Tony Boffa’s Restaurant

My FireHouse had an event.
The food is excellent, service very precise and accurate.
Extremely welcome environment.
One if my best places to eat.
I love Middletown NY USA.

Tony has a Wednesday and Thursday special for a four course dinner. The customer service is great. My waitress was very nice. The table next to me ordered pizza, which looks really delicious. The garlic bread was amazing. The vegetarian soup and salad were good. The chicken fransece with pasta was really good, and the portions are huge. I could make three meals out of it. As for dessert, I got ice cream.

What a great restaurant. Traditional, great service which is always needed. Food is delicious and pizza is the bomb. The only reason why this place gets 3 stars is because the kitchen is probably the most dirtiest kitchen I’ve ever seen in my life. Had to do a service call for the refrigeration at this place and I’ve never seen such a dirtier kitchen in any restaurant. I don’t eat here much only because of that. Great food and great people. But the back of the house is a grease pit.

My wife and I actually hosted our rehearsal dinner for our wedding at this restaurant and it was fantastic! We were getting married in nearby Washingtonville and when we were looking for venues for the rehearsal dinner in Middletown (where the hotel was), we were recommended this restaurant. We met with Donna, and she was lovely. Every step of the way, she was super helpful, sweet and communicative with us in choosing the menu, helping us reserve the private room and basically just making us feel comfortable. When we finally got the the night of the dinner, we were so so so delighted with how it went. The private room is beautiful and great for parties of about 50. The service was fantastic and very friendly. Most importantly, however — and of course — was the food — which was delicious! Our guests were really delighted. Everything was fantastic and tasty and people were talking about it for weeks. Would highly recommend this restaurant.

As a student at the nearby school we eat every meal out and so I have tried every restaurant in a 25 mile radius. This by far is one that is at the highest spectrum.
The portions here are enormous, and usually in restaurants where this is the case, the quality takes a hit. Here, the quality does not take a hit. The cheese, the sauce, the meatballs, the breaded chicken, eggplant, RICE BALLS, are supreme. The deserts (try the) cappuccino are stellar. The service is literally the best in the area. The staff are true professionals and as it is a family owned place you truly get a family experience when you come to the location.
You may be greeted by Tony Boffa himself of his family who will take care of you to a tremendous degree. The price you pay is an absolute steal for the portions, quality, and service. Everything I have tried has been at the top of its game. For some reason, I have felt that most of the restaurants in the Middletown area epitomize mediocrity and then charge and arm and a leg. This restaurant has old school prices with an old school flavor and class that the kids running the new establishments can learn from.
They will not only give you enormous portions they will give you complimentary sides of cheese, homemade marinera, and a bread basket with an array of breads. PIPING HOT focaccia, melt in your mouth garlic knots, and flat cheesy bread. This is all complementary and if you pack your food, which you will, they will give you a fresh new basket. No one else gives this much complementary.
If you are a transplant or a local, when you need to get either lunch or dinner, you go here. period.

This is a throwback in time — Italian food old school. The food was delicious and service excellent. The live singer in the background is a nice touch.

First let me say, that I used to really, really like this place. That being said I have certain expectations. Being that we all work hard for our money, I do expect that when we go out to eat dinner, we get a decent meal and decent service. My husband and I went here after a very long day out in the sun. I ordered (specifically!) shrimp fra diavlo– which they do not have on the menu –however, I have had here before and they were willing to make it for me (says the waitress). After waiting for what seemed like a long time, we got our salads. Mine was okay– the honey mustard was good. My husband ordered bleu cheese and his was saturated in it– he barely touched it! The bread was good, so that was a plus. When our meals finally came out– mine was wrong. They brought out seafood marinara. That included shrimp, scallops, and clams. I hate clams! Totally wrong order. Okay. No biggie– wait staff brings it back. It took a good 10 – 15 minutes for my meal to come out, while my husband ate his. When my meal DID come out, it was NOT fra diavlo, but plain marinara. I had to add my own hot peppers — but that’s not what I asked for. Anyway, our waitress was annoying. She kept apologizing but then kept sneaking over to the bar to drink while she seemed annoyed with us. In fairness, she did being a brownie out for us for dessert (free of charge for the dinner screw up), but she ruined it when I overheard her complaining about us when I questioned the fact that she charged me $ 5 more for a dinner I didn’t order! She also looked questionable– as though maybe she has some kind of issues (drinking at the bar???) while she should be working. Mediocre food + bad service = we won’t be back!

