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Nunzio's


Name:	Nunzio's
Address:	706 Haddon Avenue
City:	Collingswood
State:	NJ
Zip:	08108
Phone:	856-858-9840
Fax:	856-858-9842
County:	Camden
Cuisine:	Italian
Website:	www.nunzioristoranterustico.com
History:	Well known and experienced chef Nunzio Petruno formerly of the monte carlo living room in philadelphia, opens his restaurant in Collingswood, New Jersey.
Location:	Hadon Avenue in Downtown Collingswood, New Jersey
BYOB only:	Yes
Smoking policy:	No smoking
Outside dining:	No
Attire:	Casual
Handicap accessible:	Yes
Corkage Fee:	no
Hours:	Monday through Thursday from 4:30 pm to 10:00 pm Friday and Saturday from 4:30 pm to 10:30 pm Sunday from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Lunch:	Yes, Monday through Saturday from 11:30 am to 2:30pm
Reservations required:	Suggested
Catering/Banquet services:	Yes
Size/Details	10 to 130 guests
Stemware offered:	Yes
Kind of stemware	Nice selection of red and white wine glasses.
Parking:	On street parking. A parking lot is located behind the restaurant by the Patco highspeed line.
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The long awaited addition of Nunzios Ristorante to Collingswood’s restaurant scene arrived here about two months ago. After four visits and one during the filming of a commercial which has immortalized a couple of our reviewers to silent dining stars on cable TV (they are visible in Nunzio’s cable ad, and they say Rich Noonen looks better on TV then in person.) With that said, I am always a bit skeptical when there is a lot of hype to a new restaurant. Hype doesn’t equal good dining, I say this since I find that most restaurants that carry hype or nostalgia aren’t very good. Philadelphia’s now closed Bookbinders is an excellent example of this. With chef Nunzio, formerly of Philadelphia’s Monte Carlo Living Room, a restaurant has arrived with a lot of hype and truth be told it lives up to it for the most part.

Before we go into the food and the service, the restaurant space deserves special note. First it should be stated that the space was not a restaurant before Nunzio purchased the building. (Yes, a restaurant owner wannabe was going to renovate the place and open the Blooming Onion, but it never bloomed). This left a clean slate for the new owner to do with the building what he desired, with the blessing of Collingswood. (FYI this would never happen in Haddonfield.) The interior design and layout of the restaurant is so thoughtfully done I would have guessed that Nunzio hired some Disney Imagineers to design the interior, if I didn’t know he had so much restaurant experience and a large open space in which to design and build a restaurant. What greets diners entering the restaurant is an overly large vestibule/waiting area that is uncommon to BYOB restaurants. The waiting area includes some seating, a coat check area and enough room for about fifteen diners. Yes you can actually go to a BYOB restaurant and not have to wait outside in the elements before your table is ready. It is a really nice touch and should be appreciated, since the restaurant could have just used the space for more seating. Once you leave the vestibule, you enter the main dining area with its high ceilings, sky lights and Italian village walled murals that contain real windows and doors (they don’t open or look out on anything) which helps push the restaurant to theme status (this is where the Disney Imagineers influence would come in). The interior seating area is broken up into four separate (not counting the chef table, more on this later) seating area, all with their own atmosphere. The seating areas are arranged in such a way that up to 120 people can be dining at once and you wouldn’t know the restaurant is that crowed. A semi private elongated dining room in the rear of the restaurant can accommodate large groups and small catered events (think a BYOB pharmaceutical dinner rather than a wedding, although a rehearsal dinner would work.) Each of the areas has their own name, to help enhance your dining atmosphere. Finally, there is/going to be a chef’s table. A chef’s table is typically and is exactly what Nunzio’s has here, a small private dining room connected to the kitchen, where a small dinner party can enjoy the visual preparation of their meal and allows them to feel the vibe of a restaurant kitchen. It gives the diner the experience of eating in the kitchen, without doing the cooking. It is two steps above the feeling you get from eating in a restaurant with an open air kitchen ( like Amea or Moulin Rouge) and we love open air kitchens. Besides this well laid out interior design, plans call for a wine locker in the back corner of the restaurant, for frequent diners to store their wine. Rest assured the atmosphere of your dining experience will be top notch, now on to the food.

