Piola - Famosi per la Pizza

Piola - Famosi per la Pizza

Location:
48 E. 12th Street, New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 777-7781
Site: http://www.piola.it/
e-mail: piolanyc@piola.it

Business Hours:
Sunday through Thursday: 12 pm to Midnight
Friday and Saturday: 12 pm to 1 am

Menu:
Their strength is the pizza, but they also offer a huge selection of appetizers, salads, carpaccios, beef, chicken, fish, pasta, and also a variety of desert, beer, wine and special drinks.

Service:
Service was provided mainly by a young men, with great knowledge on what was on the menu.

Review:
We went to this restaurant on a Friday night, November 5th, 2010, around 7:30P.M, to celebrate my daughter's birthday. We made reservations one week in advance, just in case, as the place is usually packed. We were in a party of eight and after being directed to a comfortable table, we start studying the selections available in the menu.
We ordered softdrink to everybody and we started by ordering 1 pizza "Rio de Janeiro" (Chicken, catupiry cheese, parsley, tomato sauce and mozzarella) and 1 pizza "São Paulo" (Catupiry cheese, tomato sauce and mozzarella). They came in less than 10 minutes and cut in 8 pieces. After eating this "appetizer", we were ready to order.
Most of us stayed with selection of pizzas, but two of our party order pasta. Their selection were "Fetucini al Ragu" (tomato sauce and diced beef) and "Gnocchi Legnano" (Mozzarella, brie cheese, gorgonzola and Parmesan cheese). Extra parmesan cheese was provided. For all others we orders 2 pizzas Rio de Janeiro, 2 São Paulo, and 2 "Diavola" (Pepperoni - spicy salami, tomato sauce, and mozzarella). An excellent ultra virgin olive oil was available on the table. All pizzas are 12 inches individual size thin crust pizzas, baked in brick oven. Everyone tried a piece of different flavor an I also tried a little bit of the gnocchi legnano dish. All cooked to perfection. The tomato sauce used on the pizzas did not kill their flavor.
We did not order coffee.
Overall, this was a very pleasant dinner, very enjoyable environment, great service and simply delicious pizza.
The cost for this meal, including tax and tip was US$ 23.00 per person. I highly recommend this restaurant!
If you read this review, feel free to leave a comment!

The Melting Pot - a Fondue Restaurant

The Melting Pot - a Fondue Restaurant

Location: The Galleria
2 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701
Phone: (732) 219-0090
Fax: (732) 219-5880
Site: http://www.meltingpot.com/
e-mail: kkruse@redbankmeltingpot.com

Business Hours:
Monday - Thursday: 5 pm - 10 pm
Friday : 5 pm - 11pm
Saturday: 12pm - 11 pm
Sunday: 12pm - 10 pm
Open for lunch by special arrangement.

Menu: You can make your selection on what is called a Big Night Out, where you choose a cheese fondue, then a salad, then an entrée fondue and finally a chocolate fondue as desert. You can also go only with one of the options, like going to the restaurant just for the cheese fondue or just for the chocolate fondue.

Service: service was provided mainly by a young men, with great knowledge on what was on the menu.

Review: We went to this restaurant on a Thursday night, November 4th, 2010, around 7:30P.M, to celebrate my wife's birthday (on the 6th). We needed to make reservations one week in advance, as the place is always completely packed. But after arriving, we were seated in less then five minutes. We were in a party of seven and after being directed to a comfortable table, we start studying the selections available in the menu. Our party chose to order three servers of the Big Night Out and variable soft drinks and water for everybody.
As we had only two burners in our table, we were limited to chose two options of each course of the meal. For the cheese fondue we selected two parts of the "Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue" (Fontina and Butterkäse cheeses, spinach, artichoke hearts and garlic) and one part of the "Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue" (Gruyère and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, white wine, garlic, nutmeg, lemon and Kirschwasser). The melting process for the cheese fondue was done directly at our table. Small bowls of bread, vegetables, and fresh green apple were brought to be used as the dipper. After feasting ourselves with this delicious "appetizers", we all selected "Caesar Salad" (Crisp romaine lettuce, Caesar dressing, shredded Parmesan cheese, crispy croutons and an added touch of Parmesan-encrusted pine nuts) for the second course.
For the third course we selected three servers of the Signature Selection (Filet mignon, white shrimp, teriyaki-marinated sirloin, breast of chicken and cedar-plank salmon) with a lobster tail and some duck. For cooking style we selected two parts on Coq au Vin (Flavors of fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic, spices and burgundy wine) and one part on Mojo (Caribbean-seasoned bouillon with a distinctive fresh-garlic flavor and a citrus flair). Four souces were provided for dipping, the "Curry" (A mild, yogurt-based curry that complements fresh vegetables and salmon), the Gorgonzola Port (A rich and robust cheese sauce that pairs well with filet mignon and fresh vegetables), the Green Goddess (A blend of cream cheese, sour cream, onions, chives and parsley that is great on vegetables and makes an excellent stuffed mushroom) and the Ginger Plum (a unique recipe with red and green bell peppers, ginger and just a hint of plum that is delicious on chicken and shrimp). A bowl with mushrooms and potatoes was also available with our selection.
The common sense would be stop eating at this stage, as everybody was already full, but we had another challenge in front of us, the desert.
We were able to selected for the fourth course three different bowls, as they are smaller and would fit into the burner two at a time. So we selected one "The Original" (Features a signature milk chocolate with a swirl of crunchy peanut butter), one "Pure Chocolate" with milk chocolate (melted for the most pure of all chocolate fondues) and one "Pure Chocolate" with dark chocolate. As for dippers, we had fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, Rice Krispies Treats®, marshmallows, pound cake and brownies.

