Babbo New York City; Beware, you are about to be scammed!

It's difficult to talk about the experience at Babbo without feeling like a dope. I fell for some of the oldest tricks in the book; first - a smiling staff who speak with a bad accent pushing mediocre overpriced dishes, like strawberries with a 25 year old balsamic vinegar for $20 (are you kidding me?) or burrata (that sells for $5 at the most expensive cheese shops in NYC) with some tomatoes, or the worst - a baby arugula salad (the one that one buys in any supermarket) with some balsamic and three slices of parmesan cheese for $18. 
Second the wine list; I'm a wine geek and I usually can navigate a wine list to find interesting and less overpriced options. Not here; the wine list is extremely complicated - lots of obscure producers at decent prices but also lots of (way) overpriced familiar names - most of them mediocre. That's fair enough - I wanted to go for something obscure at a decent price, but was steered away for something slightly more expensive, then even more and more expensive, till at the end, tired and wanting to make a choice I went for a mediocre wine that is way overpriced. The sommelier should have known from my first indication the price I was comfortable with but probably figured that it was worth steering me to something that ended up costing way way more. I know, I know, buyer beware but my guard was down and I blame mostly myself but this is a tactic worthy of Goldman Sachs or the old Salomon Brothers (aka Hitler and Stalin) not a restaurant where one goes to enjoy the evening.
The food now; ok, it's good. But....
The pastas are slightly better than Serafina and can't hold a candle to some of the other Italian places in NYC, the best dish was the $100 ribeye for two, but for steak go to Luger. The dessert are insipid.
Would i ever go again? No! Never! And hopefully this review will serve as a guide to other patrons who are less gullible and have stronger willpower than me.

July 2013

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