Ristorante Grifone

Possibly the worst attempt at Italian food I have ever had the misfortune to eat. The waiter arrived and went through a number of specials, most of which sounded better suited to an Olive Garden menu than somewhere claiming to have authentic northern Italian food. Starting with the baked clams, I received 6 or 7 small cherry stone clams that were filled to brimming with breadcrumbs soaked in poor quality olive oil. Took a bit of digging just to find the actual clam. Then on to the seasonal special, soft shell crabs. While not strictly northern Italian the waiter assured me that they were prepared simply, with a light pan frying. What I received were 3 soggy, oil-​soaked crabs. They were no where approaching crispy, just mushy with oil. Disgusting. But the highlight was the side of sautéed Brussel sprouts and artichokes. While not exactly what a genuine Italian restaurant would combine (artichokes are a spring vegetable, Brussel sprouts are fall/​winter), I was looking for something green to go with my main course. While thankfully not also soaked in olive oil, the artichokes were PICKLED. Who combines a pickled vegetable with a fresh vegetable and sautées them together. That’s beyond bad, it’s just weird. Unless you are in the mood for terrible food in run down décor avoid Griphone

You’re treated right at Grifone. You’re cordially welcomed, seated promptly and granted attention continuously thereafter, being experienced enough to strike that balance of just the right touch of service without being overbearing.
Wonderful staff!
The lunch specials announced were well balanced in their selections across appetizers, pastas and main courses. The grilled baby octopus — melted in my mouth! The fried calamari — also super tender and not greasy in the least bit. The Caprese salad w/​Mozzarella di Burrata was heavenly. Four of us split the apps so the waiter went ahead and split up the Caprese salad into four dishes for us to enjoy an equal portion while we passed around the other two apps. Nice touch. The pappardelle with chunks of veal was delicious as was the lobster ravioli and chicken martini dish. Fresh layered crêpe cake dessert was light and delicious and the tartufo — well, how can you ever go wrong with tartufo?!
Excellent chefs!
Geez, I have to go back to work after this? I dreamed for a moment that upon leaving I’d throw open the front door and be instantly transported to Tuscany where I could walk alongside the sunflower fields and work off lunch with a wonderful stroll into Siena to witness the townsfolk preparing for the annual Palio race and district celebrations. Instead, sadly, I was dumped back out onto 46^th street, with the bustle, noise and smells all too familiar with what I’ve come to love and hate about NYC.
Escape for lunch one of these days and try Grifone for yourself. Ciao!

Great neighborhood Italian restaurant. Solid menu. Well executed delisious Italian fare. Great specials. Classic old school waiters. Worth a visit.
Tonight’s visit — Rigatoni with veal ragu special was great.

Had dinner here with a large group, and it was a great experience. Waiter was the consummate professional — perfectly dressed, nice heavy Italian accent, reeled off about 8 specials perfectly, from memory. excellent service by all. I had lasagne, and it was probably the best I’ve had in my life. A really great overall experience, would love to return if I have the chance.

This place has nice ambiance and good mints but the food is very overpriced and very disappointing except for simple appetizers (which are also extremely overpriced). We were very upset!

Excellent place for old school Italian food! Staff was great, specials were just amazing and the burrata mozzarella was to die for. Veal dishes are soooooo good! Great wine list!!! Cannot wait to go back.

Amazing food! Crêpe Cake — Best desert ever too! And Mario is the sweetest man. Spinach and egg noodle dish is one of my favorites!

Veal Osco Busco, need I say more! Great Manhattan Italian place, great menu, bronzini, lamb chops, gnocchi, veal marsala, you name it, but I never met an Osco Busco I did not love! Simple but food, if done right, fall off the bone braising technique. Small and simple place, selected it based on Unilocal reviews. Classic New York Italian service, love it!

Came here for a business lunch. Delicious! Friendly and professional staff. We all had a good time.

If you want huge portions of amazing authentic Italian food you need to come here. They start you with bread and bruschetta, cheese and olives to start with. The cheese is amazing! They have a huge menu with tons of options, I’m a picky eater and there was multiple things I was happy to eat. The pasta I got was to die for, I ate the entire serving it tasted so good. Also the service is on point. It’s very neighborhoody and intimate. (Think great date place!)

Grifone has been my go to Italian & favorite restaurant for many years. Food is consistently well prepared and always delicious. Mario’s charm and staffs professional service make every evening there memorable. Once there you will always return… looking forward to my next visit!

