On Wednesday night, I went to Gallo Nero which is located at 402 W 44th St in Hell’s Kitchen. As I approached the wine bar, I was pleased when I saw a café chalkboard outside the door that said “Life is too short for bad wine” on one side. Since that is practically my mantra, I was looking forward to trying this place out. For a chuckle, take a look at the logo on their sign – the Italian translation of “gallo nero” is exactly what you think it is.
I walked in and wasn’t greeted right away, even though it wasn’t busy. There was a woman sitting at the bar who seemed like she worked there, but she only smiled at me and looked back up at the tv above the bar. Hmm…so maybe I’m supposed to seat myself. As I started for a tall, tiny table that looked like a log in the dim light of the bar, a man came up to me and showed me to the table of my choice. I awkwardly positioned myself around the log-table and was greeted with a slightly terrifying porcelain clown face on the wall across the table from me. I looked around and the whole bar seemed to have a circus theme to it. There were various strange masks on the walls, each one creepier than the last. Yet, it maintained a cozy Italian charm with much of the wall space being taken up by wooden shelves stocked with bottles of wine, and the dining area was tightly packed with small worn wooden tables and a couple large marble top tables. Although Gallo Nero is an Italian wine bar and is advertised as such, it feels very much like a restaurant. While I was there, most of the other customers were eating dinner, rather than enjoying a few glasses of wine as I would have expected. The whole place felt a little conflicted. As I mentioned, there was a tv above the bar, which is totally fine, but it was blaring an Italian film and most of the staff was standing around watching it, including the woman sitting at the bar, who was indeed a waitress. Perhaps it was meant for the whole bar to feel like you’re hanging out in a former circus performer’s someone’s home in Italy, but it was surprisingly unprofessional, especially for a place that has been open for less than a year.
I was hoping that the wine at least lived up to my expectations. All of the wines were Italian and there were plenty of selections to choose from. Glasses were priced between $10 and $19 and bottles were well priced at $35 to $69. I ordered a glass of the 2009 Organic Montefalco Rosso Di Filippo. It had a great aroma of herbs, leaves, and dried fruit and tasted like cherry with a slightly sour strawberry note to it. This was a lovely wine, had a zingy acidity, was well balanced, and was the best part of my experience at Gallo Nero.
The service was very friendly when they were interacting with the customers, including myself, but it seemed a rather lazy. To sum up Gallo Nero, it’s rustic, whimsical, and unprofessional with some very good Italian wines on the menu. It’s difficult for me to hate on a place that quotes Hemingway on a chalkboard, but when he said “Wine is the only civilized thing in the world”, Gallo Nero may have taken it too literally. I give it a rating of 3.2 out of 5 glasses.
Gallo Nero and their quotable cafe chalkboard
My tasty glass of Montefalco
The tv above the bar
My drinking buddy for the evening