Felice Pasta Bar — Restaurant in New York

Little surprised by the poor reviews honestly. Expensive? Yes, but so are most other spots in TimeOut Market. You'll be paying just short of 20 bucks for a bowl of pasta and may still be hungry after. If these aren't a problem for you, keep reading.

They market their pasta as being handmade on premises every day and I 100% believe it. There is a definite taste difference between freshly made pasta vs premade/boxed pasta. I had both their rigatoni and fusili and they both had that perfect, chewy al-dente texture that you look for in a fresh bowl of pasta. I love the slight modifications they make to these pasta shapes as well when compared to what you might imagine. The rigatoni is short, more or less half in length to what rigatoni is elsewhere making these nuggets of tunnel-shaped pasta. The fusili is more strand-like instead of a proper spiral, and reminds me of gemelli, longer than what I'm used to.

PESTO Got it with fusili and the pesto itself had this nice, deep pine nut flavor with a deeply savory parmesan flavor and was not loose/runny, allowing the fusili to catch the bits of pesto along its length which was perfect. Little bit of arugula for a touch of a bitter bite and the freshly shaved parmesan makes a huge difference - deeply savory. If you appreciate a well-crafted bowl of pasta this is a good spot as long as the pricetag doesn't bother you. You know the parmesan is freshly shaved too because you can see the workers at the cheese shaving machine putting blocks of parmesan to get the shaved parmesan.

CACIO E PEPE I guess my only recommendation would be for it to be more peppery but again with the freshly shaved parmesan it was so deeply savory and delicious. So cheesy and yummy.

I enjoyed what I got here but I recognize the need to compare to the price...

Please read. Absolutely the worst food place I have ever visited. This was my first time at this pasta place. I ordered online and was initially impressed by how the pasta looked.

However, when my friends and I each took a bite of the pasta, it was arguably the most undercooked pasta we’ve ever had. I went up to the cashier and told him the pasta wasn’t cooked thoroughly. He replied that this was how al dente pasta is supposed to taste and said I should never come up to him claiming it’s raw. He even asked me if I knew what al dente means (I didn’t), and then proceeded to ask another customer to explain it to me.

First of all, I don’t need a whole explanation of what al dente pasta is. All I want is a plate of thoroughly cooked pasta. Second, his response made me feel stupid as a customer for not knowing what authentic pasta tastes like. On top of that, he told me I should’ve left a note ahead of time if I wanted my pasta cooked thoroughly. That’s ridiculous—if I had known I needed to specify, of course I would have! Sorry for trying out new places, I guess?

Shoutout to my friend for helping me get the plate I deserved. I read through the reviews and am glad to see I’m not the only one who feels this way.

In conclusion, al dente or not, the pasta was mid—too salty and too much sauce. I couldn’t even finish the plate....

this place is such a hidden gem! i’ve tried felice on montague and thought it was ok but nothing to write home about however this place is such a different story!! over the course of the past few days i’ve gone a few times and tried a number of the pastas. of all the ones we’ve had the shared favorite is the carbonara followed by the pomodoro. the carbonara is just so creamy and has so much pancetta, best carbonara i’ve had in ny. the pomodoro is also amazing because of the san marzano tomatoes they use. the pesto is also has a wonderful flavor but it’s a little dryer than the others. the cacio e pepe and bolognese were the other ones we tried and while they were still very good they were just not as impressive as the others. the cacio e pepe and bolognese are still some of the best i’ve had in the city, definitely the best cacio e pepe because it wasn’t dry like many can be. this place is also a great spot because it’s quick and not too pricey. portions are large and definitely filling so it is also nice to share one if you want lunch or a...