Serafina Harlem

It’s worth visiting because THEIR TRUFFLE FRIES ARE AMAZING. It’s McDonald fries fried in truffle oil! Please order them if you ever visit. Everything else is okay, but the truffle fries! They also serve it in the evening/​if you’re at the bar even though it’s not on the menu.

Nice addition to the Harlem scene. Good looking restaurant, attentive service, friendly staff, clean atmosphere. Only complaint I have is that I wasn’t blown away by their food. Everything else was pretty much spot on though.
1) Calamari — rubbery, I prefer crunchy.
2) Arugula salad — very good. I enjoyed it
3) Filet mignon meat sauce rigatoni — wasn’t crazy about it. Just ok.
4) Tiramisu — probably the best tiramisu I’ve ever had, delicious.
Wifey pretty much felt the same about her meal.
1) Bruschetta, she loved.
2) Arugula salad (shared) she loved.
3) Chicken Milanese she thought was eehhh.
4) Tiramisu (shared) she enjoyed
So there you have it folks, 3 stars. The place could use some adjustments in the kitchen, other than that, it’s worth checking out.

I wish I could give this place a half or no star. Of the Serafina restaurants in Manhattan, this is the unloved, sad, forgotten child, that has given up all hope of life. In trying to think of a comparison for this experience, all I can do is think back to the worst meals I’ve ever eaten. I went for brunch and the only thing that was warm was the ketchup sitting on the table. Not only was everything cold, but my eggs Benedict and potatoes were raw. The only edible thing was the three day old salad. I’m currently trying to get the check — but all the staff seemed to have left this crime scene. Please send help.

Came here for a holiday party on December 11’th. Food was below average. By far the worst Italian food in the area. Especially in this food wasteland that we call Morningside Gardens. Bettelona blows this place out the water in all aspects. If anyone thinks this food is good, they have the palate of a cow’s backside. I paid with my corporate card and misplaced the receipt. I work down the street so I came down to the actual restaurant twice to ask for a duplicate copy. I was always given some cock and bull story about the manager not being there and they would get back to me. 2 weeks ago I get a notice that the payment on my corporate card is late because I don’t have a receipt to verify the purchase. Mind you, that I have been asking Serafina for over 2 weeks now for the receipt. I called down there, spoke to the manager finally and he said he would give me a call once he gets it. 4 days later I call again! Still no go, he says the corporate office hasn’t gotten back to him. I hopped on to the Serafina corporate website, found the phone number to the office myself and got my own damn receipt emailed to me in 5 minutes! Really? I spent over $ 150 and couldn’t get a simple receipt that I asked 4 times for? It took me 5 minutes and still to this day I have not gotten a call back from the manager. Service? Please! Take your business elsewhere, they aren’t appreciative of it and they don’t realize that building a relationship with the community around the restaurant is essential in this neighborhood. Head down to Friedman’s, they take care of you. Stay away from this dump.

Came to Serafina for a holiday event.
The service was okay. The food swung back and forth between good and meh. The best thing you can get here is the brick oven pizza. It actually gives Bettalona a run for it’s money. The bruschetta and ceasar salad were lacking. The calamari was good. The ravioli, rigatoni, and penne were on the meh side with most of the pasta being grossly undercooked. The chicken palliard was great.
In limbo, you are.

I ordered the Vegetarian Platter recommended by the server, and it was decent. As promised, it was a ton of vegetables which were cooked well but nothing special. The ambiance was nice and you can tell the place is relatively new, but it was pretty empty for a Wednesday evening at dinner time. We asked the server if they were still doing their 20% student discount, and he told us that it ended last week but still applied it toward our bill. In general though, I’d say the food isn’t really worth the prices.

Not bad but not impressed their caprese salad was good and I’d order it again. I had pasta once and it was just okay. I also had pizza on one occasion and it was fine but too greasy for my liking. I’d rather take a few more steps and eat at FlatTop instead!

Writing this so I finally remember to STOP ORDERING from here.
I ordered the Paglia & Fieno, «homemade» fettuccine with a tomato cream sauce and basil. The pasta was overcooked to mush, and did not taste like fresh pasta. It was so bad I couldn’t finish it. I also ordered the berry tart which had a tasteless, rock-​hard crust and a tasteless filling. I picked some of the berries off the top and threw the rest out.
The worst part: I asked for a grilled chicken breast on the pasta. The texture was like rubber/​chewing gum. I’m not sure if it was badly frozen and reheated, or old or bad quality, or undercooked, or what. But I tried biting a couple of pieces and spit it all out.
$ 30 to fill my garbage can. Never again.

