Bambino’s Bistro

I will never step one foot into this place again.
This was once a decent place to dine. We have been many times and forgave a lot of missteps but this last visit will be the last visit.
This restaurant and their other shitty Osteria Salina are owned and operated by the same group who know very little about hospitality and food. Being Auburn we knew going in it would not be a 3 or 4 star dining experience.
What this and Osteria Salina lack are pride in ownership and management. If you have any issue at either location good luck in getting any resolution. The Hispanic staff will ignore you and the fact that they do not care is enough for my family to never return.

Took 6 people there last night for pizza and dinners! Terrible! Even though we were the only ones in the place at 5:30, the sole waiter was painfully slow! The meatballs were still frozen inside, the veggies on the small pizza were partially frozen and cold! The salad had only lettuce. The asked for PERONI beer came as a draft, not in a bottle. The red sauce was awful. The house wine was $ 7.00 a glass, NYC prices in downtown auburn! I was overcharged for the wing «special» by $ 4.00. The leftover pizza and linguini was thrown out this morning, couldn’t even eat it for lunch! $ 145.00 bill and it sucked! Don’t waste your $$$$$ when I tried to email Bambinos to complain, it came back to me as UNREAD. THAT says it all!

An excellent little Italian restaurant in downtown Auburn. The authentic thin crust pizzas are flavorful and delicious The homemade pasta dishes should satisfy any diner. A decent wine selection and bottled beer variety accompany the customers selection. Service is friendly and attentive, if a bit slow (even when the place is nearly empty). Highly recommend Bambino to locals and visitors alike.

Bambinos is very good Italian food. I have been to this place and gotten take out as well. It is a casual place with pretty good prices and right in the heart of downtown Auburn. Their chicken parm is quite good and their pizzas are excellent. Salads are tasty as well. The food is very seasoned almost to much sometimes but everything I have had from there has been quite good. If you are looking for authentic Italian in Auburn this is the place to go. When I am in the area and craving Italian this is where I go.

Delicious authentic Italian food, staff is very friendly but service is at times a little slow. Overall one of my preferred places to eat in the area.

Food was good. The service was a little slow, but friendly. If you have time, it’s a good choice in the heart of Auburn for Italian.

The ravioli with seamy pesto sauce unique and delicious.

Good authentic Italian food by actual Italians. It feels like being in Europe. The service is good, but be patient. In true Italian fashion it takes awhile to get your food, but it just gives you more time to sip your glass of wine and enjoy the good life.

Pretty blah. Didn’t have pizza, but samples a good portion of the rest of the menu. I would not go back. Service is friendly but underwhelming.

This is our first time here. My mom grew up here and I brought her up to see her siblings, probably for the last time. We were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on State St looking for a place for dinnner. I had the cod special; too salty for me but I don’t use salt so it could be a personal preference. The mixed veggies were awesome, fresh and plentiful. Mom had chicken parm and it was good. Really didn’t need the pasta. Wine list was good, considering the size of the restaurant. I used my free glass coupon :-) available after checking in here.

Would have gave them 4 stars if the review was just for their food. But since I’m including service I’ll have to go with 3. Good Italian food. Gotta give them that. Food was cooked clean and with pride. Service made me want to jump off a bridge. Very unenthusiastic waiter. Every question we asked, you would think we were talking alien.

This was a very un satisfying trip. We walked in after reading the menu online, (which was not the correct one — please update ASAP) and tried placing an order to go. Ordered a full 5 meals – they come back saying out of this out of that out of that, well you are officially a restaurant not just a pizzeria, educate your staff and waiters prior to dinner crowd. The girl serving us had no idea. Long story short have been waiting for over 1 hour (told 35 mins) and haven’t even been comped a glass of wine. In fact, the guy poured me a low class of bottle of wine and up charged me 9 dollars when on the menu said 7, again update your menu.
Terrible experience terrible service, stick to their brother establishment osteria which again will be slow service.

My Son and I found this gem on our way home from a mission. The bartender seated us and presented us with menus. The menu was old world Italian. My Son ordered the Chicken Parm and I ordered the Bolonaise Dish. My entrée featured the very wide pasta, peas, artichoke hearts and the red sauce. The sauce was lightened up a bit with a bit of cream. It was delicate and very tasty. My Son was very happy with the more than generous portion of Chicken and Pasta. The place is nicely decorated and the wait staff was excellent. I return to this place in a «New York Minute.»

