Da’silvana Ristorante

Hey, I liked this restaurant so much I bought more than $ 500. worth of gift certificates as Christmas gifts this past holiday season. Not one of those to whom I gave the certificates got a chance to use them and now I am put in the position of having to replace the gifts. So if you guys are depressed about this place closing, IMAGINE HOW DEPRESSED I AM !!!
So, Mr. Owner, if you’re out there and read this post, do the right thing and contact me through Unilocal and refund my money. I bought in good faith, you should make good on my loss, also in good faith.

I am so upset to find out my favorite Italian Restaurant has closed! It will be missed. I have been enjoying there food for over 10 years! There is nothing like it in the neighborhood. This is a huge loss for forest hills. What a shame! Good luck you guys!

Sad to say one of my favorite Italian restaurants in queens is now closed. I will miss them

Attentive service and relaxing atmosphere. Shrimp parm and chicken rollatine are superb; the red sauce is like home-​made. Lobster is offered when in season and cooked any style, always delicious. Dishes can be made to order, so if you don’t see it on the menu, simply ask. This is one of my favorite local spots.

Intimate, charming local restaurant. Very personal service. My chicken rollatine special was delicious. My son said he could eat the tomato sauce that was on his pasta every day. Others in the restaurant were regulars but they were just as attentive to us. Would go again.

Veal is out of this world. Highly recommend. Service was fantastic. Owner very personable and greeted all the tables.

«Meh, I’ve experienced better» is the appropriate description here. While the food certainly isn’t –bad-​, it’s overpriced and not up to the standards set by other Italian places in the area. For starters, the bread is the kind you’d get from a deli or pizzeria. That in itself is not really a problem, but it makes $ 22 for rigatoni with pesto and three medium-​sized shrimp feel like an insult when you realize they didn’t even bother to spring for good bread from a local bakery. Do you know what goes into making pesto? Basil, EVOO, salt, pine nuts, garlic, and about 1 minute in a food processor. Even if they’d spent $ 17−20/lb for the shrimp, that dish could not have cost them most than $ 5 to make, and more importantly I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that served only 3 bites of meat for my main course. On top of that, the pesto was too heavy on the oil and undersalted for my tastes.
My glass of house white was also pricey (for Queens) at $ 8 but at least it was pretty good wine/​better than your usual house white. Adding a side salad (not on the menu) cost another $ 5. The salad was actually probably the best part of my meal, being chock full of greens, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and honest to goodness pitted black olives (thank you!) and big enough to almost be its own lunchtime meal. Since I came here alone when there was literally nobody else in the restaurant, I can’t really give a representative account of the service, though I can tell you that everyone was very nice to me. But as evidenced above, I don’t think I’ll ever get over the shock I felt when I saw my meal or the check. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll go back to Il Poeta on Metropolitan instead.

This is a nice «typical» italian restaurant. The food is good if a bit basic. It has all the «traditional» italian food. The décor is intimate and small. The service is good.

Delicious every time. I come home to NY from LA every couple of months and always make sure to make a stop by there. It’s like coming home to family, I have known them for over 20 years and have always looked forward to going. However with this being said the portions are a little large so be sure to share and it is a little pricey if you order a dish per person. Yummy, order the linguine with clam sauce!

Stuffed mushrooms and baby new zeland clams, house wine to start. Fresh bread and butter.
I got the cabanara, which wasn’t bad, and my girlfriends’ ziti sciscilliano was, «ok». Nothing special but good. She liked the thinly sliced eggplant.
Empty restaurant on a Tuesday. Good service, friendly, jovial, maybe said, «we make it to order» too many times to explain why dishes were taking the time they took – I wasn’t complaining. Clean place, faux reliefs on the wall, 50 seats, flat screen with Yankee game. Waiter plugged that you can like them on Facebook. $ 88 for two with tip.

Been here twice. Great food, service (very friendly), and prices are reasonable. Truly a hidden gem!

