Abruzzi Trattoria

NOT AS GOOD AS IT WAS… I think there is a new owner at Abruzzi and the food & Service are not the same. I went to Abruzzi with my family on Christmas eve and we were super rushed. I had the veal Marsala and while it was not «bad» it was certainly no better than what i could get at any diner.

Expensive menu items + bad service = don’t recommend it. We came in and walked out almost immediately after having to deal with rude server. There are other much better restaurant options in the area.

We had a lovely lunch here. It’s sort of a family-​type Italian place. Old tables and chairs, zero ambiance, open dining room. Waitresses seemed busy but they were still quick with drinks and ordering. Food was very good. I wasn’t expecting to like it but the calamari, arancini and flatbread apps were actually excellent. Kids got huge portions of chicken and fries. Sunday Gravy was good, as was penne vodka and chicken pasta. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting much judging from the other reviews and the first impression, but it turns out we will definitely be back. Very pleased to find this place.

Following my daughter’s dance recital, my family, a total party of 8 made decision to dine at Abruzzi. When I arrived (5:30pm), the dining room was empty and the staff seemed flustered. The lady at the podium said «can I help you»…not welcoming. I mentioned I had a party of 8 and her response was «do you have reservations?». I looked around the empty dining room and mentioned the place was empty. Looking at the waiting list, there were 5 reservations with the latest being 6:45pm. Baffled at her service level, she was able to recover and offered to seat us outside, which was great at the time. The waitress did not bring menus and when asked for menus, 30 minutes later, she told us others inside were using them and that there weren’t enough. Luckily, the table of 3 next to us had 1, and shared it with us. Order was finally taken at 6:30pm, with the one appetizer ordered coming out at 7:00pm. At 7:30pm, I had to bring my empty glass inside for a re-​fill because there was no service outside. When I asked the manager (dirty blonde hair), she walked away from me. The waitress came out shortly after to apologize, where I asked her to see the manager. The manager came out and said she was pushing the order through. I told her, when the bill comes, I shouldn’t push it through. She walked away. I asked to speak with the owner and the response was «he isn’t here». The waitress came back shortly and told us «if you weren’t going to pay, the owner said not to bring out the food» and then said «she wouldn’t pay for that service and you should just leave». I told her we were leaving and she said, «hang tight, I’ll box it for you and bring it to you at your car». At this point, it was 7:45pm.

Good food and service, except for the maître d’, he has bad BO, dude, use some deodorant…

I love this place. It has good food, reasonable prices and good wine. It’s a relaxing, comfortable place that is high on our go-​to list when we are driving back home from a weekend in NYC or the Jersey Shore.

Popped in for a nice Sunday meal. The sun was setting as we sat next to the windows. Atmosphere was family friendly and turned more couple friendly as the time went on. My bf had the braised short ribs and I had the pumpkin ravioli. Both came out incredibly fast. Had coffee after and enjoyed the evening. Would stop by again when in the area. Good specials.

