Graziella’s Italian Bistro

Went for lunch here today with my four besties. Great thing is the ample, convenient parking lot across the street. Our waiter was attentive and jovial. I had spedini and it was delish ! Drinks were fab including my” must– have“bloody mary. My friends had fish dishes and no one left a morsel. A wonderful afternoon! And the prices are good too!

This place looks elegant outside and inside. Superb customer service from the host and waiters. Food was served very quickly, although that could be because my friend and I went there before the dinner crowd. I ordered the crispy chicken rolls as my appetizer. Came with a pesto sauce, but tasted great without it too. For my entrée I ordered the gnocchi Romano, and it was delicious! I would go back there in a heartbeat. My friend said her calamari was some of the best she’s tasted.

This dining experience deserves NO stars as the experience was very insulting.
My family has been regulars @ Graziella’s for 5 years. We’ve always enjoyed ourselves there and have returned. We made reservations for 12÷24÷15. We were a party of 7. The restaurant was somewhat empty with no more than 10 –15 patrons. With our menus, we received stale day old bread. We don’t like to complain and said nothing. It’s just bread. After the waiter took our orders, we asked for pitchers of water for the table. We also requested for our Caesar salad to be served family style. Some eat more salad than others. To our surprise, we were served individual bowls. We ate our salad, but still no water. Again, we reminded the waiter.
We received our appetizers. Sadly, my sisters shrimp and clam appetizer was pathetic. Not only did it cost $ 14.00, it was served on a large oval plate. She was served 2 bite sized shrimp and 2 (resembling littlenecks) clams. She felt bad she couldn’t share it with anyone as there was a little portion for her. My niece had fried calamari. Unfortunately, it was not edible as it was very greasy and the grease tasted old with a rancid like taste. No one wanted to say anything as it was Christmas and we didn’t want to look like the ugly customer. We again asked for water.
When our entrees came, we asked for parmigiano cheese several times. That took a long time, but we finally got the water. I saw my uncle not eat his ravioli. He said it was the worst he ever had. I tried it. I couldn’t agree more. It was over cooked and had a starch taste. Like fatty pasta.
I know we must sound picky and should speak up, but it was Christmas, and our schedules don’t allow us to get together as often as we like. Had we left the restaurant mid way, we were afraid of not having an alternative restaurant.
Now the bill comes. I told the waiter I was paying the $ 450.00 bill with a visa gift card valued @ $ 100.00 and the other $ 50.00. The balance was to be paid on my AmEx. He took the cards and said nothing. He returned with receipts that did not add up correctly. Especially the AmEx. He said, and I quote «you’re not going to like this, but I can’t use the full value of the gift cards». I asked «why not», and he just said «he couldn’t». So I told him to reinstate the gift cards to their full value and put the $ 450.00 on the AmEx. Instead, a kitchen employee comes to the table, approaches my brother-​in-​law and ASSUMES he is the paying patron. I address him and say they are my cards and to speak to me. When he started to speak, he had a very poor command of the English language and could not be understood. The problem remains un resolved. After the holidays, I called customer service of the gift cards and to my surprise, I have a value of $ 2.00 on one and $ 4.00 on the other. They confirmed the transaction at Graziella’s. I have put in a dispute with the visa bank company and AmEx. Not only did I pay $ 450.00 with AmEx for the dinner, but $ 144.00 with the visa gift card totalling $ 594.00. The bill was $ 450.00 for the party of 7.
I am pursuing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Once that is underway, I will be notifying New York’s Attorney General’s Office.
THIS RESTAURANT SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN! Not only are they over priced for the quantity and quality of their food and service, but deceiving and stealing from their patrons. DO NOT EAT HERE! Take this as your warning.

I visited Graziella’s during Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. After reading some of the reviews, I was a little nervous. But I am happy to say that it was a very good experience. The dinner was excellent from start to finish and the service was always with a smile. The restaurant was fairly full although I didn’t see too many people in the bar area. The restaurant is very prettily decorated and it is spacious. The free parking across the street is an added bonus.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant and I will go back soon.

The place is BEAUTIFUL! They have a private room downstairs with its own bathrooms and everything. It was perfect for my engagement party. We had the privacy we needed and we fit about 50 people comfortably.
HOWEVER HOWEVER HOWEVER! The service SUCKS. The manager, Sandy, has such a terrible attitude. I got complaints from way too many of my guests saying they asked her simple questions and was not treated kindly. When it came down to the check the bill was beyond our contracted agreement! We refused to pay more than we agreed then they tried to walk away with a $ 500 tip ($ 100 per person) for terrible service umm NOPE!
The food was mediocre but it got the job done. No one complained about it and no one raved about it either. To me it was just okay.
I give this place 3 stars for the privacy, the beauty of the venue and the convenience of the parking lot across the street.
Would I got back? Uh when Sandy leaves, DEFINITELY!