Impeccable flavors and great service. Thank goodness this chain made its way up to the Harlem area. The restaurant can get noisy, yes but it’s still a sure fire place for great Italian food. The only downside is cost versus portion size… they could give you more for your money, but the little you get — GREAT!

This place is awful, which is really a shame because their location is amazing, the outdoor seating is great, and the inside is intimate and cozy, but the food is terrible, terrible, terrible…
We’ve given this place 3 tries, they offer Columbia students 20% off of their bill after all, but the food is horrible.
The chicken club comes on this very stale, flavorless bread and is the size of a finger sandwich. It comes with a side of what taste like McDonald’s fries. Overall this meal has very little flavor, is super dry, and is a total waste of money.
The black lobster ravioli, which are expensive, were also very underwhelming and didn’t have much flavor. I’ve have much better ravioli for much less at Max SoHa, which is just a block away, and I can’t believe this place advertises themselves as fine Italian dining.
Overall though, it’s not just the bad food that turned us off, it’s the service too. On one trip we ordered an appetizer and 2 meals. The appetizer came out super hot, and then within a couple of minutes, our meals came out super cold. We had to send the food back, which is something I’ve never done. On another trip, we sat outside during brunch and waited over 20 minutes for a refill on their «bottomless» brunch drinks. Well after that time we decided to walk in and pay the bill because obviously no one was going to come out to serve us.
We have no intentions on every coming back to this place.

I would give 0 if i could. My $ 15 calamari salad was bland with 4 tiny pieces of squid. My companion’s $ 13 pasta was undercooked and super tough. The bread was served cold and super chewy after what seems like an eternity. There were no cutlery and we had to ask for it. My advice? Save your money and go to max soha or flat top and get yourself edible food somewhere else

Went there for brunch so I can’t speak for the regular menu. Food was mediocre — I got the club sandwich, which advertised smoked turkey, bacon on brioche bread but it was just your standard cold cut sandwich. Disappointing. My friend ordered the Belgian waffle and only got a cold soggy waffle. Not worth it for $ 14. Coffee was not good and we were given skim milk — they had no half and half? Ambience is okay: there’s outdoor seating and stuff. Would do better with fresher food and better service (there was one waiter for everyone there)
Over priced for the low quality of food for brunch — I’d skip it.

3.5!
But I’ll round it up because it’s Morningside.
I had absolutely no expectations because it’s morningside, but their pizza was pretty good!
Their gnocchi wasn’t bad either!
Their seafood isn’t fresh. don’t get seafood.
Get a pizza.

Seamless users, this place is NOT $$$$. Very affordable/​tasty compared to other options in the area. Delivery was quick, and I got three meals out of my limoncello pasta and focaccia.

If I could it would be zero star. And I sincerely wish I could.
Our group of 6 people were gathering for a small farewell party as one of our colleague will be traveling elsewhere for 6 weeks. We walk by this this place which has seemingly nice ambience, then were led to a table deep in this eatery while as the waiter keep babbling about serving water and dinner specials with intentionally exaggerating gestures. Finally our order includes two seafood tagliolini, one spaghetti aglio e olio, two margherita pizza and one funghi pizza as entrée, and for appetizer we shared a plate of calamari and a platter with caprese and arugula-​parmesan salad. I would say the calamari is good, and the platter however is worse then mediocre, since it costs a whooping price ($ 30 I believe) and wasn’t really tasty. You cannot find the platter on menu it’s dinner special after all.
I ordered the garlic and oil pasta, and it tasted fine, not the best I’ve had for sure. The spaghetti is a bit too chewy in my standard, but I wouldn’t be grumpy about it. My friends at my table also dine with their order with satisfaction, I believe they consider their entrée to be enjoyable. Though I have to mention the seafood pasta is also quite pricey ($ 30 again), but food itself is well received, for this I give them praise, but putting ‘$$’ on Unilocal is a scam.
However, when we received the check, and shockingly, shockingly we are charged of 9 bottles of water. And the bread is also charged. I mean seriously how can we possibly consume 9 bottle of mineral water in a meal??? This is downright distasteful. They will just ask you if you want water and once nod your head they would deliver you whole cart of bottled Alaskan glacier water and demand you to pay for it. My friend was in a haste to catch the flight so we have no time arguing with them. Totally screwed up the meal, really feel sorry for my traveling colleague.
Overall, beware of the hard-​sell technique, food is too pricey for quality, Max Soha prevails in every aspect hands down.

