Serafina Fabulous Pizza

We’ve given this place several tires because the food is ok and its conveniently located if you are coming out of Central Park near the museum. However, it’s NOT worth it because of the poor attitude. Hostess– tude, waiter — tude, even the guy who helped clean the table — tude and was yelling at the hostess who asked him to bring us a high chair for our son. Chair didnt get to our table until 15 mins after we sat and three repeat requests. We’re crossing this place off our list since we’re tired of trying to focus on the food and ignore the problems and issues — try asking for something different than what appears on the menu and you’ll know what i mean. Once we asked for a side of extra sauce for our sons pizza and the waiter just flat out said «no.» Tough request to fill, right? I don’t think so. For the record — we are NOT snobby Madison Ave people but a middle class family of three who really wanted to make this our go to place for after late afternoons in Central Park. Unfortunately, we are crossing it off our list until we see a two story sign hanging from the front of the building saying «Under new management. Staff overhaul!»

I don’t know why this place only has three stars because it is fantastic! This is coming from a foodie who has tried countless restaurants and Italian is one of my favorite cuisines. My friends and I all ordered the gnocchi and it was pillowy and delicious.
The service was great! They were present, but not hovering, and they made sure to refill our waters and change out our plates and utensils promptly and swiftly. All of our dishes came quickly and were fresh and warm.
The real part of our dining experience that stole the show was the truffle pizza we shared. Saying that it was good is an understatement. The texture of the cheese was buttery, and the truffle flavor was strong and perfect. All of us were in heaven with that pizza. I am obsessed with truffles and this is the best truffle pizza I have ever had, hands down. I will definitely recommend this restaurant to friends who visit the city!

I have been coming to Serafina at this location for over 16 years. I love all of their locations, but this one is by far my favorite. It is always my go-​to spot when I am in the area. I have taken clients, friends, family members and business associates to all of the Serafina locations and there has never been a complaint except that we have had to wait for a table on occasion. I love their Penne Stoli, the crepes, the Ravioli Salvia, Margherita pizza and spinach salad.

The most off-​putting thing about the dining experience here was the discourteous staff. The hostess was rude right away to us, and I saw her do the same to the next costumers that were seated next to us. I wish I had gotten her name (slim, young woman). Our waitress was not much better. Unfriendly, impatient, and entitled. It is unclear why the staff here think they are above their customers. Only the bus boys seemed to have some respect. The food was okay — certainly nothing spectacular, and especially not enough to make up for the poor service. Definitely would not recommend this to anyone and would not return ourselves.

Ducked in from the rain for a quick dinner. We ordered the Caesar salad and a tuna to split. I also ordered an iced tea. The only real complaint I have is that they do not refill the iced tea and they charge you $ 3.50 for each tiny 8 ounce glass. The food was good but the service was lacking. And the iced tea thing really turned me off. Will not be back.

Service & food is always solid. Love their pizza and their salads!

Not only was this one of my favorite new restaurants, but the service was outstanding.
On Mothers’ day especially, it got very crowded and yet the staff made you feel like you were the only ones dining.
The pizza was exactly the way I love… Super crispy!!!
I’ll be back!!!

Enjoyed a late lunch here. Had Cesar salad and a wonderful handmade penne with pomodoro sauce with fresh basil. Perfectly cooked. A basket of foccia bread and olive oil for dipping completed the meal. Good service, attractive setting.

The food– Just finished one of the most hectic Saturday lunches I’ve ever experienced. The salad I ordered (Porto Cervo, which was meant to come with their «special» salad dressing) was boring and bland, hardly edible even after I added copious amounts of lemon, salt and pepper. The beef carpaccio was much better, but still lacked any salt. The pizzas were decent, but also needed much salt and pepper. Overall the food lacked flavor, seasoning, and imagination.
The service– generally attentive, or rather there are just dozens of employees running all over the place so getting what you need isn’t hard, but it would be better if any need was anticipated instead of needing to be asked for. The biggest criticism I have is the back server reached across the entire table to grind pepper putting his armpit directly into my mother’s face and interrupting the entire meal for everyone at the table.
The environment– if you want to be surrounded by gaggles of screaming kids who lack any awareness of their surroundings, only sometimes accompanied by absentee and usually unaware parents (or nannies) then this is the place for you. The entire meal was overcome by the screaming children running amok around the restaurant. Crying, banging into tables, watching videos on phones or tablets or just generally causing mayhem on a level I’ve rarely seen in any dining experience to date.
To conclude: if you have kids– go here. If not, there are plenty of other places with great pizza in the city. Don’t waste your time or patience or money.

I think this is one of the better Seraphina locations…
We came on a busy Sunday afternoon, but had no issues finding seating upstairs.
The service we received from the bus boys was so overwhelming, it was almost sloppy… We asked for water, we got four glasses of water for two people. We asked for another glass of wine, we got two (no complaints). Just communication errors, I suppose.
The pizza was above average, but not the best in my life. I highly recommend the arugula salad with the beef because it really was the highlight of my meal.
Next time I’m in the UES, I’ll definitely come back for that salad and a glass of wine.

Best Italian restaurant. Such a good service, it felt as if you’re home.
I really recommend the goat cheese salad and basically all their pasta dishes are really good.

