Verace

When your cocktail menu offers a barrel aged Negroni. Don’t serve a fresh one without disclosing that. Only after questioning our waiter did he acknowledge that they ran out and made a FRESH one. Poor!!!

Verace is a wonderful Italian restaurant! Not only is the food good here but it has a wonderful ambience along with great service. I love a place that makes their own fresh pasta. The eating area outside is amazing! This place is defiantly worth checking out — I also highly recommend.

The food was DELICIOUS and creative. Definitely not your run of the mill LI Italian. Rivals many NYC places. HOWEVER… the service was less than stellar. We came in at 8:30pm, there were only 3 – 4 tables occupied in the place, including one with the head chef, as we came to learn. We were greeted and offered bread and water after ordering our drinks. Great! It took 10 minutes for the bread and a reminder after that for the water. If the bread was baking, then let us know – but there was none of that. The drinks (2 Manhattans @$ 13 each) were good, but didn’t blow us away. They seemed «thin.»
They were out of the «new» cut of steak… so one of us had to order the other steak, which was conveniently approx $ 13 higher than the other cut, plus the fabulous sounding mushroom polenta that came with the new cut was then going to be a side with an additional full-​price charge. At least a little customer service could have been done. A little.
The food came out at a good pace and was, again, all DELICIOUS. The waitress and bussers were NOT busy, but they were occupied with busy work as our dirty plates sat in front of us. For paying the higher than average prices that this place is apparently commanding, I expect service that exceeds expectation every time and makes your dining experience effortless. Make it a pleasure and completely stress free. If you can’t meet that, then lower prices. I don’t want dirty dishes in front of me.
On a positive note, I made a reservation through OpenTable and then was able to pay through the OpenTable app too. Very convenient. If there’s one thing that I hate is waiting for your bill at the end of a meal. Not this time!
We’ll be back for the exemplary food. I just hope the service matches next time.

This place is great… I eat here at least once a week and never been disappointed.
The food was excellent and I have yet been disappointed. My favorite dish is the pappardelle pasta. All and all very impressed. It’s a neighborhood favorite of mine.

Where do i start. Ill start with we had a reservation on a Thursday night and had to wait 35mins to be seated. Normally i wouldnt mind but when someone with a later reservation comes after us and gets a table before us. thats when i have an issue
When i go ask the host, i rudely get a hand to the face as to shut me up while someone was walking by. After expressing how disappointed we were, we just get a smirk and no answer.
I extremely surprised this restaurant is affiliated with other high end restaurants. Needless to say we ended up next door at Tellers and had a wonderful experience as always

Delicious food, very nice ambiance and friendly staff. Plenty of parking behind the restaurant, inside is very roomy and the smell is intoxicating! We had a birthday party of 50 people, ate family style and we enjoyed ourselves and the food very much!

This was my second time here, first off we had a reservation for 7:15 and were not seated until 8pm. I understand it was a Saturday night but what is the point of having a reservation if you have to wait for 45 minutes? We were a party of 3 not 8. We finally got seated and ordered drinks well my glass had a huge crack in it and my drink was all over the table. The waiter just apologies and gets me a new drink. The salad dressings were wayyyy to salty, the potato soup was horrible and I didn’t even eat it. I told the waiter about the soup and salad and both were not taken off my bill, great customer service!!! I would never go back they did not do the right thing and our waiter was a real asshole.

2^nd time coming here, service was pretty good. We sat inside this time and it was nice, although the tables along the walls are really close together. Good luck getting in and out of the booth seat without having to apologize to the table next to you.
We started off with the Caprese Appetizer. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT order this. Although the mozzarella was clearly fresh, it was served on top of extremely thin slices of tomato, and not even those thick, fat, hot house tomatoes, no, like those off the vine smaller tomatoes. You wouldn’t even know they were there if you didn’t move the mozzarella. Did I mention it only comes with 3 pieces? And for $ 14!!! I’m still pissed about it. It the tomatoes were bigger I could maybe see this price being reasonable. But also 3 small pieces? Come on.
Moving on from our $ 14 tomato slices, we got the same thing as last time, the Penne Vodka. Not bad but I felt it was lacking a little.
They still start you off with some bread with a honey butter which is really good.
I had a cappuccino for dessert which was good, as well as some kind of peanut butter Nutella ice cream dessert which wasn’t bad.
Coming here again I also noticed how small the menu is. Like, really small. I’d probably only come back because we really enjoyed the ambience of eating outside here last time.

Great food and service! Staff is very friendly! Love the outdoor patio and atmosphere!

