Nico Ristorante

I’m not sure what I should’ve expected from a restaurant with Dan Bilzerian, a man known for tricking people, in the center of their “celebrities who have been here” wall.

The dense two story restaurant means you’ll either be ease dropping other conversations or getting a waft of bathroom air in your pasta every now and then.

With the eloquently written menu, we didn’t know where to start, so went to Google for some support. It clearly pointed to the the cheese and meats board and the burrata with prosciutto to start with. 

The burrata and prosciutto, while predictable, unsurprising, and wet, was flavorful. With every bite of Mozzarella and cream came a bit of pesto, tomato, and a lot of olive oil. I wish I had some nice things to say about the meat and cheese board - this was the start of the end. The board came out as thought it was just un-Saran wrapped - quite the opposite from the images splashed across their reviews. The cheese had their own layer of condensation and every piece of salami came drenched in oil. The soggy atichoke heart, garnish of machine cut green olives, and pickled carrots and peppers left for a pool of oil and water that the salami and cheeses seemed to be soaking in for quite some time. The salami audibly peeled off the plate. However, it was a fun guessing game of cheeses and meats - since we were not told what anything was as it was thrown onto our table. With each appetizer coming at just under $25, I was left at a loss of words and worry for the main courses… and was proved correct.

Y’all know I’m a sucker for traditions, classics, and honoring the simplicity in foods - so we ordered “North End’s Only Tableside Cacio e Pepe” and a waiter and Google review recommended Rigatoni All Vodka. Similarly to the burrata, the Rigatoni was predictable and expected in taste. The aldente pasta laid in a bed of tomato soup - no…literally…we took spoons and bread to the “sauce” and had a nice bowl of camel’s finest. The sausages hardest with every second and the pile of fluffy and whipped ricotta cheese lay carelessly ice cream scooped atop. 

The table side Cacio e Pepe, which feels wrong to even call Cacio e Pepe, was undercooked, bland, and distasteful. For $34, I would hope the cheese wheel experience would be fun and entertaining - but the man came up without any introduction and seemed bored and uninterested, making for a quite awkward scene… He just walked up and started scraping cheese lol. The short noodles laid in a pool of separated oil and white/grey parmesan cheese water. The lack of pepper left for a tangy, sour, and grainy first and last few bites.