PX This.

PX This presents THE F&F REVIEW

Hey, sorry we couldn’t make it to "Friends&Family," we were out of town/ had to work/ not invited. We’re really glad we finally managed to come by, though— it’s so nice to see you!
What’s that? You would still like us to take the time to fill out the F&F survey, because you’d love to take advantage of all our vast experience, knowledge, insight, and expertise as long as we’re already here? Because you invited 75 people to F&F, and afterward all you got was 41 "Congrats[es]!" 22 "Awesome[s]!" 3 "Ciao[s]!" and 9 "Best of lucks[s]!" ?
Of course, we’d be honored. Oh ha, yesss, we’ll be honest— brutally honest even, ha ha! After all, that’s what friends & family are for!
No no please, don’t send anything more, we’re stuffed, we can’t breathe, you’ll have to roll us out of here, ha ha ha… !

Maialino

What was your first impression?
yah it’s very danny-meyer all right.

Please rate the Bar:
spacious! clean. appropriate. it’s got a couple of pretty basic structural problems, which is odd for such a seasoned restaurateur, but whatever. personally, never been a fan of the backless barstool (or in this case the almost backless barstoool), but i guess that helps speed up the turnaround time.
the bartender (steve-roth, was it?) was a really nice guy.
oh but what’s with the jumping bottles in the spigot gizmo thingie? ha ha ahaa kinda spooky.

Please rate the drinks/ cocktails/ wine:
extensive wine list— pleasantly surprised they’re not all italian— and reasonably priced. ahhh, the currently trendy ubiquitous recession-friendly quartino option that frank-bruni used to despise, how nice.
we didn’t have any cocktails, and glancing down the length of the bar, nobody else is having one either. oh well, maybe next time.

Please rate the Dining Room:
didn’t get much of a look at it (we opted to stay in the bar area and have the "small plates" menu) although we were graciously offered the choice without a scheduled reservation. i generally prefer "bar dining" anyway, as long as it’s commodious.

Please rate the BOH:
it’s good, but it’s what i expected, and i would certainly have been surprised by anything less.

How was the staff?
see above.
how many times can i write "it’s good…" or "it’s very danny-meyer" ?
this particular F&F Review is starting to bore me.

What did you eat?/ How was the food?
oh boy. had about ten or twelve plates, and close to half of them were "specials." ha aha haa most of them were good… and very danny-meyer. sigh.
rather than list them all, i’ll just say that overall the general consensus was that it was all quite decent. did any one particular plate rock our worlds? no. but it’s highly likely that’s not their intent anyways.
obviously, with any brand spanking new restaurant, the expectations are often higher in their enthusiasm, which can result in a sense of disappointment that has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the experience. if we had tried Maialino in its third or fourth month of operation, everything would have been perfectly satisfactory.
personally, i feel most danny-meyer establishments (excluding ElevenMadison) are overrated and aggrandized by those with pedestrian tastes and trite predilections, and Maialino is undoubtedly no exception. believe it or not, i try not to let that taint my general impression.
that being said, of all the dishes we had, the melanzane parmigiano was my favorite. my guests expressed dissatisfaction with the insalata di polipo (the accompanying purple potato?yam? was "mushy" and "weird") but i thought it was fine (if not, again, astounding). and the only dish i would say i didn’t like was the fritto misto skewers (ironically the most inventive execution, which just fell flat in both presentation and flavor). i also thought the $19 price tag on the assaggio (serves 2-3) was quite fair and acceptable, but i think the bartender said he threw in an order of the prosciutto la quercia just so we could "try it."

What did you like?
the reasonably priced wine list. the bartender. the melanzane. and the very sweet hostess(maitre d’?) that went to extra lengths to accommodate us and grant us "industry courtesy."

What did you dislike?
nothing. oh okay fine— i think the floor is just a wee ugly.

What was your last impression?
i’d rather come here than go back to Otto.

Would you come back?
yes. looking forward to trying full dinner sometime, actually.

Thank you, and hope to see you soon!
no thank YOU, it was a pleasure.

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