We went to this restaurant for Restaurant Week. good choices on the price fix menu. I have the meatballs and you got five in the bowl for an appetizer. For my dinner I got chicken cutlet parmesan to big huge pieces of chicken cutlet my husband got the striped Back said it was very.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Came here on a Saturday. Specifically asked if the outside was open and if we could be sat. Manager said, «yes, sit them wherever they want.» Sat there for at least 20 minutes and no one ever came to help us. Manager passed by a few times. Will not return.

Place is bumping on the weekends. Food is good and wine on tap is fun, but sometimes you get stuck with the pretentious server.

I really loved this place!!! Décor is an eye full and I enjoyed every minute of it. The food was great, they didn’t cheap out on the drinks. The ingredients are fresh and the chef is on point. Of course it’s on the pricey side, but for a night out its well worth it.

Service was great and it is very nice inside. The food is just ok for the price they want to charge you. I can go to Vinnie’s Mulberry Street up the block and get a much better meal. I will not be back.

I came here tonight for Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend. We got right in and sat at a bar table. The waitress was very nice and a great server. Unfortunately we will never come here again. The food was terrible. I ordered the mozzarella caprese and it was 3 small tomatoes with a blob of cheese and no balsamic vingarette. My boyfriend had the pear and goat cheese pizza which wasn’t that bad. The worst part was my dish. I got the pork chop and I noticed it seemed a little pink but I was convince it had to be the lighting, another bite in and it was completely BRIGHT PINK. THEY SERVED ME COMPLETELY RAW PORK! Not one manager even had the common curtesy to come over and apologize or ask us if they could fix it. DO NOT RECOMMEND TO EAT HERE EVER!

My fiancé and I have gone there for the last three valentines days and unfortunately it’s been declining every year. This year we tried their steak which was dramatically undercooked and not a great cut of meat for the price. Their calamari was rubbery and the dips bland. Finished it off with an alright desert of the Nutella bomb and tiramisu. Service was weak and not very attentive and then we had to wait 20 minutes in the freezing cold as there was no valet in sight. Way to pricey for poor service and not so feast food. I guess this will be the end of our Verace valentines tradition, what a shame.

I dined at Verace on a date-​night with my boyfriend. My cousin recommended this restaurant to me and we share similar tastes so there was good chance I was going to like it here, and she was right! The restaurant is clean and has a modern rustic design that looks like it was designed by millennials for millennials. I like the way the kitchen was out in the open behind a counter and they even have a brick pizza oven, I will discuss more about that later in my review. Looking over the menu, I noticed most of the entrees were priced $ 18-​$ 28, so if that is out of your price range this restaurant may not be the right place for you. Our server was very pleasant and was very attentive. (I wish I remembered his name as I usually like to reward great table side service.) For an appetizer we ordered an assortment of meats and cheeses that was OUT OF THIS WORLD! My boyfriend hogged and ate all the prosciutto and I didn’t get to try any. The fact that he ate it all is good indication of how good it was. For entrees my boyfriend ordered a three meat brick oven pizza and I got the shrimp risotto. Our meals were so good we wound up sharing everything. Yes, I got to try some of his brick oven pizza which I would highly recommend, although it is $ 16. For dessert we ordered and shared the Nutella Bomb. OMG! You need to go to Verace just to try this! My cousin said to order it with extra peanuts and she was right again. There is an excellent chance we are going to go back just for this wonderful tasty dessert. My boyfriend and I had a wonderful meal at Verace and the entire experience went off without a hitch. I would highly recommend Verace and give my visit 5 stars. Keep up the good work Verace and keep serving up great food!

Been there twice. Enjoyed the outdoor sitting. Good food. Nice service. Love the décor.

