clifbob

we want to spend a nice budget-friendly evening in Little Italy in November. So many restaurants to choose from.can Anyone guide me towards a great reasonably priced Little Italy dining experience

DebitNM

Do yourself a favor and have a nice dinner somewhere other than Little Italy. Overpriced and underwhelming for food.

Shar

agree looking for good Italian don't eat there.

nytraveler

If you tell us what your budget is and what type of Italian food you want - basic red sauce, northern Italian or ?

mclaurie

Rubirosa. http://www.yelp.com/biz/rubirosa-new-york-2

ekscrunchy

Rubirosa was just named "best NY Italian restaurant" in the recent Village Voice article that covers all styles of italian.. Until recently, eating options in that area were not very good, but this has begun to change. There are now a couple of places worth visiting; I would recommend Rubirosa if cost is an issue and if you want to stay in that area, although I might take issue with its being "the best Italian, which is kind of ridiculous given all the other fine contenders for that title.

nytraveler

Since the OP has not defied budget friendly - not sure what they really want. With rubirosa man dishes are available in either individual or shared portions.

clifbob

I really don't know what budget friendly means in ny. We had such a great time dining in Italy a fewyears ago at all the small little hole in the walls that were great and reasonably priced. I guess we want to recreate that vibe. Perhaps it doesn't has to be in little Italy. Do you guys know any hidden gems that are quaint and affordable in ny..doesn't have to be in little Italy as LNG as its good food, nice ambience, and won't break the wallet. Italian food preferred..but not required

ekscrunchy

There really are not many hidden gems in NYC, or at least that I can name, sorry to say. There ARE a lot of overly hyped restaurants, though.

In the West Village, you could try Perla, or I Sodi. I like both of those and they are reasonable by NYC standards. But my idea of reasonable and yours might differ. Mine might roughly mean a bill of under $150 for at least two courses and maybe three, and including tax and tip, and a glass of wine each. More or less.

mclaurie

Rubirosa fits the bill and so does http://www.sotto13.com/

ekscrunchy

Rubirosa is inexpensive, and rather bustling. Known for their pizza. Good food but a completely different experience than the two I mentioned in my last post.

ekscrunchy

Another suggestion for you; about a 25 minute walk (more or less) of Little Italy, Crispo is a popular Italian place with moderate prices. They have a garden. It's been around for about a decade and is consistently popular with locals and visitors. Can get noisy.

http://crisporestaurant.com/


For any of these, with the exception possiby of Rubirosa, you should book at least two weeks in advance to get prime dinner time seating. Perla is a particularly difficult reservation to get but they do hold a good amount of tables for walk ins. Rubirosa is the easiest to reserve of those I mentioned but even then, I would book ahead of time.

ekscrunchy

Another place I forgot, and to which I often send out-of-town friends looking for good Italian at moderate prices, is LUPA, an easy walk from Little Italy, in the West Village. Prices are really quite low for NYC, with all pastas under $20 and second courses in the low-mid $20s for the most part. They bill themselves as Roman style , and do have many of the traditional Roman dishes on offer. (I Sodi, mentioned above, draws a lot from Tuscany)

Hard to get a table after 5:45 and before 10:30, but if you decide ahead of time, you can give it a try by phone. You probably know this, but Lupa is part of the Batali stable.

http://www.luparestaurant.com/restaurant.cfm