Bistecca by Il Mulino

Possibly my worst dining experience ever.
Unlike AC casinos, you cannot access this restaurant without crossing the gaming floor.
God forbid you have your 17-​year-​old son with you, because you will need to be escorted by security to and from the restaurant. Sounds reasonable — right? Well, after about 15 minutes wait for this security escort (this is a quiet Monday night 7:45pm — NOT a busy time) I ask the gentlemen for an update, to which he says, «it takes as long as it takes». He then asked my wife for identification (she is 51 years old), so she opens her wallet and shows him her driver’s license. He insists that she remove it from her wallet, in which it happens to be stuck. She can’t get it out, I can’t get it out — we offer him the opportunity to try to take it out — but he declines. Basically, if you can’t get your driver’s license out of your purse, don’t bother showing up — because you cannot eat there.
The food might be good — I wouldn’t know, because I couldn’t get in and I won’t be going back.

Meh. The prices really are a bit high and seem slightly out of whack. Food was fair however somewhat uninspiring. When one pays 25 $ for a pasta meal, a side salad to be included just seems like the reasonable thing to do.

This place feels like you’ve known them forever. The people here, Ameri in particular, were extremely friendly and created an atmosphere of a hometown hangout while maintaining the ambiance that this caliber restaurant maintains. The food was excellent, especially when the manager Raliek recommended to try a specific cheese and wine. Absolutely delicious. This place is fantastic.

Decent atmosphere, friendly waitstaff. Decently attentive and quick to correct any mistakes. We got sparkling water but had to wait and ask again for lemon. Not the end of the world, by annoying when you’re paying nearly 100 dollars for two people. We got the mozzarella and tomatoes as a starter, on a bed or arugula and a balsamic drizzle. Very fresh and flavorful. I ended up getting the spaghetti with zucchini and shrimp. Spicy and flavorful. Perfect portion. Gf got a 4 cheese pasta with pancetta which was also good. Over all, I’d probably return. Prices slightly higher than I believe reasonable. Got dessert to go, tiramisu and ricotta fritters with chocolate hazelnut sauce were good.

A restaurant with Il Mulino in its name would set your expectations high, but I also know that a casino restaurant should be held at a lower bar. However, Bistecca was so below the bar, I was ready to go to a diner and I think it may have been a better experience.
First off, we were on time for our reservation, but the restaurant made our party just stand there and wait for about 10 minutes. This is fine, I mean it’s 10 minutes, if they had space for you to wait.
We were sat down and immediately realized that the prix fixe menu we wanted was the wrong one. It would have been fine if we had a waitress/​waiter come to our table. We sat there for about another 10 minutes with no water, no one to our table. We finally had water at our table, but was never asked if wanted anything else besides water.
Our waitress finally came to hand our new menu and never introduced herself. We had no idea what her name was or if she or the girl that poured our water was the waitress for the evening. With the handing out of the new menus, we were never provided a wine menu. I have been to all kinds of restaurants and one of the first things they give you is the wine menu because that’s where they make their money.
We are now an hour in and we finally put our orders in. As we our putting out orders in, the whole party came to the realization that the ordering process seemed so much like a diner. I have been to 5 star restaurants where they waiter quietly takes your order, goes into detail what the food consists of and doesn’t announce loudly the order in which they will take orders. Not to mention, the «honey» and «sweetie» after each person.
Our entrees come out and everything is cold. A couple people from our party ended up going to smoke a cigarette because we are 1.5 hours in. We were told that they didn’t want to serve the food because they were waiting for the whole party. A cigarette may take, the longest, 10 minutes, but the food was so cold that it felt like it had been sitting there for longer than 20. I cook steaks at home, I leave it out for 15 minutes to rest and sometimes do not get to serve it for another 10 and it still serves warm.
The desserts was the saving grace of the whole meal. However, after all was said and done we all agreed that dinner was a 3 hour emotional rollercoaster. The manager did ask for our feedback and was very open to hearing us out. We did mention how the desserts were the saving grace and you would have thought he would have thrown in an extra plate of desserts, but no. With our waitress, although she did not have the etiquette, she tried her best and was friendly.
For the price you are paying, don’t go. Just go to the buffet.

Food was prepared very well. Had pork with salad special, portion was very healthy. Cooked perfectly. Service was very good. Desert was described by one of my guests as to kill for, would have preferred a shovel rather than a fork to eat with. In the area again would definitely know it is a spot to return to … This was my forth visit

It’s a casino restaurant, which automatically lowered my expectations… but the price point was ludicrous for the quantity/​quality of the food. I’m looking for a word that combines «pretentious» and «delusional» here — if anyone has a suggestion please let me know.
Service was OK but not great. Good greeting, very nice bartender out front but for a very empty restaurant service was inattentive and somewhat slow. It’s possible they were letting us enjoy the meal, but… even still, when I have to work hard to catch someone’s eye it’s a problem.
I did note one gushing review here from someone with only 1 registered review — take that for what it’s worth.
In summary, keep in mind that you’re in the Poconos (not downtown Manhattan), which to my way of thinking gives them a bit of a pass on quality… but the prices are simply not able to be justified.

Over priced bad service bad food. Such a disappointment. Ordered 3 drinks got one. Steak was tough.

