Machiavelli

Great place for a romantic evening. Food was fantastic… The lasagna was simply the best! The service was a little slow and the waitress was a bit off her game forgetting some of the names but she had a very bubbly personality that made it fine :) … The place also had live piano player, which was simply amazing to see in the middle of your meal.

I have been to Machiavelli twice now, once for brunch and once for dinner after the new year with my family. Both times I was blown away by the atmosphere and quality of the food. As noted in other reviews, the careful attention to detail is exceptional. But what really impressed me was how much the management genuinely cares about the customer’s experience and responds to feedback. There were a couple complications during our dinner, things that can happen anywhere, but the attentiveness and grace with which the staff responded is NOT something that happens just anywhere and it definitely left a positive impression on me. Also, the lobster risotto I ordered was one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten :) For a unique and non-​pretentious experience with delicious flavors and personable, knowledgable service, this place is a great choice!

Excellent service and very friendly but the food is just not top notch as one might expect from a nice NYC Italian restaurant. Pizza is very unremarkable.

**brunch review**
We just came here for brunch on Christmas Day. (They were one of the few places open!) We even sat outside!
We got a nutella crêpe and their crêpe of the day, which had ham, goat cheese, and spinach. Both came with a small fruit salad, and the savory crêpe also had a side salad. Both were tasty and a very substantial portion.
The coffee, which came in their own presses, was kind of blah, but the bread basket and olive oil were nice.
I love the aesthetic inside — airy but also regal — and the Mediterranean nod, such as the white-​blue tiled tables outside. The napkins were all standard paper towels, like from the dispenser, which was kind of weird given the otherwise upscale look.

Went with a colleague on a Sunday night, there was a great live music event. The service was fast, we only had drinks so I cannot speak for the food. We had a good time so it’s a 4-​star bar as far as I am concerned.

Agree with numerous previous reviews…, place is «cute» on first glance and a pianist does play good classical music…
But is that worth the nausea and the stomach ache afterwords? I don’t think so!
Just ate there 2 hrs ago … Feeling sick already…
Ate the recommended veg pats and the fish of the day… The pasta was cold and rubbery… And the fish didn’t look too fresh either…
Needless to say… Shall never return…

This is a nice Italian restaurant on the upper west side in NYC. I went there during a business trip with colleagues. The server was nice but kept asking the men for their orders first, which was not appreciated by some at the table. The wine selection was quite good, and the cab I ordered was perfect. The bread basket was also excellent. My main entrée was a seafood risotto, which was very good. For dessert I had the crème brûlée was to die for.
I wouldn’t say the food or the ambience was fabulous but overall a very nice dining experience. I’d probably go again and try some other entrees.

Maria was delightful and made up for the new menu not having lasagna, it was close but she did make up for it.
Maria promised the lasagna would return to the menu in the fall.
I had. the rib eye, cooked very well but needs flavor. My honey had spaghetti again prepared very well but low on flavor.
Maybe because it’s a Monday night.
Still enjoyed my dinner and would come back.
Btw The pianist was so very talented

Recently had Sunday brunch here with some friends.
The atmosphere was very Italian — murals on the walls, ornate décor, and unique dining seating. There was also a piano player faintly heard in the background as the noise level is quite high.
Drinks were kind of pricey in my opinion — a cocktail was roughly $ 12-​$ 15. The cost of that was basically the meal I ordered.
Before our meals we were given a focaccia bread with a light tasting hummus — we all thought the hummus dip could be more flavorful. Food was delicious! This is not your classic greasy brunch meal. The food tasted very clean and fresh. Our table ordered a plethora of fritattas and one the Uova alla Fiorentina. Dishes also included a small side of fruit. Table consensus: Fritatta Salsiccia was our fave! (It’s the one with goat cheese and spinach.)
A couple of negatives to point out: 1) There is ONLY ONE bathroom for guests… 2) Once food was ordered it took a while for us to actually get our food. Bummer side if you are super hungry.
We quite enjoyed this place and we’ll definitely be coming back!

I dare to say that it’s the best Italian restaurant on the west side! Beautiful décor and beautiful food. A live pianist comes at 7 on week nights and 1 – 3 on Saturdays and Sunday’s for brunch. The staff is very very friendly and easy to talk to. We dined on a beautiful Sunday morning and outside seating was available. The food was fantastic and I will definitely be bringing my friends here again! Do yourself a favor and order the lemon ricotta pancakes for brunch!!! Omg!!! My mother and I tasted them at once and we both said «OH WOW!!!» at the same time God the chef puts passion and love into his food, you can taste it.

