Profound mediocrity at Terrazza Toscana

After a day at the Jersey Shore, AV and I barrelled back towards the city on Sunday evening and went in search for a neighborhood dinner destination. I was (momentarily, don't worry) dumpling-ed out, so we went for Italian. Our final selection: Terrazza Toscana, a new Italian place on 9th Avenue.

Unfortunately, the hostess informed me that their rooftop terrace was closed (darn), so we were seated at a table in the spacious and chandelier-heavy but otherwise relatively nondescript dining room. Our waiter was visibly distressed when we didn't order wine (we had mojitos in the cards later that night). A bread basket landed on our table within moments of us being seated-- a plus-- but the bread was really, really average. I mean, it was bread, it was carby, it would tide you over if you were ravenous, but it was absolutely nothing special. See for yourself:

Really not special in the least.

The menu at TT is pretty varied, and there were a number of nice-looking salads I wanted to try. In the end, I went with the Insalata Terrazza, which had mesclun, apples, toasted pine nuts, and buffalo ricotta. Despite asking for my dressing on the side, the first version of my salad arrived dressed, and when I sent it back (I was in a no-bullshit mood) the runner was obviously pissed. Well, too bad. In fairness, the final version was quite good-- the ingredients were fresh, the ricotta was very flavorful with a nice pungent buffalo tang, and the white balsamic dressing was a nice complement.

Surprisingly tasty

AV had gone with the spaghetti and meatballs. His verdict: "It's okay." Yeah, it sort of looked okay. Standard.

Big balls but little impact

We skipped dessert and skipped out of there. The food overall was very mixed-- my salad was good but the rest was very meh. And the service was incredibly apathetic. When we arrived at the table my knife was dirty (used), and though they switched it out when I asked, there was no apology. Interactions with the servers were short, perfunctory, and curt. Without being able to enjoy the roof deck, our in-restaurant experience fell short of pleasant. As a result, I wouldn't go back-- there are much better Italian restaurants in the area. TT is a two-Offset Spatula place; pass it by.

Terrazza Toscana
742 Ninth Avenue at 50th Street
212-315-9191