Osteria del Circo Restaurant Review

120 W. 55th St. (Sixth & Seventh Aves.) Send to Phone

212-265-3636 | Make Restaurant Reservations | Menu

Price

$$$$$

This Maccioni family haunt is as entertaining on the eyes as it is the taste buds.

Cuisine

Italian

Open

Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly

Features

Kid-friendly
Private room(s)
Full bar
Reservations suggested
Outdoor dining
Casual dressy

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Dining room at Osteria del Circo, New York, NY

There's much to enjoy at this Fellini-style restaurant with a whimsical circus theme, designed by Adam Tihany who played the circus theme to the hilt. He adorned the room with panels of red-and-yellow cloth evoking a circus tent and adding other fun touches like the Calder-like metal monkeys and clowns who gambol overhead. Brothers Mario, Marco and Mauro Maccioni learned how to run a tight ship from their father, Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni. An animated air of professionalism and youthful elegance reigns. The team has brought their show on the road opening a branch in Las Vegas, but the original is still a destination. Sirio may be the inspirational front-of-house force, but it's his wife, Egidiana, who influenced such dishes as ravioli di mamma Egi (spinach and sheep's milk ricotta in a butter-sage sauce). In addition to homemade pastas that are uniformly excellent, you can start with a thin-crusted pizza or such appetizers as beef carpaccio with an aromatic herb crust. Entrées range from a homey Tuscan brick-pressed chicken to a superb rib-eye steak. Almost as show-stopping as the multimillion-dollar décor and the many celebrities who feel at home in its environs are the fanciful desserts like wonderful bombolini, which are really just sinfully delicious jelly doughnuts.

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