First and last time. Totally over priced for the service and atmosphere. My wife was completely creeped out by the host that kept sneaky up on tables when he had nothing else to do. Waitress didn’t know the menu at all. Out of the desert that was featured and when the «host» asked how everything was (in his very creepy mannerism) I told him I was disappointed that they were out of said dessert. He told me too bad. Never going back nor never recommending. I had a hard time giving this place even two stars that I did. If you think this place is great, you should get out of Middletown NY and try much better restaurants that cost just as much but provide atmosphere, service, and quality food.

Great people, great food, great price if you are in Middletown for family reunion or celebration. Plenty of food.

Had lunch there were quite a few people there the service was OK. The salad was fine waited 30 min for a small lasagna for my wife and my self with one meatball each had a hard time finding the noodles there was little cheese for the sauce took over the whole dish way to much will have second

We got there at 3:40 pm on today (Saturday) and it was in between meals so there was a light house of patrons. Our male server was very cordial & polite (and closer to our age 50 or so which we liked). We scored the menu & specials — decided — ordered, etc. 1^st came our drinks — water and soda. I know its odd to say but the water was really good — like bottled water — not the crap you taste at like an Applebee’s that tastes metal-​like and chemical, etc. Then the bread. OH MY GOD. The bread — why did they have to bring out the BREAD? The garlic bread was soft and gooey with chunks of garlic & seasonings. TDF (to die for). Then the salad — small, but okay. Nothing great. Followed by the appy — stuff mushrooms. Good — not great. Too much butter. $ 7.95 for four medium size mushrooms. Not like my Mom’s but tasty. I would have expected 6 at least — for the price. By now, although both of us ate 2 mushrooms, 1 piece of bread and ½ salad — stuffed– the main meal. Kate ordered lasagna. Me, baked ziti w/​meat-​a-​balls LOL. I first wanted to try the meatball –yes– ONE meatball with sauce in a separate bowl — which was LUKE WARM!!! — and nothing really special (but my mom made the best meatballs so I’m very hard to please in this department). But the ziti was so hot I just had a hard time navigating around a hot plate. I was dying to dive into the crispy mozz around the plate but it was difficult because there was so much food on the plate. Three bites later I was so full, I couldn’t really appreciate the flavor, etc. I did taste Kate’s lasagna — and it was AMAZING. We both took our nummie boxes home for leftovers and I just heated a bit of my ziti for dinner — - and it really was very delicious — tasted way better than at the restaurant. Extremely satisfying. Service was exceptional in the beginning but after we were served our main meals our server literally disappeared — we wanted water refills badly — but he was no where in site. We gently asked another server with kindness and apologetically «we know you’re not our server but we really need water» — and she was extremely kind — clearing the table, filling our water glasses, engaging in conversation, etc. When our server showed up again it was clear he was hit with a large order in the party room and wasn’t able to follow through with folks in the dining room. I still tipped 20%. Lots of leftovers. 3 star for food; 3 star for service; 4 star for price and portion amount. without tip was only $ 30.61. CRAZY CHEAP. Parking sucks. But its downtown MID and I expected that.

What a great feel. I wish we had these kinds of places back home in MN. This place has that 1950’s feel. Food was good. In the red sauce you can really tell they use fresh Roma tomatoes to make the sauce. Probably the best meatballs I’ve had in an Italian restaurant. Very much worth the stop.

Quality, tasty food! The bread was an amazing start to the meal, then i had a salad and the chicken parm. Service was prompt and friendly, very satisfied with the experience. Highly recommend!!!

Disappointed with their food. Used to be great, not sure what happened… Salad was rotted, bread was stale and food was cold.

WORST food & area all closed down old factories.
owner & some of staff yelling across restaurant no music.
stick with olive garden they know how to make fried shrimp parm.
this place threw some tiny salad shrimp over pasta called it shrimp parm was disguisting!!!
NEVER ever go back, old has been place!!!

