Bocca Di Bacco

Beautiful little Italian restaurant on the corner. We came in celebrating our best friends birthday and the décor and atmosphere of the place is beautiful. Low lighting, romantic but modern at the same time. Plenty of wine to choose from, and the food was delicious. The prosciutto was mouth watering. I ordered the fresh tortellini with asparagus in a butter sage sauce and I have been thinking about that entrée for months now! It was the freshest, brightest most delicious tortellini I have ever encountered. Normally it’s a dish I would pass up when seeing on a menu– thankfully I didn’t. I can’t wait to return here or one of their other locations. I just can’t not share the deliciousness that is the tortellini with others.

Just a short review… walked by the place, so we thought… our legs are tired of walking and it was getting late. Best decision! Six different entrees, six winners. Décor was great, service was great… food was great! Next time I’m in town, I’m hitting this joint!

It was decent. We came for lunch during the week and the place was pretty empty. It was a beautiful day in Chelsea and they had the windows open so it was quite nice. They had a lunch special for $ 20 that included an appetizer + entrée, although many of the items had an additional $ 2 – 5 cost. The appetizers were all good, I had the Caesar salad which had a nice anchovy flavor to it (beware if that’s not your thing). I had the lamb ragu for my entrée and it was alright, not fantastic. Some others orders the gnocchi and they really liked it. The chicken wrapped around the salad was pretty cool. Overall an ok place for lunch if you want to do a sit down lunch on a nice day in a good environment and are willing to spend $ 30 or so per person. Good way to get away from the craziness at Chelsea Market if you are set on eating in Chelsea.

Came here with a date this past weekend for dinner. We had the Fried Calamad and Fresh Mutz with sliced tomato and prosciutto. Excellent apps. Main courses were the Sautéed grouper with shrimp and vegetables. I had the parpadille pasta with a wild mushroom sauce with grilled steak over it all. Excellent. Glasses of wine as well. Décor inside is excellent. Plenty of space inside. Highly recommend checking these guys out if in the area.

By the previous reviews I think people just need to come for dinner (but who knows). I enjoyed my time here, the waiter was very attentive and we even had the owner/​manager come over to our table and ask how everything was. He got really down-​to-​earth and even helped to serve us.
We had the Quaglia E Polenta and, although I don’t like polenta, loved everything else. My boyfriend ordered the Taglierini Neri Con Grancho (ordered it because we thought it would be a cool thing to try the squid ink pasta name and all). We both thought it was pretty good, a bit on the salty side but not a big problem with the amount of bread we got. I got the Costoletta D’Agnello which is probably on of the best things, very juicy and tender. The Profiteroles are probably the BEST things I have ever had in my entire life. Get that if not anything else.
Okay so, good points:
Ambiance is really nice, kind of fancy (eh) but you could get away with a button-​down. Great location, great staff but something just wasn’t AMAZING for a five-​star review but I am definitely a fan.

Love to grab a quick meal at the bar at this local place. Despite quite high turnover behind the bar the service is uniformly accommodating. Favorites include the grilled octopus and lamb pasta. Doors /​Windows opening onto 9^th Avenue is a nice touch.

Our waiter was the type of Italian who had slick-​backed hair, spent extra time doting on the women in our party and occasionally added an extra vowel to the end of words. He had the chiseled chin of someone moonlighting in a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant while waiting for an acting career to take off.
He took us through Bocca Di Bacco’s specials, including a seafood pasta that would up being by entrée. We did make our way through some appetizers and a bit of wine during the meal as well. I appreciated the restaurant letting us sit minus one member of our party, as it was Thursday evening and there was plenty of people in the restaurant. For the restaurant, this led to us more ordering for food, for us it meant with didn’t have spend 10 minutes outside in the rain.
The food was solid, dependable Italian fare. The flavors were a bit dull, there was a bit too little seasoning on my pasta, and it lacked the lightness that comes from the city’s best pasta joints. In a neighborhood that frequently emphasizes décor over cuisine, flash over substance, it was a step above the norm, but still just average.

We had brunch here last Sunday. DO NOT order the eggs benedict! These are the worst eggs benedict I have ever had in NYC. Not one single aspect of the 5 things that went into this dish were any good. The English muffins were not cripsy, the potato hash was just horrible and cold, the salad was wilted and soggy, the Hollandaise was just awful (the wrong color, the wrong amount, the wrong flavor — if I closed my eyes there is no way I would know that this is Hollandaise), and finally… the poached eggs themselves: HARD boiled!!! DO NOT eat Sunday brunch here!