I would give it a solid 3.5, but it’s new so I’ll round up.
Came here with family friends for a birthday. The dad brought a bottle of wine for the table, and were charged a hefty uncorking fee ($ 35?!). We sighed and carried on.
The others at my tabled ordered bruschetta for an appetizer. Came out with three pieces of heavily tomatoed bread. They didn’t say much of it being great or bad, so I guess it was fine.
I ordered the Pollo Speziato. It was good, not the best I’ve ever had. Reminded me a bit of chicken marsala.
Others at my table had generous portions of sea bass, salmon, and a pasta dish. Everyone seemed to enjoy.
For dessert, we ordered a variety of different plates to share. It took a long time for our desserts to come out, but we got the tiramisu, panna cotta, chocolate cake, and berry tarte. All tasty, but everyone agreed the giant berry tarte was the real MVP.
The ambiance was nice, enjoyed that the openness with a nice breeze. Small section for outdoor seating is available for small (i.e. 2) parties. They had a boat load of deliveries going out (it was Sunday evening) so I guess they’re doing something right.
As other posters have said, a bit pricey for what you get. But I’d probably give it another shot if I was in the area again. Maybe.

I’ve ordered delivery from Serafina Harlem several times now. Delivery has been consistently fast and well-​packed. Food is consistently tasty and obviously of higher quality than other options in the area. This quality, however, comes at the expense of the portion size. For the price paid (and how good the food is), I always hope for a bit more substance than I actually receive. I LOVE fresh mozzarella, so didn’t think twice about the $ 13.50 Buffalo Mozzarella, Pomodoro, and Basilico appetizer but was a bit disappointed when I received 3 tomato slices, 3 pieces of mozzarella, and 2.5 basil leaves that I inhaled in 2.5 seconds. Good thing I wasn’t sharing… The pasta portions are a bit better (as long as you have an appetizer and don’t want any leftovers).

Very good. We had the lobster ravioli. The service and food were great, but I can’t rate it higher, because I feel it is over priced for Italian food. Will return, but will be watching the entrée’ prices. $ 12 a glass for house wine?

3.5 stars — rounded up because this Italian restaurant opened less than a week ago!
The food was slightly above standard Italian fare. I had lowered my expectations upon learning that this is a chain, but the quality was solid. Highly recommend the Avocado «San Pietro»: though the avocado portion was skimpy, the baby shrimps and surprisingly flavorful cannellini beans hit the spot. I ordered Rigatoni Bolognese (substituted spaghetti for the rigatoni, because who doesn’t love spaghetti bolognese?!) which was good, but not anything special. My date was pleased with his Ravioli alla Salvia, a spinach and ricotta ravioli serves with butter and sage. Simple but well executed.
They didn’t have a cocktail menu, we had to ask for bread (which was a bit chewy and seemed slightly stale), and our pasta server promised to return promptly with pepper and cheese but never did (chalking this all up to opening kinks).
Dining in the summertime with the open storefront was pleasant, though the tables felt a little cramped. My date and I were seated at a two-​person table sandwiched next to another couple and quite close to the table on our next side. Also, the top 40 pop/​hip hop they played seemed more fitting for a sports bar than a neighborhood Italian restaurant. Hoping they switch to something else.
Overall, happy with our dinner and will likely be back, especially given the extensive menu options. But in my mind Max Soha, on the other end of the block, clearly wins for quality, value, and atmosphere.

I walked by this place the other day and saw a grand (or soft?) opening. I had a chance to stop by for a drink and had to share my experience.
Services definitely need more training. I asked for a drink menu at the door but was directed to the bar. Then there was no body at the bar to greet my party. Shortly after a bartender saw my party and offered dinner menu. I was confused for a second and she then asked if I wanted the drink menu instead. They only have the wine list and some other drinks. No cocktail menu was available just yet but someone else chimed in and told us they can mix just about anything.
I had a gin and tonic because I wasn’t sure how long I would stay at the place. I will just say that it was not the best gin and tonic. And it costed me $ 10 each. It was fine because I really liked the ambiance. The décor is really nice!
I will have to check back and update my review accordingly. I didn’t get a chance to try it’s food so this review is not your best judgment call for food quality.