I am really surprised reading some of the positive reviews. I found this restaurant to have very poor service. The bread was served along with a very tiny dish with olive oil and pesto placed at the center of a large table of 6 to be shared by all of us. Not only was the portion unacceptable for 6 people, you couldn't even extend your arm and reach the dish to dip your bread. I had the veal parmesan entree with about two ounces of very dry veal paper thin with a burnt coating. The pasta served with it was so dry like paste and tasteless. I've had better tasting veal parmesan from a diner. Better pasta from a can. My brother received the wrong entree but did not have it in him to complain. There seemed to be a larger table that got all the attention that left no attention for the rest of us. If the owner is going to have a large party and neglected the other patrons, they probably should have closed the restaurant for the party if they could not handle it. I do not recommend this restaurant. On top of that , I felt like the owner was trying to push us out of the restaurant. There are so many other better options out there to dine for the price you pay at this restaurant. read more

Tried this place for lunch on a weekday. The lunch menu is perfect for trying more than one thing for a fantastic value. The Homemade Mozzarella Caprice was amazing and then I paired it with Penne ala vodka. Food was really fresh and great tasting. I would definitely go again! read more

What attracted me to this place was the ambiance of a quaint restaurant with outdoor seating. I expected it to be more Italian considering the name. The bread and olive oil dip was nothing special. And the meals were pretty overpriced for the quality, my boyfriend ordered the shrimp scampi risotto which came with 4 shrimp and a decent portion of rice: $37. Not so sure the gnocchi was homemade. The staff was nice + kind, great hospitality. They even had blankets for when it got chilly at night. For the average food and high price, I don't see myself returning. Wish they did the cute place a little more justice. read more

When you walk into this restaurant you are greeted immediately by the owner with a friendly smile who gave me the choice of where I would like to sit. The decor was warm and inviting. The restaurant was decorated beautifully for the holiday. The table was clean and beautifully set. We placed our order and was given the specials. We were give a plate with delicious oils, pesto and balsamic glaze to dip into their freshly baked bread which was delicately crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. The entrees we had were large portions. I had the special risotto with salmon and it was succulent and fresh. The risotto was creamy, fragrant and delicious. My daughter had the tagliatelle and it was displayed beautifully and was decadent. It was my daughters birthday so I mentioned it to the owner. The service was attentive and friendly. We ordered the Tiramisu and once I saw the plate I thought they put two pieces on one plate but that was one! It was fresh, the flavor was perfectly balanced. Each forkful was excitedly put in my mouth faster than I ever remembered eating it and I could have eaten another piece it was so good. My daughters arrived with a candle in it beautifully decorated and in addition We were given additional complimentary gelato and home made brownies which were absolutely delicious. The cappuccino I sipped with my dessert was of excellent quality espresso and was made perfectly. We were never rushed and although we ate amply we still needed to take some home. It was a delightful time we had and they made it extra special for my daughter who enjoyed herself greatly. I highly recommend you try this restaurant. read more

Where do I even start? The service is always incredible. The waiters are always friendly and get to know you the more you visit. The woman who runs it is so proud of her restaurant and it shows in every detail. The portions are generous so the prices don't bother me. The food is ALWAYS fresh. You can taste the love. Here are a few of our favorites 1. Beet Salad 2. Gnocchi 3. Lobster Ravioli 4. The Seafood platter. The dessert is unbelievable. It's hard to just choose one so we always get the homemade tiramisu and the mosaic. The ambiance is perfect for a romantic dinner. In fact, it is the go to restaurant for my husband and I on date night. There is an indoor and outdoor seating area. Perfect for dinner meetings, birthday dinners, and small parties. What surprises me is that it is less popular than it should be. This place deserves way more recognition. Run. Don't walk. You will not be disappointed. read more

This was my first time dining out since the COVID-19 shut down. My mother and I arrived about 10 minutes early but were immediately seated at a table that had a dedicated reservation card with my name on it. The service was impeccable. The food was fresh and delicious. We were not rushed. I will be back soon! read more

Had an absolutely excellent experience this evening at Piccolo Bistro. Their setup is chic, yet classy. The owners, husband and wife, were hospitable and kind. The complimentary bread was so fresh & had an amazing dip to compliment it. Our appetizer was the perfect size for two persons. My boyfriend & I both got the chicken Costolletta, which was incredible. The presentation was gorgeous & it tasted as good as it looked. Both my boyfriend and I were extremely satisfied. The dessert was homemade by the owner (wife) and was absolutely to die for. I'm definitely coming back here... if you're deciding on a place to go for a nice dinner, choose this place... Absolutely incredible! read more