I’m going to start off by saying this place is so bad, it was actually funny at points. We met friends for dinner here a few weeks ago and if it wasn’t such a disaster we all should have walked out completely pissed off. Service was so slow and our waitress was utterly confused about the entire menu, no matter what questions we asked she had to go ask the chef (I mean everything). We ordered the antipasto but asked if it was enough for the 4 of us or should we order another appitizers. Our waitress insisted it was a lot of food and suggested just the 1 appitizers. Well, no surprise since I gave 1 star, it was a single portion for a child — maybe, not to mention the cheese had a sour almost rotten flavor. It was insulting to even bring it to the table.
I ordered eggplant rollantini. My husband got fettuccini alfredo. Our friends ordered penne-​ala-​vodka and the county veal. It seriously took about 40 minutes to get our dinner. And we don’t mind waiting for fresh prepared food, I get it. No biggy but trying to get a refill on our drinks proved impossible. But the moment I ate a bite of the eggplant with the filing, I instantly gagged. The ricotta was spoiled and it was horrible. I think I secretly hoped I was just not feeling well and that is why I reacted so negatively to the cheese, but no, it was spoiled and after having it on the table for a few minutes you could smell the spoilage.
Our friend who ordered the penne-​ala-​vodka was as confused as we were by looking at his plate. He got a cold plate of watered down marinara sauce on ziti, no cream or vodka or flavor or seasoning. Just watery red — ish stuff. We finally got our waitresses and explained what was wrong. Here is where the «funny» starts. She comes back to our table after taking the rotted eggplant dish and asked if my husband wanted to order another meal. She let him know the owner told her the food was good and we would be paying for returned items so nothing was coming off our check. This blew our minds! So if he ordered a different *safer selection we would still be paying for the bad food. This caused a mild flip out and we asked to speak with the owner. Again he was a coward sending the waitress back out to do his dirty work. We told her we wanted to talk to the owner because this made no sense. She was disgusted by the owner at this point too. She eventually came back out and said the owner would remove the eggplant only. Ok, fine. We aren’t looking to screw anyone out of goods or money but come on.
None of us were thrilled with anything we got so we figured how bad could dessert be? The waitress wholeheartedly recommended having dessert and were having enjoyable conversion and didn’t want this disastrous meal to ruin our night. After about 20 minutes she returned with a dessert menu. So I asked — were the deserts made on sight? Did the same chef who ruin our easy to make Italian dinners also make the desserts or was there a pastry chef? And finally — were the portions large, medium or small? We explained we were all hungry — since none of us actually ate much of a meal this night. She said — the portions were very big, usually enough to take home a doggy bag, made on sight and not by this particular chef. Great, super, FANTASTIC! We ordered carrot cake, pecan pie, key lime pie and tiramisu. Again, LONG wait, but when she and another waiter dropped the plates on our table — we actually broke out laughing! The portion sizes were a joke. I mean the key lime pie was 1.5 inches at the top of the crusty and about 2 inches long. Same with the pecan pie. The carrot cake was simply a frozen spice cake as best we could tell. The key lime pie was also very similar to a small Sara Lee frozen pie from the grocer. The pecan pie was a tiny glop of sugary gel with some whipped cream around it to make it look better — bigger? Diffetent? But, I will admit my husband actually liked his tiramisu. After coming to terms that they seriously thought this was acceptable — we had our waitress come back over and explain why we she’d served yet another disaster. Clearly she could see this was unexceptable. She couldn’t answer and went to speak with the owner AGAIN. Again he was to cowardly to come himself and sent her to tell us «that was the NEW way of serving desserts» — apparently that meant smaller and store bought possibly. She claimed she was mortified by the food, the desserts and the owner’s behavior. Finally we insisted the owner come to our table. He eventually came over, hunched over our friend and creepily whispered how sorry he was and the 2 meals would be removed from the check and he admitted the dessert sizes were embarrassing and he had the key lime pie upgraded to 2 tiny slices — ya just can’t make this stuff up! We actually felt sort of bad for our waitress at this point.

Ok I live in the area so I go here a few times a year. The food is good as long as you order the right thing… the specials are often misrepresented. For example I ordered a pork chop that was supposed to be with a Marsala sauce and it came out as a cacciatore. If you are Italian or know of the cuisine there is a major difference. After we sent it back the waitress insisted it was Marsala… The faux pas was that she actually returned the plates and insisted they were correct. We ordered steak instead and it was delish! After that it was perfect and the owner came out to make sure we were happy. My bottom line is they need waitstaff with knowledge of the menu… also never bring out salads before apps ugh!

