Fiamma Steak

I came here during restaurant week and had a delicious dinner. The oysters were fresh and juicy. I would order them again. The cocktail menu is full of interesting drinks that I hadn’t tried before but that are quite refreshing! The ambience is relaxed but classy, and they have valet parking.

What an amazing experience!
Sleek décor. Awesome cocktails. Killer food.
Service was outstanding! I have been a fan of Fiamma since they first came to my neighborhood back in 2006 I believe? Their superior steaks & fresh seafood were never a disappointment. I was however a bit confused when I saw they had closed last year. But the bartender who also doubled as our waiter that evening explained that they had been waiting for years to update the exterior of the building as well as the second level dining room. Jason was a real treat! He explained to myself & guest that he was the Floor Captain & had been with the staff since the inception. On this particular night they were apparently short staffed so while taking our table along with several others he also jumped behind the bar to knock out the drinks. I must say he did both with ease! His knowledge of the menu & command of the room was quite impressive. He pointed me in the direction of their «Crafted Cocktail» section on the menu and told me to try a «PIMMS CUP». Totally rocked!
Pimms I was told is a Gin based liquor along with fresh squeezed lemon & grapefruit juices with a slice of cucumber & mint hit the spot on this hot summer evening. My friend Carolyn tried a Strawberry Daiquiri which was made fresh from scratch by muddling strawberries in a glass with some squeezed lime juice over crushed ice. It was really good! I like that they use fresh ingredients & make things to order.
On to the food. As was suggested we had to try the Seafood Tower which consists of «Jet Fresh» flown in that day — Lobster, Crab, Shrimp, Calms and Oysters. WOW is all I can say! Enough shellfish to feed 4 people was more than enough to satisfy the 2 of us.
For dinner I went for the regular 10 ounce menu Filet which was cooked to perfection. Carolyn had the Filet Oscar, the chefs special that night. This monster cut was draped with succulent crab and a lovely asparagus salad. Side dishes are large enough to pass. We absolutely loved the Mac and Cheese.
Normally we always try on a sweet or 2 but we were so stuffed that we decided to pass. Jason certainly tried to sway us though.
Soooo HAPPY FiammaSteak has returned!!!
5 STAR SERVICE, FOOD and ATMOSPHERE!

SO glad they renovated not only the physical space, but also the menu! We live within walking distance and tried this place out a couple of times prior to the renovation, but we were disappointed each time so we didn’t go back until they reopened… and boy am I glad that we did!
Nicely remodeled with a great bar…(try their drink specialty… Pimms with muddled fruit… yum!).
Wonderful, attentive service with very knowledgeable waiters. We were with a large group of almost 20 and there were minimal mistakes. They also fold and reset your napkin for you whenever you get up which threw me for a loop the first time I returned to my seat! :-)
The food was deeeeelicious! We had the iced seafood tower with some of the most delicious crab I’ve ever had. Someone else ordered the caviar (which I have never tried before because I’ve been told it can be fishy at some places) and it was SO good! My main course was recommended to me by our waiter… the spinalis cooked rare with the bleu cheese crust… one of the BEST steaks I have ever had in Buffalo… yum! Not a ton of vegetarian options (as you would expect from a steak house) but my veggie friend had then gnocchi done with a veg sauce and they, too, were great. The sides are ordered separately but, to be honest, I was too full from everything else to even try them.
It was pricey, but for a special night I would totally recommend it now that it is redone. I will definitely be back!

Finally Fiamma has returned to North Buffalo (and you can smell what’s cookin’).
Staff is still some of the best in city limits. Steaks are exceptional. And OMG — bone marrow seasoned and cooked to perfection. Blue cheese stuffed olives (should be a buffalo staple) in the martinis, white anchovies on the caesar salad — can not wait to return.