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EXCELLENT restaurant, high quality food and great staff and atmosphere. We will be back. Just be aware if you pay by credit card a $4.50 charge is added to your bill. read more

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My husband and I came to Piccolo with high hopes, as we were hoping to hold our rehearsal dinner here. The restaurant looked cute from pictures, had decent reviews, and was nearby our venue, the Tides. We left mid-meal, horrified by the terrible food and slow service. We were served SPOILED shrimp on risotto, which they charged ~$50-60 dollars for (price was listed as marketplace on the menu). The arancini tasted very fishy as well, and was dried out, with rice dried up like rocks. The bread was tasteless and dry. My husband and I would never, ever recommend this place as it is the worst dining experience we've ever had. As horrifying as this dining experience was, we are so relieved to have tried out Piccolo's food ourselves before inviting our family and friends to dine here for our rehearsal dinner. read more

Fantastic food and the owner and wait staff were so incredibly warm and gracious! We will absolutely be back!

If I could give this place less than one star I would. We were very excited to try this place and given the good reviews and menu, thought we'd have a great meal. Restaurant not busy at all for a Saturday evening which should've been our first red flag. It took our waiter, Daniel, about 10 minutes to come over and tell us about the specials. We decided on sharing the seafood rice balls and the burrata and tomato salad. This should've been our second warning to leave. The rice balls were so overcooked. Outside was way too crispy and hard and the shrimp sauce was tasteless as was the seafood filling. Not sure where this burrata came from. When you cut into burrata, the cheese should nicely ooze out. This was more like room temperature store bought mozzarella cheese. My husband and daughter both ordered gnocchi cacio e pepe, which is one of their favorites. I ordered the lobster ravioli special. They claim all of the pasta is homemade, but there is no way as all of my ravioli were the exact same shape. My ravioli was mediocre at best. The vodka type sauce was just eh. Now the two entrees of cacio e pepe come out. They are both in some sort of red marinara sauce. We were dumbfounded. My husband remarked to Daniel that there's been some sort of mistake. This isn't the right dish. Daniel comments it is correct, the chef puts his own spin in this dish! Who the hell puts a spin on cacio e pepe? It's cheese and pepper - plain and simple! He proceeds to go on his cell phone to show us a picture of what it should look like and that another table thought the same as us! What the heck?? My husband sends his back and Daniel doesn't even ask if he would like something else and then disappears for the rest of the time. The manager doesn't come over to apologize or ask us what happened. Next thing, some random waiter comes over with sorry looking desserts and tells us these are on the house from the owner. Are you serious? How about coming over yourself. We don't want free dessert! We finally were able to get our check after they looked for Daniel the waiter. Again, on the way out not a single word was said to us. This is clearly not authentic Italian food. The place is absolutely horrible. There are pizza places that are better in both food and service. Do not waste your time at this place. read more

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Great, sort of tucked away spot in ridgewood. Despite being on a busy side street, it's recessed and easy to walk past - don't! Great food and ambiance inside. Staff has always been friendly and owners accommodating. Great portions for the prices and nice variety to the menu. Highly recommend. And BYOB! read more

After reading the reviews for this restaurant, I was excited to eat here. Unfortunately, a recent lunch did not deliver. The fried calamari seemed frozen, and then just fried, and the open face skirt steak sandwich was terribly made. I pretty much left at all. My husband soup was outstanding, though the restaurant looks tired and there was no one there at lunch. During our lunch, someone in the kitchen was pounding out meat and the noise reverberated throughout the restaurant. The restaurant seems like a has been read more

I think there's a disconnect between the atmosphere, service, food quality, and price. While the food is excellent and higher priced than other Italian places in town, the service was just one notch too friendly and the interior was dark and dated with blaring Italian Muzak. If you go, the pappardelle with lamb ragu is rich and tasty and the salmon is well cooked and a great piece of fish. There's so many places for Italian in the area I don't think we'll have a return trip. read more

