Cafe Amici

First time here and absolutely felt in love! First of all, I’m not from here. I live in Stamford about 1 hour away. After I went to Ikea with my boyfriend we were starving and wanted a place to eat with an outside sitting. We came across this restaurant looked at menu and said «this is it». Let me tell you how happy I am with the decision we made. The food was so delicious! The restaurant was so cute and comfortable. Our server, Brett, was the best. He knew his menu and was great at helping me choose what to eat. Next time you go, I recommend you asking for him. He made us feel so comfortable and was so friendly. Thank you for such a great experience. Next time I’m we’re in town, we’ll be back!

Ok well … almost exactly 5 years after my last review (and last time here), we were back as part of a group of 13 old grumpy folks. (Well, we are younger and nice … but the rest of our group were old folks!).
Now I have a thing about asking for separate checks. I HATE doing that to a server. But before we sat, one of our party grabbed our waitress and told her she insisted our table have separate checks. Except for my partner and I together each person wanted their own.
The waitress was super sweet about it and accommodated the request with no problem at all.
Mental note … never again with this group.
Again I was SO hoping to like this place but it just fell flat like last time. One of our party had the Fried Calamari as his appetizer and sent it back. Couldn’t believe theyd serve a mess like what he got … underfried calamari — all stuck together in clumps. Just terrible.
An eggplant entrée that was just a thick slice of unseasoned plain eggplant seared on a grill till it was tough, then slopped with sauce.
My entrée was a special that night … Spaghetti with shrimp (4), roasted cauliflower and peas. Ok but nothing special. not a decent portion either and no presentation. just slopped in a bowl. And AGAIN like 5 yrs ago, the pasta was underdone. How can an Italian place not get pasta right? My partner had a salmon special that came over rice. Was decent but the rice was overly garlicked.
Another thing that’s really idiotic about this place. is the Specials List doesn’t show prices. Server said (when asked why). «that’s just how the management here insists on doing it. you just have to ask us for the prices». how ridiculous is that?
So again. disappointed … second time … and in spite of the good service we had from our nice server, we ain’t comin back. Detinitely not worth the $ 96. tab for two.

Went last night for the first time for restaurant week after our first choice fell through.
For a Wednesday night they were busy but not full. Service was quick & very attentive even sitting in the back booth by the bathroom (which we freely chose for privacy & it never bothered us once). My husband wanted the regular menu but it wasn’t available so he ended up with a children’s meal which didn’t bother him either.
All the food was average. Nothing was spectacular or outstandingly memorable but nothing was bad either. I do wish they had other dessert options other than soft serve ice cream since it tasted a bit odd but thanks for the sprinkles! We enjoyed the meal & of course, each other’s company made it a very pleasant night.
Overall, it was an average place & for the restaurant week price I didn’t feel like we paid much more than what it was worth. I’d return but wouldn’t make it my first choice.

Café Amici is a great local restaurant! The food is delicious, I normally find a go to dish at a restaurant and stick with it but at Café Amici I find myself always ordering something different. The staff is all super friendly, and efficient. They always go above and beyond what I’d expect. As an added bonus they have outside seating for the nicer months!

The food is great, but the service really stinks.
You know that feeling when you stand at the hostess stand and have waiters rush by dozens of times without so much as a «hello» or «we’ll be right with you?» That’s Amici’s to a T.
The poor service starts at the door and extends through dinner, with none of the polite chitchat you expect from wait staff. Somehow, with plenty of staff rushing through aisles with heads down as though on a mission, the food, water, and bills move oh-​so-​slowly.
The manager (I think he’s the manager anyway– he’s always there) is the only one who is friendly and seems to care if you’re waiting for a table. I went in today for pick up that was supposed to take 25 minutes and took 40. The waitress helping me did not offer a time estimate while I stood there waiting for 15 minutes. She wouldn’t even catch my eye or pretend to check on the order when I asked! When I finally pulled over the manager he apologized and promised it would be out in two minutes. When the original waitress handed me my order, it was with no smile, no apology, and no explanation. It was honestly shocking– though not as shocking as when a neglected table tried to flag me down to take their order, thinking I was wait staff!
We often come here because it’s so nearby, but we can’t help but hope the management will start training staff to smile and be more pleasant… They are truly grumpy and it doesn’t make for a good dining experience.

I have gone here many times and have never really had a good meal. The prices aren’t bad at all but the food could be better.

One of our favorite places. Always greeted by a friendly smile and helpful staff! Food is great and weekly specials are always a great choice!

