Accademia di Vino

Walked by Saturday and they are CLOSED!!!
Giant sign outside: TONY’S DI NAPOLI Coming Spring 2012.
This is the same Tony’s Di Napoli over at Time Square.

Came here for a birthday party and was pleasantly surprised. It was quaint and intimate inside and we were seated at a table big enough for 15. Whenever you’re put in these birthday situations, the bill always gets a little messy but the food and service was very good. Tasted the following:
— Mixed Mushroom Pizza: crust was very thin but they weren’t cheap on the mushrooms! an exotic variety to top the pizza.
— Mussels appetizer: they were good. Not too much to share here.
— Orecchiette, Pork Sausage, Broccoli Rabe & Parmesan: really tasty! This was a favorite of one of the girls. She said she craved this dish constantly.
— The Formaggi and Salumi boards were delicious!
–Grilled Nutella Pizza: this was the BEST Nutella dessert I’ve ever had. The pizza dough’s crispiness complemented the hazelnut perfectly.
Wines by the glass range from $ 8 – 25 and bottles are quite decently priced, ranging from low end to high. Would like to come back here again for dinner.

Excellent wine list.
Dinner is typical Italian food.
Service was mediocre. I felt like the waiter was sarcastic and not friendly at all.

I read another review saying that the ambiance inside was not as good as outside, but I thought it was quite cute, with a homey wine-​cellar vibe.
My fiancé and I came here on a whim for dinner, and we started with the tuna tartare, which was, I guess, average. It came with a pesto, which I have never seen before… But I liked that they served it with crostini.
For the entrée, he had the pasta sampler (Bolognese, carbonara, goat cheese ravioli). The Bolognese was the best of the bunch and the other two pastas were quite lackluster. The carbonara lacked imagination and flavor, and the goat cheese ravioli was a bit plain. And the ravioli only came with two pieces… which I know we got the sampler but, really?
I had the prosciutto pizza, which was very good. Nice arugula with a peppery bite and the prosciutto was good quality. The prosciutto wasn’t cut though, to go with the pizza underneath, which made it difficult to eat.
Their wine list is pretty impressive and their staff seems to be knowledgeable about their list, which I thought was great. Too many restaurants these days have staff that are unable to express their opinions on wines, which is a shame.
I would probably come back to try other things on their menu but I felt this place was very average.

Celebrated mama’s birthday here. We were seating a nice quiet area right next to the wine wall. They had a better wine list than I had imagined.
FOOD:
Their bread basket is SO GOOD!
We ordered the scallops (loved the grapes), the pei mussels, and the watermelon salad with goat cheese drizzled with a light vinaigrette which was so refreshing.
We ordered the pasta special of the day which had large tube pasta with lamb and lentils which was probably the best dish of the night.
The orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe was pretty standard. The calamaretti pasta with fish & shellfish was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for chunks of fish, and clams and mussels in shells but it looked like mushed fish (kind of like tuna
from a can).
I have to say though that all the pasta was well cooked.
The hazelnut gelati was A MA ZING!
SERVICE:
Our waiter was really, really nice but honestly he couldn’t answer like 95% of the questions we asked.

Came here with a friend looking for a nice dinner to celebrate a special occasion. From the moment we walked through the door, we felt as though we were an inconvenience to the clearly frazzled staff. Maybe because it was a Monday, and they were clearly more busy than anticipated… but, for the money you’re spending to eat there, service should absolutely not be as poor as what we experienced. I felt like good duration of the meal was spent trying to flag down our waiter for basics like silverware, bread plates, a wine refill, etc.
Aside from the poor service, the food was actually exceptional. It’s really too bad that the service factor will likely overshadow the food. Not too sure that I will return here. Overall, it’s probably not worth the hassle.

I should’ve known better. Rarely is anything above 14^th St good and this place proved me right. Mediocrity at best. And I don’t do mediocrity. But, we were desperate for food. We worship our bellies and we needed to make a sacrifical offering.
After a night of intense intellectual stimulation, it was time for some visceral gut stimulation. We were both hungry and didn’t want to hop on the train to better food options, so we gave this place a go.
I used to walk by this place frequently and always wondered about it. But, once I test drove the car, I wanted to take it back to the dealership immediately.
There was no hostess at the door. We luckily were seated outside (it was freezing cold inside) quickly, but the table was wobbly and the service extremely spotty throughout the night.
We started off with some wine. And my glass of Canonau was actually not bad. Light-​bodied and smooth. I didn’t like that the waitress tried to upsell me the most expensive glass on the red wine list, but I guess she was doing her job.
We had the tuna carpaccio, the beef tartare and a truffle pizza. The tuna carpaccio was good but I didn’t understand why the whole dish was flooded with morsels of roasted garlic. If it it good tuna carpaccio, you only need a hint of olive oil, some lemon and just a touch of garlic. This was way too complicated a dish for something so simple. The beef tartare was OK, but it was not a good slab of beef. It was not ground enough and it felt rough in my mouth. Beef tartare is supposed to be smooth. The only redeeming item for the night was the black truffle pizza. But you really can’t fuck that up. Black truffle is just plain good.
So much for a mediocre dining experience that also was not cheap. I will not be coming back to this place. In fact, if I can, I am avoiding this part of town like the Bubonic plague.

