Casa Belvedere

Make sure you don’t give your car to valet. First they give us the wrong car then come back with another car– still not ours. I guess they didn’t want to give back our brand new BMW X5 because they decided to back it into a tree on site and break the tail lights and scrape up the paint. Mind you the car has back up censors and cameras. The driver basically just ignored it and smacked it up. Since it was night time, the damage wasn’t noticeable until we parked the car at home. Came back today and found pieces of the car on the property. Good job valet j***offs.

They seem to run a pretty nice business out in front. You talk to them about using the hall. The people I talked to seemed pretty cool.

We hosted our 30 person rehearsal dinner here in October. Disappointed is an understatement. We were rushed the entire time. As soon as we entered, we felt rushed and were told a timeline of how/​when events/​courses were to happen. A server literally took a wine glass out of my hands at the end of the night (under 2 hours-​we went through 3 courses including coffee and dessert) while I was saying goodbye to guests. A time frame was never agreed upon. Fruit platters were placed at each table and when someone at my table said the watermelon didn’t taste right, the server took the plate and said «it’s because it’s out of season» Then why are you serving watermelon? The server never came back with a new fruit platter. My husband spoke to someone at the end of the night expressing our disappointment and the response we received was «we’ll pass along the info to our staff.» At $ 70 per plate, we could have hosted our dinner anywhere on Staten Island. We expected exceptional service. While the food was good it was tainted by the service.

Full disclosure: wanted to like the place; it’s great to turn an historic home into a cultural institution to celebrate all things Italian with events, seminars, tastings + now Friday night dinners. Sponsors/​donations are happily + enthusiastically encouraged; they’re looking to build a membership base (20 Benjamins will get you in), but they do accept non-​members on Fridays. Was so annoyed after dinner, knocked out a smoking Unilocal review; after a few days to chill, here’s the edit:
The house: lovely exterior is historic + must be maintained as such; the interior is not (thus allowing more modern renovations) + is more interpretive. The view to the water + the Verrazano is just outstanding.
Valet parking was spot-​on & efficient, easily the best service of the evening; was at the car before we came to a stop upon arrival + dashing to our car before we even got outside.
The Entertainer sang in the hallway to some glass-​clutching «Woo!» girls in the central foyer; softy gleaming in a brushed aluminum sharkskin suit to match his hair, he had good interpretive rhythm in bringing Rat Pack standards to life, half a key off.
Our waitress was nice, with limited knowledge of the menu (we’re not talking Cheesecake Factory here: 3 Primi, 2 Secondi, 3 entrées, 3 desserts, 2 specials).
The wine list was minimal & forgettable at best, a small dish with oil + two olives was on the table, the bread basket held focaccia-​like chewy cubes and rectangles of Panini-​pressed flatbread.
To our surprise (not delight), Primi + Secondi courses arrived at the same time; given the Secondi was a warm pasta, we worked on that course first. Our waitress happily left the Primi salads on the 30″ table just to keep us cozy. Secondi gnocchi were unimpressive, doughy lumps in an oily pesto.
Watermelon+cucumber w/​shrimp Primi would have been better chilled; shrimp were OK, but 1 was not deveined. Eeew! The arugula/​peach salad had a nice dressing, but was just dumped on the plate.
On the plus side, did order a glass of Chianti, which came in a surprisingly good-​sized Bordeaux glass. Thought it would be perfect with the ‘thinly pounded veal’ special our waitress suggested since «only 2 are left!»
For the entrées: salmon wrapped in potato slices with a tomato sauce, and the veal. Salmon was bland, potato slices wrapped around it were gummy and swimming in a pinkish tomato cream.
And the veal? A key component was left out of the description she provided: thinly-​pounded veal actually was a massive, butterflied, pounded + breaded veal chop. Which is fine on a cold night, but on a warm June night? Who puts something like that on a Summer menu? The only thing cool about it was… the veal itself: it was cool + greasy breading was starting to fall off it. Tried to saw through it; fortunately, swiped the steak nice the busboy delivered to the table — for the salmon.
Opted for panna cotta & Nutella/​berry wonton for dessert. Panna cotta usually comes chilled in a form, but ours came in a more rustic presentation with two scoops plopped on the plate (did it break?) If wontons had any Nutella, it was slathered on with a 3-​haired brush and overwhelmed by the canned cherry-​tasting filling.
Finally signaled (twice) for the check, which took longer to show up than the first 2 courses (simultaneously) did. Blessedly, our waitress brought the check folder to us directly, instead of whipping it out of the back of her trousers. And wow, an 18% tip was added! Happy to spend close to $ 300 on an evening, but definitely did not get much bang for the buck.
For a dinner venue, maybe Casa Belvedere wants to keep it clubby for their members instead of the general public — which is fine. But if they want to have some semblance of an actual restaurant, they need to step it up and act like it:
Service: train your team in service, food + what menu options are; associate proper flatware with the right course; understand timing; it’s not a diner — don’t shove order book & check folders in the back of your trousers.
Kitchen: supposed to be a new guy in the kitchen + the kitchen’s a good size to turn out meals for the whopping 20 tables on a Friday night; needs big work on better presentation + menu planning for what’s seasonal.
Glassware: invest in glassware so you don’t run out in the middle of dinner service
Candles: love votive candles, just not splashes of wax + blackened wick pieces in them
Salt/​Pepper: put them on the table; can get a dozen set of those small square shakers online for under $ 8
Totally OK with a set 18% gratuity on the bill, but you should disclose that fact on the menu instead of just slapping it on the check — and make sure your staff warrants it. Take a lesson from the Joel Palmer House + make that 18% worthwhile.
Attention to detail, better management, thoughtful food + menu planning, + minimal cash infusion on restaurant basics would make an impressive difference for Casa Belvedere, members and non-​members alike. Ciao.

Great place to dine with a beautiful view of the bridge. The new chef there makes terrific food and the service is professional and impeccable. Greatly recommended! You should make reservations for Friday dining service!

A Beautiful house on Staten Island… the mansion ls a landmark… years ago Italian immigrants came to America & live here… I drove by this house a few times.