Nino’s AQ at 35-01 Ditmars Blvd. (Photo: Queens Post)
Dec. 18, 2018 By Meghan Sackman
After months of work, Nino’s AQ, an Italian restaurant, has at last opened its doors on Ditmars Boulevard.
The restaurant opened at 35-01 Ditmars Blvd. on Dec. 5, and is the second Nino’s location for brothers Michael and Franco Vendome, who also run Nino’s 46 in Manhattan.
The restaurateurs aim to offer a contemporary and low-key Italian dining experience in its Astoria site, which was first anticipated to open in the summer.
Nino’s AQ menu includes dishes like fried pumpkin with nasturtium aioli, coffee crusted skirt steak, and several kinds of pizza, such as the truffled prosciutto pizza, that all have the option of being made gluten free.
Menu items at the 50-seat restaurant range from $9 to $56, with a wine menu also included.
Franco, Nino’s AQ executive chef, told the Queens Post in May that he wanted to incorporate some of the same dishes from Nino’s 46, which his parents opened in 1982, in the Astoria restaurant while also creating new Italian-based dishes with a twist.
He also stressed the importance of blending both a sophisticated and low-key setting for guests at the new location.
“We want people to have a city experience but without any pretension,” Franco said in May. “It’s a family restaurant.”
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9 Comments
Why are not italian restaurants around for what so exciting? Very good pizza and other italian dishes you can find at Tufinos
Was Nino’s originally on Steinway Street years ago!!
Yes it was – next to Carvel. Place was great. Different owners then this one
Omg! I loved that restaurant. My husband & I lived on 36th by Ditmars & we used to eat at Nino’s on Steinway all the time. That was 30 years ago. The BEST Italian restaurant ever. Still to this very day.
So exciting! I love Italian food.
Good luck guys. That corner has not been kind to many businesses before yours. Wish you lots of success like the original Nino’s.
R u saying it’s a jinxed corner?
I certainly hope not for them but that corner and the one on the opposite side (where Two lizards was) seem to have new tenants constantly. Their food in the city is really good IMO so hoping they will stick around.
the Jinxed intersection…the two lizards was a video store back in the day.