Coming here after a long detoured bus route because of a parade, I looked forward to what surprises this restaurant would bring to me.
The service was average.
The food was actually pretty disappointing. The pizza was absolutely disappointing. Perhaps I have just been spoiled by the various brick oven pizza places, but even the $ 1 pizza places on the lower east side was better. The Linguine Pescatore, i believe it was called, was just a bit sub-​par as well.
I won’t come here again.

Awful, over priced and rude server. Stopped in yesterday with my husband and baby for a quick lunch and left angry and still hungry. First we requested a table towards the back since my baby was sleeping and it was darker there, we were than told that we would be MORE in the way there than up front. but we still requested it and sat there.
I than wanted an Ice Tea. they were out. Okay, can I get a Mixed Salad with Shrimp, we don’t have Shrimp. okay, I have never heard of an Italian rest that does not carry shrimp (Friday during Lent, can’t eat meat), but Accademia does not sell shrimp. Okay we got 2 mixed green’s salads, which was just a plate of lettuce, that’s it … a plate of lettuce, where was the mix? and a mozz and pepper salad (something like that) to share. Well, it was 4 tiny pieces of mozz and a few red peppers.
Bill, $ 42.00. Oh and i diet coke. When I asked for more bread because I was starving, I was looked at like I was such a jerk. WT? Anyway, I will never be back.

Simply average… especially for the Upper East. Nothing special, really, but not terrible:
— Nice, helpful staff and servers
— Pleasant atmosphere
— Good for groups
— Older «crowd»
— Decent wine list
The bartender (I cannot recall her name) was fantastic and made our even splendid.

I have been living on the Upper East Side for close to a year now and walk by this place on my way to work every day. I always told myself to give it a try and sure enough, last week, my wife and I gave it a go. We made a reservation on through opentable 45 minutes before we wanted to go and it was available, so far so good.
Sat down, ordered a drink, took a look through the menu and decided on what we’d have. Cheese platter to start — blah, trio of pastas and black truffle pizza to split for dinner — 2 thumbs up, dessert pizza — too full to enjoy.
All things good at this point… 45 minutes later, i had to ask a bus boy to find my waiter for my check. 10 minutes after that, the waiter arrived with my check and not one word of apologies for being MIA for almost an hour, He acted as if nothing was wrong and that he was a great waiter.
Food — B+
Service — D
Atmosphere — C — don’t sit off to the left when you walk in, ask to sit towards the back of the restaurant.

I came here once on a bad date but decided to give Accademia di Vino a second chance. I’m so glad I did, the food and wine here are first-​rate.

Wine special is awesome but best is the pizza with black truffles, pecorino and robiola. Spectacular!

Great food — love the tartare. Wines are fantastic as well.
I think I was very lucky the girls I went with are locals (to the bar) so the staff knew what to recommend, etc.
Definitely not a cheap meal, but the tastebuds are happy.

They currently have a fish linguine dish on the menu, and it’s excellent. Get it.

This is a neighborhood restaurant that seems to draw a crowd, but I just can’t warm to it. I think it’s ridiculously overpriced and a nice enough place, but maybe catering a bit too much to a Jill Zarin, Jon Gosselin wannabe crowd. There’s an air of pretentiousness that I don’t feel is quite warranted. Maybe I just haven’t had the true dining experience here. I have only eaten in the upstairs bar area which is a pretty enough space, somewhat spacious, with your standard wine cellar décor and the standard midtown/​upper east suits perched at the bar.
The carpaccio, tartare, and cheese boards all seem a bit pricey to me. I typically share a salad and a pizza here. The two insalates I enjoy are the arugula, raw cremini mushrooms, parmigiano and marjoram, and the tri-​colore with goat cheese fritters. And yes, if you like truffles, then the robiola, black truffle pâté, pecorino tartufato pizza for $ 19 is for you. It’s good and big enough to share.
The wine menu is obviously extensive. I didn’t see any of my favorite Rieslings listed. I asked for a light white with a similar sweetness, but didn’t love the recommendation that was given. It had a little watered down taste although it wasn’t terrible.
It’s an okay spot when I’m looking for something in the neighborhood, but nothing I would make a trip out of my way to frequent. A bottle of wine and a shared salad and pizza plus tip will probably set you back around $ 50+ each. Not terrible, but if you were thinking you would just meet up for a glass of wine or two on your way home and grab something light and small for dinner, you can do better. You are paying more for the «scene» than really what the «scene» even is. Unless of course you happen to be there on a night a trainwreck reality «star» also happens to come in for dinner.

