Messina's Lagriglia

Chef mother, retired RN has been waitress for month , years! Support our community small business! Georgios Italy dishes! Real top schooled one!

Messina's Italian restaurant was a great find during our visit to upstate NY. We had a great time ordering vegetarian entrees. The special of the day (Wild Mushroom Ravioli) was great, as was the Eggplant Parmigiana, Penne Pepperata, Baked Ziti, Fetuccine Alfredo. Adding salt and ground pepper to the dishes (except the Ravioli). They are terribly understaffed though, even though they are doing the best they can and we had a wonderful experience. For some reason, the tap water that they served had things floating in it even after asking them to swap the pitcher and glasses. We avoided the water and had a wonderful bottle of Riesling instead. Vegetarian options: Excellent vegetarian options! Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $30–50 Food: 5 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 5

A true Catskills experience. We travel over from Hunter, NY because the food is delicious. My husband typically gets the Chicken Parm and I look to the blackboard for daily specials. Food is reasonably priced and you get a good pour on your wine. There may be a bit of a wait, but it is worth it!

There are clearly some mixed reviews about this place some from years ago), but my experience at Messina's was overall quite positive. First impression of the place is not great, as the restaurant is a little bit away from the main part of town in Windham and upon entering, it was strangely very empty. It was also very quiet with only very light radio music playing. The lighting and atmosphere were also not great, so from the start, my expectations were not very high. However, it turned out that the staff were all extremely friendly and their bright and warm personalities brought light and energy to an otherwise dim and sleepy place. The guy running the place Geno) was especially friendly throughout our experience at the restaurant, chatting with us about different things and taking the time to carefully explain each of the menu options. Over time, the restaurant began to feel more homey like dining in someone's home with a home cooked meal. In addition, the benefit of being a bit away from the main part of town was that they have their own parking lot, so you don't have to worry about parallel parking like in the busier area. As for the actual food, we were told that the portion sizes were huge so we were advised to only get half portions, which turned out to in fact be a normal full portion size at other restaurants. I ordered the Cappoloni Alla Classico cheese tortellini with various meats and veggies) the tortellini was a bit too soft and not really jumbo as advertised but still pretty good. The meat and veggies in the dish were all solid quality and it was nice to have that variety in there. For dessert, I got the Spuma, which is a creme brûlée kind of custard with apricot jam and toasted almonds on top. This was really tasty as the custard was creamy and delicious, the apricot jam was sweet, and the almonds were a great addition at the top for some different texture/crunch/flavor. The prices $15 for the half portion of tortellini and $8 for the spuma) all represented good value. Overall, don't be turned off by your initial judgment of the environment or appearance. Once you start speaking with the staff and eating the food, you will realize that Messina's LaGriglia is a solid choice for dinner in Windham.

The problem with this place isn’t the food it’s the workers and the owner. If you give the owner any constructive criticism he just places blame on customers instead of taking a look at what may be wrong in his restaurant. I never ate the food because I waited an hour and I was not served and drinks didn’t even come and we were there for an hour there was no bartender that night And the waitress asked me how to make the drinks. I’m sorry that is not a professional I wish I did get a chance to eat but nothing was coming out of the kitchen or the bar. I guess you can blame that on me right? Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $1–10