Da’silvana is a hidden gem in Forest Hills. It’s not a large, assuming store front, and could get swallowed up easily by the laundromats and Chinese take out joints surrounding it. But once we had discovered it years ago, we have never looked back.
Da’silvana has become our to-​go place for celebrations. My parents usually spend their anniversary there, and the staff is so accommodating, that if you call ahead, they’re known to make you something that isn’t on the menu. Just ask!
I had my bridal shower there and couldn’t have been happier. The staff is so friendly they’re like family. (If you have a friendly family… mine tend to not talk to each other for years.) I’ve never had a bad dish there, and love that I can walk in and be greeted so personally even if I haven’t been there in months.
If you’re looking for an intimate, lovely Italian restaurant, head a little off the beaten path of the usual Austin Street fare. Yellowstone Blvd isn’t that far, and the trip to Da’silvana is well worth it.

AMAZING FOOD, SERVICE AND DRINKS.
I have been going here for many years and it never dissapoints. They treat you like family and is reasonably priced. Drinks are always really strong and good!

Sorry, I really wanted to write something good about this restaurant that I’ve heard such good things about and I believe the owner and staff have all good intentions. The failure or lack of common courtesy of owner and staff to notice that the ambience of a dinner was being hindered by the waiter’s rear end so close to my right shoulder, while engaging in a loud and personal conversation, while I, a potential returning customer, was trying to eat let alone enjoy the company I was with.
My appetizer, which was a special, was so salty, it was inedible. Thus, I believe ruined my entrée, which I considered standard in any pizzeria restaurant.

Originally we came to the neighborhood to satisfy our craving and hunger for sushi. Of course for those of you who had read my previous review you would have guessed that our original plan was to dine at Sushi Yasu. Yet, we made the fatally mistake of going there late and without reservation… stupid. The tiny little Japanese restaurant was packed with people, and our estimated seating time at the sushi bar was more than an hour, just horrible. By then, gf was already giving me that «I’m hungry and you better do something quick» look. Reluctantly, we stepped out of Sushi Yasu with a heavy heart and a complaining stomach and were in despair at where to go. Looking around, our immediate resolution was a Chinese takeout next door — a definitely not — then there was Da’silvana right next to it, perfect. Although I was at first reluctant to go as I had bad experience with a previous Italian restaurant, however, by the end of our dinner I was so glad we came here.
Compare to Sushi Yasu, this place was about twice as big with beautiful decorations and great lighting, giving you a romantic and intimate feeling. If I were to use a single word to describe this place, it would be friendly. From the moment we stepped in, from appetizer to entrée to dessert and until we wiped our mouth clean and walked out, we were surrounded by the warm friendliness and attentiveness of our waiter. He was a charm. While we were reading over the menu, he came to us and introduced us his name, Mark. This was something that you don’t get quite often in a restaurant, and in a way it instantly brought him closer to us, like a friend. When Mark finished his introduction of the night’s special, we decided to choose two specials, a baby clamp dish served in red sauce for appetizer and a fish fillet in white sauce, and a regular entrée of calamari in white sauce. As we were waiting for the food, a loaf of warm Italian bread with butter was presented to us, yum. And seeing how we both liked the bread and how quickly we devoured it, smilingly Mark gave us another loaf, excellent. When the appetizer was ready, the baby clamps were served steaming hot in delicious ruby red sauce. The clamps were tender and very flavorful, loved the spices and the tomatoes within, and the portion were HUGE. At the beginning of the meal, we had first asked not to give us any more bread, fearing it would be too much to handle. Yet Mark came immediately over with the expression as if we have just condemned ourselves and told us that we needed to eat the clamps with the bread, to soak the sauces up as this was the best of the best… lol. Well good advises would have to be followed, and we were glad that that we listened. The appetizer was delicious and would not have been complete if we hadn’t clean out the sauce in our plate with the bread. Both entrées were well cooked. Gf’s fish fillet was tender and buttery, melted on our tongue without too much chewing. And in contrast, my calamari in white sauce was chewy but done just right. However, secretly I would have to admit gf’s fish was better, well couldn’t compare to the specials… hehe. When entrées were done, we were introduced to the most amazing Italian styled ice cream dessert. This intriguing dessert started off with a maraschino cherry as its core surrounded by a layer of chopped nuts, then buried by an apple-​sized chunk of chocolate-​vanilla ice cream, and finally dipped with a hard thick layer of dark chocolate. Since we were sharing the dessert, it was halved then presented to us in slices as if it was an apple with a touch of whip cream, beautiful and delicious.
Overall, Da’silvana Ristorante was warm, friendly, and charming place to spend an evening meal with your loved ones and friends. Come in and be welcomed, it would make you feel as if you were an old friend of the neighborhood. One thing I would suggest for them would be to get rid of the TV on the wall. It was distracting when you were enjoying the meal and a nice conversation while the TV was showing sports at the back.

