Brio Downtown
920 Broadway, Flatiron, NY
Upper East Siders who sometimes go downtown, rejoice. Your favorite Italian joint from the crusty part of town has now opened in moderately cooler Flatiron. This is useful info, should you ever actually find yourself down there after nightfall. God forbid.
Brio’s original location on 61st and Lexington is something of a 10021 icon. The popular restaurant packs it in on a nightly basis, and the crowd is usually a who’s who of the city’s most famous co-op dwellers. This new downtown location is quite a bit different. Occupying some kind of trapezoid shaped space is a much less comfortable restaurant that unfortunately has no pizza oven – one of the best things about Brio number one. The food is comparable otherwise. Everything is pretty expensive, but pastas are generally good, as are the salads and starters. Entrees can be hit or miss. The real issue we’ve had here at Brio Downtown is the service. Things can feel a bit amateur at times, and you are going to feel rushed. The last time we visited, I think our guy dropped off the check and then came back to try and pick it up about two minutes later, and every two minutes thereafter until we signed. A little thing, but stuff like this tends to make a cramped restaurant feel even less inviting. Maybe that’s the point though…gotta turn over those tables.
Food Rundown:
Antipasto Italiano
We weren’t impressed with the selection of meats and cheeses that came our way on this. Other than some speck that was tasty, we found everything else either really salty or tough and bland.
Bucatini All’amatriciana
A decent bucatini, but this can also be really salty at times. Hypertension sufferers, take note.
Risotto
You will find risotto on the specials menu now and again at Brio, and you should order it. We recently had a spinach and gorgonzola version that was excellent.
Cavatelli Romanesco
We liked this pasta as well – cavatelli with sausage, cauliflower and chili flakes for some kick. But you gotta be down with cauliflower to be down with this.
Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese
A classic we love, and this one is good. Get it.
Pollo Rustico
A pretty decent roast chicken, and honestly the one entree we’d recommend at this point. Otherwise stick to the pastas.