The only plus about this place is the great customer service and the friendly owner/staff. The food is mediocre at best. We tried them for the Ridgewood restaurant week and were very disappointed. The appetizers and main courses were dull and tasteless and looked nothing like the pictures posted by customers. The third course which is normally supposed to be a desert was the option to have tea or coffee. I picked tea assuming it'll be loose leaf tea, and it was the cheap Lipton tea that you get from gas stations. Not sure if things were watered down because of restaurant week but we didn't like any of the dishes. read more

Great spot. The service is great. Small family owns the restaurant. We ordered many of the dishes. I recommend always trying something off their special menu! However, I'd skip the risotto. I've tried it on 3 different occasions and it never quite right. My party and I had fried calamari, grilled octopus, French onion soup for appetizers. They were all ok, nothing special. I would not recommend the french onion soup, it is way too salty. For dinner, we ordered skirt steak, seafood linguini, and the short rib risotto. The skirt steak is to die for!!!! I forgot to take a picture of the seafood linguini but it was beautifully plated. I'd skip the risotto, as I said before. Overall, nice place. The skirt steak keeps me going back as well as it is BYOB. read more

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The food was amazing. Great pastas and salads. Service was a bit slow, but in a good way where we weren't rushed at all. The manager came over many times to check on us and was so nice! read more

Beyond the great food and lively atmosphere, the service was top notch. When I asked for a change to a menu item, the kitchen provided exactly what I wanted. We love it here. read more

Nicest outdoor seating in Ridgewood! Delicious food! Great service! Had the pei mussels, Chicken cutlet and sorbet for dessert. Prix fixe $25 My wife had the spinach salad with pears beets and goat cheese, $12. We will be back! read more

Very lovely place to visit. Pasta is very tasty. Good quality of food. Nice customer services. Good place for dating. read more

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UPDATE: Theresa - Thank you for your response. We very much appreciated your heartfelt apology and you sending food over this weekend. Everything we had was delicious, and my granddaughter was very happy with her make-up birthday party! Everyone makes mistakes, and we thank you for rectifying the situation in such a polite and decent manner. I am updating my initial review as it is absolutely earned." read more

Don't call yourself an Italian restaurant if you don't have a clue how to cook really Italian.... if you serve polenta that is not firm or anywhere near firm and looks like sand in water you have a huge problem. I also ordered a salad that was the size of a small hand if you looked at it with 2 cucumber slices and barely no dressing and it was $15. WAY sucky and overpriced. Huge mistake on my part believing it was Italian and decent. read more

I am giving it zero stars. If it were not for the fact that they have outdoor seating, it would be negative stars. The food was - in a word - awful. You know something is not right when it comes out ten minutes after you place the order. My husband had the snapper special and it was dry as dry could be. I had the saltimbocca and same. We overheard another patron having the same comments about the salmon. Clearly, it was all precooked and just reheated. And at the price point - really! Our two entrees came to $91! And on top, without giving us a heads up, they charged 2.7% for using a credit card. Not going back there any time soon. I understand pandemic etc etc but do you not want clientele to frequent your establishment? Stay away! There are many other restaurants with palatable food. read more

First timer here and what a huge disappointment. Slow service. Long wait between courses. Appys showed up after an hour. Entree an hour after that. Salmon served warm at best. Took it off the check, rightfully so. Waiter MIA thru most of meal showed up when we asked for check. Surprised we were not happy and confused when we did not want coffee and dessert. Would not go back. Too many places to go- to go back on a bad one. Good luck. Bet this one won't be around long. No hustle here. read more

I've had an okay experience here once but the last time I went it was just really bad. Lukewarm lobster ravioli that was extremely heavy with little flavor- I've had better lobster ravioli at macaroni grill. My mom got the sea bass with pesto sauce and it was extremely heavy and the sea bass tasted like it was bad and was undercooked. Super disappointed bc I've liked their stuff in the past. Won't be going back. read more

Great food, place, atmosphere and service. Soup and pasta can be made gluten free. Burratta Caprese and Penne are delicious! read more

Piccolo Bistro - Italian Near Me - Ridgewood, New Jersey

Avoid this place. Food very average but the prices aren't. $35 for a dish of pasta with mussels and clams

I love this place! The food and service is amazing! Our waiter Ryan should be an example of what excellent customer service represents. Everything was just perfect here. Food, atmosphere and service. read more

This place is excellent! From the service to the awesome atmosphere-not to mention incredible food, Piccolo has it all. I especially enjoy dining on the patio which is set up nicely with lights. It is BYOB, and the nearby liquor store will deliver bottles right to your table- an effortless luxury! I will definitely continue going here. read more

