Whats the big deal about Aunt Suzies?
Comments
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That is why I like it, I can bring my kids and not feel like I am bothering anybody. I am not saying that in an obnoxious way. The food is fine and my kids will eat something.
In 8 or 9 years I will go back to "fancy restaurants". Unless I am totally broke. -
prezst wrote: all this vitriol seems, at the least, unprovoked, and, at the extreme, contrived. the restaurant would not have out-lasted most-others in the neighborhood, including the ones facing it on 5th avenue, if it didn't appeal to large masses of people. at the same time, aunt suzie's has earned your respect, because it was a, if not the, leader of the 5th avenue renaissance. be thankful it's there.
Umm, Olive Garden and Red Lobster draws large crowds too doesn't mean it is good. And, yeah, it's been there a long time but it was not the leader of the renaissance, but, yes, a part of it -
ringrunner wrote: That is why I like it, I can bring my kids and not feel like I am bothering anybody. I am not saying that in an obnoxious way. The food is fine and my kids will eat something.
You don't have to go to fancy restaurants, just ones that serve better tasting food, and, your kids are old enough that they don't bother people.
In 8 or 9 years I will go back to "fancy restaurants". Unless I am totally broke.
Are you paying? -
But I don't want to behave
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I see you didn't answer my question as to whether or not you are paying when we go to this big family dinner..........................LOL
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prezst wrote: all this vitriol seems, at the least, unprovoked, and, at the extreme, contrived. the restaurant would not have out-lasted most-others in the neighborhood, including the ones facing it on 5th avenue, if it didn't appeal to large masses of people. at the same time, aunt suzie's has earned your respect, because it was a, if not the, leader of the 5th avenue renaissance. be thankful it's there.
This -
Mamacita wrote: I'm on the fence on whether to eat there. I mean, there's so many bad reviews, yet, it's kinda cheap and has basic italian dishes -how bad can they mess it up?
it's not THAT bad. it's average-to-mediocre, kinda just "meh," but it's not going to insult your taste buds or make you feel like you flushed your money down the toilet.
Funny thing, my sister and her husband lived in PS in the 1990s. They have remarked that they always wanted to check out Suzies but some inexplicable reason it turned them off. So they never went. Even when they came back to visit me in 2006 they contemplated going but decided to go to LaVilla (sp?) instead.
Just goes to show, there's a vibe about the place that screams 'unauthentic'
Not that I'm expecting al di la or anything.
yes, there's far better, but there's also far, far worse.
i can't believe this thread still continues. it's enough to want to throw a vat of red sauce at an oncoming cyclist. -
J0518 wrote: it's not THAT bad. it's average-to-mediocre, kinda just "meh," but it's not going to insult your taste buds or make you feel like you flushed your money down the toilet.
Average for what? I'd say that it's about the level of Italian food that you'd get at an average pizza joint. Not offensive, but whether it makes you feel like you flushed your money down the toilet is subjective. Let's just say you'd be better off spending your money on a box of De Cecco and a can of tomatoes and making it yourself.J0518 wrote: yes, there's far better, but there's also far, far worse.
Definitely true.J0518 wrote: i can't believe this thread still continues. it's enough to want to throw a vat of red sauce at an oncoming cyclist.
Nothing compels you to keep reading or posting in the thread. -
I guess I feel compelled to keep reading this thread. Honestly, any good feelings I have about Aunt Suzie's are becoming antique. We had my daughter's engagement party there about 12-13 years ago. It was a Sunday afternoon and took over the restaurant. We chose dishes and some were not on the menu that they made for us. The food was very good and we had a great party.. Ah nostalgia. The last time I ate there must be 2 years ago and it was really pretty blech. So many restaurants have closed (good and bad) and new ones have opened and closed quickly. It just doesn't feel good to trash such an established restaurant, though I guess I did exactly that afew sentences ago. I give my hand a little smack!
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Carnivore wrote: [quote=J0518]it's not THAT bad. it's average-to-mediocre, kinda just "meh," but it's not going to insult your taste buds or make you feel like you flushed your money down the toilet.
Average for what? I'd say that it's about the level of Italian food that you'd get at an average pizza joint. Not offensive, but whether it makes you feel like you flushed your money down the toilet is subjective. Let's just say you'd be better off spending your money on a box of De Cecco and a can of tomatoes and making it yourself.J0518 wrote: yes, there's far better, but there's also far, far worse.
Definitely true.J0518 wrote: i can't believe this thread still continues. it's enough to want to throw a vat of red sauce at an oncoming cyclist.
Nothing compels you to keep reading or posting in the thread.
that's quite undeserved a response, isn't it? -
J0518 wrote: that's quite undeserved a response, isn't it?
I'm not sure quite what you mean by that. -
Whatever you say about Aunt Suzie's, they took a big risk when they opened....there was NOTHING there....I think they pre-dated 200 Fifth. I have to give them credit for that
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I think it was established that they came along at either the same time as 200 5th or a year later. There was a thread recently that talked about openings dates. I respect them for opening up when almost no one else would go near 5th avenue, but, it doesn't mean that I have to speak nicely of their IMO, very bland tasteless food.
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I agree...I don't think their food is very good...but they're obviously doing something right...I guess I just don't undertand all the bashing.
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Aunt Suzie's was there early, the buidling next to her space was a vacant shell that had to have a canopy put up to protect the sidewalk from falling bricks. Definitely there before 200 Fifth and Cucina.
I don't understand the hate toward this place. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is. The food is decent, if not to everyone's idea of what Italian should be. I grew up with my aunts doing the cooking (raised in Southern Italy) and this food is evocative of the types of "company" main dishes they cooked, with lots of marsala, butter, onions, parsley and mushrooms. I don't usually order red sauce, but their is like a quickly cooked southern style marinara, not a dark meaty ragu.
