This place is terrible. Please stay away so I can get a reservation at the last minute, especially on the weekend. Go somewhere else.

The one star rating is way beyond what this establishment deserves. The staff was rude, the manager was rude and the food was by far the worst I have ever had. This was an expensive lesson in everything you don't want as a dining experience. Unfortunately I will never know if they could be better as I will never go there or recommend them again. read more

If you want real homestyle Italian food, go to Cafe Rinaldi. The menu is basic, but very good. As with any place on Old Forge, they serve good pizza. The white pizza at Cafe Rinaldi is exceptional. Cafe Rinaldi can get really packed, and the service can be unreliable, but its worth the trip. read more

Good Pasta Fagioli. Dark, relaxed, modern atmosphere. Very large bar in the main room--Moretti on tap a big plus.

Large portions and good service. The atmosphere made me feel like I was in Goodfellas (not a bad thing). In an area known for it's Italian restaurants, Cafe Rinaldi is my favorite. read more

Staff is always super friendly and the good is consistently good. Love those tiny meatballs in the cappelletti soup!

Plenty of Old forge family Italian dining options nearby but cafe Rinaldi is my personal fav. Atmosphere is comfortable and relaxing. Service is laid back but attentive. Nice wine selection and cocktails. Food is always tasty, fresh and there's plenty of it. Some of go tos are Antipasto salad with homemade house dressing, Rissotto 20 diff ways , chicken Marsala and linguine with calm sauce. Tiramisu and rice pudding for dessert. Prices are fair for what younger. Always a pleasant and great experience. mangia! read more

Great place we found using Yelp and the reviews. 3 hungry travelers from CT gave it a shot. Great food, prompt, courteous and helpful service. Eggplant parm was super. Gnocchi was super as was the Balsamic chicken. I had a Tito Cosmo. It was delicious! Cannoli's we're divine. Wish this place was in my town! We are stuffed! read more

Great food and service the risotto portion is huge and delicious. Pizza is fresh and tasty. Bar tender makes quality cocktails

Great food and big portions. Risotto is great and I also love their Veal Parm and Veal Marsala. Their fettuccine alfredo is some of the best I've ever had. I'm not a fan of Old Forge pizza in general And Rinaldis is no exception- sorry I'm from Brooklyn. But stick to the traditional Italian fare and you won't go wrong ;) read more

Great white risotto! Best I've had anywhere! I get mine with shrimp and broccoli. You can feed 3 people with the full dinner, but they also have an appetizer size. I like the leftovers. Also has a great drink menu, especially martins! My cousin always gets the spaghetti with meatballs and loves it there too. She's Italian and makes her own homemade sauce so this is a compliment, lol. Best to get there early or weekdays though. I had chicken gumbo soup also but It's one thing I got there I didn't like. read more

Omg cute place very clean started with the Risotto white with mushrooms my god was it good hot the best I had and we also had pizza 12 cut with extra cheese and mushrooms and garlic very good the crust lite fresh the best in town I Will stop here again just for the risotto !! read more

One of our favorite places. We have celebrated Valentine's Day, Anniversaries and just a regular Friday night dinner here and everytime it's been fantastic. The white chicken risotto is one of my weaknesses and I have to have it every single visit!! read more

We'd been trying to come here for awhile and had high expectations when we came for an early dinner on a Monday. It just didn't live up to the hype. We started with soup and salad. My husband didn't like the pasta fagiole but the few spoonfuls I had were good. I had the house salad which comes with creamy balsamic dressing that is good. I ordered the veal special which was good, but my side of pasta was covered with a really bad marinara sauce. My husband ordered a filet which was good but underseasoned. He didn't care for his potato and carrots either. There wasn't a drink menu offered to us and when I asked about wine they didn't have a list or anything. I later overheard the bartender telling another customer that the wine list was being "reworked" so they only had house wine. Don't get the merlot. Our service was hot and cold; our actual waitress was flat and not very helpful, but there was a waitress serving a nearby table who checked on us a couple times and was much more pleasant. Maybe it was a fluke, because it's definitely an area favorite, but it wasn't the best showing for us. We'll probably stay loyal to Anthony's. read more

