italian cooking! We had two beers, and that was the best part of it.

Decided to throw caution to the wind and go on Unilocal recommendations for a restaurant near our hotel in NYC. We had a wonderful dinner. The restaurant was very decently priced and had really good food. For a table of four we had a variety of good food, from fish to pasta, drinks, salads and desserts. We particularly loved the pesto gnocchi. It was fabulous. Would highly recommend the restaurant.

My wife and I have been enjoying this spot for years! The management and service is always excellent. They are very accommodating and regularly modify my order to my liking. The also seem to have 3 or 4 specials on any given night. The prices are reasonable and portions are good. My only critique would be the lighting, sometimes it drifts from pleasantly romantic to nap time.
We will continue to frequent this spot. I like the Tuna steak with pasta

Went there for Valentine, so very likely the night wasn’t representative of their usual business. Still, they seemed a bit overwhelmed, which resulted in slow and perfunctory service. The food, however, was enjoyable, beginning with the oysters appetizer and continuing with the branzino. The salad was okay. To try again on a normal night.

I gave two stars instead of one because I know that it’s a common issue for both food selection, service and quality to suffer a bit on Valentine’s day. Nocello offered a prix fixe Valentine’s day menu only, which we were aware of prior to arriving. Nevertheless, this was by far the worst Valentine’s day dinner I’ve experienced. I would have been more satisfied with takeout from my local pizza place.
Food: Sub par — I ordered rack of lamb… I had to double check with the waiter when my entrée arrived that there hadn’t been a mistake. It was pounded paper thin and all I could taste was the greasy and overwhelming parmesan cheese crust. I received three of these cold, paper thin pieces of lamb, thrown onto the plate. I will say the mashed potatoes (also cheesy) were definitely the highlight of this dish. But maybe silly me for expecting a RACK of lamb.
Service: Terrible — Although the staff were friendly we were quickly forgotten about after receiving our main course, leading to no water refills and us sitting in front of our empty dinner plates for about 20 mins before a girl (not our waitress) handed me a flower (a bit tacky, but okay) and plopped two chocolate mousse desserts in front of us without saying a word. I assumed this meant there was no other dessert choice; disappointing because I don’t enjoy chocolate mousse so I left it aside. After paying the check we overheard the table next to us receiving a choice of three to four other desserts.
Prices: Highway robbery for the lack of quality of both food and service.
I will not be making a return visit.

Delicious intimate gem walking distance from Times Square. 4 of us ate here including my wife, 8yr old and a family friend. We all ordered something different. I had the salmon which was perfectly cooked light delicate and flavorful. Our friend had the veal fruscati which she said was excellent. The polenta Nocello appetizer was delicious. Richly flavored and creamy.
Our daughters 4 cheese ravioli special was wonderful as well. Green and yellow striped appearance was unique and fun. The cheeses were fresh and tasty.
Would definitely reccomend this place and we will be coming back as we are often in this section of manhattan.
The atmosphere was cozy, warm and friendly. Service was friendly as well.

I stopped into this restaurant without reservations and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a seat or not. The waiter met me at the door told me he had only one table available it was next to the door. I took that seat and wait for about 15 minutes and no waiter appeared again. I was literally standing up on the way to reappeared apologized immediately took my order. I ordered the chicken Parmesan and a glass of red wine.
The food came out very quickly and to my surprise it was excellent. I was beginning to think that I had made a bad decision by the wait I had to endure before my order. Everything was made well though. The chicken was great the spaghetti was wonderful. The service was quick from there on out and I quickly realize that I was too fast to judge.
I highly recommend this place it was a wonderful place to eat in great for kids.

This quaint little restaurant makes for the perfect pre-​theater dinner spot. The service is quick and friendly, and the food is very good! A bit on the pricey side, but the portions are generous enough to share.
Definitely consider checking Nocello out if you want a nice, quiet dinner before a show! All of the theaters are a stone’s throw away, but you don’t feel suffocated by the Times Square hooplah.