First of all the food is excellent. We started with crispy chicken rolls. The balsamic pesto was fabulous. I had the braciola with cavetelli. Delicious. My daughter had the veal parm. Very tender. My wife had the fettuccine with fresh vegetables. Also very good. We tried the ricotta cheesecake. Great. Now for the downside. Our server was horrible. He forgot one drink right of the bat. He took our order then we never saw him again. Another waiter could tell we needed something. He came over and we ordered another round. Then that same waiter took our dessert order and before the dessert arrived our original waiter attempted to hand us the check. Plus we could barely understand him. Would been 4 or 5 stars if we did not have lousy service.

We had a reservation for a Saturday night for 7:30. The hostess who had the worst attitude offered us a table right next to a wedding party. When we declined the table, she rolled her eyes and made us wait even longer. We finally get seated and the waiter comes over to take the drink orders. We like to order water first thing, and then see if we need anything besides that. The waiter asked us why not get a bottle of wine. I replied, because we don’t drink, he then pressed us to get a non-​alcoholic drink which we also declined and he said, just water, that’s it? I replied yes, and asked for lemon in it.
5 minutes later we got our water, no lemons and he started to explain the specials. We told him he didn’t need to as we knew what we wanted and he talked right over us. I ordered the veal parm and he questioned me as to why I didn’t order a special. When he went to take the order he licked his finger to turn the page in the book. That’s really disgusting as he handles my plates of food, my drinks, my check and we were mortified. We noticed that the busboys were bringing food out so we stayed, otherwise we would have left for the unsanitary action by the waiter. It took 35 minutes to get the food. No visits by him, no apologies, no nothing. He then brought out a steak knife with his spit on it because he licked his finger and placed it directly on the table. Even if the knife handle did not have his spit on it I couldn’t use it anyway as it just touched the dirty table.
I did hear 4 other tables complaining about the wait to get food too. When the couple seated next to us declined dessert they were treated poorly as well. They did order a bottle of wine so all was fine till they declined dessert. We then stared to smell cigarette smoke and saw people smoking just outside the doors that were open so the smell reached us at our table. I asked the hostess to close the doors and she said they have to stay open. It was only after multiple people had something to say, she did.
The veal was good but the pasta was severely undercooked. After we ate, the waiter brought the dessert menu and started to explain them. We stopped him and asked for the check to which he said we can’t leave till we try the zeppoles. We were not spending any more time in this place so we declined and he said then you must have a cappuccino. I finally stood up and said, stop trying to pad the bill please. We just need our check. He said nothing, walked away and the hostess brought us our check. It’s very obvious they cater to people who order expensive drinks and have large parties. Why can’t we all be treated equal? It’s my choice not to drink and I shouldn’t be penalized for it. What should have been a nice night out turned in to a horrible experience and the whole thing could have been avoided with a better, more competent and professional staff. Go if you’re a big drinker and you’ll be be treated like royalty. If you are not, I recommend to avoid.

We didn’t like this restaurant when we ate there a while ago but decided to give it another try.
What a mistake!
We all thought the food was AWFUL. Overcooked fish, dry small shrimp and tasteless calamari was just a few examples. The eggplant rollatini appetizer was all hard breading in a strange creamy sauce.
The waiter had an aloof attitude that made the dinner even more unpleasant. He never came by the table to ask if we wanted fresh pepper.
We were so turned off, we didn’t even want dessert.
It’s too bad that this restaurant’s food was so inferior, especially since the prices were high for the quality we received.
The restaurant itself is very pretty and convenient. Now they need to really improve the service and food if they want people to return.

We made a reservation a month in advanced. When we got there they made us wait 45 minutes even though there were empty tables everywhere. The lady was very rude and gave us an attitude because we complained about the wait. In my opinion if you make a reservation a month in advance that should give the place ample amounts of time to figure out how to seat people.

I saw no sign of a «cheese shaker,» parmesan was appropriately shred with an appropriate device, all the food I saw looked good, and all the food I ate tasted good. It was a crowded place, and despite the crowd, the service was prompt and efficient.

Love the raviloi specials, and the staff are all phenomenal and very friendly. A great neighborhood place to run into neighbors!