I heard a lot of people rave about this place, and I must agree, it is a great restaurant. Unfortunately our service was not great. I had made a reservation through open table and noted that I was celebrating my birthday. We were seated and saw that they were celebrating too! They had a really cool option of a 3 course price fix or unlimited wine for $ 10 with the purchase of an entrée (SCORE!). The waitress greeted us and brought us a small plate with three pieces of bread We were four people), which I thought was strange. Then, when she came to take our order, we were all ready for appetizers and needed some time to look at the menu and she said, «I can’t put the order in until you are finished with your order»…I have never heard of this tactic in my life. It wasn’t like we were at McDonald’s, we ordered 5 appetizers including a $ 25 meat and cheese platter, and we were starving! So, she looked at us like, get your acts together and order… it was really weird. Then, we asked if there were any gluten free options, she really didn’t know, then said «Oh, we have a gluten free menu» …why wouldn’t you ask from the beginning if anyone was interested in seeing a gluten free menu? So, we placed our order in full. They were out of Fontina cheese, but the meat and cheese platter we ordered was spectacular. The prosciutto was amazing, not salty, and perfect amount of fat… the best I have ever had at a restaurant on Long Island. The speck and spicy salami were phenomenal too. The frisee salad was gross-​it was OBVIOUS that the lettuce wasn’t washed properly and every bite had sand on it. Big disappointment. The clams were disgusting too, and we sent them back-​they tasted right out of stop n shop frozen aisle. Major disappointment. The caprese salad was okay, but literally there was a fifth of a piece of basil on the burratta, like really-​it was the most minuscule tear I have ever seen? Is there a basil shortage? Onto entrees… I ordered the Shrimp risotto and it was spectacular. The risotto was rich and creamy and cheesy and the shrimp popped in your mouth… super delicious. My husband got the pork chop milanese (and while it was delicious, he didn’t know milanese meant fried/​breaded). Our entrees were over and our waitress came and asked us if we wanted dessert, and we said yes! all of us, enthusiastically. She took our coffee/​after dinner drink order and my friend and I got up to use the ladies room. When we came back, the waitress brought us the bill. We asked, ‘did you guys order dessert’ and they said no, we told her we wanted dessert, did she not understand? and she said it was a verbal menu… so we said, okay please give it to us. At this point it felt like we were annoying her. So, she told us the menu and my friend got the flourless cake. And she brought over a bill for $ 8.30 as a standalone bill. Weird. Also, I thought it was odd that I had a birthday present at the table, I noted the birthday on the reservation and she never said happy birthday or did anything special. I wasn’t looking for it (I am getting old!) but I thought it was weird. Nice atmosphere, attractive crowd, but our server DID NOT make the cut. Sorry E!

Pretty standard 3 star restaurant and review. Showed up on Christmas Eve for a 5 pm reservation and the table was ready right away. Bread was good but wimpy. Drinks and wine choices were a little over priced. They needed a glass of wine choice that was under $ 10. Appetizers are pretty small but good! Pizza was yummy. Calamari was also good. I shared the eggplant parm with my sister and it was good but a little tough and not hot more room temp. Everyone else thought their food was pretty good. Got desserts which were good. Check was pretty expensive. Too expensive for the taste of the food. And that’s even with 4 people sharing 2 entres the prices are bumped for the atmosphere for sure which is beautiful. Food alone is what the 3 stars are for. 4 stars for the atmosphere.

On Christmas Eve– restaurant poorly decorated for Christmas. Spinach was not eatable. They put our table by the stairs, very close to other table, so you can overhear all conversations. Very unpleasant experience.

Ate at a Verace 2 years ago and it was pretty good for Long island. Wish there were more restaurants like this around the island. I guess the island hasn’t caught up to the restaurants in Manhattan but I would definitely come back. Great job Verace!

Four stars. Why?
The menu is nice. They have things that many Italian restaurants do not — polenta, shrimp risotto.
The restaurant itself is nice — nice décor.
The service was excellent! I wish I knew our server’s name (I’m afraid I cannot remember) but we were a large table (10 people) and she was really terrific.
Unfortunately the food (which is the reason you go to a restaurant, I think) wasn’t outstanding. It was good — don’t get me wrong — but not outstanding.
If you’re going to charge me $ 17 for spaghetti & meatballs it better be really excellent. It wasn’t. It was good.
The bread came out warm (like it was freshly baked) but had a funny taste. Sourdough maybe? We weren’t sure. And it was served with an odd little concoction of ricotta cheese, honey, and black pepper. We had to ask for regular butter.
My ‘problem’ is that I could get the same meal at Mama Sbarro’s or Richie’s Pizza for $ 12.
Nice restaurant. Great service. Good food. Slightly overpriced.

My wife and I just had a very good dinner here. The atmosphere is great, the staff is very nice. Our waitress was very cheerful and attentive. They have a nice selection of wine, my cabernet was very nice, and my wife was very satisfied with her pino grigio. They have a special gluten free menu (which my wife requires). My wife started with a salad, and I had the mussels. Both were excellent. For our main course selections, my wife went with a veal dish, and I had the pork chop. We shared the asparagus side dish, which was amazing.
We were very happy with our choice to eat there this evening.

Verace. While there are a few items around the menu to be desired, the rest leaves something to be… well… desired. The service is spotty and the food isn’t all too wonderful and the price certainly doesn’t reflect the [overrated] quality. Loud, busy, bland but flashy; The steady decline will probably be kept afloat by the fact they own Tellers next door.
Overall okay, but not worth the wallet dump for chic atmosphere.