We stopped by on a Saturday night. The kitchen was already closed, so we decided to have a drink because we loved the atmosphere at the establishment. There were 4 – 5 tables still dining. I cant say anything about their food but the service was horrible: our waiter was rude and showed us an attitude, i guess because we came late. The look at his face and the tone of his voice spoke for himself. Before we even finished our drinks, they put check on our table and started cleaning the restaurant (while other people were still finishing their food and drinks). I think that was very rude and unprofessional.

Well I see that my reviews are going down a star at a time. At least this restaurant is consistent in its decline!
Brunch again. This time mine was ok. I had the Eggs Benedict, with spinach and salmon (yes, you can do that). Not much to go wrong with that.
My brunch partners didn’t fare as well. One had asked for eggs, fried, not runny. Well done. And potatoes, bacon well done, salad. No bread please, needs to be gluten-​free. They brought her some kind of not-​sure-​what. Sort of like a roll of scrambled eggs wrapped around something with bacon and mushrooms. And of course, white toast on top of it all. Sent it back. The waiter then returned with what appeared to be a plain egg white omelette (imagine how that looked), with bacon on the side. Rather than return it again, we just had that meal deducted from the bill. She ate the bacon.
And our third bruncher today ordered the spaghetti alla carbonara. Seemed to be made with fresh pasta, which was nice, but it wasn’t seasoned. Maybe they’re trying to be careful with salt, but something like this has to have taste!
So at this point, I guess we’re down to two stars. It’s just, again, that there doesn’t seem to be a «foodie» involved anywhere here. There’s no evidence of anyone who cares about food, at least not for the early part of the day. Haven’t been for dinner in a while, I’ll probably give that another try before I write it off completely. Hopefully they get that right!

Do not come here for brunch. It’s uninspired, insipid fare. I’m starting to notice a trend in these restaurants. When it comes to quality, they will give it provided that it won’t cost them much seeing as they have to pay an obscene amount of rent. This goes for other semi-​formal establishments. I used to work at restaurant that in its heyday was providing quality at a reasonable price. Nowadays, it’s this kind of mentality that business owners have that will be there undoing.
Another thing: why hire a DJ? You know, Spotify and Soundcloud can do the job of a DJ very well. That money could have been used on a better chef.

Don’t less this spot fool you. Beautiful décor and spacious restaurant. However, the food is horrendous! We had our dog this evening so we decided to try Bocca because they had an outside sitting area. Once we were seated one of the servers said «keep your dog on short leash and don’t let him bother anyone» ummmm, there was about ten people in the entire restaurant and no one sitting by us. Not to mention, I have a small miniature dachshund who is well behaved/​trained. So rude!
Our sever was sweet as can be, but he could not make up for the horrible microwave type food.
Our appetizer choice was the bruschetta mushroom cheese bread. Our bread was hard as a rock toped with crusty cheese. The mushrooms beneath it were slimy. It was gross. I took a bite out and had to throw it out. For entrée, I got the special fettuccine with truffle oil and white wine sauce (minus the prosciutto for kosher purposes). The pasta came drenched in slimy mushrooms no white wine sauce. I took one bite and it was so tasteless and smelly I had to return it. Our sever was sweet and offered to replace it, but I was so turned off I declined.
I explained the pasta description was not correct on the menu and it has no indication of mushrooms. My boyfriend got the Bolognese. His pasta was okay, but he left almost half. Very rare for a pasta lover.
Overall, our experience was horrible. We left hungry and disappointed.

Great food, great service. The restaurant was nice and chill and not loud so you can enjoy a lovely dinner with friends. Great date place too!
I ordered the chicken paillard, which was so good, then I had their amazing panna cotta. I was with a group of 7 people and everyone was happy with their food. Would highly recommend.

I mostly have been here to enjoy an amazing glass of Barolo and their Succulent grilled octopus! So fantastic! Always served with a smile by bartender extraordinaire Pavel. A must try!