What can I say… another terrible restaurant in White Plains… Classic. I wanted to give this place the benefit of the doubt (having read the terrible Unilocal reviews), plus a friend (who totally lost all restaurant picking privileges), recommended the restaurant. It was disappointing needless to say.
I went during restaurant week and they were «busy» but I’ve been to restaurants where busy means there’s a wait. They were not busy. The real issue is that they are understaffed so they can’t handle a normal dinner rush, and as a result the service was extremely slow.
The food itself lacked flavor. I ordered Brussels sprouts as an appetizer and I love Brussels sprouts so maybe I went in with big expectations but it was bad (granted j are the entire thing — I was so hungry I would have ate anything). In addition my dad got the mozzarella with arugula — this was embarrassing. The dressing was bitter and too vinegary. The mozzarella also wasn’t up to my standards — I’ve had much better.
For entrees we had braised short rib with gnocchi. I love braised short rib especially when you can cut right through it without using a knife — and that didn’t happen not to mention the piece of meat was small. The sauce on the gnocchi, I don’t know where to begin. It was just a bad tomato sauce. Not sure what type of mozzarella they use but you can tell from the way it melted on the pasta it was of a cheap quality. My sister had penne vodka for dinner. The sauce was clumpy which I can honestly say I’ve never seen before, and it wasn’t very good… I’m just praying the sauce doesn’t cause her any issues during her exam tomorrow.
Overall I don’t think I would ever come back. Usually if the food is good I can overlook poor service but this place has no excuse.
ALSO, I feel like you can tell a lot about the quality of an italian restaurant simply by looking at the way they serve the parmesan cheese. At this restaurant the cheese was in a cheese shaker, like something you would see in a pizzeria — this is unheard of for me at least. I can honestly say I have never been to an italian «bistro» with entrees that are more on the expensive side and then they give you a cheese shaker. Like if i plan on paying anywhere upwards of $ 15.00 for penne vodka, there better be peas (which is another way to assess quality of an italian restaurant), and they better shave that parmesan right in front of me. Just saying.

I have been coming to Graziella’s for the past 4 years since they moved from south Broadway and I have to say the food is marvelous, one of my favorite dishes on the menu has to be the Gnocchi Di Casa. On my last visit there I had the pleasure of meeting Gracie the owner and her wonderful daughter sandy who’s the manager. I had to tell them how wonderful and well trained their staff was, my mom didn’t understand one of the dishes so the waiter took his time to explain the dish. One of the best restaurants in white plains.

This place was the worst. I really thought cameras were going to appear the service was so horrible and was a parody. We called and made a rezzie for 5 people at 7:30pm last night. When we arrived they sat us at the very first round table on the left right next to the door. Not my first choice for a table, but ok not a problem as it was crowded. The waiter came over and we ordered a bottle of wine. The waiter then looked over at me before he left and ask if I was going to be involved in the bottle of wine. I was surprised he asked me that when he didn’t ask anyone else at the table. I know I look young, but not that young as I am 45 years old. Ok, so I blew that off.
The waiter then came back over and started to recite the specials. It was very clear that no one was allowed to say a word while he was reciting the specials. Someone at our table said «that’s sound good» and the waiter shot him a nasty look and made it obvious that no one is to interrupt him.
Keep reading. This story gets better.
After he recited the specials, he started to walk away (which was a little weird) so I said, «excuse me, I have a quick question for you about the menu. I ask him what kind of beef comes with the Braciola & Cavatelli. He replied with «it’s beef that stuffed.»
I relied, «I understand that it’s stuffed, but what type of beef is it that’s being stuffed?» He replied, «it’s Beef». I then turned my head away and looked back down at my menu not to even deal with this guy anymore.
Then, out of no where he said in a nasty nasty tone «DID THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?» I looked up and said yeah, then I stopped myself and said, «actually no, you did not answer my question actually. My question is what kind of beef is it that’s in the dish? Filet, skirt steak?» He then replied, «ITS BEEF AND IT COMES FROM A COW.» Yes, he really said that to me. He then walked around the table to take the rest of the orders. (I had my husband order for me since I could not be bothered by a complete disgusting jerk) and I know, your asking yourself «why didn’t my husband say something to him like, please don’t speak to my wife that way like she is an idiot»
While the waiter was taking the rest of the orders, my friend Ray asked the waiter, what do you think would be better, the Pork Chop or the Lamb Shank? Waiter replied, «the lamb shank for sure. The Pork Chops SUCKS, they are are really bad.» Yes, the waiter actually said that. My eyes went into saucers when he said it. He completed the appetizer and dinner order.
We ordered another bottle of wine and waited forever for our appetizers to come out and my friend had to ask another waiter where our food was as our waiter disappeared off the face of the earth. Food finally came out. Hubby and spaghetti and meatballs, one of our friends had a lamb shank and other two had a pasta dish and I had the roasted chicken. The spaghetti and meatballs was decent. The chicken was over cooked and dry. Then lamb shank was decent and he pasta dishes were nothing to write home about.
Our waiter was still no where to be found and then I spotted him. He was just standing at the front podium where the host or hostess stands greeting people. And he was actually starring at me which creeped me out. Then another waiter came over and took our dessert order.
We ordered 1 Banana Bread and an order of the Biscotti and coffees all the way around. They finally delivered our dessert, but they came out with two plates of the Banana Bread and no Biscotti. So my friend, Ray, flagged down our original waiter, who was walking by, (the complete jerk guy) and said we ordered 1 plate of the Banana and one plate of the Biscotti. The waiter replied. «Yeah so?» And Ray said «we need a plate of Biscotti. The waiter then Said, «well that’s not what the waiter told me». Ray said, «can you just get us a plate of the Biscotti? The waiter threw a fit and said «FINE». And Violently took one of the Banana Bread desserts right off our table almost knocking Ray in the head with it. WHO DOES THAT?
I know this story seems strange and not believable, but this really, really happened with NO exaggeration. Worst place and worst service EVER. I’m from NYC and I don’t need to come to White Plains to have an awful dinner with mediocre food and a $ 400 bill. I can go anywhere in NYC and have a fabulous Italian meal (a dime a dozen) with not a hefty price tag attached and great service. This restaurant should have paid me to eat there. It was literally torture eating there.

