Gonzo
This was my third time to Gonzo. My guess is that it will be out of business within the year. Gonzo will not be a keeper.
The first time we went, it was packed. The place had just opened. There is a small bar area in the front and a large canvernous dining room in the back. The food was just ok, nothing spectacular. The acoustics were beyond bad. I could barely hear the person next to me. Did not have any interest in ever returning but I did.
Last summer I returned with my son for an early meal. He had a proscuitto pizza which was salty, of course, but really inspirational and good. I had a steak, pre-sliced and served in a wine sauce. Light and not too heavy but again, ok.
So, last night my son was solo with us last night so it was his choice on food. He wanted pizza, of course. Doesn’t every 8 year old boy want pizza for dinner? We didn’t want pizza but knew that Gonzo served it so it was a good compromise. Also, we wanted to stay in the neighborhood because we had to deliver sleepover stuff to our middle daughter.
We went around 7ish and left about 8. It was a Friday evening and the place was dead. Not a good sign for a NYC restaurant. My son had a sausage pizza which was just ok. We started with some meats and cheeses which were ok. My husband had the eggplant parmesean. It was served so hot they literally had fried the taste. Not interesting at all. I had the veal tenderloin. It was awful. No taste. It was like chewing on tough meat that was just taken off the barbecue too late. I also had some roasted red peppers as a side dish which were also bland. Truly disappointing.
So, if you are in the neighborhood of 13th street and you want to check out Gonzo before it closes, now would be the time because I can’t imagine it lasting much longer. Yuck!
Comments (Archived):
I’m not sorry to see that Gonzo is apparently on its way out. Last time we went they charged us $18 for my eight year old’s plain pasta.
As much as I liked the restauarant when a place does something as outrageous as that I won’t go back.
That’s sad to hear. I’ve been there about four times. The first time was during lunch and the food was incredible. Needless to say, it was never that good again. The last time we went the pizzas were okay but the sardines were out of this world (need to find that distributor since that kitchen didn’t marinade it).
Been meaning to stop by again, but there’s so many good, cheap thin crust pizza places popping up. On 4th Ave around 12th St. is Pie, which is really good, fresh and cheap. Then on Park/28th is Pinch, another simple place. And Otto, who I always considered the closest to Gonzo is very good, albeit crazily packed.