Serafina is a small restaurant with a good handful of seating but not much ample room to move. The décor is nice, cozy restaurant to dine in. If you’re lucky and seated by the window, it’s an okay view of Madison Ave. but most are seated by entrance aisle of tables across the room from the window view. The host and over all staff are very friendly.
Ordered two pies from the wood oven, which are not that large, scarce on the ingredients («toppings»). Had the Di Serafina Focaccia (yeah like the crust, partly and lightly toasted to give the crust a bit of extra flavor with the prosciutto-​delicious but a bit chewy not the best I had and figs made for a very good flavor combination) and a Di Sofia Focaccia (crisp crust, fun to eat, lightly flavorful on the light side, tasted truffles or truffle oil and enjoyed the bread texture). Both were excellent but not fabulous.
The sangria from the large dispenser was pretty good also.
Somewhere between three stars and almost four stars.

The food is amazing. But extremely expensive. It’s a nice warm restaurant, wait staff could be more alert but food is great.

Very nice place and cozy atmosphere, food is great and wait stuff is amazing. I will definitely go back there.

This is the local «pizza joint» for UES folks west of Park Ave (linen napkins & tablecloths). It is usually busy but easy to get a seat and hidden upstairs but worth the trek to get some woodfired pizza, pasta, & sangria. Good service, relaxed atmosphere. Not many affordable and tasty food options in the neighborhood, but this place satisfies.

*al porcini pizza (the thin crust pizza was decent; the cheese was quite oily and dripped off the crust when you take it apart to eat a slice; the porcini mushrooms were delicious and definitely the best thing on this pie; the crust was too dry and cracked easily, I usually like my crust more malleable; not sure what happened with the dough or if they overworked it)
*linguine with clams (surprisingly not bad; the linguine was al dente and the clam sauce actually had flavor and was not too salty; also please provide an additional plate or bowl to put the shells in. come on people)
This restaurant is HORRIBLE!!! Where do I even begin!!! No bread, no olives, no nothing on the table before we begin our meal? The waitress apparently named Diana according to my receipt was the most INATTENTIVE person on the planet. I felt like she honestly goes to work to try and look cute for customers and not even give two shits about what she’s even doing. Girl, you need to earn that tip. You are lucky I even gave you 15%. I was considering giving your ass nothing since you basically did nothing. She took our drink orders. which included a Campari Spritz and Serafina champagne cocktail. OMG!!! WHAT THE F*&K ARE IN THESE DRINKS!!! THEY BOTH TASTED LIKE LIQUIFIED PINE CONES!!! I barely took one sip of each drink and just left them on the table. Of course our inattentive bitch waitress doesn’t notice anything and doesn’t care to ask if we would like another drink. I was contemplating about throwing the glass on the floor to see if she or anybody in that restaurant would notice. If I knew the drinks were going to be so bad, I would have saved my $ 26 for a Nars Audacious lipstick. In addition, I don’t know why they have so many people working in this restaurant because there were barely any customers and they were all just standing around anyway. Overall, food was OK. SERVICE WAS POSSIBLY ONE OF THE WORST I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED. You should be ashamed to include «Fabulous Pizza» in your restaurant name. NEVER would I ever again step foot into this establishment. They should knock it down and just build a Starbucks. for real.

Que buena pizza, tremenda.
La recomiendo 100%, la mejor que comí la de rucula

We ordered and was met with disdain when we asked for water. we felt the fig and prosciutto was too sweet. And the waitress is not the best. She always forgot to add water for us and asked if we wanted the bill before we were done.
Makes Robertas in bush wick seem like heaven.

Loosely translated Serifina means angel or angels. Sadly, this bares no context to this chain of restaurants in NYC. Though I appreciate the convince of their upper east side location, where food is scarce on Madison, I’m just not impressed. In fact, there is little or nothing fabulous except for their image and promotion and marketing departments which have managed to prop up their shear mediocrity in the Italian food space.
News flash! A pizza oven on the upper east side isn’t interesting anymore. Do better…
Ok so I’m adding a star, the pasta was served al dente. Pizza, well it’s pizza

A pretty middling place on the Upper East Side. It’s nice for people watching, though. When we were there, there were 2 large groups of twelve-​year-​olds, all evidently seasoned New Yorkers, who dressed, talked, and acted like miniature-​sized Upper East Side stereotypes. When it came time to pay, out came the AMEX; sponsored by their parents, no doubt.
Food was just okay — certainly serviceable, but nothing to write home about. The gnocchi was dense, clearly made in-​house, but rather undistinctive.
The ambience is pretty nice; if not a tad crowded. Make reservations.
Top floor has an airy feel to it, almost terrace-​like. A bit claustrophobic on lower levels. Warning — there’s only a single bathroom per sex, so the wait might be unbearably long if you are urgently in need of the facilities.

Serafina is located in a great area, right on Broadway and just 2 blocks from the subway. I came here on a sunny weekend for lunch, and was able to get seating outside.
The menu was filled with yummy-​sounding pastas beyond your typical penne a la vodka or fettucine alfredo. I wanted to try so many of them! There was a bow-​tie pasta with shrimp and lemon, clam linguini, black truffle risotto… I ended up going with the «Crespelle di Sofia», crepes filled with spinach and ricotta, with a tomato basil sauce on top.
I was underwhelmed by the dish. A few bites in, all I could taste was the sharp acidity of the tomatoes. The crêpe skin became very soggy, leaving no real texture to the dish. I tried some of my friend’s dish, the Rigatoni Alla Bolognese, which I liked better.
Our pasta dishes were around $ 17 each, more on the expensive side. I can say for certain that the Upper West Side has much better options for more reasonable prices. Perhaps the unexceptional dining experience was due to the fact that the restaurant is part of a big hotel, where food isn’t the top priority. I did enjoy the atmosphere and outdoor seating, though. If you’re on the UWS and in the mood for Italian, I would skip Serafina and go for a smaller and more authentic-​feeling restaurant.