Feluccio Visited 5/30/2013 3 Forks

Feluccio 364 Prospect Ave., (between 7th Ave & Jackson Pl), Brooklyn, NY 11215

In all the years I had lived in Park Slope, I actually never really ventured much past 15th street, so when my friend Greg asked if I wanted to check out this mom and pop place near 17th street, I was intrigued (plus the fact that he had an expiring Groupon).  While I'm usually a bit weary of restaurants that participate in Groupon deals, I figured it was worth it to try at least once.  While Park Slope and its surrounding neighborhoods are some of the most populated parts of Brooklyn, this part of Brooklyn still seems to be more quiet and has some of the original Brooklyn feel to it.  The decor is pretty basic and not very flashy which matched the attitude of the waitstaff. 

I arrived at Feluccio around 8pm on a Thursday and there were only 2 tables that were occupied.  I sat at the bar waiting for Greg and it was one of those super humid days where I looked like a crazy, hot sweaty mess, so I was hoping the waiter/bartender would take one look at me and offer me a glass of water without me asking.  Uh - so I apparently I did have to ask.  Twice.  I was a bit annoyed by that considering there was practically no one in the restaurant. 

In terms of ordering, the Groupon Greg had required the following:  an appetizer or a salad, an 18" pizza and 2 glasses of wine.  So we opted for the feluccio salad ($10.95), the Diavola Pizza ($21) and two glasses of Chianti.  Plus we got an additional order of the calamari fritti ($10.95) on top of the Groupon.  I was pleasantly surprised by the calamari as it was lightly battered and it was pretty tasty.  I hate fried calamari that is so deep fried that all you can taste it fried batter, but this one was light on the batter and you could actually taste the actual bits of calamari underneath.  Next came the salad which consisted of a mesculin salad, goat cheese, olives and sundried tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette.  The salad was fine but I definitely don't think it was worth $10.95 given the size of the salad and it was also a bit too overdressed for me.  Usually I love dressing on my salad but this was literally soaking in it.  What surprised me the most here was the pizza.  It was a lovely thin crust pizza served with fresh mozzarella, spicy salami and parmigiano - the salami was definitely spicy and had such a serious kick (for me at least) that I could only really have 2 slices and had to call it quits.  In terms of wine,  I should mention that the waiter gave us VERY generous pours of red wine and to me that more than made up for the fact that I didn't really love the actual wine. 

All in all, it was a perfectly ok meal but it's not a place I would run back to since I don't live anywhere near it.  It's definitely not a destination restaurant, but if I did live within walking distance, then I could see myself going on a low key night and just wanted some decent Italian food.  Total bill (excluding the groupon): $47 for 2 people including tax and tip and extra wine and food we ordered.

Photo Credit: Yelp