Italian
http://www.arnoristorante.com/
141 West 38th St. – Midtown West

To be clear, Arno is so far from my usual kind of gig it’s almost absurd.  However, it is one of the few sit-down restaurants in the Garment District to do a client/supplier lunch. The food is eh. The price is ridiculous.  The volume level is screaming.  The decor is gaudy. And when you walk in it’s as if you’ve walked through a door into 1984.  This is old-school ‘garmento’ in its finest form.  There are lots of old men who ‘do lunch’ and wear cheap suits here.  I know you are already thinking about booking a reservation!  And by the way, you might need one.  It is always packed for lunch and after work.

I will admit  the after work situation is far superior to the dining room.  The bar area isn’t so bad.  There’s dark wood and cheap wine glasses, but the wines are drinkable and not very pricey.  The guys always fill ’em up to the top for you too.  The homemade potato chips are solid bar fare and we are rather fond of the bar pizza which comes on a long cutting board.

To get a bit more serious about the food, I will say the safest bet is the Arno Chopped Salad which will cost you $18.50 for lunch.  Rather tasteless, but safe.  Two friends from work got violently ill from a CHICKEN DISH, which is fucking terrifying.  And believe it or not we still go there with every corrugated cardboard supplier we have!  When choosing a meal, I now stick with a daily special to insure freshness.  They’ve got one of those menus desperately in need of a Gordon Ramsay intervention.  Ok, and the decor needs one too.  The only difference here is the place is always packed.  I don’t get it.

Bon Apetit!

Excuse the Arno website pics, as I’ve never been inclined to photograph a meal at Arno. Funny thing, there was nary a photo by a food blogger to be found on Google images or Yelp.  I peeked at a couple of Yelp reviews.  Some out-of-towners seem to like it.  Big surprise.

That said, they have special party rooms…had to add them for levity.

‘Boticelli’ Room

‘Fiorentina’ Room

I don’t write too many horrible reviews.  While it was kinda fun, for some reason I feel bad for them.  But I guess they’re laughing all the way to the bank.