Cacio e Pepe — Restaurant in New York

I found out about Cacio e Pepe through one of those Insider videos on Facebook - you know, those 30 second ones that have you drooling all over your keyboard. A quick Yelp search revealed only 3.5 stars. Call me a Yelp snob, but that made me a little iffy. But they did have pasta tossed in a cheese wheel, so that won me over.

My boyfriend and I arrived on a Monday night at around 6:30. There weren't a lot of people there. The place is pretty sizable. They have garden seating in the back, which I would definitely recommend if it's nice out. It feels secluded, so it's nice to get away from the lights and noises of the city, even if it's just for an hour or so.

To start, we ordered the meatballs as an appetizer. It has a bouncy texture, which I actually kind of liked. It was just a tad too salty for me.

In case it wasn't good, we decided to order only one of the things with the cheese wheel, which by the way is exactly how I ordered it, just to save everybody some time, and to save myself the embarrassment of butchering the name. Its proper name is tonnarelli cacio e pepe. The pasta arrives in a cheese wheel, where they toss right in front of your eyes. Two things I didn't like: 1. Although the menu did state it, it came with whole peppercorns, which isn't my preference (my fault), 2. The pasta was cool. Less than lukewarm, which I deem unacceptable for such a pasta dish.

The other pasta dish we had was the rigatoni with rabbit ragu. The pasta was undercooked, and the ragu had tiny bones in them. Definitely skip this dish. The table next to us ordered the fettuccine with arugula pesto, which was one we almost ordered instead. I wish we did because that one looked amazing.

We left the restaurant still feeling hungry because the portions are pretty small. If it was quality over quantity, then fine. I'm all for that. But Cacio e Pepe lacked both of these things. If I were to review solely based on the meatballs, I would say they could get 4 stars. But based on the pasta, I'm going to have to go with a two. (Service was great though!)

Bottom line - I'm glad I had a chance to try the famous cheese wheel pasta. But I'm also glad that I don't ever have to come here again.

Tip - cash or Amex only. (which I didn't mind because I'm an Amex...

I came back to this place after few years of absence and the experience was terrible. When I stepped in to the place the guy at the door (that later introduced himself as the Sicilian owner) recognized my last name being Italian and, after calling me "mozzarella" (?!?!?), he asked us to follow him to the table. The place was so noisy that was impossible to talk and it was necessary to scream to place our order. The carbonara my American friend asked was presented to him with no eggs at all and full of water. The "guanciale" that was supposed to be in the carbonara was normal bacon in big chunks and when we asked to our waitress where the eggs were she (Romanian) told us the eggs where inside the pasta (the pasta they used were normal paccheri, dry pasta, no eggs involved). When I reply that kind of pasta is not made with eggs, she said she didn't know much about the carbonara and asked the Sicilian guy to step into the conversation. Rude and probably with very little knowledge about cooking, the guy came to our table with a terrible attitude. He insisted the eggs were there (no yellow color anywhere in the plate...just plenty of water and chunks of bacon) and he appeared quite angry at us. When I tried to explained to him I am born and raised in Rome and I know what a carbonara looks like, he became even more mad at us. Then, he even came back to our table to show us, in a little pan not bigger that one inch, the eggs (some kind of yellow creamy sauce) they use to prepare the carbonara. At no time, he offered us to prepare a new real good carbonara or not to charge us for the dish that my American friend ended up returning to the kitchen almost untouched. I will never again come back to this place. This is the typical restaurant where "Italian managers/owners" believe that American guests will eat anything they will be offered and where the perpetuation of Italian embarrassing stereotypes are intent to be attractive to an unprepared audience who will eat anything that looks like Italian. Very...

Please try the jumbo rigatoni with oxtail ragu and shaved dark chocolate! Had a fantastic dinner on Sunday night with my wife and friend. It was 9pm when we arrived and there were tables open so there was no wait. Service was fast, (not rushed) and extremely friendly. The bread for the table was perfectly crusty and served with tomato sauce that was fantastic. So much better than getting the usual cold butter. We shared everything and started off with the meatballs and panna cotta apps which were both good. For the main we had the house specialty Tonnarelli cacio e pepe, which is essentially spaghetti tossed with pecorino cheese and whole black peppercorns. It was delicious but what makes it memorable is the tableside service as it is mixed in the giant wheel of cheese. We also had the gnocchi which was perfectly soft and fluffy as well the jumbo rigatoni with an oxtail ragu and shaved dark chocolate. This was one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had, we all LOVED it so much we ordered a second one and devoured it. For dessert we had the ricotta cheesecake, the coffee mouse filled cannoli and the coconut soup. I don't even drink coffee but think I could eat about 10 of these cannoli's because the mouse is so creamy and the shell so flaky. The cheesecake was good though nothing special and the coconut soup was very unique. I actually didn't like it that much but my wife LOVED it. The wasabi flavor is strong and although I love it with sushi it was not what I was looking for as a dessert. Having said that I loved experiencing this dish which is the same way I feel about the jumbo rigatoni. I've been to hundreds of Italian restaurants all over the country and it's nice to try things that are truly unique which these dishes were. We will...