Grace's Trattoria

201 East 71st Street, New York, NY 10021, 212-452-2323 www.gracestrattoria.net

We've shopped at Grace's Market for years but only recently stopped in to the trattoria for Sunday brunch.  The menu is fairly extensive and features far more than standard brunch fare.

Service was friendly and efficient and the dining room was pretty, quiet and comfortable.  In fact, in an area where most places are packed and bustling for brunch, we were surprised at how quiet and uncrowded the room was.  No matter, it suited us just fine since we were meeting friends and wanted to be able to chat peacefully.

We started with a caprese salad which arrived oddly undressed and unseasoned. The "trattoria" salad was billed as containing apples, pears, cranberries, pecans and Gorgonzola, all of which sounded excellent.  The actual salad though, while generously portioned, was under-seasoned and contained far too many cranberries and far too little cheese.  The fruit was also sliced into such small slivers that it was almost a puree.

All of us ordered various panini sandwiches which were delicious with wonderfully crusty bread and adorable little individual fry baskets of French fries.

We will say that our first round of Bloody Mary's, although requested strong and spicy, were weak and strangely sweet. But, in response to our comments, a replacement round was better prepared although still not what we would consider good.  Overall the prices were a little steep for some salad, a sandwich and fries but the place gets a good score for service and atmosphere.