I’ll admit from the start that I am a bit biased in my review here. For some time now I have been lamenting the Hill’s lack of a good Italian restaurant that doesn’t suffer from the Olive Garden-tendency to think that pasta should be hidden in large mounds of cream-based sauces and then topped with extra cheese. I’m not saying that we have no good options on the Hill, but the existing ones just fall a little short of satisfying my personal cravings. After spending some time in Italy, and going to school in the heart of the Italian section of the Bronx, I crave certain things in a good Italian restaurant. Yes, I realize that I am being a bit snobbish in my standards, but we all have something that we are overly picky with.
So I’ve been eagerly following the progress of Acqua al 2, whose first location was opened in Florence, Italy in 1978. (A second location in San Diego, California was opened in 2000.) In hearing that they would have a menu of Tuscan cuisine, I knew I was finally in for the kind of Italian meal I had been craving for so long.
While their tables were all booked up on Saturday – their opening night – my dad and I decided to stop by to just eat at the bar, where we were able to chat with Nathan Berger, the bar manager who also happens to be my next door neighbor. Despite getting a peek at a menu one night last week, I had no idea what to order because everything was making my mouth water.