4 years have passed since I wrote the first review for this restaurant. Over that time period my wife and I have frequented Bambinos for pleasurable dinners prior to taking in a show at a local playhouse. Before our most recent visit we noted some hiccups in timely service and quality of the meal, but did not give it serious consideration,. I chalked it up to the fact that all restaurants have a «bad» night and thought little of it. Our most recent visit gave me the impression that the «bad» night might have been less of an anomaly and more of a reversal of fortune for a establishment that I had previously highly praised.
We had an 8 PM curtain time to make so we arrived at Bambinos an hour and 45 minutes early so that we could have a leisurely meal and get to our show which was 10 minutes away. Most tables were full but, since we had a reservation, we were seated promptly. The first indication that things had changed was the menu. Many of the familiar dishes were gone, most notably the variety of «Best Ravioli in Town» as well as the meat and seafood entrees were dramatically reduced and, conversely, the pizza choices had increased. It should be noted that the current Bambino website incorrectly shows the «old» much more expansive menu. When I did not find some of the dishes I was looking forward to I raised the question about the different menu. Our server confirmed that the menu was new but, if I wanted a dish from the original menu the kitchen might be able to accommodate. Alas, the chef was unable to prepare what I was seeking so I adapted and decided to try their pizza margherita described as a «Unique Grilled Charcoal Pizza» and my wife ordered a pappardelle pasta dish with artichoke and peas in a light tomato cream sauce. They were out (?) of their house cab sauvignon wine but substituted an acceptable alternative. The pours were generous. We elected to share a bruschetta appetizer. After waiting about 30 minutes we informed our waitperson that we had a curtain time of 8 PM and we had not yet received our appetizer. 30 minutes after that, an hour after we arrived (!!!), our appetizer and food came to our table all at the same time.
I wish I could say it was worth the wait but, although the bruschetta was as good as we rememberd, the pizza tasted as if it had been sitting under a warming lamp a little too long, the red sauce was dried up and the crust and fresh basil had dried out. My wife enjoyed her pasta dish but the pasta was cooked a little too much past the «al dente» point for my liking. We left the restaurant 90 minutes after we had arrived but had only 15 minutes to eat our meal. So much for a leisurely meal.
The waitstaff was courteous and helpful but the kitchen failed. The new menu was disappointing. The quality of the food has declined. I probably won’t return.

More casual ambience after the remodel, but the food is still fantastic. I usually went for the pastas with a ensalata misto, but most recently tried one of their calzones. It was huge and absolutely delicious — all the veggies included were fresh and flavorful, and the garlic they added gave a huge boost to all the other flavors.
I highly recommend it, it’s great fun to go with the whole family.

I gave them a 3 because they offer glutten free but are not considerate to foodies– for example if the board says linguini I order according to that type of pasta! So I ordered. Vongole! And they bring it on a bed of ziti– well I could have ordered meatballs or vodka to go with that– and when I pointed that out the waiter looks at me with a blank face and says «they make what’s quick in the kitchen» so in point out that the board says linguini he says we don’t know what we get !? Seriously! WTF! Hard enough to have celiac and really want to eat out but it’s disappointing when u expect to enjoy your meal based on what’s offered only to find they are misleading
I won’t be back! The thing is I live here and Italian that’s good close is rare thus far

This is a small, cute restaurant with excellent food. Service was a bit slow. It took probably ten minutes before I was approached for any kind of order and the staff passed my table several times. So, don’t come here if you are in a rush.
The slow speed was made up by the great food. I had the pollo rollatini. I opted to replace the gnocchi that came with the meal with linguine pomodoro. I kind of wish I had both. The linguine was delicious, but I do think the meal lent itself to gnocchi after all. My meal was very, very tasty.
I’m here for one night on a business trip. If I’m ever back in Auburn, I’ll definitely go back. Yum!

Only stopped for dessert on a Saturday evening.
Wife ordered the Crème Brulee, which was very nice good crust that wasn’t too hard. A glass of wine to accompany it worked well.
Service was the worst, our waiter walked by twice while I had my card on the table. I walked in and cashed myself out at the bar. It wasn’t busy, I realize we weren’t big spenders but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to try.

Decent pizza. Lobster ravs were SUPER greasy and nasty. Bout all I can say for delivery.

Traveling through upstate New York, I had a few good meals, and a few bad meals. One thing that I hadn’t really had was a food that seems to be synonymous with the New York, or at least as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have led me to believe: pizza.
Auburn was the last stop on a minor league baseball road trip, and coming into town, I figured that there had to be some interesting places to eat. My friend and I parked in what appeared to be the city center, to which kind of stunk because Auburn is still apparently a town that operates on coin-​operated parking systems, and thankfully one of us actually had coins to pay with lest we get ticketed or booted. We had narrowed our lunch options to this Mexican restaurant further down the square, and Bambino’s, based on what they had as well as Unilocal ratings. We took one look at the Mexican restaurant with their trendy painted green walls and a little too McChiliTuesday’s clone for our tastes, which brought us to Bambino’s.
The interior is small, but classy. Cushioned booths and a few tables are the general dining area, and it appeared that they had a back room for overflow or perhaps private parties. But everything looks maintained and well-​cared for. Either way, it was a nice day, so we decided to eat outside on one of the few tables outdoors.
Being as it was lunch, we didn’t want anything too giant or anything, and what we really just wanted was some pizza. Thankfully, Bambino’s has an absurd lunch special which is two slices of cheese pizza and a fountain drink for a hair over $ 5. We had joked about how Auburn is a little bit of a throwback in time in terms of coin-​operated parking and other little aesthetic things, but $ 5 for two generous slices of pizza and a soda is downright 1999 in cost. No complaints here.
The pizza was good, and had that traditional sense to it. None of the crap that all the chain pizzerias are trying to do to be fancy and/​or modern, this was basic cheese pizza with good cheese, a sauce with a good bit of tang, and the typical grease pooling when you fold it that drips off of the back part of the crust, which is flaky and kind of just plain bread flavored, as a good traditional crust is supposed to be.
Three-​stars is stated as A-​OK, and that’s precisely what a place like Bambino’s was in my experience.