I can’t give less stars because I’ve been here numerous times and it is never a fail.
I do have to give 1 STAR for one of the nights we went for pre fix dinner. The experience was not even close to top notch. We had a dinner with wine pairing and the second course wine came out at least 30 min before the food. There were 4 girls and 3 of us got our appz 20 min before the 4^th girl got hers (mind you she had a salad same as someone else at the table). I don’t know something was OFF that night. Just want to make management aware of it so that it can be corrected.
Otherwise the place is super trendy and romantic. They have a nice outside sitting/​dining area. I am so glad they got rid of the white plastic couches and now have wicker furniture. Very nice job. Inside is cozy and romantic if you want it to be. It’s perfect for groups as well.

This place is great… I eat here at least once a week and never been disappointed. Corey the bartender makes the best martinis. Krystal the hostesses was extremely accommodating. The manager Allison introduced herself at the bar while we were waiting for a table and wanted to make sure we were comfortable.
The food was excellent and I have yet been disappointed. My favorite dish is the pappardelle pasta. All and all very impressed. It’s a neighborhood favorite of mine.

My fiancé made a reservation here and we were able to be seated outside. They give you some bread to start, (4 small pieces) with butter and some honey and pepper on it.
We started with the Fried Calamari and it was served with both marinara and a white sauce. However there was no lemon wedge and no baby octopus. Pretty big serving.
He got a lemonade and I got an unsweetened iced tea and it was amazing. Didn’t need any sugar. $ 5 each however. (free refills though)
We both got a full serving of Penne ala Vodka. Was pretty good. My fiancé got chicken in his which had a smoky flavor. For dessert we shared a slice of Pumpkin Cheesecake but I’m pretty sure it was just Pumpkin Pie. I also got a cappuccino and he got a tea.
Total came to around $ 85 without tip.
Loved the ambiance however the music was really casual, would’ve enjoyed more of lets say Frank Sinatra or Classical for an Italian Resturant. Loved the outdoor seating. The timing between courses was pretty nice. Gave you time to digest a little. Service was friendly. Would come here again.

I’m sad to say that after going here for years, I think last night might be my last time at Verace. The food and service used to be so much better, but they changed their menu recently, and I haven’t been happy with any of the entrees.
Last night I brought a friend who had never been there before. We were «lucky» to get a seat in the alley since the indoor and outdoor deck tables were booked. It took 20 minutes to get two drinks, and a half hour before the bread came. We ordered only dinner, which took an hour to come out. I ordered the Pappardelle bolognese with san marzano tomatoes and basil, but got a dish of pappardelle with meat and brown sauce, no tomatoes — more German than Italian. My friend got the Chicken Scarpariello. It was the strangest presentation of that dish I had ever scene (chicken pieces on the bone on top of potatoes and chopped red peppers), but the taste I took was ok.
When the waitress came to ask how everything was, I told her I wasn’t happy with my dish. Soon the manager (whose name escapes me), came over to see what the problem was. I told him the same thing I told the waitress, and he offered to have something else prepared, which was nice, but it was getting late and I declined. He walked away, whispered something to the waitress, and they both laughed. Nice right?
They comped my drink, but overall, dinner was a «true» disappointment.

Let me start by saying what I love most about Verace– I can walk there. Plus, the outdoor seating areas are beautiful. There is a small seating section in the cobblestone alley and a larger one with a fireplace, bar, live music, and heaters in the winter. The atmosphere is a cross between an Italian café and Spanish wine bar. The staff are always busy but plenty friendly. There is a small bar area to enjoy tap wine while you wait to be seating. Inside, there is seating under the cathedral ceiling and in the loft area.
Food– this is what brought the rating down a bit. The nice part is that most pastas can be served as half portions, which are plenty of you have an appetizer. There are few gluten-​free options, which is a bummer for the poor allergy sufferers out there. There are many vegetarian choices– the healthy (salads and such) and indulgent (creamy pastas and eggplant parmigiana). The polenta with crispy mushrooms was a decedent app– the creaminess of the polenta was balanced by the crisp, salty mushrooms. The avocado toast was unique, but I think it would work better on a thinner crostini. Chicken Scarp– gluten-​free and amazing.
I was so torn between 3 and 4 star rating, but the atmosphere and lighter/​veggie options bumped it up– barely.

I feel like this place could be better… great spot that looks nice and the outside patio was amazing.
Mini meatballs for appetizers… dont even think about it. Get it.
The Penne a la vodka with shrimps was very good. I enjoyed it and the sauce wasnt too greasy.
But somehow the place… you expect better maybe because of the décor? It was good… not great.

Brunch!
There’s a bottomless Bellini special for $ 13 and they’re delightfully strong! Pancakes were delicious! The outdoor seating is beautiful and calm, and there was live music on a Sunday at 1pm. Reminded me of a Los Angeles brunch… must try before it gets too cold to enjoy the beautiful outdoor seating!