Spezia

Very good Italian food and excellent, attentive staff. I recommend the lasagna! My mom had a shrimp dish with wide noodles (I forget the name) which was also very good. We went with a Groupon purchase which was great deal.

Unfortunately I purchased a groupon for this restaurant. My boyfriend and I have never been to such an awful restaurant. The food was not edible. I ordered a salad that had chunks of shallots in the dressing and a scallop entrée. Between the mushy lentils and fatty bacon it was just disgusting. My boyfriend ordered a chicken dish in a wine sauce. It was undercooked and extremely bland. We just wanted to leave… Do NOT recommend for people who know what good italian food tastes like.

Osso Bucco was Salty but the risotto accompanying it was perfect.
Kind of empty, Owner not present when i was there.
Pasta Gino was excellent — Recipe comes from another italian eatery in smithtown WHERE Gino actually works — but great dish nonetheless.
Just so empty that I couldn’t really enjoy myself. The place needs a new carpet, and to STOCK some of the wines that are on the list. I asked for two different DECENT bottles and both out of stock. Really, just shorten the wine list if you don’t have them.
There is plenty of time in a non-​busy restaurant to modify the list and Hit PRINT a few times on the computer. The menus are certainly not coming from a specialist printer.
Also, some decent mints at exit would be nice, or perhaps an offer of a little after dinner drink would be nice. NOT LOOKING FOR A FREE ONE — But our waiter didn’t even ask us.
We told him we didn’t want coffee or dessert (not into the sweets anymore) but he should have asked if we wanted a night cap instead.
Service was good. I wouldn’t return based on the food and the experience.
Bar looks nice, dining room not so much.

Well, where do I begin it was a Sunday afternoon with the family, we started off with an appetizer (fried calamari) it was so fishy and rubbery we all spit it out. We ordered chicken tenders for my baby and it was discusting even she wouldn’t eat it. She kept shaking her head No! Dinner well that was another story… I ordered Lobster Ravioli and let’s just say it was Cheese Ravioli with a few chunks of Lobster on top. Not what I was expecting so I told the waiter and he was like No!!! I said Yea!!! And showed him. They made another one and that one had 3 Raviolis with Lobster inside the other 3 had cheese (wth). The rest of my family didn’t like their dishes either. After that I wasn’t very Happy to say the least, so I asked for the check and paid the bill and I will NEVER return there again!!! Absolutely horrible. I was very disappointed.

Fabulous service, fabulous food. The bruchetta was delicious. I had veal which was wonderful. My husband loved the lasagna. Even had a kids menu. Got the groupon and it couldn’t be beat!

Arrived at 7:00 and we were promptly seated. The wait staff were pleasant and the service was good.
Started my meal with a bland Bloody Mary and a well prepared Caesar Salad. All downhill from there. My Shrimps Fra Diablo had 4 bland over cooked shrimp over under cooked angel hair pasta. The gravy was very good. The other seafood dish was also bland. The chicken and scallop dishs were very good.
Meal ended with a round of very weak cappuccinos.

Um… What am I missing? The restaurant completely pissed me off last night but more importantly, the place was packed an hour after I sat down. Full house! People are waiting to get in. What are you all waiting for???
My wife and I had a Groupon and got to the restaurant just before 7pm.
The nice hostess greets us, do you have a reservation? (The place is empty)
We’re seated and my chair is wobbly. I switch chairs, still wobbly. My chair is on a sloped floor. I move my place setting and am now sitting flat. Great.
I’m looking around, paint is chipped off the walls. There is a big white, I dunno squirrel tail moving in the breeze over our table. Its not a spider web but its something funky.
A waiter come over to us, would you like something to drink? Sure! Do you have a wine list? I order a «glass» of wine and then my main waiter comes over with a unopened $ 85 bottle? I stop him, WTF dude? Oh sorry, what you ordered isn’t by the glass. My glass comes out, its the wrong style glassware and its filled almost to the top? Check in the, thanks for the super generous pour column.
The menus come and they’re all smudged and dirty. Then a small plate with two Bruschetta rounds come out. Its not grilled bread and its loaded with garlic.
I ordered a «ensalada tropical» (wtf…) Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and fruit. What came to us was topped with a dressing that was so sweet it ruined the salad.
The spaghetti is supposed to be homemade. And on the smudged menu I read «Newsday voted Spezia the BEST lasagna in Long Island» yeah. .Lets start with pasta first. My wife ordered a veggie pasta with eggplant and I ordered pasta with a bolognese sauce.
Oh, the pasta is made fresh? What are your choices? (Not listed on the smudged menu) The waiter starts ripping off a few pastas that wouldn’t go well with bolognese sauce then he says rigatoni. Perfect! Fresh rigatoni please.
Now the restaurant is filling up quickly. All tables are taken?! So we’re waiting and waiting. The people around us are getting their meals? I find the waiter (Who never stopped to see how we were doing) wheres our orders?! Oh lemme check on it.
Another waiter comes to our table, ensalada tropical? NO! Now my wife flags the waiter, where’s our food? We’ve been sitting for an hour! It’s coming, its coming.
5 minutes later he comes with our pasta.
Parmesan cheese? He «COVERS» my pasta with cheese!
My wife starts pushing the eggplant to the side, tastes like slugs.
And my pasta? Is not fresh, its from the box.
My pasta was ok, its something your mom would make on Sunday dinner. Something you’d make at home. A Bolognese sauce is supposed to have a mixure of onion, celery and carrots. What was served to me was tomato sauce with meat and cream sauce.
Every once in a while I’d taste butter.
It’s a belly bomb mess. I done at this point and ask for the check. It comes it’s a different bill? I call a waiter over, give them back the bill and say WTF?
Now another hostess comes by, how was everything? My wife tells her eww and I simply ask her, is the pasta made fresh? Why yes it is.
Spezia is a seaport in Italy.
Our ships will never cross again.