I have pass through this place a hundred of times and always call my attention; very good looking, the facing street seating is beautiful and such a name: Accademia… di Vino. .
I really like it… wink wink
I had the chance last night and so I did… but babe, I didn’t feel sparks, I didn’t feel anything
Extensive wine menu presented as a book, index included, and detailed description of each wine. Apparently if you like to take a detailed look to the list, the bartender (our, at least) will conclude that you don’t know how the book works… somehow I saw a flash of desperation, and even I could read in his mind: «sigh, she doesn’t understand»; more than the book mechanism, I think it was about «she is not enough expert in wines, sigh» so… is that I don’t deserve to be there? hey, I know a little about wines. If not, that’s why I’m here. And whats the book about if I can not do a detailed inspection? I was just trying to know you well Hun.
offense apart… 95% or more, Italian wines, well the place is Italian but… I also have to say that the offer by the glass is kind of small, I think… I couldn’t take a detailed look to the book
the price is the regular for wines, even cheap since the serving size is quite big.
the ambiance pretend to be nice but actually is not for me. Call me picky but I didn’t like the tables distribution, and the stools at the bar are uncomfortable, maybe bc I’m tall. Maybe I was already uncomfortable.
In a city with less offer or in a earlier visit I’d maybe rate it higher but the competitors are good and now that I have try many others, also in this area, I just can not. I know this review is all about impressions, all about feelings… the wines was good, the glass was just perfect, and it was served at the perfect temperature for a white. The description in the book is accurate; but give me that glass out of here because babe, we didn’t match. no we didn’t.

I love this place. Great UES ambiance. Windows on the main floor that look onto the busy streets. Dim setting, great list of wines, and Bobby, our waiter, is so awesome and generous!
The scallops appetizer (see picture) is hands down THE BEST scallops appetizer I’ve ever had. They grilled these suckers to PERFECTION and the sauce is divine. The quality was superb as well – honestly, my mouth waters just thinking about the scallops. For an appetizer, I thought it was very decent and slightly filling. While they only give you two scallops, they are very large. Plus, the sauce is a bit heavy and the butter-​flied cauliflower is also filling.
The beet appetizer was a bit too «balsamic» for my taste, but they give you a great chunk of goat cheese. I love goat cheese.
Bring a pretty girlfriend along with you and Bobby may treat you to the Nutella Pizza. It’s so good! It’s paper-​thin crust is so crispy and somehow, remains that way even after it’s coated with Nutella and melted chocolate chunks. Apparently they use the same thin crust for their savory pizzas – which I can’t wait to try!
This is a cute casual date place.

It was a dark, cold and windy night. And it was Valentines day.
What could have turned out to be disaster turned out pretty good bc of what an awesome chick I have.
My lady and I went here bc it was so friggen cold and the wait at serendipity 3 was long. We put in our names there, and just walked around to the first place that was open. We sat down for drinks. it wasnt too pricey for some place that doesn’t have the name in English.
The bartender was nice and attentive, and it wasn’t too crowded. It seemed like the table by the bar had a table full of single bitter women having an anti-valentine’s day celebration, but we were cool.
The maitre’d gave me a rose on the way out to give to my lady. I busted it out as we were walking to Serendipity 3. Just call me Nova… as in Casanova.
how romaaaantic. Actually she saw they were doing it, but she let me have my glory.

On first approach, I was pretty sure I had made a terrible choice in picking a spot for a date with a future Mrs. Supreme. I haven’t taken much Italian, but I’m pretty sure anywhere called the Academy of Wine that looks like this place outside is going to be supremely out of my price range.
But I was there, and so was she, and there was no way I was going to back out now.
Fortunately for me, the wine bar upstairs (where we hung out) wasn’t too overly priced, and the bartender was kind enough to help us figure out a couple of options of wine that we might enjoy. Sure, each glass was about $ 15 (which is more than a bottle at Borisal — what can I say, I drink cheap) but it’s a safe bet if you get a straight guy in the proximity of a girl he is trying to impress, all those thoughts of sticking to the budget go out the window.
Even on a Sunday night, though, this place was pretty crowded and I was told that it’s fairly packed on regular weekend nights.