I was a big fan of Fiamma and then sadly, last summer, they closed for renovations. However, they are back, and I was very excited to see the changes they made (hopefully for the better!) The first floor didn’t look much different, as another Unilocaler mentioned, but the difference upstairs is amazing. It used to look like an overflow afterthought for rejects… like sitting in a sparse banquet hall, you’d think, man, I must not be one of the cool kids if they’re sitting me up here. However, its much more swanky with a fireplace in the middle to warm up the room (literally and figuratively). The bathrooms are also very nicely designed as well.
Now, to the important part– the food! Our waiter, Jason, was very knowledgeable about the menu and helped us pick out some great items. They have a great drink menu, and if you are looking for some type of soda/​pop, they carry the local Johnny Ryan’s line, which I found to be very cool (as did my husband, who ordered a cola and a cherry and mixed them half and half. What a guy.) The bread service is very unique– a cranberry nut bread served with a honey gorgonzola butter. Sounds weird, but I loved the combination of sweet and savory! We started off with the Caesar salad and French onion soup, our standard starters that we can always agree upon. The Caesar salad was delicious, served with anchovies and a large disk of baked parmesan which I’ve always loved. Interestingly, in addition to romaine lettuce, there was also baby kale which added a wonderful texture and flavor to the salad. The French onion soup was PERFECTION. Not too salty, but an amazing depth of flavor. One of the best French onion soups I’ve ever had.
For entrees, I could not decide between the duck, the salmon, and the lamb, so I asked Jason’s opinion of what I should choose. Honestly, I was a little surprised when he said «hands down, salmon». The salmon is wild caught from the Atlantic, seared with a perfect crust, topped with an eggplant caponata and served over cous cous and quinoa in a tomato broth. The salmon was cooked perfectly, really flavorful, and the tomato broth was delicious. Great recommendation from our waiter. My husband ordered the spinalis, or the rib cap, which you don’t find very often– only in the best steakhouses really. This is often referred to as the «butcher’s cut» because it’s so good, he would save it for himself. Basically you get the flavor of ribeye with the tenderness of a tenderloin. Well, in a «go big or go home» moment, my husband ordered the rib cap Oscar-​style (I think to the delight of our waiter). The rib cap was cooked perfectly medium rare, with a lovely seasoned crust (maybe a little too salty for my liking), served on top of a combination of a gravy-​like sauce and a béarnaise sauce. The meat was then topped with 3 generous pieces of crab knuckle meat and a delightful shaved asparagus salad. He nearly licked his plate clean, and I had to fight him for even a few bites of this delicious steak. As a side, we had the parmesan hash brown, which was also very yummy, although we hardly had room for it at this point in the meal, and ended up taking half of it home.
We were too stuffed for dessert, even though their list of house-​made desserts sounded delicious. However, with the check (cleverly delivered in an envelope labeled «The Damage») we received 2 macaroons which were a nice sweet end to the meal. They also graciously honored an expired Living Social deal we were not able to redeem before they closed last summer, so we definitely appreciated that. We will definitely be back to Fiamma. Even though its pricey, the quality of food is definitely worth it. This is easily the best steakhouse within the city limits of Buffalo.

We visited Fiamma a few times before the «renovation» and returned again last night to check out the changes and the new menu.
The good/​great:
— The service. As always, it was as you would expect at a linen restaurant. Just friendly enough and with a good knowledge of the menu. A little awkward, but I got the sense that it was just because he was new. He was good about checking in and not too pushy with the «extras,» a habit that you often find at pricier restaurants.
— The interior. Having not been to Fiamma in over a year or so, I don’t really recall what it looked liked before, but I couldn’t tell much of a difference from before (although it could have been structural updates). Either way I enjoy the 1^st floor dining area and it was a beautiful place to sit during sunset. The sun shines through the windowed wall and makes each of the pre-​set tables’ silver and wine glasses sparkle. The candle-​lined windows were similarly beautiful once dusk settled in.
— The quality of the food. Clearly freshly prepared, even on a Monday, with locally sourced ingredients. There are now 4 grades of beef available, Angus, Midwest prime, «All Natural» (no hormones, but didn’t mention if they were all-​grass-​fed), and American Wagyu (i.e. Kobe). There’s also a selection of entrees, seemingly one from every other farm animal (chicken, duck, pork, lamb, boar) and salmon.
— The bread service. I didn’t taste the cranberry loaf, but I did venture into the honeyed gorgonzola spread and hubby loved them both. I loved that it wasn’t just italian bread and olive oil.
— The duck. It was cooked perfectly — crispy skin with an delicious layer of subcutaneous fat to enjoy, and the texture of the meat was perfect. I did not taste the lentils but the crispy kale was a nice addition as well.
— We were treated, as in the past, to delicious house macaroons at the end of the meal! (The coconut kind, not the french kind). They looked so delicious I temporarily broke my ban on sweets and I was glad I did. It was the perfect end to the meal.
The ok:
— Some of the food was great (above), but about half of it was over-​seasoned for our tastes. Between the two of us, we had the duck, the coulotte, the hashbrown (with egg), and the spinach. We both agreed that everything but the duck was too salty, and my husband loves salt. The spinach was much better after squeezing the provided lemon wedges over it, but then I don’t see why they don’t just lemon-​ize it themselves! The coulotte steak, however, was a bit much. It was beautifully cooked and really quite tender, but with the «Fiamma house seasoning» covering the entirety of this long, not-​overly-​thick cut it was too much, especially with the light (and also salty) gravy underneath. My suspicion is the crust works better on the cuts with a smaller surface-​area-​to-​ounce ratio. My dinner was much more enjoyable after scrapping off the top layer of «crust.» The hashbrown was salty as well, but not to the same degree and paired with a less salty dish probably would not have been noticeable.
— Prices have gone up in this iteration (on the beef, at least), but it’s not any more than your typical Buffalo steak house.
The bad:
— Parking (when there’s no valet at least) but hey, it’s Hertel, what do you expect?
All in all, a nice meal in a nice atmosphere, albeit with a little too much salt. :) Would recommend/​return.