We loved Machiavelli! We went in there on a sweet summer evening with my husband and mother in law and really had a great experience. The place itself is quite beautiful, the walls are gorgeously painted and there is a piano player– yeah!
— bread basket: focaccia and some sort of hummus: delicious!
— salmon and veggies: perfect. Even though it said veggies, it came with mashed potatoes. Mashed potato isn’t a vegetable.
— duck with fig sauce: amazing!
— pasta and veal sauce: fantastic!
Overall great dining experience. Would love to return!

Stopped by Machiavelli after being away from the UWS for a couple of years — this used to be one off my favorite places for Italian food in the neighborhood. It’s a good spot to sit outside, relax with a glass of wine, and hopefully listen to some live piano (although the piano player always seems to go on break just after I arrive).
The first thing that I noticed on this Sunday night in August was the $ 25 price tag for pasta!!! Wow, how had I forgotten that? While it is is freshly made in-​house, that is almost twice what other restaurants charge. Cotta and Celeste nearby offer better tasting dishes at a fraction of the price.
In the absence of our favorite menu items from the old days, we opted for two of the fifteen specials; squid ink farfalle with salmon and a thick ribbon pasta with duck in a mushroom brandy sauce. While the consistency of both pastas was great, the flavors and seasoning left a lot to be desired. The later tasted like some sort of weird Asian fusion dish. We salted, peppered, salted, peppered, repeated. The service was sufficient, although a little odd. My second glass of wine sat on the edge of the bar in an almost empty restaurant for at least five minutes before it was delivered to the table.
$ 100 for 2 very mediocre pasta dishes and 2 glasses of wine!!!
I’m sure that the rent for this location is quickly rising and I just don’t see how Machiavelli will survive without a lot of improvements to their menu and reconsideration of their customer base and prices.
One other complaint; Machiavelli prides itself in the handmade, artisanal quality of its décor, furniture, menus, plates, etc. — all made by artists. It results in an eclectic, unique, authentic Italian atmosphere. But when the plates come out, they’re so obnoxiously big in relationship to the table that there’s barely room for the glasses. The bread basket definitely doesn’t fit on the table with two plates. I never understand why restaurants do this in New York where tables are always small and packed tightly together.

Machievelli gets one star because the place looks so cool. And the fig. And maybe I’ll get to use the word ‘Machiavellian’…
But, as a restaurant that serves people willing to exchange money for food, not so much. The food is best described as «meh», while the service hasn’t yet registered on the «meh» scale. I think this is the first 1 star review I’ve done.
Stopped here on the way to a show, with plenty of time for dinner and drinks.
From the time we walked in to the time we left it was like being in a foreign country where we spoke different languages and didn’t share the human experience of dining out.
After being seated outside at the best table we were left alone. No, really. To the point we wondered if this was in fact a restaurant, or a movie set, in a studio that looked very much like a restaurant. It was early, maybe 6:30 and there weren’t more than 2 other tables. A busboy filled our water and a waiter took our drink order to the bar ten feet away, a club soda and glass of wine. It’s 6:45 and the club soda and wine arrive. We let our waiter know we had a show, while there was still plenty of time. Our waiter was actually very personable despite a language barrier. And though we may have waited on him more than he on us, he was friendly.
While waiting for the waiter to take our food order I looked to Unilocal for any recommendations or ‘must haves’. The reviews were surprisingly disappointing. But we stayed, and at 7 they were ready to take our order. Now concerned about time, we decided on the cheese plate, probably the safest bet and quickest to prepare. The waiter explained they had 15 to choose from and to pick 3, 4 or 5. They actually had 7 and I picked 4. It was served with a date, some preserves and an amazingly delicious fig. The cheese was fine. The bread was not bread. It was like zeppole at the county fair without the powdered sugar or carnies. I liked it, but not with cheese (but I’ll eat cardboard when I’m this hungry)… so maybe… we asked if we could have some bread and they brought what they had, herbed focaccia which is best described as ‘awful’.
Long story short, I begged for the check, paid $ 42 for some cheese, a glass of wine and a club soda (and a delicious fig) and left hungry. was there was still time to stop and grab dinner before the show?

I really enjoyed my trip to Machiavelli. The service was really excellent. I was very impressed with our server.
We had a prosciutto and burrata appetizer, which was very nice. I also had a spinach salad, which was a little overdressed. My friend had seafood pasta, which she really enjoyed. Another friend had a pizza, which looked pretty good… I didn’t try it because I had eaten so much burrata cheese already, but she really liked it. Our other friend had mussels, which she enjoyed.
The one issue for me is that the outside tables are so ingrained with dirt. I know it’s hard to keep things clean when they are on Columbus Ave, but it was rather off-​putting. Also, the restroom situation is limited even for a Manhattan restaurant.

