Ruffian/Parkside Restaurant?

Hi all....I%26#39;ve heard of this restaurant in Queens (maybe Howard Beach) called Parkside. Ever heard of it? Any thoughts?

Ruffian, maybe you can help you seem to know all things NY.

Thanks,

Kelly

Ruffian/Parkside Restaurant?

The Parkside Restaurant is located in Corona off of 108th Street.

There is a very small park directly across the street where on warmer days men gather to play Bocci.

The restaurant itself is locally quite popular and has a reputation which goes beyond the borders of queens.

The decor is fairly simple and assuming, the service good, and the cuisine--as I suggested--is considered quite good.

I%26#39;ve just noticed that you%26#39;re from L.I. so the commute via the L.I.E to the 108th street exit isn%26#39;t a dealbreaker unless you%26#39;re from eastern suffolk.

All in all, I think I would put the Parkside in the top five restaurants in Queens.

I have a very good memory of this place and have been there numerous times.

A few years ago I brought some guests from New Mexico who were staying at the Kitano on Park Avenue to the Parkside so they could have the experience of a ';Scorcese neighborhood';.

After we were seated one of my friends said to the waiter,

';We%26#39;ve come all the way from Albuquerque just to dine jere.';

The waiter%26#39;s eyebrows arched with incredulity and said,

';How did you know of us?';

My friend said (pointing to me),

';He recommended you highly.';

The waiter leaned over as if to share a secret with the three women and whispered with just the right tone of deference,

';Your friend is VERY well known here.';

I don%26#39;t know who was more surprised to hear such a thing--me or them. Obviously--and this might upset some--I felt obliged to tip the man very well.

Ruffian/Parkside Restaurant?

I%26#39;ve eaten at the Parkside four times. Not one of those times did it ever live up to its reputation. Parkside is considered to be THE Italian restaurant in Queens, possibly the best restaurant of all of the Queens restaurants. I have no idea why.

I found the food okay but nothing special. The decor is less special. And unless you know the owner or the Maitre D%26#39; you can wait for a table longer than it took them to count the votes in Florida in the 2000 election.

However, the place is always packed. Maybe it%26#39;s me. I just don%26#39;t get it. I%26#39;ve found any number of Italian restaurants in Queens and Long Island that I consider far superior to Parkside. Giulio %26amp; Cesare in Westbury and Tesoro in Westbury are both superior, as is La Pace in Glen Cove, to name just a few. Try it and post your opinion here. I could be wrong. I was wrong once before. I think it was 1962. August. So it could happen again.

You%26#39;re funny Ruffian. Thanks for 2 totally conflicting opinions.

Will be dining at Parkside 4/15 with friends just to try something new, we usually stick to LI places, although I live in the 5 Towns so I don%26#39;t know why we don%26#39;t hit Queens more often. Anyway, I%26#39;ll be sure to let you both know what I think. I%26#39;m sort of easy to please...my husband, (whose grandparents are both Sicilian) less so.

Thanks!

Kelly

A restaurant always lives up to its reputation but what it can do is fall short of our ';expectations';--which can be sabateurs that often contribute to exaggerated disappointment or on the other side of the coin, invite us to give an inflated review of a modest experience.

(I learned this years ago when New Yorkers were tripping over themselves trying to get tickets to the ';Phantom of the Opera';

--an event whose opening I now can see was remarkably similar to the megahype surrounding ';Christo%26#39;s Gates';.)

When one enters a restaurant expecting the extraordinary (or is some cases the otherworldly) enjoyment can die a slow, painful death.

The slightest failure of a restaurant to meet our unrealistic experiences is enough to bring out the wrath of the inner critic.

The Parkside%26#39;s reputation is deserved. Why? Because it passes the test of any successful restaurant: it has a large, loyal clientel that keeps growing and coming back year after year.

I%26#39;ve no doubt that there is better food served in Queens at more than one place. But that too is the case with the River Cafe in Brooklyn which few critics would place on their ';Top-20'; list for food alone.

But the River Cafe is about more than food and so, too, is the Parkside.

The Parkside is about neighborhood--the Christmas lights in the small park in July beneath which members of the local Italien clubs play Bocci. It%26#39;s about waiting in line at the Corona Ice King. It%26#39;s about being served by tuxedoed waiters. It%26#39;s about getting that Tony Soprano feeling.

The biggest mystery about the Parkside to me is why anyone who had been disappointed three times would subject themselves to a fourth evening of disenchantment.

The disappointment was, as you stated Carpenter, more in terms of not living up to the reputation. The food was fine...just not on the otherworldly plane I anticipated based upon all the rave reviews I%26#39;d heard.

The reason I kept returning was largely because girlfriend and I often used to go out with her cousin and her husband who were regulars there and rarely wanted to go anyplace else. Like I said...it could be me. Maybe it is all it%26#39;s cracked up to be and it just went over my head.

It%26#39;s not you, Ruffian; it%26#39;s what you were lead to believe about the place by people who perhaps haven%26#39;t had your experiences at places more deserving of such tremendous word-of-mouth.

Zagat%26#39;s surveyed contributors give it a mindblogging ';24'; for cuisine which places it a whisker from that of Erminia and superior to I Trulli or Il Tinello.

My only explanation for this is ';relativity';. Diners from Nassau or Queens compare Parkside to other known venues outside the city and the reviews are artificially inflated.

Perhaps what we have here is the ';Big-fish-in-a-small-pond'; phenomenon.

If the owners of Parkside opened a second restaurant like the first in Manhattan, I%26#39;m guessing the buzz about it would be somewhat more muted.