Way overpriced for what it is. Chicken tenders which were subbed for wings were a frozen name brand product. At least they used the whole muscle chicken, but is it gonna kill you to make it and bread em fresh? No. This is after all supposedly a bit upscale, but generic offering. The chicken they used for the Parmesan grinder on the other hand was an overcooked frozen chicken disc of a pattie which was then cut into strips. This was the chopped and formed variety of puck. Driest thing I ever had, and the bland sauce and cheese were a waste. Again for the price it was an embarrassment.
On to the calamari. Again… frozen product. I am and have been in the business for around thirty years, and I can not for the life me see why restaurants get away with charging what they do for such effortless product. They try to make themselves out to be more high-​brow, and attempt to give the illusion of proper table service, but this too is a failed attempt. Live and learn with each outing. But learn from your mistakes.

Been there several times. The food is at best mediocre and expensive. Service is very very snooty. Each time I went there, I got the distinct feeling that I was inconveniencing them. I walked out feeling «abruzzed».

My family often stops for dinner at this very fine, family friendly Italian restaurant on our way up to the Berkshires. There are many other choices along Route 22, we consistently select Abruzzi for many of reasons, including; great food, friendly service, many menu choices, nice variety of specials and a children’s menu.

Traffic forced us off the highway on our way home. I’m glad it did. Thanks to other Unilocal reviewers, we found this place. It is a fabulous place. The staff is friendly and accommodating in every possible way. The food was delicious. The portions were quite generous and the price made it definitely worth it. When I’m anywhere near here in the future, I will make it my business to come back.

The pasta dishes came with a salad, which was very good. However, they charge $ 1 extra for cheese on your salad without letting you know beforehand.
My fettuccine with shrimp was ok; the shrimp did not taste too fresh and the pasta seemed overcooked. My husband’s ravioli was delicious though.
Overall, not bad.

Excellent atmosphere — especially on what we call «Sunday Fun-​Day» with Judy and Mama D! Very accommodating to my dietary needs. Continuously meet interesting people and enjoy intriguing conversations. Great location for any special occassion gathering, date night, girls night out, or just meeting friends. Owner is kind hearted — and we always feel we are treated like family.

I love this place! Ive loved it since high school, I get the same thing every time, i get the penne alla vodka and its always amazing! Even with the chef change its still outstanding, I love the atmosphere, it reminds me of old family sunday dinners. The only thing i didnt like was that on New Years they had a limited menu, and my husband and I drove up from Virginia to have dinner with my parents here and they didnt have my husbands favorite dish. Apparently though that is the norm for most places on New Years, i didn’t know that, but its not necessary for this place, the amount of people that were there looked like the same amount of people there on any given evening, but either way its a mandatory stop when ever i come home!

This place would have gotten another star if not for the extremely impersonal hostess. Please keep in mind it was close to a yr ago that I went so I dont want to get anyone in trouble currently. I will say, the food was very good, but when we arrived the hostess left us sitting there, never offered us a seat, barely looked our way. No one else seemed to care very much either. Service was ok, clean place, good food, but vibe was far from warm, its whats kept me from going back.

Nice little Italian place.
Had the lasagna, huge portion, sauce was a bit too sweet but overall a good dish. The fresh garlic bread was amazing.
The place is very attractive as can be seen by the photos. The staff was very pleasant and attentive. I would have liked to try some more dishes, but many things here are made with mushrooms, so being allergic too bad for me.

Penne alla vodka was delish. My uncle had grilled salmon on a bed of rice which looked really good also. The atmosphere was nice & the staff was friendly.

We have been here quite a few times and it seems to get better and better. They have a nice basic wine list however they just started measuring the pours sometimes instead of free pouring. You still receive a healty glass but a small pet peeve. The meals we have had have ranged from good to wow, short rib with gnoochi case in point. Try it. I love there soups as well. They have a nice after work crowd and you can sit at the bar and have some drinks while you wait for your takeout. The place can get busy and 1 time I waited over an hour for my pizza. Turns out Pizza was ready in 15 minutes but since I was talking to friends and ordering wine I guessed I missed it when bartender said it was ready. They kept it warm and it was delicious and worth it even though wife inquired what the heck happened to you! I blamed the bartender, and opened up a bottle of Pinot at home!
ps have never yet seen an unattractive waitress or bartender! Just saying.