The restaurant’s menu contains your fairly standardized Italian dishes, some with a bit more flair than others. The pesto dipping sauce that comes with the bread has a nice kick to it, although I prefer the bread from Via Jiulia. The calamari is cooked just right although I prefer a broader selection of pieces. (Read I like the tentacles, which is unfortunately offered by only a few restaurants. FYI, I have been on a calamari kick the past few months and have found that Moulin Rouge appears to have the best in South Jersey). All the entree dishes are well prepared, tasty, fresh and on the light side. When I say light, I refer to the portion size. This my biggest complaint, that the portions could be larger. Desserts are extensive and tasty, although many appear to be purchased from an outside source. Service is good, if not great at times. A greeter and multiple servers met us and waited on us for each of our dining visits. (Please note, our standard review meal tends to be on non Friday and Saturday nights, since those nights are usually always overly crowded and food service pressed for time. We like to give the restaurant a fighting chance to wow us and it is common knowledge that the best nights to dine out are Tuesday and Thursday nights, when food tends to be fresher and the restaurant less crowded.). I heard people complain that on some weekend nights service is not as good, but I cannot confirm or deny their experience. Although my opinion would be that the restaurant may need to work some of the kinks out on the service end.

Our overall word is you should go, at least once. If not for the food, but for the diverse assortment of fellow diners to see. Many of the diners appear to be old fans from his past restaurants that have followed him across the river. If you go, and we do suggest it, the restaurant is just off the corner of Collings and Haddon Avenue. A large parking lot is located behind the restaurant, by the Patco Highspeed line tracks.

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510 of 811 people found this review helpful
khtonka : collingswood, NJ
Reviewed on: They did a great job renovating the old hobby shop and turning it into a rustic Italian atmosphere. Everything is ala carte with a nice selection of moderately priced entrees. I had the Pollo Valdostana $15 served in a white wine and mushroom sauce topped with fontina. It was very light and came with a small potato puff. It was like a deep fried au gratin. Very Delicious. The other entree ordered was the filet special with a cream demi glaze. It too came with the potato puff at the price of $30, which I thought was a little out line in regard to the rest of the menu. For an appetizer, we shared the carpaccio of beef with a side of greens in a lemon vingarette. I wasn’t expecting great service on the 1st Saturday night and I did not get it. I'm sure it was a combination of things, the bus boys were attentive, the hostess and a friend helping the front of house were all very solicitve. It was the waiter that was lacking. We've been unfortunate enough to have had him wait on us at his previous place of employment. He’s perpetually in the "weeds". The restaurant offers espresso and what looked like very nice desserts. We did inquire about them but couldn't understand the waiter after the 3rd time he repeated them so gave up. My only other complaint was our seat location that was next to the wait station in a busy thoroughfare. It was so loud it was almost impossible to have a conversation. I'll go back again in another few weeks to check it out. It's worth a visit.

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339 of 632 people found this review helpful
cdecastr : haddon heights, nj
Reviewed on: we went here for my birthday on March 19. There were 17 of us and we had a little trouble in the beginning because they weren't prepared to take a group our size but everything became wonderful soon thereafter! The wait staff suggested we have our appitizers "family style" which meant they brought out many of their appitizers for the tables. Every one was fabulous! we were able to try things we would have never picked and were so happy we did! Every single person though their meal was excellent and ever since, Nunzio's has been a topic of conversation whenever we get together. I normally do not like to go to the same restaurant twice since so many new ones are opening up in South Jersey but I will DEFINATELY make an exception in the case. My husband never wants to go anywhere else again.

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295 of 553 people found this review helpful
hazesky : Haddon Township, NJ
Reviewed on: We have been to this restaurant on four seperate occasions. We can honestly say that in each visit we thought the food was just o.k., nothing special at all. I would expect much more when considering the prices of their entrees. The service needs much improvement, seems like lots of confusion among the staff. The calamari was very chewy, room temperature, only consisted of thick rings,no other parts of the squid were included in the appetizer. The food is just ok, it is lacking flavor or something.(cant quite figure it out)
We gave Nunzio one last try and ,it did not impress .

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295 of 587 people found this review helpful
john : cherry hill, nj
Reviewed on: In the past, we have had nothing but good to say about this restaurant. The food has been excellent and the service good. However, today, we arrived at 11:50 a.m. for a lunch that was going to be a Holiday treat. After 2 cups of coffee each and almost the whole bread basket, at 12:30 we had not received our lunches. The waiter came over and asked what we had ordered. He then told us it was not his fault, it was the kitchen's. At this point, my husband said, "forget it". We believe the waiter never put in the order and would not admit it. We were not charged for the coffee. However, our anticipated luncheon was ruined. We will never return. The food may be excellent, but the service is poor, poor, poor.

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291 of 577 people found this review helpful
Paul Oblong Table : Elkins Park, PA
Reviewed on: I was expecting more...a chef friend of mine suggested this placed. The place is georgous, the servers helpful and friendly. But the main ingrdient is FOOD. My opinion...Food, average. I just might be spoiled, most of the better Italian food I eat in South Phila--Tre Scalini, Elio's, Gnocchi, Ava. It's OK, but not worth the extra bridge toll.