We went here after Pride in the summer and got seated immediately in a lovely corner outdoors spot. The inside is huge with a dancy atmosphere. The staff was sometimes inattentive — we had to wait for things, or call them over to ask for something. The food is average. The only thing I loved was the octopus salad which was great. The calamari app was over fried. I had a crab and shrimp linguini, which was a little drowned in its sauce. The other dishes my friends had were good to ok — the fish was nice and tender, the steak pasta ok, the béchamel sauce way rich.

We went to Bocca Di Bacco before the pride parade, and I had made a reservation a few weeks in advance. It was an extremely fun atmosphere with a DJ at the bar and extremely friendly and hospitable wait staff. The tables are big, so I never once felt cramped, and even though the place was crowded, the windows and doors were open, so there was fresh air and a great ambiance.
They had a drink special for pride, which was $ 20 for unlimited drinks on top of your meal. I thought that was a little steep at first, but they were very generous with the drinks and with extra champagne in our mimosas! A few people showed up to say hi, and they even served them drinks with no extra charge.
For appetizers, we got the fried calamari, which was pretty much what you would expect, and then for main course, most of us got the egg white omelet which came with a side salad and potatoes. I wasn’t too impressed with my meal — the omelet was kind of bland, and the salad and potatoes weren’t seasoned very well, but the friendly staff and fun atmosphere made it all worth it. I highly recommend this location for brunch and will definitely be returning.

Superb! I have not one bad thing to say about this restaurant. The ambiance is dimly lit but not too romantic. Atmosphere was a tad loud, but that could be because the bus stops right in front (and because of all the Italians eating there).
We started with the mushroom bruschetta and the special of Buratta cheese over tomatoes and prosciutto. I LOVED the Buratta dish. The mushroom bruschetta was like French onion soup on bread.
For entrees, I ordered the special of shrimp scampi risotto. Had just the right amount of lemon zest in it that really took the dish to a whole new level. There was a good shrimp to risotto ratio as well. Boyfriend ordered the squid ink pasta with crab meat. Nice chunky pieces of crab meat, evenly dispersed throughout the dish without it being too much. We also ordered the spinach as a side but it wasn’t necessary, as our appetizers plus entrée was enough to fill us.
For dessert we shared the tiramisu, which was light and airy and delicious!

Had a delicious dinner here last night and everything was so tasty! The overall look of the restaurant is really nice with exposed brick and ambient lighting.
We started with a bunch of apps… my favorite being some type of mushroom bruschetta and the caprese salad.
Then we split a bunch of pasta dishes… the gnocchi dish was a little stinky from the type of cheese sauce that it was covered in but it was soooo good. I also loved the lamb pasta dish and the bolognese pasta.
We had many cocktails… all being on point. They also made me a special cocktail with cucumber and lychee.

I really enjoyed my bar experience. I went on a Saturday, I believe Pedro was my bartender. He was great. funny. personable. The restaurant is huge which is nice, the wine selection is really really nice.
The only thing that bothered me was a sur charge to TASTE a wine. I understand if you tasting multiple glasses of wine, pretending to buy something. But to charge a taste of wine is a way way way CHEAP. Like seriously cheap. Like low ball move.
But other than that I really liked my bartender. Will go again.

My friend wanted to try this Italian restaurant with several locations in the city. We ended up in the theater district. We actually wanted the Hell’s Kitchen. It was a busy night and even with reservations had to wait a few for a table.
The crowd was typical mid-​town. Men in leather loafers or business attire. Women all dolled up for the evening with their Coach bags. Most if not all eating before their Theatre. Well, some might not make it. One lady in a chic attire only a mid-​westerner thinks what one should wear to a NYC show was so plastered she could barely stand. She just decided to sit back down… there goes Mamma Mia at 7pm.
We got a nice cozy table only by squeezing through a mass of people between the bar and people eating on the other side. The waiter was quick to get to us. The menu looked good with assorted meat, seafood and pasta dishes. We started with some cocktails to jolly up the meal. The grilled octopus appetizer was very well flavored tender. The seafood special past came with half a lobster and I got the grilled Branzio (Not the whole fish. Just the fillet). I’d have to say food wise was very good. The server was attentive water always filled.
I’d have so say while the many Italian restaurant in the city. The food quality and service was very good but Bocca De Bacco seems to me like another Italian chain like Biaggi’s, Buca de Beppo and Maggiano’s.