There are so many restaurants to choose from! My husband and I love Bellavitae Restaurant in the village and the entrees are within your price range. The chef uses the freshest ingredients for his authentic dishes. We always enjoy it!

Iwould like to support the vote for Erminia. It's on 83rd St. right near 2nd Avenue. Excellent choice.

Erminia is a great price and it may be on the expensive side it will not cost as much as the others mentioned e Bouley,Gilt,Daniel,Del Posto

My husband & I consistently refer visitors to our favorite romantic Italian restaurant in the West Village: Valdino West (corner of Bank Street & Hudson Street). Ask for the round table for two in the window, watch the locals walk by, have one of the best Barollos around (which means pricy), and enjoy the freshest, most delicious Italian food in NYC. The atmosphere is very cozy and dreamy. The prices are moderate and the experience wonderful. You won't feel that you've thrown money away, either (a big minus to the five star restaurants in this town).

This has been such a fun and informative thread. I actually took notes.

I think it would be great if fodors could come up with a place to put threads like these that are filled with especially good opinions.

Thanks everyone!

NeoPatrick, umm...cute comeback that I'm sure I'll remember next time I'm in Pier One. But like I said, I haven't been there in forever and it stuck out to me. Just a suggestion..

Is anyone else not able to reach Erminia's web site? Every time I click it, it goes nowhere.

I'm so glad you said that, AntInNewYork. I can't get it either. But then I've been trying for a week to get www.moma.org also with no luck. Those are the only two sites of hundreds I've tried that I can't seem to get for some reason. And it makes no difference how I try to reach them -- Firefox or IE.

I kept getting a blank page, so I started playing around with the URL... added "index," "home," then lucked out with "menu."

Try this:

www.erminiarestaurant.com/menu.html

The links at the top should work. No idea why the main page won't.

how weird. Thank you, beanweb. Your link works perfectly, but if I try it without the menu.html, I get nothing.
I thought I'd try doing the same sort of thing with www.moma.org, but no luck no matter what I put after it.

neo, try this:
http://moma.org/exhibitions/

Nope. When I click it, it says connecting, but after a while it says that it timed out and either
A) I'm not connected to the internet -- duh!
B) I need to check my network cable -- I have no network, and can access any other site I try.
C) The site is busy or unavailable. Try again in a few minutes.

What did I do to Moma to make them treat me like this? LOL

Try the Red room at Bouley. I personally find one if by land two if by sea very stuffy and a tourist trap, it's your standard piano and candlelights. The atmosphere at Bouley is much more authentic, and the food is in a different league. As a native Manhattanite I find the OIBL type restaurants very generic and there's nothing uniquely New York about them.

I went to Mario Bitalli's restaraunt Babo a few months ago...it was charming, romantic, tiny and delicious.

I've been to erminia and wouldn't recommend it. Way too much garlic in the food and it's a little cheesy. I would STRONGLY recommend Blue Hill -- the food and service are fantastic, the restaurant is lovely, romantic and not over the top and it's on an adorable street in greenwich village.

Another option is Tocqueville which just reopened in a new space and is beautiful.

"Way too much garlic in the food."

I'm sorry that is an oxymoron to me.

Too much garlic? I have eaten there about 12 times and never had a garlic issue.
As for Toqueville, I was at the new space in January. I found it to be bland, and everything we ate was drowned in butter. And, it does not fit the OP's budget of $$$. Toqueville was more like $$$$, and that was with a very conservative wine choice. It is also not Italian, which was also an OP preference.

Has anyone tried the Southside Cafe? I know it is not in the league of the restaurants you guys are talking about, but all the reviews are menupages.com are good and there website makes it look interesting. I would be interested in any opinions.

uga1015,

Here's a widely accepted internet message board etiquette - it is impolite to hijack somebody else's thread.