The customer service here is spectacular. It’s like walking into an Italian home kitchen but with nice tablecloths and candlelight. The food is good, but nowhere near great. Basically, it’s good enough to enjoy while you’re eating it, but not memorable once you’ve digested. What you do remember is the service and dining experience, especially if you dine amongst friends, and that’s what makes you want to go back.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their dishes. Mine was Linguine with White Clam Sauce, and it’s just okay. But, since it’s my favorite pasta dish, I still enjoyed it. The calamari our table shared was really good, so was the hot antipasto plate we ordered. I don’t remember what everyone else had, so that’s what I meant by the food not being memorable. However, we all had a really nice time. The wait staff made us feel really welcome, even offered to put together a dessert medley for our table since we couldn’t decide what to order at the end.
Best memory was our table laughing at this menu item: Spaghetti alla Puttanesca (Ladies of the evening) $ 13.95. We all felt it was a pretty cheap price for Ladies of the evening… and that was only the beginning of the jokes we made. Good times, good times.

What a charming little place. This is the kind of nice neighborhood restaurant to enjoy a good meal and then linger over coffee and catch up with friends. I ate here a few weeks ago on a Saturday night in celebration of a friend’s birthday. It never got crowded but there was always a flow of tables clearing and people coming in. For our table we ordered the fried calamari app and hot antipasto. Both were pretty good. I really enjoyed the baked clams in the antipasto platter. You actually get a whole clam and not a half shell full of baked bread crumb glop. I recommend getting the hot anitpasto to try a little of everything. I think it also came with NZ mussels, 2 jumbo shrimp and stuffed mushrooms. Its a good app for 2 – 4 ppl for about $ 19. The tomato sauce they served w/​mussels were really good for sopping up with bread. For my entrée I split the chicken marsala with a friend since it comes with 2 portions of chicken breast plus a side of pasta or potato croquettes. I think next time I will get the pasta. The croquette was ok– tasted like a deep fried mash potato log. We couldn’t decide on which dessert to get so the manager created a little sampler platter for us and even stuck a sparkler in and sang happy birthday to my friend. They make a homemade ricotta cheesecake which is definitely worth a try. Tiramisu was pretty good too.
The service here is excellent and the manager treats diners like welcomed guests in his home.

One of the best kept secrets in forest hills. I have been going here for over 15 years.
Love the new zealand mussels for an app and the baked clams are very good.
A little expensive but they send good portions and have a nice attentive staff. Chicken Franchase, Salmon and pasta dishes are very good.

My boyfriend and I just came back from having dinner here. It’s a small, quaint restaurant that seems to bring back a lot of regulars. All of the tables in there seemed to know the waiters pretty well. The atmosphere was nice, lighting was good, general ambiance overall was romantic.
The servers were very attentive. The reason I give 3 stars is because we have experienced the same food at a muuuuuch cheaper price. $ 15 for a plate of penne ala vodka — $ 16 for just chicken marsala. Definitely too much money. We won’t return.
Plus, I make a much better penne ala vodka — $ 5 total from supermarket. Gotta keep it real people!

We were taken here by friends who live in the neighborhood. This small but charming restaurant is celebrating its 25^th anniversary and we’re not surprised it has lasted so long. Both the food and service were excellent and we definitely would return if we were in the area.
You won’t find any fancy gourmet touches here, just hearty traditional Italian fare served in generous portions that stick to the ribs (and no doubt add a pound or two). To start, the four of us shared two orders of pasta. The Sicilian-​style ziti was baked with eggplant, mushrooms, olives, and lots of cheese, and the penne alla vodka was among the best I’ve tasted. For my entrée, I had chicken prepared with eggplant, prosciutto, and mushrooms in a wine sauce, and my husband had the steak au poivre, which was cooked perfectly. Our friends raved about their veal parmigana and stuffed pork chop.
For dessert we ordered spumoni, chocolate mousse cake, tiramisu, and tortoni, took a taste, and passed the plate, a great way to sample a little bit of everything.
My only complaint is the space is very tight and tables are so close together it’s difficult for the staff to maneuver around them. We were afraid we might find a plate of spaghetti falling on our heads as the server struggled to serve the adjacent table without disturbing us.