Went during restaurant week and had a horrible experience. I was really looking forward to trying it here so it was a huge disappointment. I hate to be so negative but I will never be back… And def. don’t recommend going during rest. week to anyone.

Not good. More to follow.

I went here using a daily deal of some ilk. I was rather taken aback by how expensive the place is otherwise. It might explain why it was empty (but that is probably more due to the fact that it was a Monday).
Our food was acceptable. My SigO’s steak was good but a bit overcooked. I had the salmon, which was both overcooked and overwhelmed with too many tastes. Good salmon can stand on its own, but this had both a glaze and a mustard sauce and it was quite unnecessary. Although they told us that the dishes didn’t have sides, mine actually came with asparagus and onion rings. Had I known that, we would not have ordered two sides. We had a special risotto side and the hashbrowns (which were a recommendation). Neither one was impressive tastewise, but the portions were hefty. Our wedge salads that we started with were also big. We had oodles of food to take home. While their wine list is decent, they have pretty poor selection for wines by the glass.
Service was attentive but I found the waiter effusive and therefore a bit exhausting.
I would go here again for restaurant week but otherwise the pricetag does not match the quality.

6 friends and I couldn’t wait to try this place for Restaurant Week. We had reservations at 9pm and were starved and excited by the time we got there. 2 drinks and 45 minutes later, we still didn’t have our table. We eventually got seated at 10:15pm. They lost a ton of cool points for that.
By the time we did get seated our waiter decided to go into a 20 minute monologue about the history of beef. By the time he was done, he still hadn’t gotten to the Restaurant Week specials.
We ordered the fried artichokes and calamari apps which were pinch but the pesto dipping sauce was the bomb. Most of us ordered the filet, we all got the wrong temperatures but we were so famished by that time that we didn’t want the Hunger Games to go on any longer. Anyone who ordered medium or medium-​rare basically got mooing calf. The mashed potato and mac & cheese sides were really good. The risotto was a sad, goopy, sticky mess. I hate to say I will probably not come back here again however the bus boys were and other random hotties were the best part of the meal.

Underwhelmed. We went for restaurant week and I probably wouldn’t go back for the money it costs. We still wound up spending $ 65 each, for one thing. First off, the ambiance in the upstairs dining room leaves much to be desired — it was so loud in there we literally could not hear each other speak at our table. For the price of a place like Fiamma, it should be quiet and elegant. Invest in some acoustical tile, people.
Service was great at first and then tapered off drastically, to where we felt pretty neglected, honestly. Way too long waiting for our server to even make an appearance. The food was the same thing — excellent at first and then downhill. The size of the «special» steak was ridiculous. It was literally the size of two double stuff oreos stacked on top of each other. None of the people at our table’s steak was cooked correctly. One person asked for medium well and it was a deep bluish red on the inside! Most places know enough to butterfly a steak when it’s asked for well or medium well. My steak personally was terrible. Since when does a filet have gristle? Garlic mashed potatoes were very good, but the macaroni and cheese was bland and tasteless. Totally not worth the money — even if I had only spent the $ 20.12!

Stuck deciding b/​t here, Prime 490, and Chophouse, Fiamma’s ultimately won out for us to drop $ 20.12/person during Restaurant Week. On first impression, the front entrance was super classy full of the working class unwinding w/​wine glasses in hand sitting on plush furniture, a fireplace, and a small window in the ground that allows you to peek into the wine cellar below. The TVs over the bar and in the front entrance were either in low def and did not fit w/​the upscale ambiance. We were finally seated upstairs at an awkwardly large table in the corner which left half of us in the dark. The service was impressive with items tremendously detailed which actually did a pretty good job of almost convincing me to get something other than the RW menu.
We began w/​bacon wrapped scallops which were well done but the fried onion strings were flaccid and seemed like an afterthought. Now I was prepared for small portions so we plowed through 2 loaves of bread before our entrée but it was still a little disappointing watching it arrive. The filet mignon was topped with a melted cheese and onions but so tiny that I could’ve finished off the whole thing off in one bite. It was about the size of a slider burger so I had to force myself to eat it in real small bites and slowly to prolong the experience. At least they didn’t skimp w/​the potatoes which were flavored well and needed no extra seasoning. The beans though were lazily prepared — some wildly overcooked, some good. I know RW is a big loss for most restaurants and most hate doing it but the point generally is to put your best foot forward so that customers are wowed enough that they’ll come pay regular dollar for it normally. Sadly, that didn’t happen but at least I can say that I’ve been here.