I ordered chicken parm and it was served to me semi cold like it was just microwaved! The chicken was tough perhaps was microwaved too long, couldn’t really finish it at all. I must’ve eaten ¼ of my meal only because i was so hungry. Would not recommend

I liked this place. The interioir is nothing to rave about and the food is good. If it’s canned food like other people have said, whelp they got me because my penne in vodka sauce was good. The bread they put out was really good too, garlic and and some oil covered it. So far that earns the 3 stars. The extra star is for the portion sizes (big) and for how nice our waitress was. I will definitely be c oming back here.

The food and service was great. We had a large party of 15. They tried to keep up but couldn’t quite catch up. They get an E for effort. They smiled and were polite and tried to make up for it! Good food. Lots of options. I’ll come back with a much smaller party and will try it again.

Best food ever. I’ve been going here for almost 35 years which is my entire life. I love the place, for being in business for over 70 years the recipes have not changed, food, and service have never been bad. The family is always around, most staff have been there for years and you can’t ask for any better. My wife and I love to come here to enjoy the lovely coziness of the resturant. Your treated like your family every time you come to eat. The lunch and dinner specials are great and they will fill you up. Lunch must have is the Meatball Parm on End. For dinner you can’t go wrong with anything you order (Especially the Chicken Parm). Try the pizza too. To the Boffa family never change anything, and keep up the great work. I shall be seeing you again soon.

Walking in to a room adorned with false wooden support beams and ecru painted brick pillar reminds me of a misguided designer using Martha Stewart’s obsolete Kmart line picked up at a half off sale. There’s a reason why her Kmart line is dead… The mushroom-​colored wallpaper, faux brick linoleum and VFW chairs, I… let’s just say I was ready to walk right back out. Sad to say, it actually looks like it was newly installed. At best the décor is unimaginative, and as some of the other reviews indicate, some may find it hard to get over.
But if you love good food you will. Bolstered by the fact I had heard numerous people in the area say that the food was good… one co-​worker with decent taste in food had her rehearshal dinner there. I struggled to ignore the Walmart issue bedroom ceiling fans, (mind you I love Walmart, but one must exercise caution when purchasing home décor there) and set about focusing on the menu.
Be warned, you must come hungry. Weekdays they have a 4 course special, which is a fantastic deal: soup, salad, entrée and dessert for under $ 20.00. Holy crap. I’d come here every day and eat something while I read the paper. But alas, eventually I couldn’t fit through the door for my $ 20.00 dinner.
I started with stuffed mushrooms, which were passable, not very impressive. The real star was the fantastic sauce which they were swimming in, buttery and beefy. I reverted to newb behavior, polishing off the bread basket (who does that anymore???), which are little bursting bites of garlic-​parmesan bread heaven. The fact that I had to reserve space for soup, salad, entrée and dessert prevented me from ordering a bowl of the sauce and dumping the entire bread basket, cereal style. (which is how people in Gangnam eat their rice and kimchi.)
The soup, both minestrone and pasta fagiole were phenomenal. The minestrone was hearty –vegetables firm and yet decent for soup texture. So of course I asked for more bread and began googling recipes on my phone as soon as I got home. The salad was standard iceberg and tasted like bottled ranch, not particularly brillant, but then again — I’m not here for a salad– so that memory is now distant.
The entrée I chose was eggplant parmesan, and upon arrival of a gargantuan portion of eggplant parm at our table, I gasped and asked my waitress «WHY DID YOU LET ME ORDER AN APPETIZER, SOUP AND SALAD?» I began to understand why they designed latex waistbands as I contemplated what appeared to be the entire eastern seaboard’s supply of eggplant set before me, swimming in golden brown crusty mozzarella and a tomato sauce chunky enough to build a snowman with.
Looking at this plate, er, platter of eggplant parmesan, enough to feed four people family style, of course I had to try it, even though I was last hole in the belt-​buckle full at this point. The eggplant was perfectly fried, crispy, cheesy and melt in your mouth delicious. The tomato sauce, which I was told they sell at the local ShopRite, was spectacular, tomatoey and garlicky but not too much so. This is the sauce you dupe dinner guests with when you say you spent all day making it. Absolutely divine.
And I must conclude this review prematurely as the eggplant parmesan beckons from the cold recesses of the magical ice box. (as my dog calls it)