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318 of 548 people found this review helpful
kathleen223 : Merchantville, NJ
Reviewed on: The food is basic Italian, nothing to write home about. For the prices, you'd expect something more impressive.

It's very tough to get past the awful and I mean awful service. I think it's the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. Among 4 diners, all of our salads came out differenly. One guest never got his soup - but it appeared on the bill after being told several times that it had been taken off.

The server disappeared for half hour stretches at a time. If we wanted dessert or coffee, we would have had to commit to a 6 hour dinner.

All of the other diners in the restaurant looked similiarly despondent, bored or frusterated, waiting for their server to reappear.

The best part is when we approached the manager to express our disappointment, which we NEVER do at restaurants, (we are not chronic complainers) the manager was indifferent, arrogant, downright rude.

What an unpleasant evening. I'm mentioning it to anyone I know who dines out locally.

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258 of 514 people found this review helpful
Freakinfit : Medford, NJ
Reviewed on: After all the hype concerning this restaurant, my group of friends really looked forward to dining here.....we were sadly disappointed. After confirming our reservations for a party of 8 at 8pm TWICE (hostess called me at home & requested I call them back to confirm on day of reservation) I was expecting to be seated upon arrival. That was a mistake.
There were at least 100 other people waiting for tables both in and outside the restaurant. All with reservations. Grossly overbooked, the restaurant was actually serving bruschetta in the entranceway - how, might I ask, are you to eat a slice of bruschetta toast bundled up in your winter jacket, squashed against the wall with 30 other people, clutching your bag of wine ?? This was just the start to our evening ! After 39 minutes our party was finally called & ushered to our cramped table in the corner- where we were told we were required to check our coats. And struggle back out to the foyer ??? I think not.

15 minutes after we uncorked our own wine because we still had not seen our waiter, the bus-boy arrived to fill some glasses. 15 minutes after that the waiter finally arrived to spout off some specials in barely discerable English - and what we were convinced was a FAKE Italian accent - before he disappeared again for 15 minutes. He came back to tell us he must take the entire order at one time before he vanished again.

Appetizers, entrees & salads arrived without incident - or the waiter - but nor were we offered fresh cracked pepper, cheese for our pasta or even a wine bucket for our bottles of wine (we had many :-)

The chicken was dry (pollo san nicola), the special soup - lobster bisque - actually arrived with a film on it from waiting under the heat lamps too long. Of course, it didn't go back because we never saw 'what's his name' to address the issue. The other entrees were 'fine' but nothing to write home about. The most rave reviews were over the salads, of all things ! The homemade limoncello was 'ok' but not better than any we've had in South Philly.

This restaurant was a disappointment from the start of our reservation to the finish of our check. 20% added gratuity is standard here for parties of 5 or more. Our disappearing waiter would have earned himself 12% tip if not for their policy - and that's only due to the attentive bus-boy we'd rather had waited on us.
Try Tre Famiglia instead. You'll enjoy it more.

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227 of 457 people found this review helpful
FPMM : Philadelphia, PA
Reviewed on: Thank you all for your comments I won't waste my time to drive to NJ and try this place. I will stick to the great Italian BYOB's in South Philadelphia.

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224 of 424 people found this review helpful
Cessna424 : Vincentown, NJ
Reviewed on: After reading the various reviews it appears they range from good to disasterious! However, our experience was good to very good! (I'm always entertained when large parties expect exceptional service when dining at a small venue on a busy Friday or Saturday night. Most if not all locations of that size are just not capable to handle that volume.) That being said, I did notice a party of eight a few tables away that were serviced just a quickly as our table of two.. on a busy Sat. night. While I agree that our service had some minor hiccups, the wait staff was efficent, speedy and attentive. I found the food and selection to be excellent and well prepared. I enjoyed our dining experience and would recommend this restaurant. (Hint-Ask for a table just to the left of the portico entrance. It's out of the main rush, quiet and a bit more intimate!)

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220 of 410 people found this review helpful
auntwaxy : Marlton, NJ
Reviewed on: I was dining with a friend on Friday. She raved about this place but after reading the reviews I had my doubts.
I will say the service we received was EXCELLENT. The waiter was very friendly, attentive as were the rest of the staff. You could not ask for anything more. I loved the decor. I was not impressed with my meal which was Veal Marsala. I tend not to judge based on one visit. I would return to this restaurant but would never again order the Veal Marsala.
My dessert, Tiramisu ranked among the best I have had in this area.

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