Review: Tony Di Napoli's

...the one in which I realize what a small world it is, after all....


So, it's now Saturday evening...and we have dinner reservations at 6:30 pm at a popular Italian restaurant located near Times Square, Tony Di Napoli's.



I'd chosen this particular restaurant because:

A. It was located near our activity that we had planned for later, and,

B. It took reservations.

I didn't want to particularly have to wait - as I knew we were on a tight schedule this day. The Plan required it.

We had left Jonathan and our street art tour in SoHo, and were heading uptown on the subway...and that's when it dawned on me:

I had literally NOT sat down ALL day.

No, really.

Period. Ever. Never.

I had NOT sat down.

How is that freakin' possible??!!

Let's review:

We had left the hotel around 8:30 am - and had been on our feet the entire time in Central Park. (I guess you could count the one second I sat by the fountain to pose for a photo - but does a one-second sit-down count? I don't think so.)

We'd then walked to midtown and had been on our feet for our entire food cart/truck tour - eating lunch standing up. Didn't even stop for a restroom break.

We'd then been on our feet for the entire graffiti art tour.

HOLY FOOT AGONY, BATMAN! I HAD NOT SAT DOWN FOR ALMOST TEN HOURS!!!

Good heavens - no wonder I was pretty much a walking corpse by this point.

That was super dumb on my part. If you're going to have these walking tours, you should at LEAST plan for a sit-down lunch. Write that down and remember that, as that's my tip of the day.

I wish I could say I sat down on the subway from SoHo to Times Square - but guess what? The subway was full, and no...I did not sit down. I stood. Gah.

Fortunately, it was a short one-block walk to Tony's, which is located at 147 West 43rd Street...we checked in at 6:00 pm - and explained that we realized we were early for our 6:30 pm reservation, but hoped they could take us early.

Ha. As if.

Looking around at the packed crowds - both inside and outside the restaurant - there was NO WAY they'd be taking us early.

Sigh.

So...I stood. Some more. For forty minutes, actually - as it was 6:40 pm before they finally called us and led us to a table. All I could see, though, was the chair. Just get me to that chair where I can sit.

When my butt hit that chair - the sound of pleasure coming from my throat was probably x-rated. I'm sure the hostess gave me a look, like, "Really, lady? It's just a chair - it's not like it's vibrating or anything...."

It felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I was never going to get up from that chair again, I vowed.

Tony's could have served up Alpo Dog Food at that point, and I wouldn't have cared...all I cared about was that I was sitting down. It was bliss. It was heaven.

It was time to order drinks.

I order my usual Diet Coke, and Daughter timidly asks the waiter, "Do you have Dr. Pepper? Or Mr. Pibb?"

Mr. Waiter Guy (who never DID give us his name - and I hate that, when you don't get their name) replied, "Where are you from? You must be from the midwest."

"Kansas City," Daughter answers. "How did you know that?"

Mr. Waiter Guy says, "Because I'll give you a hint...you will never find Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb in a NYC restaurant...it's a midwest thing."

"Oh, are you from the midwest?" I ask, all curious now.

"No," he says, "but I graduated from UMKC."

Wait, what?

Did he just say "UMKC"?

(UMKC is the University of Missouri - Kansas City)

"GET OUT!" I squeal. "I GRADUATED FROM UMKC!!!!!!!!!"

Yup. Proud graduate of 1984 - School of Education. And being that UMKC is not exactly a huge school, or an Ivy League school, or all that well-known, for that matter - what are the freakin' odds that our waiter, in Times Square, graduated from my alma mater??!!!

What UMKC DOES have is a very good Conservatory of Music, which is what Mr. Waiter Guy went there for. Huh. What a small world! That was just very weird.

Anyway, he brings our drinks, and Daughter was very happy when she got a Shirley Temple:


...which is WAY cooler than a Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb anyway....


Tony's is "family style" - and this is stated on their menu, as well as the menu on the wall:



And yet I read reviews where customers complained because they didn't know they'd be getting so much food - too much food, they said....

It's HUGE, people. Don't over-order.

We decided to stick with a basic salad and pasta. Our salad was soon brought to the table:


$17 for the salad...but it served all three of us....

It was good...nothing special...just a basic Caesar salad, but was deliciously cool, which hit the spot on a hot day....soon, our pasta was brought:


This was $24.00....


The picture really doesn't do it justice. Let's just say it was HUGE. And the three of us didn't finish this. Nope - we could not eat all this.

We weren't going to have dessert, but when I saw that they serve Tartufo, an Italian ice-cream dessert, I had to....There's not that many restaurants here in the States that will serve this, and it's one of my favorites:



It consists of vanilla and chocolate ice cream - with a cherry in the middle - surrounded by a chocolate shell.

It was delicious.

I was kind enough to share with Hubby and Daughter. I'm nice like that.

Our total bill (before tip) was $67.50 - which, considering it's a Saturday night in New York City - and we're dining in the heart of Times Square - is not that bad. For three people? That's pretty darned good.

Tony's was good...filling...and loud. I didn't mention that before, but the restaurant is extremely LOUD. As in, you almost have to shout to your tablemates, which is a bit disconcerting, but hey. As I said...it's a Saturday night in New York City. In the heart of Times Square. We probably shouldn't expect any different.

Soon, it was about 8:00 pm - and about time to head to our next activity. We were going for a "Ride."

As much as I didn't want to get up out of that chair - I needed to get up out of that chair.

However, it was pure heaven indeed the time I spent in it.

I would never take sitting down for granted again.