My family and friends have been to this dinner spot before and never had any problems until we went to dinner for our daughters baptism. I called at least 3 weeks in advance and told the lady who was making the reservations how many people and possibly 2-3 more at which I was told that wasn't a problem at all. Also was informed that a party room was open too. Well no party room and no more chairs or table for our 2 extra guests. Instead of having our family sit next to us in a loud bar area in the middle of a very busy room they were seated in a row with others. I talked to a few people that work there and was giving an attitude the whole time and was told the manager would be over. He or She never showed up. The food was good the waitress's were extremely rude to us and everyone else around them. We didn't appreciate begin lied to and talked to like that. Reason why I called way in advance because I knew they would be busy on Saturday night. Never again will I make a reservation or even go back. Guess because were not " REGULARS " we get treated the way we did. Very sad and they should feel but doubt they do bad for treating people that way. never again ! read more

Enjoyed a great family italian meal today. Service and food excellent. Traveled from Alabama to enjoy this food. We will return! Thanks for the hospitality today. read more

I was in the area from North Carolina, have a post op exam with my orthopedic surgeon. So after I met my brother and we had dinner here at cafe Rinaldi. I ordered veal and sausage Calabrese style. Well I was served Calabrese soup instead! To the cook Calabrese style is fried potatoes peppers (hot or sweet) in oil not in a broth. read more

Had a great meal on new years eve. Good food as always. Generous portions and good service. Waitress was able to help us with a special dietary issue in our family. (Much appreciated!) read more

Just ate there last night. The Antipasto salad and Pepperoni, Sausage, and Red Onion pizza were AWESOME! Service was excellent and beer nice and cold too! read more

Small place, big flavor. I ate here with a large group of people and I would highly recommend reservations for groups of 5 or more. It's a relatively small restaurant that gets busy, especially on the weekends. The food is real, home-style authentic Italian. The appetizer special the night we were there was a vodka sauce pizza. It was amazing and a concept that caught most of us off guard. Vodka sauce on pizza? If it's available, order it. The dinner entree I ordered was the Spring Penne and it was nothing short of fantastic. The portion size was quite large as most people in our group had leftovers to take home. Some of the other dishes ordered were white risotto, red risotto and homemade gnocchi. Everybody really enjoyed the food and the intimate atmosphere. Despite not finishing the entree course, we opted for dessert and chose tiramisu. We were not disappointed. Overall, it's a great restaurant that's not overly expensive. It's a great find in the land of pizza. read more

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We've only been to Cafe Rinaldi a handful of times, but every time we go we are not disappointed. We can only comment on the Italian dishes for which they are noted. The risotto is amazing and the sauce is great! The portions are huge! The parking lot is small and you should make a reservation if going on a Friday or Saturday night, as we realized. A must stop if in the Old Forge area! read more

We have been to Rinaldi's several times for their pizza which we both loved. This time we went to try dinner. For appetizers, I ordered white risotto and my husband had soup which was similar to an Italian wedding soup but a little different. Both were excellent. For dinner I had the linguini carbonara which is the best I've ever had. My husband had ravioli's, half meat and half cheese. He loved it. The portions were huge. My appetizer white risotto was definitely enough for me to have as a meal next time. I brought half home of the risotto as well as half of the carbonara. As for the atmosphere, it is very comfortable and has a nice cozy feeling. The servers and bartenders are very nice and more than eager to discuss anything on the menu. Overall it was a very satisfying and enjoyable experience. I recommend it to everyone. Can't wait to go back for dinner. read more

The food is excellent however the customer service was absolutely awful. I placed an order over the phone and was told it would be ready in one hour. An hour later, I arrived to pick it up. When I walked in, two people were ahead of me. I rang the bell for service and no one came out. Ten minutes later, someone came out and asked if we were all waited on. I told him I wasn't. He did not respond to me and walked outside for a cigarette. He definitely heard my response.Finally after 30 minutes of waiting, a customer that was waiting for 45 minutes for her order, called back into the kitchen to ask someone to please come out. He apologized and brought us all our food...I wonder how long it had been ready just sitting there while we were ignored. They gave a $25 giftcard to the lady who was waiting the longest. When I grabbed my food, the employee said "Too bad you weren't waiting longer or you could have gotten a gift card too" I'm sorry but how long should I have to wait for my food? This comment made me really angry. I understand that weekends are busy however some simple communication would have solved this problem. Had the other customer not called back to the kitchen, how long would I have waited? I will not be ordering from here again. Never before have I dealt with such poor customer service and lack of common courtesy. read more

My favorite place in Old Forge! Best risotto ever. Also amazing pasta fagioli soup.

