After trying Love at First Bite, I jumped next door to try Volare, another original concept by the same owner. It’s a pizzeria with a twist, a la "Cavalli Club” style. Of course on the walls you’ll find an intro about the owner. Walk the red carpet and pass the wall of fame and straight to the one room restaurant.
Volare is an Italian pizzeria with black and white tiles, wooden tables, black ceiling and photos of New York City decorating the walls. The Volare logo, made of shiny stainless steel, takes over the wall next to the open kitchen. Lounge music plays in the background.
The menu includes starters, pizzas, pasta, risotto and cannelloni.
The names of the dishes are a bit over the top. "Gone with the Shrimp", "Thyme Square", "Cannon Balls", "You Rock my World", "The Broc-lyn Bridge", "Frank Sea-Natra", "Mad-Pepperoni", "Revenge", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Fury-Arabiata", "Sea-Cilia" and others. Why such complicated names? I would suggest you work on the spelling mistakes on the menu rather than go for such complicated names.
Waiters, all in black and white, wear black hats as well as blazers; Hollywood Frank Sinatra style. The tables are set with a plastic black and white placemats, a set of cutlery and violet tablecloths. The decor is a bit disturbing for an Italian restaurant. The cafe lanterns and reflective floor are not what you would expect; the place lacks warmth.
Let's eat:
- The Five Families contains five kinds of cheese. A tomato base topped with cheddar, emmental, herb mozzarella, Parmesan and buffalo mozzarella with basil. Thin dough with a crunchy border, a pizza loaded with ingredients, super juicy and enjoyably tasty with a load of flavors moving around.
- The pepperoni is made of a tomato sauce, pesto, pepperoni slices and chili flakes with mozzarella cheese. Very generously loaded with cheese, good quality pepperoni, while pesto adds a different touch, acidic tomato paste and a crunchy border.
- The seafood pizza, Frank's pizza includes bell pepper, tomato sauce shrimp and calamari with mozzarella cheese. That's a good one, tomato sauce is tasty, seafood is tender, cheese is not commercial and pepper adds a light spiciness at the end.
- Even though the risotto feels a commercial it's good. Cooked close to al dente, topped with Parmesan chips and mixed with three kinds of mushrooms in mushroom sauce. I liked the pepper and the prominent taste of the mushrooms, but it lacked juiciness.
- Linguini seafood pasta with mussels, calamari, and shrimps in a creamy roasted bell pepper sauce topped with Parmesan cheese. I liked the cooking level made al dente, enjoyably firm with a light strength. A creamy sauce exactly like described in the menu could be a bit less creamy but good enough. I enjoyed and finished the plate. Please for the love of God can you remove the shrimps’ tales!
One can't but notice the pizza boards where the word "mine" is written on each slice and the word "yours" on just one slice. The idea is to eat the whole pizza and share one slice and one only. Cute idea.
The food is good, but I can’t say the same about their desserts.
- Mini-donuts style cinnamon and sugar dough served warm lack texture and don't taste so good. While the chocolate ball is a show but the cake inside is dry, the chocolate is sweet and ice cream is below average, too sweet actually. Change the supplier immediately!
Pizza at Volare is good and nothing more.
