My spouse and I first visited Daniela Trattoria for drinks
on a Sunday afternoon in late October 2019, then again for drinks in early
November 2019. Daniela is open for breakfast, lunch/brunch, dinner, drinks,
in-between, and late night daily. Diners can book a spot using the online Open
Table reservation system.
Daniela Trattoria is located on bustling 8th
Avenue between West 45th and 46th Streets in Midtown
West/Theatre District. (In fact, we visited Daniela prior to attending a
Broadway show at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and John Golden Theatre nearby.)
Although the exterior of Daniela might look a bit rough, inside is a lovely
two-story dining space with exposed brick, reclaimed wood, and Italian-inspired
prints and décor accents. On the street level, patrons dine at individual
tables or at the small 4+ person bar. In warmer months, the front windows/walls
can be retracted to allow a bit of al fresco dining. Upstairs is a larger
dining room that features another small bar and additional restrooms (there is
a single bathroom on the ground level) as well as seating at individual tables
and at some tables that share one of two J-shaped padded banquettes on one side.
Daniela serves Italian cuisine, including antipasti, soups,
salads, pasta, pizzas, and formal entrees (meat and fish). Because the
restaurant serves all meals of the day, it also offers international fare,
particularly at breakfast/brunch time with eggs, omelets, sweets, and
sandwiches. We had already eaten brunch elsewhere, so we sat at the
street-level bar at Daniela and enjoyed some drinks. (FYI, they do not offer
free refills on non-alcoholic beverages, which our server was kind enough to
inform us of prior to charging us.) Sitting at the bar, on each of our visits,
we observed the bartender plating desserts from the glass-fronted case adjacent
to the bar; on each occasion, we witnessed her picking up a slice of cheesecake
or other cakes with her bare hands – not gloved hands, nor using any utensil.
She surely knew that we could see her, so we are concerned about what’s going
on behind the scenes that caused a B rating at this establishment. We thought
that she would have been on her “best behavior” knowing that patrons at the bar
could see what she was doing.
Daniela Trattoria provided us with a nice respite for drinks
in a busy area.
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