So it's going to be our last night in NYC and we'd like to grab one more nice meal. It's hard to figure out where to do with all the great options. We'd like to go somewhere nice, but not crazy expensive, maybe $200 for both.

We're thinking for our final dinner before headed back to SF, we'd like to have a nice Italian dinner, some place with nice cheese plate starters (we love cheese), great wine and pastas and of course some interesting meat dishes, perhaps fish.

or...

a tasty small plate/tapas style place, more asian infusion then spanish for our tastes. We made a reservation at Spice Market but are having second thoughts after hearing some mediocre reviews on the food.

Place doesn't have to be super trendy or anything, in fact more quaint and quiet would be nice.

We're staying in Murray Hill but will go anywhere in the city, would probably rather not travel to the outer boroughs.

I know these restaurant recommendations can get really old (it's so subjective after all) but any suggestions would be appreciated.

We had a fantastic Italian meal at Carmens. Dont have the address but its a hopping spot and the food was excellent.

About 18 months ago, we had a great dinner at The Tasting Room on First Avenue; there are only 11 tables, and it's a little tight but the food and service were wonderful; I hope it's still there.

I think irecommend might mean Carmine's. It's a southern Italian, 2 locations and serves HUGE family style portions. Not, imo, good for just 2 people. You need at least 4 hungry people to eat there.

If you like cheese, Artisinal, in Murray Hill on east 32 st. is a French place KNOWN for their cheeses. Truly a cheese lovers delight not to be missed.
http://www.artisanalcheese.com/restaurants.asp
Their other restaurant, Picholine, also has a nice cheese cart and food is "mediterranean"--not quite Ialian, but close.

For Italian, I can highly recommend L'Impero which is near the UN, so not far from Murray Hill. It's not your typical Italian. Elegant, low key and excellent. They have composed cheese plates which they offer for dessert. (I haven't seen cheese plates served as appetizers). It may be a bit quiet at dinner. If you're looking for a buzzy place, this is not it.
http://www.limpero.com/eng/web.htm

For tapas, In Vino has cheese, Italian tapas and good wines. I think any of the places that have more Asian tapas do cocktails better than wine.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...neid=64&home=Y

Cutious to know:
>where you decided to stay in the Hamptons?
>where else you're planning to eat?
>what you heard about Spice Market that's giving you doubts?

Have I got a place for you.

And it's cheap. You'll be hard pressed to spend $100 for two.

Paprika
110 St. Mark's Place, bet. 1st Avenue and Avenue A

menu and reviews here: http://tinyurl.com/k5528

It's Northern Italian, not Italian-American, and it is very quiet and romantic. It's an easy trip by cab or Subway from Murray Hill.

I always take my out-of-town foodie friends there, it has been a big hit.

If you are in Murray Hill, you might try Coppola's which is right down the street from you on 3rd Ave at27th St.

Nice wine list and good menu options.

Best new Italian restaurant in New York: Spigolo on the UES. Great review from the Times' Frank Bruni, and not too expensive.

Less expensive but excellent: Lavagna in the East Village. Their rigatoni is one of the best single dishes in all of Manhattan.


The Tasting Room is excellent but it recently moved to a larger space, perhaps on the LES?

With $200 budget, I'd suggest BABBO on Waverly. It's always on top of, or somewhere near the top, on foodie discussions on the BEST Italian in the city.

I actually like it's cheaper, lower key, sister restaurant called LUPA on Sullivan, also in the Village. It's a crowded table Roman trattoria that's possibly one of the best outside of Italy.

As usual, I agree with Mclaurie -- Artisanal (although not Italian) or L'Impero. I didn't think it was quiet at dinner -- a well-heeled crowd, though. Feels very grown up.

So, this place isn't Italian or really tapas, but it is Asian influenced. My boyfriend and I had a lovely meal with friends at Sapa on 24th between 5th & 6th. The cuisine is Southern Asian with a French twist. Great food, nice atmosphere (it was busy, but never felt busy) and a decent check.

For small plates, Asian -influenced, then look into Blue Water Grill in Union Square. It's not one of my favorites, but I know a lot of locals who like the restaurant's take on susshi-style small plates.

For another non-Spanish tapas, then The Bar Room at the Modern serves good Alsatian-inspired small plates from Chef Gabriel Kreuther. The wine list is pretty good and well priceed, too.

I am also curious about what you heard about Spice Market. I absolutely loved my meal there. One of my all time favorities. I have to admit there was four of us and my boss was paying so don't know what the bill was. We tried quite a few dishes for the four of us to share and all of them were good. Some were outstanding. It probably wouldn't be that practical to order that way with only two of you.

Of course if you want Italian, then Spice Market wouldn't be the place for you.

Your first option sounds a whole lot like Picholine to me -- particularly with the cheese options.

L'Impero, in Tudor City, is amazing, but I can't imagine dinner for 2 there for $200. More like $300-350.

Same with Mario Batali's Babbo -- great, but $100 per person would be very tough.

Should have added ... the best-reviewed (for good reason) Italian restaurant in your price range is Spigolo.

It's small and extremely busy, so be sure to call as far in advance as possible for a reservation.

Spice Market was good like 5 years ago ... now it's a horribly over-hyped Meatpacking nightmare. When tourists thing it's "hip"??? ... you know the result.

Capsouto Freres down on Washington St. by the Holland Tunnel entrance. Lovely and you can probably get a cheese course.

Thanks to everyone for all the reply's most of them were a little too late for us unfortunately that night, that's what you get when you post a 6pm and you want to go to dinner in an hour or two!

We ended up eating at a little tapas-style place called Alta in the West Village on 10th street just off 6th. I have to say, it was pretty good, not incredible by any means but we liked pretty much every dish we tried, it's the kind of place we'd probably eat at often if we lived in NY.

As far as the Spice Market goes, Gekko pretty had it right on from what we heard, Great 5 years ago, now a loud touristy nightmare where the quality of food has gone downhill. I don't doubt that you could still get a great meal there, but for me I didn't want to risk spending alot of money for a disappointing experience on our last night in NY.

And to mclaurie, for our Hamptons trip last year, we ended up just staying at the Panoramic view for two nights before moving over to Gurney's for my brother's wedding. My parents have gone to both the Panoramic and Gurney's for years and my wife and I really liked both. Yeah the Panoramic is a bit rustic, but you can't beat that view and location! Gurney's is great if you spend the money on a room with an oceanfront view. However if you spend the money to stay there and end up with one of the rooms looking out onto the parking lot, you'll be highly annoyed. That's what we had for our first night at Gurney's and we hated it so much we called the Panoramic and begged them to take us back, but luckily because we were part of a large wedding party, Gurney's moved us to a really nice ocean view room for the rest of our stay.

oh mclaurie, i just realized you are the person that responded to my Hamptons post from last year! thanks for the suggestions, sorry we didn't take you up on any of them, we just got lazy in the end when we went for the Panoramic.