Groups are okay, kids are welcome, and elderly people with walkers are acommodated cheerfully. You will not be lectured by the waiter if you ask for grated cheese on your clam sauce that "real" italians don't eat it that way. If you want butter for your bread instead of oil, you can get it without attidue.
It is not trendy, it is not elegant, it is just a neighborhood
red sauce place that doesn't take itself too seriously. -
This is getting redundant, but it's not "hate" or "bashing" to say that the food isn't good. For some people, that obviously doesn't matter. That's fine. There's plenty of room on 5th for everyone. And I appreciate that if people enjoy Olive Garden level food, at least they're supporting a local place instead of a big corporate chain.
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"It is not trendy, it is not elegant, it is just a neighborhood
red sauce place that doesn't take itself too seriously."
My favorite quote on this thread :-) -
prezst wrote: all this vitriol seems, at the least, unprovoked, and, at the extreme, contrived. the restaurant would not have out-lasted most-others in the neighborhood, including the ones facing it on 5th avenue, if it didn't appeal to large masses of people. at the same time, aunt suzie's has earned your respect, because it was a, if not the, leader of the 5th avenue renaissance. be thankful it's there.
Totally agree. They do a lot for the people in the neighborhood with donations as well. -
LongTimeSloper wrote:
Umm, Olive Garden and Red Lobster draws large crowds too doesn't mean it is good. And, yeah, it's been there a long time but it was not the leader of the renaissance, but, yes, a part of it
Olive Garden and RL are franchises. Aunt Suzies wouldn't last if they served bad food. -
"It is not trendy, it is not elegant, it is just a neighborhood
red sauce place that doesn't take itself too seriously."
Eating at Aunt Suzies or Sotte Vocce another successful always crowded place you know it's like the above quote. Nobody expects the type of food you get at Al Di la. I had a sandwich at Brooklyn Larder that everyone was raving about. For 8.50 and all the raves I did expect a great sandwich but instead I got the drenched in oil and garlic Kale and Ricotta Salata. I could have wrung out a cup of oil from my soggy bread. No sign that's legible and not a lot to offer. We left and spent money at Blue Apron knowing I'll get what I pay for and not walking in expecting Key Food prices. -
Just for the record, and to reiterate what I posted in another thread, 200 Fifth opened in 1986 and Aunt Suzie's opened in 1987. For some reason people seem to believe Aunt Suzie's is older (if there's any proof it is please share). Good for both of them for having foresight & dedication, but I think it's a stretch to say either led the renaissance of 5th Avenue considering that the real explosion didn't occur for ten more years. My opinion is that the crucial turning point came when Al di La opened not far from Cucina so that you had two excellent restaurants within a couple of blocks (and there used to be a third one called Vaux, not to mention Mike & Tony's across from Cucina). That's when 5th Ave. became a walking area at night.
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Zebra.. Thanks for that information. I was here in PS but couldn't bring back the dates and so true that neither Aunt Suzie nor 200 5th turned 5th Ave in to "restaurant Row." Al Di La ,Cucina and Mike and Tony's really were the places that started that.
See I can't stop posting and not that I am bashing... all this history of the hood is just interesting. -
eggcream wrote: [quote=LongTimeSloper]Umm, Olive Garden and Red Lobster draws large crowds too doesn't mean it is good. And, yeah, it's been there a long time but it was not the leader of the renaissance, but, yes, a part of it
Olive Garden and RL are franchises. Aunt Suzies wouldn't last if they served bad food.
Circular reasoning. Aunt Suzie's must have good food because they've lasted this long. They've lasted this long because they have good food.
Olive Garden and Red Lobster being franchises wouldn't help them in Park Slope. I daresay that if Aunt Suzie's were a national franchise, it never would have lasted this long here. -
eggcream wrote: [quote=LongTimeSloper]
Umm, Olive Garden and Red Lobster draws large crowds too doesn't mean it is good. And, yeah, it's been there a long time but it was not the leader of the renaissance, but, yes, a part of it
Olive Garden and RL are franchises. Aunt Suzies wouldn't last if they served bad food.
Whatever, obviously there are people around who think the food is bad, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just because I and others don't like the food there does not mean it is bashing them. And, just because they have been there a long time doesn't mean I or others have to like it, to each their own. -
Zebra wrote: Just for the record, and to reiterate what I posted in another thread, 200 Fifth opened in 1986 and Aunt Suzie's opened in 1987. For some reason people seem to believe Aunt Suzie's is older (if there's any proof it is please share). Good for both of them for having foresight & dedication, but I think it's a stretch to say either led the renaissance of 5th Avenue considering that the real explosion didn't occur for ten more years. My opinion is that the crucial turning point came when Al di La opened not far from Cucina so that you had two excellent restaurants within a couple of blocks (and there used to be a third one called Vaux, not to mention Mike & Tony's across from Cucina). That's when 5th Ave. became a walking area at night.
thanks for pointing that out zebra, I KNEW Aunt Suzie's wasn't that old. -
LongTimeSloper wrote: I see you didn't answer my question as to whether or not you are paying when we go to this big family dinner..........................LOL
So are you gonna complain abut the quality of the food or the size of the portions or both. -
RR and LTS... you're like the two Grumpy Old Men. You must be really close friends!
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ringrunner wrote: [quote=LongTimeSloper]I see you didn't answer my question as to whether or not you are paying when we go to this big family dinner..........................LOL
So are you gonna complain abut the quality of the food or the size of the portions or both.
If you pay, i would be in such shock that i wouldn't be able to say a word, LMAO! -
I want to witness this dinner if it actually happens (although I will be sure to eat beforehand)
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booklaw wrote: RR and LTS... you're like the two Grumpy Old Men. You must be really close friends!
we actually are!
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