Lunetta

Recommends

sroscoe73

Joined 8 years ago

excellent!. beautiful atmosphere, helpful and knowledgable service people. the flavors in the food were spot on: interesting and a great variety without being overwhelming. the only issue i had was how small the portions were for the price, but outstanding food nonetheless.

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marydoll

Joined 6 years ago

Not that great. Service was inattentive; I kept having to flag down the waitress. The plates are definitely on the small side, but the prices didn't really reflect that. I left the place still hungry.

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nja

Joined 7 years ago

Pretty Good. Lunetta does not take reservations for small parties which can be frustrating when its snowing outside and the bar is full, however the hostess was very nice. We were given the option to sit at the bar but it looked busy and uncomfortable so we decided to wait. Once seated, we enjoyed the bruschetta appetizers as well as the fried artichokes. I thought the meatballs were fantastic, but my boyfriends peene with rosemary braised lamb was luke warm and a little bland. Would try again, but not wait for more than 10 minutes.

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angrychefs

Joined 6 years ago

"Boxed Pasta" and "Smooth Dudes" aside, Lunetta is a great neighborhood spot!. As a quick note, maybe the chef, a longtime Brooklyn guy who is down-to-earth, nice, and real, was angry to have someone so obviously stuck-up at his bar...

Also, De cecco dry pasta is great stuff. Whats the problem? I guarentee that many a New York restaurant uses it. Also, Lunetta does not pose to be "Fine DIning". This is a self-described neighborhood joint with nothing on the menu priced above $19, most items much cheaper. Huge, delicious bruschettas go for $3 each! Your dollar can go a long way here, and the kitchen is staffed with some longtime cooks. I hate to get personal here, but if you are going to pose as a restaurant critic Smoothdude, get your facts straight and take a deep breath every now and then.

Doesn't Recommend

smoothdude

Joined 7 years ago

Boxed grocey store pasta is not my idea of fine dining. When you see the kitchen staff using boxed pasta that you can buy at the Met down the street you wonder why would I pay 5 times as much for this food when I can boil it myself at home. I don't know if other restaurants do this but if they do they shouldn't have an open kitchen.

The pumpkin ravioli was decent but didn't move me to tears. The chef is also not the friendliest of people which again begs an answer to the question why the open kitchen if you're going to be yelling at people? Never going back to Lunetta.

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emceebard

Joined 6 years ago

Too much hype. I was quite excited with grand expectations going into this meal, as I had read about chef Shepard?s talent in Michael Ruhlman?s lastest cooking tome ?The Reach Of The Chef.? Unfortunately, the meal was disappointing. Per a web suggestion (note: lots of great reviews floating around, this is just my experience) I ordered all around the menu. The bruschetta nibble, consisting of homemade ricotta and honey, was light and plated beautifully. The meal was off to a good start. Next was pan-seared mushrooms and a special milk-braised (or soaked, don?t know what to call it) parsnips with an infusion bl*od orange. The mushrooms were fine and served at perfect temp. Not great seasoning though. The parsnips were good for a bite, but overall the milk was too heavy for the delicate vegetable. But honestly, the meal was going well at this point.

Next came our second course called Piatti. Per another web suggestion I ordered the crispy chicken agrodolce (which is a kind of sweet and sour sauce similar to Chinese sweet and sour chicken) served with pignoli and some type of cooked berry. On paper this sounds like a seriously fun and inventive dish. The type of creativity Shepard is known for. Unfortunately, this was the meal?s tank. The ?crispy chicken? consisted of 4 pieces of VERY overcooked and underwhelming friend chicken. Kennedy?s Fried Chicken comes to mind. The sauce was sticky and sweet, but complemented the tough chicken poorly. My companion ordered roasted dorade with olive oil and garlic, which was tiny serving of underseasoned, underwhelming white fish.

In terms of service, the staff was very kind and asked my opinion of the meal (I told them basically this recap). The only low point was that they forgot our order of fried artichokes, which I was really looking forward to. I would brush this off as a simple ordering mistake, to be corrected during our next visit. Unfortunately, there will not be another visit.

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Justin Hartung

Joined 9 years ago

Seasonal Italian small plates and an all-welcoming ambience send Smith Street diners over the moon.. The Scene
Starting with the window's cute moon logo, the owners of the former tenant, Taku, have effortlessly morphed their somewhat austere space into a more inviting Italian restaurant that blends in better with the neighborhood. The red leather banquettes, long stretch of bar seats and spacious garden fills up quickly with the usual Smith Street mix: yuppies on dates, weekly dining parents and the occasional gay couple.

The Food
In a neighborhood full of red-sauce Italian, seasonal small plates and mostly red-sauce-free pastas are a breath of fresh air. And La Lunetta's few sops to tradition--addictive, tender meatballs and penne with creamy house-made ricotta and tender lamb--hardly qualify as ordinary. Fennel and orange slices give perfectly cooked branzino gravity, and an extra order of the fresh, crusty bread makes a perfect sopping tool for the soul-warming broth left over from a decadent pork belly dish. Il Laboratorio sorbet adds a final burst of dazzling flavor.