So I went here with my coworkers for our annual Christmas get together ... well let me just say ... worst service I've ever experienced !! I am a mother of a newborn and was already spending time away from my family to go out to eat ( which I never do). There was a party of 8 of us 6 of which ordered salads ...2 of us ordered the risotto . It took an hour and a half to get our meals ! I spoke to the owner because of our long wait explaining that I needed to get home to my baby. Her EXACT words, and I quote were " you tell your mother who is watching your baby that Judy FUCKING Rinaldi said sorry for the wait " "There was a large party in the banquet room that FUCKED up everything" She seemed VERY intoxicated. The owner of an establishment being drunk while working is not only illegal but disgusting to me ! I also told her that I would have to take the food home to my husband for leftovers since I did not have enough time to eat due to the long wait and she replied by saying "FUCK your husband he ruined you enough ! " .... so needless to say ILL NEVER BE BACK AGAIN !!! So sad because the food is good but very inappropriate service . read more

Delicious Italian restaurant. You should know it's a good idea to get reservations in advance, as we had to wait about 25 minutes, nbd. There was excellent bar service. There's a Italian beer on tap, Moretti's, which is decent. Once we were seated the meal began and it was excellent. Neither myself or my fiancé had ever heard of red risotto so we ordered that appetizer and it was monstrous. It was probably at least six ladles worth of deliciousness. Very tomatoey and well seasoned. My fiancé had a salad with a delicious creamy balsamic vinaigrette dressing followed by gnocchi and vodka sauce which was delicious. I had the pasta e fagioli followed by veal marsala with mushrooms. Both were very well prepared. The soup was well seasoned, the veal was cooked well with a sweet and salty sauce just like it should be. At the gnocchi were pillowy at though I did feel that the vodka sauce had been creamed a little too much. Altogether I was very impressed and I look forward to exploring the Italian restaurants in Oldforge as I have been pleasantly surprised thus far! I would give this place five stars, but I've eaten at Babbo in Manhattan and I'm a bit spoiled now. read more

Pretty old school Italian food. Good service, call ahead to make reservations or you will walk in and then walk back out. Eaten there twice and both times the meal was an event. read more

One of my favorite restaurants in Old Forge. The food is always amazing. The service is always great and friendly. The prices are reasonable for the great quality and the amount of food you are getting. Portions are large so you will usually have leftovers. This is my number 1 recommendation when some one asks me for an Italian restaurant in this area. Their pizza is also really good as well. When I have out of town guests I will order a tray with different types of pizza so they can sample all the goodness this place has to offer. If you are trying to decide on where to go in Old Forge you will not be disappointed with this place. They are 100% a step above the rest in the area. read more

The white risotto is to die for! I usually get the appetizer size since you get a generous portion with it. I have also tried the baked haddock, chicken parm, chicken calabrese and pizza. I have not had a bad meal or experience any time i have been here. The portions are enough for 2 meals for the price you pay. Well worth the money!! My favorite place to eat and I recommend this place to everyone! read more

What a disappointment. If you want REAL ITALIAN food, go to NY. Had to go here for a party and was very unimpressed. Don't waste your time or money. It ranks up there with the Olive Garden. read more

This is the type of place where I don't eat for 24 hours before going... the portions are huge and the food is out of this world!! My boyfriend and I like to get something we both like and then split both. Get a reservation if it's a fri or sat. If you've never been get the risotto. read more

I always heard glowing reviews about Cafe Rinaldi. One day a group of friends and I decided to try this place out for dinner. As for parking, they have a nice size parking lot. Visually the place isn't gorgeous from the outside but inside we were welcomed with a very comfortable and beautiful atmosphere. Despite a full house, we were seated immediately in a comfy U booth in the back- where a fresh variety of Italian bread and breadsticks were waiting for us. This is a great touch especially since they refilled the basket until our meal came. Our waitress, Deanna, was absolutely hilarious and very customer oriented. She is extremely knowledgable about the menu and the food. I ordered the shrimp and broccoli risotto. Hands down best risotto I ever had! The massive portion size was exceptional! I ate so much and had leftovers. We even tried their tiramisu afterwards- delicious! The waitress refilled our coffees steadily and kept our water glasses full throughout our meal. I highly recommend trying this restaurant out. The highlight of the night was our waitress! We will definitely be a regular customer. read more

Excellent dinner - Tracy was great. Shrimp Fran, filet, cappelletti soup all recommended!