We used a Groupon. We were first served stale white Italian bread and were brought better bread that was brick oven Italian bread brought by our complaint and request. Then our request for more was ignored. The food was okay. The discounted price from Groupon hardly compensates for the small portions. We walked out hungry. A better choice would have been The Cheesecake Factory, bigger portions and delicious food, if out all the way east.
If closer to the city, then II Mulino. I did address this to the manager on call and
responded,“I am sorry,” but did not offer to rectify my experience.

Decided to try Spezia after seeing offer on Groupon and reading favorable reviews.
If you are thinking about purchasing the Groupon, checkout the Pre-​Fixe menu (not included in Groupon) before purchasing, the Ala Carte menu is pricey and is much more expensive even with the Groupon savings.
As soon as we arrived we were seated and the drink order was taken and brought quickly. The bread was crispy and delicious but was not brought over until after we ordered which was a solid 15 minutes after being seated. The busboy forgot to bring butter? and when I asked him for some he decided to clear an adjacent table that had already left before bringing the butter which arrived 5 minutes later.
I ordered the hot anti pasto and the fried calamari was delicious. The shrimps (tiny) and clams were covered in a lemon breadcrumb topping which was tasty but mushy. and under cooked The chef needed to keep it under the broiler a minute or two to crisp and brown the topping.
For main course I ordered the Cappelini Alla Gino which is described as fresh lump crab meat and shrimps with fresh tomato, garlic and basil. I specifically asked the waiter for al dente pasta which he commented is how the pasta is always prepared.
The lump crab meat was invisible although I did see a few pieces, and the dish had 5 tiny tiny shrimp that were overcooked and dried out. The sauce was not made with fresh tomatoes as described and was covered in a marinara sauce. The pasta was not al dente and seemed to be precooked and reheated. Definitely not worth $ 23.00.
The Tartufo dessert was delicious. We were the last table in the restaurant around 9:30 pm when the waiter let us know it was time to leave by bringing the check without asking and turning off the music.

The quality of the ingredients are premium. The pasta are made fresh… Our food was amazing. What a great find.

The restaurant is very cozy. We came here using a Groupon for our first time. Since we have a Groupon, we were not able to order from the prix fix menu. We ordered baked clams (6) as an appetizer. They were delicious, just wished we had more crusty bread to soak up the juice! You are given bread and bruschetta once you are seated, but they did not offer more bread. The service is not bad but it does take a long time to get your food. I ordered linguini bolognese, Capelini with shrimp and fettucine carbonara. Now that we have our food, it appears to be well prepared with very generous portions, so the wait is worth it! The bolognese was outstanding, the carbonara was so delicious and creamy (I stole a bite or two from my son) and my wife didn’t offer me her shrimp. .ouch!
The food was served hot and was delicious!
Suggestion, more attention to the tables. … bread, drink, dirty plates. We will be back again!

At Spezia tonight in St James. Had Sesame crusted tuna with ginger-​teriyaki sauce. Amazingly delicious! The chef is expert at fish, presented beautifully, cooked to perfection, with superb flavor.

My wife and I have visited Spezia this evening and felt compelled to tell you all about it that quick that soon. The owner greeted us and was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. He let us know that they have been opened since November and was excited to have new customers, let us know specials and gave us great recommendations. Being we were new he sent us over fried zucchini sticks to welcome us more. Right off the bat we were sold. We were in the mood for something different to drink and ordered mojitos and they were made to perfection. My ife had the filet mignon which cit like a stick of butter and I ordered a chicken rollatini, which let me tell you was insane… I don’t know what the secret sauce was but… AWESOME! Needless to say we were happy and will be forever favorite customers, price was right and service was GREAT!
Kevin & Nicole

VERY noisy. Could not have a conversation. Food decent, not great. Had pork chop. My martini was expensive and bordering on warm. Dark interior. Make sure you don’t meet a blind date here! May try again if I can’t get reservations anywhere else.
On a good note, the service was very friendly. A little slow, but maybe just an off night.

After dining at Orlando’s for the past 5 years we tried Spezia and found the food and service to be very good. I have been back there 3 times since and enjoyed it each time. I had there Shrimp Parm and ziti and my girl friend had the Chilian Sea Bass. Both done to perfection!
I’m looking forward to going again as I love Italian cuisine.

From appetizer to dessert, Spezia has it’s food down to a science! Fresh, yummy, and cooked to perfection. I love everything about Spezia. The service was excellent– no complaints at all! What impressed me most about the servers was how knowledgable they were about the menu and drinks. Not once did a question go unanswered. Great sized portions on the dinner, had enough to take for lunch to work the next day after dinner. Amazing experience at Spezia i’ll be back!

We went to spezia and realized that it used to be Mauricio’s restaurant. The only thing that changed to my disappointment was the name.
I have to say that the service was very good and so was their marinara sauce.
Unfortunately, the food was not good. Nothing tasted fresh. The stuffed chicken was pre-​stuffed and pre-​cooked. Consequently, it lacked flavor and was dry. Their was an odor of fish in the restaurant which is never a good sign. Fish should not have an odor if it’s fresh. We had to send back food but mistakes were corrected.

Sea bass was excellent! Our party of five left feeling really happy. And the staff was so helpful and friendly. We must visit again soon!

Just tried this place for the first time. Really great food & service. I had the Chilean Sea Bass, my wife the chicken parm. Both were excellent!
For a Tuesday night it’s pretty busy, and I understand why.
We’re definitely coming back!

Great quant spot. Amazing food and wonderful service. Everything was fresh and very tasty. Dessert was delicious Staff were wine educated according to your meal. They even have us a complimentary after dinner drink. Highly recommend.