Rating: 
Summary: Buon Appetite!!!
Review: It's Sat. morning and I just stumbled onto this awesome movie! What more could you want besides Pancakes and sausage served up with real maple syrup, black coffee. After watching Dinner Rush, I am ready for Lunch!!! Its a great cast acting in a very well written script! Danny Aiello's portrayal of "ol' Tony" in The Professional could be a side script to Dinner Rush. Old Dog on the block that will not be pushed around. Its every Italian restaurant in NYC with that one table that the owner reserves for himself. From the front of the house to back of the house, the restaurant is real!!! The conversations could take place anywhere fine dining is hustled. The stress and pressure is a big part of the food service industry and you can see the realism in this movie. When you see that server being tortured by a overly demanding customer, understand that they work hard for every penny!!! Food, food, and more food!!! As movies of food go this one should come with a recipe book. Finally, I suggest no dieters watch this movie, you can gain weight from just watching it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Buon Appetite!!!
Review: It's Sat. morning and I just stumbled onto this awesome movie! What more could you want besides Pancakes and sausage served up with real maple syrup, black coffee. After watching Dinner Rush, I am ready for Lunch!!! Its a great cast acting in a very well written script! Danny Aiello's portrayal of "ol' Tony" in The Professional could be a side script to Dinner Rush. Old Dog on the block that will not be pushed around. Its every Italian restaurant in NYC with that one table that the owner reserves for himself. From the front of the house to back of the house, the restaurant is real!!! The conversations could take place anywhere fine dining is hustled. The stress and pressure is a big part of the food service industry and you can see the realism in this movie. When you see that server being tortured by a overly demanding customer, understand that they work hard for every penny!!! Food, food, and more food!!! As movies of food go this one should come with a recipe book. Finally, I suggest no dieters watch this movie, you can gain weight from just watching it!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Deliciously Entertaining
Review: The characters are what drive this movie and make it fun to watch. Though I realize that last lobster dish he created for the stuck-up food critic was meant to be ridiculous, I still found myself drooling all over the couch. Danny Aiello is perfect as the low-key restauraunt owner who is not impressed with his star chef son's cuisine.
The events are realistic, and I loved the pretentious, condesending "Fitzgerald" jerk who just rips his waitress to shreds with his lowbrow, rude remarks. The gay maitere D was hilarious as was the ... bartender who challenges his customers to trivia and rakes in the dough. My only semi-complaint was the ending which I found to be rather predictable and unbelievable, saw it coming a mile away.
Still, this is a great indy film, and a must-see for anyone who works or has worked in a trendy restaurant.
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: The premise of this movie is rather simple - father/restaurant-owner/bookie wants to get out of the bookie business; son/chef who wants to take over the restaurant as part of growing up; young family friend in trouble with bookies.. BUT.. don't let that dissuade you from watching.Except for the opening scene, the events of the movie all take place during one night and largely in one place when the conflicts built into the premise converge in the restaurant. The cinematography is outstanding - the ballet of activity in the kitchen is wonderfully filmed The acting is all top-notch. Even the minor characters (waiters, cooks, guests) deliver their roles well. The only drawback here is Sandra Bernhard as a food writer - she does schtick rather than acting. The plot is simple and fairly predictable, but so was Casablanca which in some ways this movie's structure resembles. Watch and enjoy. Warning - eat a good meal first; the dinner scenes will make you hungry.
Rating:
Summary: Good Food, good acting, good story.
Review: The reason I give "Dinner Rush" only 4 stars is that this is not a movie that "goes home with you" and that you keep thinking about or feel like it made you "grow" ; another problem might be the fact that I did keep wondering what happened next? I mean, did the police accept the coincidence of all relevant people being at the restaurant on the same particular night? But getting into this would be letting out too much. These however are my only negative comments.
Other then that, we are talking about a great movie involving all segments of great satisfaction - good food, suspense, some mafia hints, a love story and father- son relations. In fact father and two sons relations as I see Duncan as a second "son" to Mr. Cropa. I would like to add that the family issues involving father son, dead mother and so on are not chewed up or dragged along the movie. They get their right share in all the rest of the action and this is what is so nice about this movie. We only get a hint of the fact that Udo is not really happy that Mr. Cropa eats only the food Duncan cooks but not a lot more then that and we get a sense that all in all Duncan is the only person Udo really trusts and respects in the kitchen and the one he calls in time "of need" (a need to impress the critic) and the one he bothers to say "thank you" to.
All characters are beautifully played and Danny Aiello as Louis Cropa gives the movie the really human touch. He is so convincing and such a real character, a live human being. The movie ends with some hope in his regard - a hope for a romance and a beginning of a new life for Mr. Cropa. Duncan is truly loveable and the viewer is happy that Nicole thinks so too. I actually enjoyed the staff characters more then those of the snobbish guests. I loved the Latin kitchen workers and I loved Marty the artist-waitress. So more real then the snobbish food critic or the gallery owner... (but that's another issue altogether) I even liked the policeman's wife - a rather small, somewhat irritating character but so real and so well played (wanting one work-free night with her husband). However I think that Udo, who is not very likable at the beginning of the movie (he more or less makes his entrance by firing a kitchen worker whose knife is not sharp enough) is a person that changes throughout the movie. Its not really change but more of the different faces of him that you get to see and you end the picture thinking - "yes... he does deserve the restaurant...". . Also the food - of all kinds, sausage and peppers and the amazing lobster. I am willing to eat them all and truly enjoyed to see people enjoying good food whether it is new or old kitchen alike.