Top fine dining in the Poconos… depending on your expectations and experience. Here’s the thing, Bistecca by Il Mulino is NOT your typical Il Mulino restaurant that you’ll find in NYC’s finest dining neighborhoods but that’s because hey, it’s in a casino and they have to cater to every gambler and weekender and bachelorette and granny. That being said, the prices are high but the food tastes great. And at the end of the day, that’s what counts. Having eaten here numerous times, I would say that although it caters to parties of all sizes, it’s perfect for date night or your anniversary/​birthday dinner (free dessert if you let your server know!), because to get the best experience you need to be a little loose with your wallet. Go for the grilled octopus appetizer (perfect for two to share, $ 18), it’s adventurous and freaking delicious — never fails. If you’re mindful of your budget, sharing is caring; the appetizers, the salads, and the a la carte sides are all more than enough for two people to share. There is a great raw bar selection, the seafood is absolutely the freshest you’ll get in the Poconos (Blue Point, Long Island Oysters for the win!), but it’s reflected in the cost. For entrees, go for steak! If you like skirt steak, get it. It’s 12oz. cheapest steak on the menu at $ 38 and once again, freaking delicious. If you like a fattier steak and are willing to pay more, go for the filet (8oz. or 12oz.) or the rib eye (24oz. bring your appetite). If you’re not feeling steak, the Pollo al Funghi (chicken and mushroom, $ 27) is fantastic. It’s juicy and tender and drizzled in a marsala-​esque sauce; I’m not usually one to go for chicken when I’m out because it’s like what I cook at home all the time but omg, you’ll ever look at chicken the same again I promise. There are a few meatless options, the best of which is the eggplant parm, which are all a bit cheaper.

Great food. Décor could be much better. Advise fries oysters, baked clams, properly rare rib eye and, perhaps best of all, the zeppoles!

Excellent service and food. Ive been there several times and always left happy. The oysters are delicious. Staff very pleasant. The wait inbetween appetizers and main course was a little long but well worth the wait.

Fresh fish in the Poconos, now it’s no longer just a dream. Yes, finally!!! Very tasty place with a good selection of entrees.

did ALL apps., food was ok. Some dishes were very rich and mostly all were very salty!
Raw Oysters were delicious!

We don’t get the mains when we come here. You have to try the Oyster Rockefeller. That’s not on the menu but it deserves to be! It has sweet cream sauce and spinach on top of it. Octopus and naked clams are second and third on our list as well.

Very pricey. all the things we had were either too salty or straight up bland as heck. the ribeye and oysters and beet salad were very good though. Wine is $ 12/​glass

I was out in the poconos for July 4^th weekend to do some adventure things, and ended up at mount airy casino for the night. Pretty sure after searching through Unilocal this was the nicest restaurant in the poconos. Just to preface I’m from New York so my standards are a little high.
Atmosphere is definitely a dressy. The place was definitely poorly managed, staff was constantly wAiting by the bar for customer drinks and not out on the floor. Tho it was a holiday weekend and the manager had to work the bar, kudos to him.
The food was very meh for how nice the place looked. The rib eye I got was over cooked for medium rare, but interestingly one side was medium and the other side was medium rare… Must have been under the warming lights for too long because wait staff was being held up by the bar.
Sides were also mediocre. As well as the crudo, but what can you expect, you’re not that close to a body of water.
Wouldn’t come back here next time

This is NOT Il Mulino. I have to start there because I would have expected any establishment carrying that branding would be top notch — Bistecca misses that mark but is a better than your average Pocono restaurant albeit considerably more expensive. I presume this replaces the Red steakhouse that had been the fine dining option at the casino for several years and does an okay job in doing so though I’m lost with how much is different except for the new name and renovated space.
The space is quite nice with a contemporary look. Very clean and well maintained. The service is fine although I took it as a bit more scripted than genuine — our server pointed out favorites in each category of the menu.
If you’ve been to Il Mulino you remember how good the pre-​menu apps are — the bread basket is to die for, the chuck of Parmesan, zucc, etc. — the bread basket here is nothing special and the olive tapenade was underwhelming — it lacked any definitive taste.
My wife had the lobster cocktail and I started with the scampi flat bread. I have nothing bad to say about either of these but they were short of inspiring. The lobster cocktail was a lobster tail with cocktail sauce and my flatbread had good consistency but an overpowering amount of pesto. Our drinks were good but again — a high average. I’m not a fan of spending elite mixologist prices for standard drinks.
I had veal with pancetta which was a little dry — the marsala sauce was quite good and the mushrooms were well cooked and had a nice flavor. My wife had the gnocchi with ragu which I liked more than she did. The pasta was well cooked and had good consistency though I would have likes more bite sided gnocchi. Ragu was flavorful and tender.
The best part of the meal was dessert. Two very good lattes and we opted for the zeppole with warm choco-​hazelnut sauce for dipping. The zeppole were hot and tender on the inside with a nice crispy crust and not oily at all. A very nice finish to the meal.

This spot isn’t half bad & if you’re not in the mood for steak you can get Italian dishes because they serve this there as well. Bread with special sauce to cover it instead of butter is a nice touch. The pasta was great & also the servers do pretty good in recommending the best ones in case you hear of something & wondering «does this special be better than on the menu?» & will help you properly. Great double expresso as well.

This restaurant is truly a great addition to the already excellent dining outlets at Mt Airy.
I have now dined at Bistecca 3 times and have enjoyed it each time. The menu has something for everyone’s taste, the wine list is by far the best in NEPA /​Poconos, and the raw bar menu is incredible.

Only open for 2 weeks when we dined there! The service was excellent, we had a team of 3 people taking care of us — Diego was great! The wine list was very good. There is a reasonable $ 12 /​glass or $ 50 bottle super Tuscan by Costello that was good.
The menu was comprehensive with a nice raw bar, interesting appetizers, salads, flatbreads, pastas, meat and fish entrees. Not your basic Italian, more contemporary. We had a grilled octopus and special eggplant casserole for appetizers. Both were well prepared. Our entrees were a nice salmon dish, prepared to requested temperature with mushrooms and a cherry pepper. Gnocchi with pork and beef ribs was decadent. The sauce with the tender meat was excellent. The gnocchi was a bit large and needed more ricotta. Overall, a very good meal.