After taking over an hour to get to my apartment on 34th street from 125th, my family was hungry, cranky and tired. We headed to Vezzo, in hopes to get some delicious pizza, but with a half hour wait, we decided to head next door to Da’ Giulio. If you are tight on time and don’t want to read this entry, I can sum it up with this - we should have waited at Vezzo.
I really thought Da’ Giulio was going to be a hidden gem. Several tables were filled, and crisp white table linens awaited us. To our surprise, some free appetizers of polenta fries, focaccia and what I think were rice balls were placed on our table. They were okay, nothing outstanding, but something to take the edge off our hunger.
We ordered fried calamari and insalata caprese to start. The fried calamari tasted like it came just out of the freezer, but the sauce was delicious. I started second guessing that I should have ordered something with marinara sauce for my entree. As far as the insalata caprese went, my dad was very disappointed that the mozzarella had a weird creamy substance too it. I have an affinity for cheese so I didn’t think it was too bad, but I would have liked it better if it was more of a solid.
As I waited for dinner, I saw a grown man at another table get the ravioli, a dish I was going to order earlier. There were only four raviolis on the entire plate. Call me chubs, but that would not fill me up. I was thankful I went for the scallops and asparagus dish, until it came out on the table. There were only five scallops and three pieces of asparagus. Unfortunately, the scallops were a little overcooked, and they had no flavor at all. I sadly think I’ve made better scallops when I made a package of frozen Trader Joe’s scallops and squirted them with lemon. As far as the marinara sauce went, I tried my brother’s spaghetti and sauce - much thinner than what was presented with the calamari.
I left Da’ Giulio feeling disappointed, and a belly full of a mediocre meal. While the food wasn’t inedible, it’s not worth going back for.
The Basics Name: Da’ Giulio Location: 176 Lexington Ave, between 31st and 30th Who to bring: No one Price: $$. Scallops were $17, pasta around $12. Overall: Eh. 2 stars.
Chubs - clearly you don’t read your own blog. I reviewed Da’ Giulio several months ago, but I thought it was okay. I went for the pasta + glass of wine for $11 meal, and was pretty pleased. I mean, for that price almost anything will make me happy. Sorry about the bad experience!