Ah Midtown, you are a dearth of affordable yet delicious restaurants. Nocello is definitely more of a moderate restaurant, but not quite sure if it was worth it. I think paying a few more bucks for better food would be well worth it.
The place is so cozy and upscale. We sat in the back room and although tight quarters (they really pack ya in there), it was still quite a nice ambiance. The piping hot bread to start was a great sign, but that’s where the meal started to nose dive. The entrée’s took forever to come out. No biggie, but waiting almost 40 minutes for our meals on a Sunday at 7pm was a bit painful. The entrée’s came out.
My chicken with eggplant at ($ 20) wasn’t huge, which is ok, but the chicken was thick and dry and not flavorful or fresh. Topped with a very small piece of eggplant with some mozzarella and some very basic tomato sauce, this meal wasn’t quite good. It was served with some steamed veggies (eh) and some pretty flavorless mashed potatoes. I wasn’t a fan. My guy got a veal dish and he was even a bit more pissed. His veal dish had a few pieces of super thin, over cooked veal shavings served with the same veggies and potatoes. If my parents weren’t there, he would have not eaten any of it, but didn’t want to cause a ruckus. My parents seemed happy enough with their pasta and I grabbed a bite and it was fine, nothing outstanding.
Overall, I’d pass on Nocello. You can head to Quality Italian or any of the other highly rated Italian restaurants in the ‘hood and spend about $ 10 – 15 more on an entrée, but have one amazing meal.
** Gluten free pasta is available!

A charming, low-​energy restaurant with good service and somewhat disappointing food that varies in quality.
Atmosphere: Charming and mellow with old-​fashioned New York character. I love that you walk down a few stairs to get inside and it feels like a quaint home. It’s a great place to have good conversation with your date, group or family because it’s quiet, intimate and low-​key.
Service: very friendly and can-​do. Though it takes a long time to get a bill, even when it’s quiet.
Food: here’s where my rating dropped. I’ve eaten here 3 times. The first, the food was mediocre, the second the food was outstanding, and the third it was terrible. On the latest visit, they gave me a steak knife to cut my chicken breast… and I needed it, along with some muscle to cut through it. At our table, all of our meals were bland. But my memory of the ¹⁰⁄₁₀ Chilean sea bass from my 2^nd visit just might bring me back.

Don’t spend your money here! The food here is good but not spectacular and certainly in no way compares to the Italian restaurants in the Midtown area. Came here expecting a nice dinner with my family. The service at Nocello was awful. I actually told my waiter that his service is slow and not that good and he argued with me and insisted there was nothing wrong with his service. OK sir, 48min from the time we ordered to the time when food was on our table is not slow at all. This employee of theirs has an attitude and is extremely rude.
Honestly, I wouldn’t want to go back here again. Horrendous.

Excellent restaurant italien très accessible. Par contre, il faut réserver puisque le restaurant n’est pas très grand, mais c’est vraiment facile avec OpenTable via internet. Carte des vins plus qu’accessible pour New-​York à des prix plus que raisonnables. Plats savoureux, service impeccable et belle ambiance malgré qu’ils soient situé dans un demi sous-​sol.

I LOVED the food!
LOVED.
Got the lobster pasta special, and my mom got the mushroom risotto. Everything was delicious!
The service however, was a bit sparse. Hence the ⁴⁄₅ stars.

Came here thanks to a City Shuffle coupon I had (side note: if you don’t know about City Shuffle, open up another tab and buy a deck as soon as you can. I have discovered phenomenal restaurants thanks to this deck of cards and am now writing about them).
Came before heading to an opera show at Lincoln Center, and after reading through a few reviews I planned my entire week to let myself cheat on this dinner and have the lobster fettucini pasta. When I checked out the menu during dinner I panicked for a split second when I didn’t see it listed and thankfully the server let us know it was a special that was not listed on the menu. I immediately let him know my heart was set on it and it was out in a jiffy. It was everything described and imagined to be.
Also killed a Montepuliciano wine which was amazing — a personal fav, but they do have an amazing wine list.
Would go back any day, but probably not more than twice in one year for the sake of my arteries!