I expected so much more from Machiavelli. Honestly, my meal wasn’t good.
I ordered the Parmesan polenta with truffle oil and a side of two poached eggs to put on top of the polenta. First, I did not taste any Parmesan or truffle in the polenta. I feel like it was just a bowl of flavorless cornmeal. And then both of the poached eggs were overcooked — which means they were actually just hard boiled eggs. I should have sent the eggs back (I usually do, can’t say why I didn’t in this case). I had to add salt and pepper to the dish to make it have any flavor. Additionally, their bacon wasn’t done well. How do you screw up bacon?!? They were deep fried, overcooked (but not in a good way since I love my bacon crispy), and very salty.
Our table split the banana and blue berry pancakes. These were the best dishes on the table. Overall, it was a very disappointing brunch.

How the heck have I missed this lovely place right in my own neighborhood?! Seriously! I loved the huge chairs at the bar, the décor… last night there was a pianist/​chanteuse who soothed my cares away. I had wine, but was totally tempted by Tara the mixologists obvious talents! Drink after lusciously created drink went out to the dining room… I adored the martini glasses. Tara was super sweet and answered our questions with generosity and an authentic pep in her step! I will be back to sit at her bar soon… I feel like I discovered a huddle gem that’s been in plain site this whole time!!! Can’t wait to try the food:)

I came here for brunch and thoroughly enjoyed the comforting ambiance and food. We ordered the croissants with homemade jam, the polenta with truffle oil, the fritatta casereccia, and a bottle of white wine. The wine selection was nice and the dishes were spot on, but I am curious to try the other items on their menu after seeing what tables around me ordered. The décor and live music playing in the middle of the restaurant made for a relaxing morning-​afternoon and made me feel like I could stay there for the entire day.
If I were to nitpick, I would have to agree with some of the other reviews around the service. The service was a bit lacking, but nothing to really rant about. Overall, I would recommend this place if you are looking for a nice brunch spot in the area.

I went to Machiavelli for my mom’s birthday. I sent her a bunch of restaurants in the area that were regarded well by Zagat, and she selected this one.
The Atmosphere:
You actually feel as though you are in some ornate small palace in Italy. Yes, that is an exaggeration. But, the waitress was in all gothic dress, there are italian themed murals painted on the walls, and a live singer playing on the piano throughout our dining experience.
The Food:
To start we shared the calamari appetizer, which was a too small for three people to share. I personally ordered the trout special. It was on the pricey side ($ 32), but after I had this trout I was on a trout kick, and wanted to eat trout all the time, thats how good it was. My sister ordered some sort of pasta with broccoli rabe which was delicious as well. I would like to come back and try a pasta dish. So, I would definitely return!

Nous avons profité d’une journée ensoleillée pour faire un brunch chez Machiavelli. Nous avions du temps entre amis et nous avons donc apprécié ce lieu cosy avec une belle décoration italienne, un service aux petits soins et une nourriture vraiment exquise.
Nos coups de coeur se sont portés sur :
— les pancakes bananes très beaux avec ces morceaux de bananes parfaitement disposés sur le pancake, le pot de myrtilles au sirop d’érable et les fruits frais
— les pappardelle au crabe avec aubergines, courgettes, tomates cerise avec une sauce au vin blanc. On n’avait jamais mangé des pâtes au crabe aussi bonnes.
Il faut aller chez Machiavelli pour l’ambiance, la décoration et la nourriture. Les meilleurs moments sont le brunch entre amis ou pour un diner intime.

On my first visit there wasn’t too much to be impressed about. I think it is a solid brunch place on the Upper West Side, and if anything they get extra points for having high ceilings and being much more spacious (read: not sitting on top of your neighbors) than other UWS establishments.
I had a ham and cheese croissant, which is perhaps why I was just «meh-​ed» by this place. Dishes are a bit pricier than other brunch places nearby.
Service was fine, but a little off.

We went there for an early dinner yesterday, and I wish we didn’t.
We entered and it was as if I’d entered a stranger’s house. We weren’t greeted by a hostess and the waiters by the bar kind of looked like we were bothering them but Prohibition down the block was really full so we stayed.
The host finally came and asked us if we were coming in for dinner and seated us, we waited over 15 minutes for water and another 10 for bread and finally the chance to order. Their menu is pretty limited so I went for the margarita pizza ($ 17) and my boyfriend went for the calzone ($ 17.50). They were good, but not almost $ 20 each good.
The place was not full and yet we had to flag down a waiter for a glass of ginger and then we had to flag them twice for the bill, they weren’t even turning our way.
I’ve never felt so unwanted in my life. Save your money and your dignity, eat anywhere else.