I happened to stumble into this restaurant by chance and it was amazing. Food is great! The outside seating has a European feel to it. I'll definitely be going back. read more

Piccolo Bistro - Short rib with Mushroom risotto Delicious!!! - Italian Near Me - Ridgewood, New Jersey

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Maybe we just hit a bad night, but our first experience eating at Piccolo Bistro on a Wednesday night was extremely disappointing. The food was not good, beginning with the doughy bread, and the service was more than slow as the waiter tried to wait both inside and outside tables. We sat for two hours--three people eating only appetizers and entrees, and drinks from our BYOB bottle of Prosecco. My husband's buratta appetizer was the only good dish we ordered. His veal chop was so tough and over-cooked, he could not eat it. My "beet" salad with pears had 4 slivers of beet on each corner of the oblong plate and 4 tiny slices of pear across the $12 plate of greens. Our friend ordered the stuffed eggplant appetizer and it was very dry and heavy with a little marinara sauce. My friend and I had the ravioli on the menu, and we found them very pasty. When my husband complained about the $32 veal chop he could not eat, the waiter said he would talk to the owner and maybe give us free desserts. That was decided, but after waiting another 20 minutes for the waiter, who was so busy with other tables, he could not take our dessert order, we said nevermind and asked for the check, for which we waited another long time before it was brought to us. Unbelievably bad evening eating out at Piccolo Bistro. We will not be back nor recommend it to friends. read more

Service is a huge part of the restaurant/hospitality management. The owners of the restaurant were super rude with the food being mediocre. Avoid. read more

I was looking forward to trying this place. Food was ok a bit salty wait staff was pleasant. However when the bill came there was a charge for using a credit card. When I asked the waitress she looked embarrassed and said well you can complain but if you don't pay it then the wait staff has to pay it. How could they do this to their servers. We paid the fee and tipped the server well. But would never ever go back to an establishment like this. Plus owner did not follow the rules with masks etc. I would say treat your staff well dont pass your credit card fees to them. That's shady. Find another restaurant in ridgewood plenty to choose from. read more

This place is consistently one of the best restaurants in Ridgewood. Flavors are spot on, food is cooked to a degree of perfection and service is excellent. Value/price to pleasure ratio hits the spot. Date and I shared a salad, then he had veal chop (the best I've ever tasted), and I had salmon. InI had this before and have been thinking about it since...skin is potato chip crispy, and sides were perfect. Ambience is cozy if you don't look up at drop ceiling (it's a hang up my boyfriend and I have). I can't believe this place isn't booked up every night, as it's truly the best ridgewood has to offer. read more

Horrible horrible restaurant! Our waiter was exceptional but the owners do not care about new customers. If you're younger than 40 they'll treat you like scum. Foodwise, you can do better at any other restaurant. Had the ink pasta - meh. Overcooked and frozen shrimp. Take my advice. Save your money (overpriced) and pass on this shit restaurant. FYI - i've never given a 1 star review before. read more

Went here for a large family gathering. They were able to accommodate our large party and we were grateful for that. Our waiter was attentive and helpful and the whole staff did their job very well. For me the reason for three stars is simply that the food was ok. Not great. Not bad. Just ok. And for the price , I wanted more than ok. In a town that has so many choices in restaurants just ok just doesn't cut it. read more

Always fabulous food and a warm greeting from the owner! We were able to eat outside in their beautiful outdoor seating area. It is a real treat!Consistently great! read more

Third time at Piccolo. The food is consistent and decent service. Will be coming back for quick dinner again.

I stumbled upon this adorable restaurant immediately after finding out our original venue (A Mano) for my daughter's baptism double booked 3 weeks before the event. On a whim I asked the lovely owner if they had my date available. They did so I booked immediately, hopeful that all would work out. We had an unbelievable event, we were able to take over the entire restaurant, including a bar area that they set up for us. The staff was so friendly and set the dining room exactly how I requested and the food was plentiful and delicious, all served family style which I love. We could not have asked for a nicer day. I would definitely recommend hosting a party here, the space is warm and inviting the food is crowd pleasing and the packages are reasonable! read more

Owners do not care about their customers. Food is run of the mill. Wouldn't be surprised if they went out of business in a year. Advice to management: treat all of your customers with respect, young or old. read more