My parents have talked about Casarella’s for years after growing up in Pleasantville, and they were thrilled when we finally made it to Graziella’s last weekend.
We started with a bottle of Cabernet, very reasonably priced. Appetizer was the burrata — HIGHLY recommended with the truffle oil and bruchetta.
My Dad, who swears Casarella’s made the BEST veal parmigiana on earth was beyond thrilled with his meal — very nostalgic for him! The other 3 of us had pastas — all fantastic. The few leftovers we brought home were gone before the end of the night!
Excellent coffee and a good ricotta pie — ever so slightly dryer than I like, but it really is a personal preference.
The atmosphere is great, there’s easy parking and a friendly staff. We will definitely be going back soon!

I would give Graziella’s 3 ½ stars if I could, but I can’t. .. but it gets the 4 because I think I can take my family here and they would all enjoy. The food leads the way in Graziella’s F.S.A. (Food, Service, Atmosphere)
Food:
They had a big menu, with all the standards (all the chicken, veal, or eggplant preparations), as well as plenty of meat/​seafood options. My wife scarfed down her eggplant rollatini, and I had lamb radiattore, and I thought that was very good too. I had a BIG serving, and I had to bag some of it home. Try it. It was a fun pasta to eat too. For dessert we had the zeppoli, and it was fried goodness.
I am not a fan of pre-​packaged butter squares with my bread. Cut me a slab, or give me oil instead.
Service:
I thought the service was good, a bit slow to start, but overall good & friendly.
Atmosphere:
This is a big restaurant, formerly the old Blue Restaurant, which I thought used to have better ambiance than Graziella’s. Definitely a big open space. If you like Coldplay, come here, because that was every other song.

Two points for homemade pasta (because who doesn’t like that?), but that was pretty much the only redeeming quality. We were there for about three hours in celebration of a family member’s birthday. Saturday night. Only about 5 tables the whole time we were there. The food was over dressed and under flavored. The service was mediocre (we had glasses and plates from appetizers and then our entrees left on the table as dessert was served). The man serving the water sneezed into it (yes, actually. Sneezed into the «elbow» of the arm carrying water. And then served me and didn’t understand why I wanted a new glass from a different pitcher). The bathrooms smelled like a college bar bathroom at 2am. Very, very disappointed.

Graziellas now occupies the old Blue restaurant space (same owners). Food is really good — but the waiters are arrogant & it’s like they are doing you a favor by taking your order & on 3 occasions I’ve had a 20% gratuity added to my check for a table of 4 plus a child! That pisses me off especially when the service sucks. Like another reviewer said the busboys are the nicest thing about the restaurant! We’ve stopped going here because of the service and we use to go every 2 weeks.

So far the best Italian place around Westchester, the manager very welcoming. The service was very attentive. I tried the chicken spring roll with the pesto sauce! It was just awesome, and as my main I had the cheese ravioli it was just unbelievable !!! Def. if you are around white plains give a try. You won’t be disappointed.

AMAZING experience. I love this place.
Service was GREAT, waiter very attentive and helpful when choosing entrees, drinks etc.
You get free brushetta and sopressata which was nice. We ordered the baked clams and stuffed mushroom for appetizer which were very very good. I ordered the beat salad which was so wonderful, with goat cheese. Date ordered the caesar salad which they make table side and it is to die for !!!
Main dish I ordered the seared tuna which was AMAZING, one of the best tuna dishes I have ever had. It is made in a nice sauce with pine nuts and garlic a MUST try. My date’s dish was also AMAZING it was the gnocchi with some sort of sea food vodka sauce. It was sooo good we finished almost licked our places.
For dessert I tried the berry napoleon which was very good and then they gave us fried dough on the house !!! How nice of them !!!
Will be back soon!!!