Tony’s Di Napoli is a NYC Italian American restaurant that has been around for a number of decades. It’s probably comparable to Buca Di Beppo or Maggiano, but it is less of a domestic chain than a NYC chain. They serve family style portions, and they have both half and full sizes of many of their pastas. This particular location is located in Times Square, and normally I shy away from this. So how did it go?
Ambiance
The restaurant itself feels very classic and old school Italian mafia vibes. Just think Sopranos with a slew of waiters around ready to serve you lots of family quantities of food.
So all these dishes we split between just us 2, and we definitely took home some leftovers. I don’t think the pasta is necessary, but it does add some carbs and variety to the dinner.
The service was excellent as the waitress always had my water filled and was prompt in making sure we had everything.
Food
The proscuitto and burrata was pretty good. It came with a decent amount of slices of proscuitto, olives, 2 big burrata balls, cheese, and some pickled peppers and basil. It’s definitely enough for 2-3 people. The burrata was definitely pretty good.
This was Tony’s shrimp which was also decent. I had originally thought this was just going to be a lot of shrimp, so I did not expect this. It’s basically skewered shrimp on top of bruschetta with loads of tomatoes, basil, and some type of (balsamic?) vinegar in it. It’s pretty simple, but the shrimps were all a good size. The bruschetta with tomatoes were chunky and good.
The veal francese was actually pretty good. I love veal in general, and this was no different. The veal francese was lightly breaded in egg batter and served with lemon, wine, and butter. It reminded me of old school Italian restaurants. I do think that 4 pieces of veal was just enough for 2-3 people.
We also got a half size plate of vodka penne without mushrooms. The penne was cooked nicely al dente and the vodka sauce was pretty decent.
Added August 30, 2022
The Stuffed Mushrooms ($19) came with 10 pieces, and it was super mushroom-y. I did not eat any of this, but I tried the broth. I’m sure mushroom lovers will be content with this.
The Mozzarella En Carrozza ($19) was basically square mozzarella “sticks”. There was really nothing special about this, but they came out hot and crispy.
The Rigatoni Bolognese ($34) came with classic rigatoni and meat sauce. The meat sauce was pretty good, though the rigatoni was slightly overcooked al dente.
The Spaghetti Pomodoro ($27) was basically spaghetti noodles with tomato sauce. The spaghetti, similar to the rigatoni, was slightly overcooked passed al dente. The sauce though was pretty flavorful.
Final Verdict
The food overall was pretty good especially around the touristy Times Square area. It’s definitely a good repeat place for larger groups. I would hesitate trusting the wait staff’s dish suggestions, as they were trying to up-sell too many plates to us. Fortunately, we were apprehensive enough to be more conservative in our ordering.
Yelp Jabs
This is a great place to eat with family. Kids are welcome because no one can hear them talk anyway. It’s crazy noisy!!!
We ate at 8 PM on a Sunday, and the restaurant was pretty much dead. The key thing here is to not be part of the herd. Avoid eating between core dinner hours, and you might have a less stressful but very enjoyable time.
For the main we ordered one entree because each costs $32 (serves 2 to 3). Such a stupid concept.. they should have smaller portions so a party of 2 can order what they desire without food being wasted.
This Elitist is from Houston. Based on their review, they probably have never been to a family style Italian restaurant. The funniest part about their review is they compared this to Maggianos, which is notorious for having large portions. This is yet another Elitist example of common sense is uncommon.
Revisions
- Aug 30, 2022 - Added Stuffed Mushrooms, Mozzarella en Carrozza, Rigatoni Bolognese, and Spaghetti Pomodoro. Updated some text.
- Feb 2, 2020 - Initial revision.