We did not order coffee (no more space...).
Overall, this was a very pleasant dinner, very enjoyable environment, great service and simply delicious fondue.
The cost for this meal, including tax and tip (they add 20% tip for parties of five or more people) was US$ 57.50 per person. Although it is in the expensive side, I highly recommend this restaurant!
If you read this review, feel free to leave a comment!

"Masala Kitchen" Indian Restaurant

Masala Kitchen - Indian Restaurant

Location: Exclusive Plaza, off Union Hill Road
318 Route 9 North, Englishtown, NJ 07726
Phone: (732) 851-4500
Fax: (732) 851-4498
Site: http://www.masalakitchennj.com/
e-mail: masalakitchen@optonline.net

Business Hours:
Lunch: 11A.M.-3P.M.
Dinner: 5P.M. - 10P.M.
Delivery Hours: 5P.M.-9:30P.M.

Menu: You can select from many different options of Chowpatty Chat, Soups, Appetizers, Tandoori Sizzler (from clay oven), Kabab & Biryani Sizzler's, Vegetarian Main Course, Non-Vegetarian Main Course, rice-Biryani's Noodles, Breads, Accompaniments, Desserts and Beverages.

Service: service was provided mainly by very polite young men, with great knowledge on what was on the menu and always eager to refill our glasses.

Review: We went to this restaurant on a Friday night, October 29th, 2010, around 7:30P.M.. Surprisingly there was no waiting time to be seated. We were in a party of six and after being directed to a comfortable table at the right side of the restaurant, we start studying the selections available in the menu. It took us about five minutes to decide, as there were so many options (chicken, lamb, seafood, veg)! While we were selecting, the waitress brought to our table a basket of salted toasted pitta bread and a container with three different dip sauces. Fresh water was also served.
We ended up not ordering any appetizers, going directly to the non-vegetarian main course order. I asked for the "Chicken Manchurian" (chicken dumplings sautéed in manchurian sauce) and my wife ordered the "Chicken Curry" (boneless chicken cooked in fresh onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, herbs and spices). Our companions ordered "Saagwala's Chicken" (chicken cooked with special herbs & spices in spinach sauce), "Kadai Chicken" (chicken cooked in a authentic onions and green pepper kadai sauce), "Chicken Achar" (boneless chicken cubes cooked in pickle sauce) and from the clay oven menu, the "Chicken Tikka" (boneless pieces of chicken marinated in red yogurt sauce & cooked in a charcoal oven). Although the main course comes with rice, we also ordered an extra portion of rice and "Naan" bread (freshly made refined flour soft bread cooked in a clay oven).
As the restaurant do not offer liquors, we brought our own Georgian red wine and they were more than happy to provide wine glasses and they took care of opening the bottle and pouring the wine in our glasses.
In less than ten minutes the selected dishes were served in bowls, not extremely hot. None of the dishes were excessively spicy, although it was said that they could make than as spicy as we wanted.
Although the dishes are supposed to be individual servings, we order plenty of food, enough to share and make everybody try a bit of every dish. For my taste, the Kadai chicken was particularly delicious, but closely followed by the Saagwala's chicken and all the rest.
We did not order desert or coffee.
Overall, this was a very pleasant dinner, very enjoyable environment, great service and simply delicious food at an honest price. The cost for this meal, including tax and tip was US$ 16.50 per person. I highly recommend this restaurant!
If you read this review, feel free to leave a comment!