La Riserva

Newly renovated for a very comfortable and attractive ambiance, La Riserva is definitely on my «go back to» list. I was very impressed with the food and value … we went for a birthday lunch and it was such a delight because we weren’t rushed. The service was wonderful and the food was very good and the price was quite fair.

My in-​laws live a block away and we have had many family functions at La Riserva. Our experience has always been positive.
Dennis has been our waiter the last three parties we held there. He is the best. My family is 100% Italian and we know good food. The food is delicious authentic and seasoned to perfection. We will continue going there.

The place is wonderful! Warm and welcoming people! The food is alright. It’s a decent place to have a birthday party.

Terrific local family-​owned restaurant making people happy for decades. Delicious food, generous portions, gracious service and newly renovated. We’ve been going for our 25 years in Larchmont, and my in-​laws traveled from Yonkers for years prior for their anniversary dinners. Just lovely in every way. Price range I’m quoting includes wine, tip!

We go at least twice a month. Warm service and they will make anything that we ask for. When my kids were smaller and «pickier» they would make pizza chicken and ziti, and now are always flexible with special requests. They are lovely to well-​behaved kids but it is an adult restaurant. Great room for celebrations too. The renovation looks great. Highly recommend.

This is one of our favorite restaurants in Larchmont. The food is amazing and reasonably prized. We’ve been going here for 16 years and always ask for Dennis to be our server. We’re always greeted with a handshake and kiss on the cheek. I love that family feeling!

Really good Italian food. A large selection, and very large portions, all at reasonable prices. Fine service, in a somewhat elegant atmosphere. Family owned and run for decades. A local (and not-​so-​local) favorite, with an upstairs party room for larger groups and special occasions.

This place is one of my all time favorites. Seriously, the food is out of this world. As home-​cooked and outstanding as traditional italian food gets. Even the appetizers are incredible. For example, they make their own potato chips, and they are GOOD. Now, who would expect that from someplace Italian? I also know the people who work there like family. The owner is a very nice man, and Dennis has always been the nicest of waiters. These guys really know how to run a great place. Makes sense as to why they’ve been here for almost 40 years.

I’m actually pretty picky and my husband brought me here to try and he confessed he was a little nervous… the first thing I noticed upon entering was the zagat score was a 21, the place was small and smelled musty. I looked at my husband and said ‘ah s*it’…we were seated and the bread was old (3^rd complaint) lol.
Long story short, the staff turned out to be very accommodating and welcoming. They prepared me a nice appetizer of my liking which was not on the menu and the food was pretty decent. I had the chicken rolatini w/​fettuccine Alfredo which was very good. Hubby ordered the veal in a Parmesan coating in lemon sauce… pretty decent! The waitress provided two drinks on the house because I complained their desert menu was very limited. I think I’ll go again…

I went to this restaurant with a colleague on a business dinner. She suggested the place because she had been there before and we decided on Italian. We didn’t have reservations but headed there anyway on a Friday evening. When we arrived, the hostess seated us right away and gave us a good table. The place wasn’t busy for a Friday night but we went early, after work, so that might have been the reason, but there were still several tables with guests there.
We ordered an appetizer, the fried calamari and then the main course. I had sole Fancese and my colleague ordered the shrimp Parmesan. All the food was great, appetizer was small but that was ok, it’s an appetizer after all. My sole was flavorful and looked good, generous portion. I didn’t like the vegetables though, looked like they were out of a box, possibly frozen mix small cut pieces as if for a soup base.
My colleagues portion looked generous as well. We ordered a bottle of wine. The waitress was very professional an courteous. Would have given them 5 starts for service but the food was luke warm. I have frequented a lot of restaurants with better food choices still, it’s not a bad place for family or business dinner.
Great, professional service.

Not sure why everyone in Larchmont says «La Riserva is an Institution?
For what it was, it was pretty ordinary. Went on a Saturday night and it was busy, but seemed understaffed. When we walked in the front door, no one was there to greet us, which seemed odd. We didn’t have a reservation, but they had open tables and sat us right away. They service was pretty slow, but all the staff was very nice and pleasant.
We order three appetizers and three entrees — Pasta Fagioli, Caesar Salad and Shrimp Cocktail. The pasta Fagioli could have been an entrée it was so big. the Caesar salad was on the lighter side and the lettuce was crisp. The shrimp cocktail was small and the shrimp were tough. For our entrees we had the Bragoli special, the Chicken Scarpariello Special and a Gnooci with Tomato Sauce for a child. The entrees were okay, nothing great. The chicken was dry and my sister-​in-​law makes better Bragoli. Both the appetizers and the entrees took too long time to come out of the kitchen. Our appetizers alone took 20 minutes. The dining room staff looked stretched pretty thin and we had to ask repeatedly to have our water glasses refilled.
We did not stay for dessert and coffee, as it got late. Without dessert and coffee and only one glass of wine the bill was over $ 50 per person. That seemed to be a lot for only okay food and slow service.
With so many restaurants to choose from in the vicinity, we probably won’t go back

Been going here since I was little. It is an institution in Larchmont. Always good.