We had dinner tonight at Grifone with a party of six. Five of us were the older crowd many are complaining in about and a thirty something. We all agreed that the meal was fantastic. We began our meal with some nice drinks and proceeded leisurely with the description of the specials. There were so many interesting special dishes that we had trouble deciding what to chose from .We started with some yummy appetizers which were old school but really well prepared. For our main course my wife and son had a chicken dish stuffed with eggplant, cheese and covered with a mushroom sauce. One of our friends has grilled swordfish with a mustard sauce. I had veal parmigiana which was really high quality veal expertly prepared. Our friends shared another chicken dish which they raved about. We then moved to desert which consisted of a a pear pistachio tart, tartufo and tiramisu. We all shared them and agreed they were first rate.
Our waiter and the rest of the staff were very professional and attentive. All of our dishes came to the table hot and were served to the right person which is something you don’t alway find even at very good restaurants
I can’t wait to visit Grifone again very soon.

9p on a weekday.
Mozzarella — pleasant, mild
Vitello Al Limone — very good technically (texture and temp) and in flavor
Broccoli rabe — bright and good
Red wine of some sort
Jannamico Super Punch (dust old bottle, tried it for sport, completely amusing, pretty good/​aggressive, pairs with nothing)
Espresso
Old style northern italian.
A little stuffy, but pleasant and quiet. Some dates, but mostly older couples and small groups of diplomatic staff. Griffone is mannered and mild in all ways. The dishes do not shout, nor do the kind waiters. It’s more of a respite than a celebration. There are little touches like appropriately heated plates that keep thin and tender slices of veal warm throughout consumption.
If was there a little earlier I would have ordered the zabaglione that they make tableside, but having the guy haul out the cart when they were clearly winding down felt unnecessary. Maybe I’ll come back for that.
3 ½ stars because it was a nice memory I keep forgetting. It’s not in my normal field of orbit and has lesser gravity than other choices at that distance.

Spectacular food, very old school and outdated interiors. Could use a face lift, but this place has obviously been around for quite some time.
I’m not sure if they have table service, but I doubt it. This isn’t a night club.

Oh I wish I lived down the street from Griffone. Italian food can’t get more authentic in the USA. It’s old school traditional but the flavors have a depth only found in, well, old school Italian restaurants.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Old school italian… cozy atmosphere. Good food. I had an angel hair pasta with seafood. I really like the atmosphere. It’s on a very quiet street and we sat by the window. Service was spectacular. There was a line for the captain’s tip— which I didn’t quite understand (although I saw something about it on a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode). I would definitely go back. It kind of reminded me of the restaurant in Moonstruck where Olympia Dukakis dines alone and meets the Professor– who had recently had a glass of water thrown in his face.

I love Italian food and I was excited to try this place based on the reviews. I went with my father and we have very different tastes, but we both agreed the food was average and somewhat bland. I had the pasta primavera and it had very little flavor. I hate saying negative things, but for the price I expected more flavor! The service, on the other hand, was amazing. The staff were very polite, and courteous. He did say he found it somewhat odd that you have to leave a separate captain’a tip.

We just had a very fine dinner at Grifone. Delicious pasta and wow, crêpe cake… could be one of the best cakes I have ever had. This place is old school. Very nice people working here! Highly recommend!!!

Nice midtown Italian. Not too expensive, with a good selection of specials. Wine list is not bad and nicely priced. Menu is typical for an Italian, not much missing not much more you would add. All in all good meal and would welcome a return.

This restaurant was an interesting experience. Very intimate on the inside, which to me made it seem very personable. We had a reservation and were seated right away. It took some time to receive menus, this is definitely a place you come to visit your company and not swoop in and swoop out (which is the Italian way).
We ordered two things not on the menu, lasagna and seafood ravioli. And a bottle of wine at usual Italian restaurant prices (~$ 40 for what you can get for $ 10 at the grocery store).
An appetizer was brought out on the house, as was bread. A couple of other large groups were there (4+) that had some loud conversations that detracted from the evening. We had a nice table on a corner in which we could sit next to each other and see the room, which was nice. Another couple was seated near us that liked to complain (about life in general) and it was probably more annoying to hear their complaining about the louder groups in the restaurant, than the louder groups themselves.
The food was really really good, probably approaching 4 starts but it just didn’t wow me like it could. Very generous portion on the lasagna, not as much on the seafood ravioli, but it there was plenty to eat with the bread and wine for sure. The seafood ravioli had an interesting texture (for the filling), very fine which I liked and distinguishes it from other times I’ve ordered similar.
The service was quick between ordering and receiving food. We probably sat there for 15 or more minutes after completing our meal (and communicating we didn’t want dessert) before a bill was brought. I could have asked for it, but thought it would be more fun to see how long it took (we were in no hurry).
Overall a very classy restaurant, great for small groups, not as much for kids. Easy to find location and great service if you’re not in a hurry. If you are in a hurry and want more assembly line Italian, this place might not be for you. Locals seem to come here, so that speaks positively about the repeat experience.
I’d give it more stars but I reserve 4 or more for places I’d revisit in a heartbeat, this was good, but if back in town, might want to just try something else.

Riquisimo!!! Y nada caro!