Rating:
Summary: A sleeper hit...
Review: The story of a low level "family" man who runs an Italian restaurant. Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello)has a little trouble with some local up-and-comers, which he has to deal with while paying off his favorite chefs gambling debts, handing the restaurant over to his son, and entertaining a packed house on a "ordinary" Tuesday night in one of the hot restaurants of New York. With colorful side characters (the artist-waitress, irritating customer, beautiful hostess, eccentric food critic (underused Sandra Bernhard)) the movie easily keeps you occupied and interested from start to finish. Dinner Rush takes place almost entirely within/around the confines of Louis Cropa's restaurant. The suave Aiello does a good job of relaxing you when everyone else in the movie is falling apart. The contrast of an in-control main character, and an out-of-control supporting cast makes for good cinema. The supporting cast turns in a strong performance (actors you know you've seen but can't quite place) and you are easily caught up in the hustle and bustle of running a busy Italian restaurant. One notable exception, at least for me, was the wooden performance of Mike McGlone. His only qualifacation as a gangster seeming to be his slicked back hair. ...though he does do that well. (Brothers McMullen & She's the One) With my one piece of criticism aside, this lesser known movie is well worth watching. And if you're a fan of food, and a fan of New York it's hard not to be entranced by this stylish piece of cinema. 4/5 Stars
Rating:
Summary: A sleeper hit...
Review: The story of a low level "family" man who runs an Italian restaurant. Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello)has a little trouble with some local up-and-comers, which he has to deal with while paying off his favorite chefs gambling debts, handing the restaurant over to his son, and entertaining a packed house on a "ordinary" Tuesday night in one of the hot restaurants of New York. With colorful side characters (the artist-waitress, irritating customer, beautiful hostess, eccentric food critic (underused Sandra Bernhard)) the movie easily keeps you occupied and interested from start to finish. Dinner Rush takes place almost entirely within/around the confines of Louis Cropa's restaurant. The suave Aiello does a good job of relaxing you when everyone else in the movie is falling apart. The contrast of an in-control main character, and an out-of-control supporting cast makes for good cinema. The supporting cast turns in a strong performance (actors you know you've seen but can't quite place) and you are easily caught up in the hustle and bustle of running a busy Italian restaurant. One notable exception, at least for me, was the wooden performance of Mike McGlone. His only qualifacation as a gangster seeming to be his slicked back hair. ...though he does do that well. (Brothers McMullen & She's the One) With my one piece of criticism aside, this lesser known movie is well worth watching. And if you're a fan of food, and a fan of New York it's hard not to be entranced by this stylish piece of cinema. 4/5 Stars
Rating:
Summary: an all around great movie- a little of everything
Review: This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The actors from the biggest (danny aiello) to the littlest (the girl who played the granddaughter- Lucy) and everyone else in between were extremely believable and well-cast. The story is fantastic and compelling and the music was terrific. The ending was a total surprise and the food was mouth watering. The beginning made me cry and the end made me laugh. If you haven't seen it you are really missing a masterpiece by Bob Giraldi.
Rating: 
Summary: Three gangster families in one restaurant.
Review: This Italian family is really tough. After an old man, Enrico (Frank Bongiorno) takes a child to school, he is shot to death. It only brings Louis Cropa (Danny Aiello) up the godfather ranks. He owns a swanky Italian restaurant, but the head cook, Udo Cropa (Edoardo Ballerini), who is Cropa's son fires a young chef just because the knife he used on the chives wasn't sharp. Duncan (Kirk Acevedo) also works as a chef there. He tries to help Louis Cropa. One Italian gangster family comes into the restaurant. They are after Duncan and to buy the restaurant for bookmaking operations. In fact, every Italian gangster family is there tonight. Fitzgerald (Mark Margolis) and family is also there and boy are they pushy. It's a Tuesday night dinner rush and the pressure is on. it's kaos in the kitchen, but out front, things are about to boil.
Ajay Naidu is the host, "Ademir". Sandra Bernhard is "Jennifer.
Rating:
Summary: 6 stars, and Who IS that guy?
Review: Throughout this marvelous movie, there's a guy sitting at the bar flirting with the babes, relaxed, checking out the scene, tipping the bartender - and the whole restaurant bedlam is going on behind him, and you keep wondering, Who IS that guy, and why's he in this movie? Then you find out...
Dinner Rush is quite a rush, a gourmet feast of Italian food in a TriBeCa restaurant owned by Danny Aiello. Except for a flashback at the beginning that sets up the mafia tie-in, the entire movie takes place during one evening at the busy hot spot. There's the rising star chef, the restaurant critic with a snarl on her incredible lips, the attempted takeover by mafia goons, a sassy artist waitress, the quintessential snotty art-dealer patron with the big mouth, the sous chef who's got a serious gambling problem and a serious debt to the bad guys... What's not to love?
And then, at last, you get to find out who 'that guy' is...
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