anyone been? worth going if passing through? are the restaurant options recognizable as batali food?
thanks
we live close by and go about once/week for various stuff, but never eaten in the restaurants. pizza is okay. gelato is okay. coffee is passable. fresh pastas, especially whatever special ravioli, etc., are excellent. service across the board ranges from adequate to comically comatose.
everything else is either pretty good, but available elsewhere (and everywhere) for less money. the wine store is a very bad joke.
think of it as Disney World for Italian Food as seen through the lens of the Batali/Bastianich Life Style Brand. it’s very much a concept. great concept for 99% of the cities in this country. but not NYC.
Haven’t been there, but heard a much better report than Yaacov’s, from someone who is a foodie. Not sure why the difference…
I’ve been. It’s something to see, for sure, but to use it as your supply line - not so much.
It’s a great way to spend $200 on some appetizers and a few glasses of wine, though.
Agree with John.
It’s something to do and see but not a place I’d ever go back to shop.
You can source everything they carry more reasonably elsewhere.
That said, if in the area, its fun to stroll through because its buzzing with activity.
That’s been what I’ve been hearing, though I haven’t visited yet. I plan to do so soon, if only to stroll through.
stopped in on my way out of the city - ate at the pesce section. food was very good but overpriced considering the portion sizes (specifically the apps) and the fact that you are essentially sitting in a mall - masses of people, very distracting (i sat at a table but sitting at the bar looks like the way to go). i think they need to iron out the system by which they seat people as that was a mess. as others have said you could get most of the products elsewhere for less but the selection is amazing and if you are looking for something very hard to find they will have it. there are many different eating options so you could go and have exactly what you want but it will take a few visits to figure that out.
If you haven’t read it, Sam Sifton’s bemused take on the place in the NYT is well worth a read:
It is giant and amazing, on its face, a circus maximus. But what are we really to make of it? Is Eataly a menace (so big and corporate) or an answered prayer (OMG, they sell Barilla bucatini)? Does it represent a step forward for Italian food at the upper end of the economic spectrum of New York, or is it simply a mass-market retail play that capitalizes on the fame of its most visible partners, Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and his mother, Lidia Bastianich?
Does Eataly strike a chord for those desirous of food made close to home, with its house-made bread and mozzarella, its fresh pasta and local bass? Or does it display carbon footprints to rival those of an airline, with its dry pastas shipped in from Naples, its prosciutto from Friuli, its October-grown organic strawberries from Central and Southern California, from Florida, Central Mexico or Baja? Is Eataly good for us? Or is it the opposite?
The short answer is: yes. Yes to all those questions in different ways, to different degrees.
I stuck my head in there midafternoon Wednesday and it was pretty busy even then. I hear it’s a nightmare on the weekends.
I stopped in the other day to kill time waiting for my partner who was having lunch nearby at Shake Shack. “Checked in” on FB and got ribbed to no end by my buddies who called me a tourist. LOL
A friend and met at Eataly this past Friday. The place was crowded (expected). About 1pm we had put our name on the list for the Pizza/Pasta place. 30 minutes later we were sitting, albeit very close to the couple from Oregon next to us.
We ordered the pizzas. Mine was a basic margarita pizza, sans anything extra, figuring this was a good way to judge. My buddy had the same with buffala mozz and parma proscuitto.
The waitress made sure to tell us they were ‘wet’ pies. they were.
We also ordered a antipasto which actually came after the pizzas. the Parmigiano-Reggiano tasted like refrigerator, as if the dish was prepared in advanced and cold stored. $15 was woefully too much for this. Portions were tiny.
My pizza was actually very tasty with a decent crust and sweet sauce and super fresh basil, but wet it was. I needed a fork and knife for the middle third. Eyeing the pasta dishes on either side I can say we went with the right choices (pizza)
about 2pm the buzz died down and it was easier to hear one another speak. The bread was tasty, as I had heard about. I will visit again to shop some harder to find items, but maybe no more meals. popped into the wine shop that is not actually accessible from within the café itself.
All in all an interesting but pricey place that really commercializes the Batali/Bastianich names where even the busboys wear orange clogs.