The food is great but the little chairs at the tables are very uncomfortable. Love the white risotto! The wait staff is excellent!

What an amazing place! The food portions are alarmingly large, the food itself is delicious, romantic and clean atmosphere. I recommend this restaurant to everyone! read more

Good Italian food at reasonable prices. My favorites are the Risotto and any of the calabrese dishes. The staff is usually very attentive and congenial. The pizza is pretty good too like most Old Forge restaurants. The only thing is that the restaurant gets pretty busy on certain nights and they dont take reservations so you have to wait sometimes to get a table read more

Rinaldi's Cafe is a great place to eat. They offer a variety of Italian dishes, but also have other items on their menu. My favorite is the Broiled Haddock dinner. The broiled haddock is out of this world! It's nice and white, you get a generous portion done in a butter and wine sauce. It's great! You get your choice of soup(they usually have 3 every night, plus soup of the day, all homemade) or salad, and potatoe and vegetable. Sure Old Forge is noted for their great pizza, but Cafe Rinaldi goes that extra step. You should give it a try if you are in the area. read more

Ok, so here's the story. I have been a fan of this place since the day they opened. The food has always been superb. And to be honest I have to say the food has taken a small decline -small but still a decline. However it's not the food that compelled me to give only a 2 star review, it is the service and some of the staff. My husband and I arrived at Cafe Rinaldi at approximately 6:30 on a Monday night. There were some diners in the restaurant but basically it was fairly empty. Once thru the door we stood and waited for someone to let us know if we could seat ourselves or wait to be seated ( there was no seat yourself sign up) . And so we waited, and waited and waited. We were about to head to a booth when the " hostess" an older woman with long straight blondish hair grabbed two menus , walked over to us and said , " follow me". She did not say another word, just walked us to the booth , set the menus down and walked away. And then the wait began. Please bear in mind it was not at all busy this night. We waited at least 1/2 hour for our waitress. Finally another waitress came over and said she noticed we had been sitting there awhile without even giving a drink order. She was extremely nice and when we asked she said she would take our order for us. She apologized on behalf of our waitress ( who we never did see ) many times. This waitress salvaged what otherwise would have been a complete washout as far as our visit that night. This is not the first time the service has been terrible ( rude hostesses, rude waitresses,etc). In fact, I would say 7 out of the last 10 times we have visited we have experienced this. In speaking with other people we have learned they have experienced the same. Wake up Cafe Rinaldi ! You have great food but people will only tolerate rude hostesses , waitresses and bad service for only so long . You may keep your " regulars" but you certainly will lose the less frequent diners. Cockiness and complacency because of good food can only go so far. You were one our favorite restaurants. read more

We're not talking upscale food, but we are talking down home Italian cooking. A few decent beers on tap, including Moretti, a nice Manhattan from an older barkeep, a surly old hostess, when asked, "how many" and we replied, "three", she replied, "OH, GOD", and you have the makings of a relaxing meal. The meals come with a soup or salad, and of course bread. The salad was okay, but the special mozzarella salad was HUGE and very tasty. The soup was from a selection of three and I selected the pasta fagioli. Fantastic. Maybe the best I have ever had. I could have eaten the whole pot. DeAnna, the waiteress, was very nice and friendly, discovered that I was a veggie person, and filled my soup bowl with a load of beans. My pasta was the gnocchi with marinara. Loved the 'nocchi, traditional stomach bombers, but the marinara was just okay. Three of us split the homemade cannoli, another huge portion. I'm not the biggest cannoli fan, but this was pretty damn tasty. There are three other Italian places in Old Forge which I didn't try, but this was pegged for a return trip (yeah, like I am going to Old Forge again). read more