I went there for dinner during restaurant week & I had high expectations because I heard they made the best steaks in Buffalo.
The service & ambiance was great, but the size of our steak was appalling it was tiny & in 3 bites I was done although the mashed potatoes were excellent.

We had only heard good things about Fiamma and wanted to try it for ourselves. My husband brought me here for an anniversary. I LOVED the ambiance; however, I was not as impressed by the food as I was hoping I would be. There was nothing wrong with our order, I was just expecting more I suppose. We went in November, so I can’t remember the specifics on what we ordered (perhaps that’s a sign?); however, our waiter was knowledgeable and professional and the service was great.

Good steak and great service.

Three stars because the food was of excellent quality. Service towards end of meal suffered greatly because waiter had 2 four-​tops sit in his territory. Took 20 minutes after our dishes were cleared to see him about dessert and another 10 to get the check after that. Probably won’t be back. Thanks Dan.
There are *far* more places in Buffalo that will serve a better meal, deliver better service and for less cost than this joint.

Delicious, great service.

The only reason I’m not giving this place 5 stars is because they were out of quite a few things the night that we were there, but other than that everything was amazing. We had some cocktails at the bar first which were delicious and were seated right away when we were ready for dinner. I was out with my very best friend in the whole wide world and we were very chatty. The serving staff was great and knew exactly when we needed time to chit chat with each other, and came over at the exact time we were ready to order. The food was amazing, and the portions were huge. We definitely got our money’s worth.
If you’re in the Buffalo area and you’re looking for a great place to take a date or have a fancy night with a friend, Fiamma is the place!

WONDERFUL STEAK. Just a few things keep Fiamma from 5 stars for me.
Went with my wife on the anniversary of our engagement, and I will say Fiamma is an event unless you have excess means. But worth the cost. My 12 oz filet «in the grass» was tender and perfectly cooked. Just charred on the outside and bright pink and juicy in the middle. Beautiful. They already season all the steaks but offer several preparations. In the grass meant it had spinach and cheese on top. We also had a crisp tomoato cucumber salad, fries, and shrooms and onions. The desserts were tempting but we were too full.
The décor is modern and very slick.
I will look forward to returning.
The bad:
We were seated upstairs which had a larger dining room. When we started our meal the heat was on a little stuffy, but then they turned it off and it got cold enough to be uncomfortable. My wife actually asked them to turn turn the heat on just a little. Our waiter said they would, but this was never done, and by the end we happy to get home to warmth. MAybe I’ll wait until summer to return.

Fiamma could have learned everything it needs to know in kindergarten but didn’t. On the outside, it’s so Buffalo (a house converted to business); on the inside, it seems like it’s trying to be NYC– or rather a scene from Sex and the City (complete with a farkakte ottoman/​couch sporting a lit table in the middle) but is not.
Seeing as dinner for two is a minimum hundo and a half, I was determined to enjoy myself. And I did– but I felt kind of dirty when I got home.
I began the evening with their «Fireside» cocktail, and sipped it in front of the pseudo-​fireplace on the Lite Brite ottoman. The drink was delish, and I give it a solid thumbs up.
For a meal-​priced appetizer I ordered the beef carpaccio (because when raw beef is on the menu, I am there). Even at $ 12 bucks a pop (or $ 4 per bite), I wasn’t sorry and all but licked my plate.
I was suckered into a special for my entrée– the bone-​in ribeye. I ordered it medium rare with melted bleu cheese (for an additional $ 6!). The beef arrived medium to medium-​well, and the bleu cheese was more like bland bread crumbs than the melted, sharp-​tasting perfection I have known on other steaks that set my umami tastebuds watering. As I am ultimately a wuss, I did not complain to either of my waiters (yes, everyone has two (and they were very good)) and considered it my lot in life to enjoy a B– $ 45 steak. I’ve had the same cut of meat at the Buffalo Chop House for $ 10 less, and it was ten times better.
For an after dinner drink I ordered a Sambuca. I was asked if I wanted it up or on the rocks. I didn’t know that any civilized place would serve Sambuca on the rocks, so I specified straight up. There was a $ 2 additional charge for «up» versus «on the rocks.» They must have stock in ice.
While I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that Fiamma is an emperor wearing no clothing, I would venture to say that it’s trying to be something it’s not. I didn’t dislike my meal, but I didn’t love it either.