Probably the best Italian restaurant in the town of Hamden the owners are the cream of the crop… food… Is phenomenal they are a place where you can come casually and still get top notch food and service this is clearly the hidden gem in the town of Hamden…

I desperately wish Café Amici was even «pretty good,» because I’d love to have a nice place to walk to on a cold night where I get home late from work and am not in the mood to cook. Unfortunately, it’s a ways beneath even that level. My wife and I have gone a couple times and have been disappointed.
So here’s the thing with a small Connecticut red sauce Italian-​American place. It is serving fairly simple food, so it needs to be extremely fresh and tasty, or why should anyone bother leaving their house to go there? I love that they serve panecotto, one of the great comfort dishes ever invented, and one rarely seen outside of Southern Connecticut Italian restaurants and homes, but their version is just bland. Mine is better. It just takes time and good ingredients, other than that it’s easy to make a good one. I hoped the Bolognese would be good, but my wife’s version is a thosand times more flavorful. Granted, hers is pretty awesome, but still, we’re paying to eat out if we’re goung out, right? And the ravioli were thick and starchy (i’m not in their kitchen, so I can’t tell you if the pasta is fresh or not, but let’s say I am suspicious and leave it at that) in adition to being bland. In this case, it’s not so much that my wife and I can make better, it’s that we don’t even have to make better… a reasonably priced jar of sauce with some store-​bought ravioli is better. There is just no reason to pay for restaurant food that you can duplicate at home at higher quality and less cost!
Although our experiences here were not good, Café Amici at least gets bumped up to 2 stars for a couple reasons: the calamari were surprisingley crispy and flavorful compared to what we expected after some other experiences here (my wife actually begged me not to order them: «seafood here?! Are you trying to kill me!?» But they really were pretty good.), and the folks working there were pretty nice (I have seen some complaints on Unilocal about bad service and I have to say we experienced nothing of the sort). Obviously judging from the 2 star score I am not exactly recommending this restaurant, though.

Went with my husband during restaurant week. The food and service were great!
We had the crabcake and rollatini for apps, both were tasty.
I had Chicken Milanese, large portion lots of sauce (I am a big fan of sauce on the plate — not just a small splash).
My husband had steak, asked for it Medium Rare and it came out perfect!
We had cheesecake (not made in house) but it was great.
The service was perfect, she was there when we needed her but not overwhelming! My only suggestion would be to make sure that espresso is hot hot before serving, but I am sure we were the only ones enjoying one.
We will be back!

We came during restaurant week and we were pleasantly surprised. The server was ok they aren’t very personable but whatever I don’t like chit chat anyway. We had bruschetta. Great. House dressing great. Calamari perfection. Pork chop really good. I had the shrimp limoncello which was good. Clams casino good. We had to ask for bread twice. I would add this to my list as I live around the corner

Can’t even think of anything other than good things to say. Great food, great service, reasonable prices. SO GLAD Unilocal!helped me find this little gem!!!

I spoke toan extremely rude manager on 9÷5÷14. He belittled me and refused to refund me for the food that he left out of my to — go order. Will not return.

Food was not bad. Service good. We had the ravioli and penne Bolognese. Both slightly over cooked but the gravy made up for it.

Well known local «secret». Outdoor seating, casual restaurant and friendly bar to the side. The waitstaff is friendly and well versed in the menu, which has different specials listed each time we go.
The manager, head chef /​owner and bar manager all work together to create a comfortable atmosphere. We have stopped for wine and appetizers, full meals, and simple cocktails and always have a great time.
A little known fact is the gluten free personal pizza is among the best in the area, crispy and perfectly done. My favorite appetizer is the eggplant tower, which is plated and garnished like you would expect at a restaurant with 4x the cost.
Stop by for casual comfort and a very good meal. Shhhh don’t tell anyone, I don’t want to wait for a table next time!

Hands down the best food around!

Very well know local italian restaurant… the décor is lacking, the customer service is ok and the food… well is just ok… nothing to drive more than 12 feet for but if you receive a gift card I don’t see any reason you should not visit or just use as a re-​gift hopefully not to me. Where is the homemade pasta? Who knows maybe one day.

This place was terrible. The wait staff was nice enough, but it looked like a diner inside (It has been redone since I ate there so it might be nicer) and we had people right behind us with no privacy screen to the point were we almost had to talk to each other (and did) because they were so close. They were very nice, but I don’t necessarily want to feel forced to make eye contact with the people at the next table.
The food was edible, and that is the nicest thing that I can say about it. Not much else to report. There are better Italian places out there for sure, so keep searching for something else if you are in the mood for pasta…

Second time back. Loved it the first time but now think that had to do with a multitude of happy hour drinks at Mickey’s beforehand.
This visit, some dishes were hits (eggplant tower), while others were so so (scrod oreganato, eggplant parm and Oreo pie).
There are too many good restaurants in nearby New Haven to return again.
Cute cute atmosphere with twinkling white lights and real local hangout in the bar area are definite pluses.

I think this place is very underrated. The value of the food is excellent and the addition of the bar gives this place a whole new feel. The bartenders are great and the happy hour specials can’t be beat. It’s a great place to either grab a drink and an appetizer, have a meal at the bar, or bring the whole family for dinner. It’s definitely one of the best «local» places in Hamden.