Best Italian Restaurant in NYC (inspired by the "Italian Deli" thread)

[Gavvy Cravath]

I guess the fact that there are a ton of good, solid Italian restaurants is the reason this thread hasn't been started before.

I'll throw it out there to the community: what's your favorite Italian joint?

Gavy

 

[Ozzy]

Parkside
Abbracciamento's (the one in Woodhaven not Canarsie)

 

[Ozzy]

Tute Bene in Forest Hills.

 

[Ozzy]

Chricci's (sp?) pronounced Chrissy's.... off Metropolitan ave & BQE in Williamsburg.

 

[bangbroads]

Piccola Venezia in Astoria and Manducatis in LIC.

 

[blondekelly]

Not one in NYC yet.

 

[seeker6591]

their aren't any perhaps?

lol

 

[sod]

Just for kicks: has anyone here been to Rao's recently? Or ever? Never been, would love to hear an honest review.

 

[justlooking]

Not one in NYC yet.

Just about every one mentioned has been in NYC.

 

[justlooking]

(Unless "C" now stands for "county" instead of "city".)

 

[blondekelly]

Sorry , did not know Queens and LIC were in New York City.

 

[justlooking]

As are Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx.

 

[blondekelly]

Just for kicks: has anyone here been to Rao's recently? Or ever? Never been, would love to hear an honest review.

I was there about a month ago, food was and has always been OK , does not live up to the hype.

 

[blondekelly]

As are Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx.

How naive of me.

 

[justlooking]

You Canadians!

 

[blondekelly]

Ok, so any good ones in MANHATTAN?

 

[justlooking]

Whole different thing.

Up to now, we've been talking about old-school, comfort-food type places.

When you wanna talk about Manhattan, you'll be talking about A Voce, Insieme, Babbo, Lupa, and Esca.

Whole different thing.

 

[Monk]

Acqua, on Peck Slip by the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan (it used to be called Quartino, but another restaurant stole the name and for whatever reason they decided not to fight it). Great casual Italian dining, outdoor seating overlooking the Peck Slip parking lot (!), decent wine list and reasonable prices. Service can be slow. Oh, and did I mention pretty women?

 

[justlooking]

And the reason is, that there are no longer any ethnic Italian neighorhoods in Manhattan. (Rao's, for example, is a holdover from the way that neighborhood used to be. As is ALL of Little Italy.)

So those kinds of places don't really exist in Manhattan any more.

 

[blondekelly]

I remember going to a tiny place on 116th I think and 1st, not fancy but great food but it closed about 2 years ago.