Lived in the area over 40 years and yet I probably passed by any number of times without noticing. First it is in a residential area on 47th ave and 195th st, 5 blocks off Francis Lewis. This week we saw a coupon and decided...to try it for the first time. Parking is not too hard even with all the local residents there. Piccolo is on a block with about 5 stores and homes. But there is a enclosed awning setup for the winter so it s/b easy to see. The coupon I had was for $3 off or a free appetizer. After checking out the menu on line and reading reviews, I felt it looked very interesting.
The online photos make the place look a bit bigger than in person, but I believe there were 8 4 seaters and 3 2 seater tables. When you walk in you pass the pizza counter which is run by Maurizio's wife who I spoke to when we left. My wife and I were seated at a table for 4. Please note that these tables are not real large but a 2 seater would have not worked. Our table is great for 4 skinnys. But we were ok. I showed our waiter the coupon I had and was really pleasantly surprised the I could get any antipasto free. You are talking $12, $13. Wow , what a surprise. We ordered the hot antipasto which was nice dish which is really for 1 but we shared the 2 clams, 2 shrimp, the eggplant parm and i had all the calamari to myself, which was lightly fried and excellent. i really would have loved to eat another batch. The bread basket is made up with crisp bread and a tomato sauce soaked soft bread. Also excellent. My wife then had the eggplant parm main dish with roasted potato and broccoli, while i had the veal parm with rigatoni. The available veggies are broccoli, broccoli rabe and spinach. But at meals end our waitress said next time i could get zucchini sauted with garlic and oil, so that was a goody for me. The dessert menu looked great but we were both full. They have a gelatto Bomba that runs 10 bucks which I will save room for. There is also a hazelnut flute served in a flute glass and a chocolate truffle, just to mention a few.
The only reason I gave 4 out of 5 points was because the table for us would be tight with our usual 3rd person and more over, we both seemed to taste a bit too much salt in the sauces. As i said at the beginning, I was told on leaving that next time we could ask for not salt in the sauce. Thank you dear lady. When we came after 5pm there was only another table used. this was on a thursday night. All of a sudden all the tables filled and i can say the 4's did not seem uncomfortable. During the month of may they are running a special on the antipasto for only $10 and they have a large choice. for our first time visit I think we did very well. I will try to post photos of our meal. Unfortunately, we started devouring the appetizer too fast for a pic.More