2012 REVIEW: What’s not to love! A graceful, warm, welcoming dining experience — taking me back to the way restaurants used to treat their patrons — and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Delicious entrees with your usual variety of fish, meat and pasta selections, plenty of wonderful fresh vegetables (no extra charge), decent portions, and if you think it will be too saucy for your taste just ask the chef to please put it to the side. The wait staff is always willing to accommodate whatever dietary needs you have, sans any attitude.
The atmosphere lends itself to good conversation and there’s no rush when you order your espresso and want to linger a bit. The ambiance is classic, lovely lighting and spotless and I always leave smiling. The photographs on the walls are all of the owners family back in Italy. Nice touch, adding to the old school charm.
I’d bet my Italian relatives, if they were still here, would definitely approve. (Although there may be some disagreement over who’s sauce is better)
2016 UPDATE: Heard from a relative who was a regular here that they’ve remodeled so ignore my «atmosphere» comments from 2012. She’s a classy dame and did not approve of the ‘cheap fake-​looking brick and horrendous lights’ — felt the place lost it’s identity for gracious dining. Another thing lost was her appetite so unfortunately she will not be going back. From the pix posted of the newly remodeled rooms it’s more casual looking and negates most of my original review. If I do venture back I’ll update what I think.

What’s not to love! A graceful, warm, welcoming dining experience — taking me back to the way restaurants used to treat their patrons — and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Delicious entrees with your usual variety of fish, meat and pasta selections, plenty of wonderful fresh vegetables (no extra charge), decent portions, and if you think it will be too saucy for your taste just ask the chef to please put it to the side. The wait staff is always willing to accommodate whatever dietary needs you have, sans any attitude.
The atmosphere lends itself to good conversation and there’s no rush when you order your espresso and want to linger a bit. The ambiance is classic, lovely lighting and spotless and I always leave smiling. The photographs on the walls are all of the owners family back in Italy. Nice touch, adding to the old school charm.
I’d bet my Italian relatives, if they were still here, would definitely approve. (Although there may be some disagreement over who’s sauce is better)

Went to La Riserva with a party of 12 for my grandmother’s 75^th birthday. The restaurant was hand-​picked by my grandparents because, as G-​ma Trudy so eloquently put it, «your grandfather likes their whiskey sours.» Hey, whatever makes them happy makes me happy.
As for the food, it wasn’t anything great. The Shrimp Scampi ($ 22) was served over risotto that was soaked in oil and butter and was barely edible, and the Eggplant Parm ($ 18) sauce wasn’t particularly good. I tried some Veal Verbena ($ 20) which was better than the Eggplant but still just okay.
I found the prices to be high for the quality (the house wine was $ 30 per carafe), and could never seem to get anyone’s attention to refill water glasses, get soda refills, etc. Maybe because we already had a fixed gratuity?
I must say that everyone had a fantastic time at the dinner, but that had much more to do with the company and the celebration than the food. Wouldn’t recommend this place unless you’re looking for a particularly good whiskey sour :)

I suppose ill rate this restaurant by going through the course of events in the night. What I first noticed is parking is extremely scarce and a bit of a hard maneuver when it is full. I enjoy the décor because it is set up nice, however it is a bit drab and boring. Looks like your typical «fancy restaurant.» I ate here for my step mothers birthday so it was about 10 people eating and the service was exceptionally good. We had bruchetta to start which was also very good, as was calamari that we ordered. The bread unfortunately was not good. In a setting like this, I’m fully expecting a brick oven producing fresh bread… the loaves being served certainly were not being baked right there, and in fact one of them was cold. This I did not like. My other complaint of the night was there was a waitress who for some reason or another found it necessary to keep bumping into me when she came over to take our orders or to refill or pellegrino. I understand space may be a bit tight in there, but me a bit more conscious of where walk. This was annoying. For entrees everybody got something different and I made sure to taste it all! I’ll start with my entrée, the chicken with Gorgonzola. Though I rarely salt my food, this dish was a bit bland it certainly needed it. after a few dashes though, it was extremely tasty. More of a cream sauce than an actual cheese sauce, but I was not complaining. It was served with standard buttered veggies and a delicious potato croquet. That was actually my favorite part of the meal. My girlfriend had the Pollo Duca D’Alba which was the thinnest piece of chicken I have ever seen with arugula endive raddichio and tomato. This was also very good. The deserts were all amazing with the Italian cheesecake being my favorite. I’ve never had it, and it had a lemon taste to it and was made with fresh ricotta cheese. Overall a solid meal despite some of its setbacks. If these were fixed however, this place could easily be 4 or more stars.

I’ll always have fond memories of La Riserva because it was the last place I went out to eat with my Grandma before she passed away. I had the red snapper which was nice but it was a little bit overseasoned .The antipasto was fresh. I also tried a little bit of the Penne Vodka which was outstanding. I was hoping to see Joe Torre there because I had heard that La Riserva is his favorite restaurant… but I didn’t… maybe next time.

I’ve heard excellent things about this restaurant. For the most part everything was good, but nothing exceptional. I had the polenta alla Gorgonzola to start. It was really good, but it should have been called polenta alla fungi e pomodoro. I didn’t see or taste any trace of Gorgonzola. For dinner I had the Chilean sea bass special. It had capers, cherry tomatoes and shitake mushrooms. This was very good. I came with the vegetables of the day which were green beans and carrots. The carrots were delicious and maybe the best thing I ate all night!