La Pecora Bianca UES — Restaurant in New York

I can’t believe this restaurant is brand new! It ran like a well oiled machine. This is why I fully believe in La Pecora Bianca establishments. The vibe was incredible, I was lucky enough to be seated in a place where I could stare out a big beautiful window to get a fantastic view of 2nd ave. The interior design is sleek, chic, and minimal so you can focus on the real star of the show: the food. I would have ordered absolutely everything if I could but I am just one person. There is not one thing I wouldn’t have again! We ordered the tuna crudo, the octopus, the zucchini fries, and the burrata followed by rigatoni vodka and lobster spaghetti as a mid course and we finished up with the scallops, burger, and pork chops.

The tuna and octopus were exactly what I wanted. Both can sometimes have room for error but the tuna was wonderfully fresh with a perfect bite and the octopus was so tender I almost cried. And the zucchini fries? I’ve never found anything as delightfully crispy as these things anywhere else in my life.

The pastas are absurdly good, they are made in house and if there is a bite left on your plate, something is wrong with you.

For the mains, this place has made me a believer in pork chops. I tend to not like pork chops because they can get chewy if not handled with care… and now all I can think of is LPB pork chops. I am, however, a firm believer in scallops and their dish took me straight to church. worships LPB scallops

Let us not forget desserts, our table split the massive tiramisu and the budino. First, I’ll have to admit again I’m not a huge tiramisu fan but if you were looking for my spoon it was repeatedly dipped into that dessert as I could not stop eating it. And the budino? I don’t know exactly what it is, but to me it’s a little bowl of smooth, luxury Nutella topped with crispy corn flakes for the perfect complementary crunch and it’s in my top 5 favorite desserts ever. I should’ve ordered one to go….

For drinks, I had a few limoncello margaritas… and I kept them coming. They were the perfect light, citrusy companion to our meal.

But my personal hero for the evening was Sarah, our server. She took all of our oddities in stride and provided us with a truly lovely experience. She was personable, perceptive, and perfect. Our meal was appropriately paced and could not have had a better delivery.

I encourage anyone reading this review to give the restaurant a try because to me I can see it becoming a place where I can make wonderful memories with friends and family to remember forever.

23...

I’ve been here two times so far. It is a nice Italian restaurant right down the block from me.

However, this past experience was sub par. I went here last week with my mom. I called ahead of my reservation to let them know we were going to be 15-20 minutes late. My mom and I are were getting some cleaning and things done in my apartment and it got late. Anyways, after my calling 3 times to talk to someone, the hostess or whoever answered the phone was extremely snooty and said, “Well, just to let you know, there is a party coming in right after you and you’ll be cutting into their time.” The first time I went with my family we were 5 minutes early and had to wait 15 minutes for a table, and none of us complained.

So we get there and were promptly seated and we got our drink and appetizer orders in, but then it took 20 minutes for them to bring us our drinks. The waiter did apologize but it’s just the fact of how rudely I was spoken to on the phone, acting like we’d have to hurry or we’d really mess things up.

The experience during the meal was mostly pleasant— attentive staff and the food was delicious. The ambience was very loud and my mom and I had to yell across the small table to hear each other… but other than that it was good.

BUT. We did notice that there were MANY empty tables when we were done. The restaurant was half empty at 9 pm. So I don’t know why the hostess was so rude on the phone, acting like our being slightly late would really put a damper on someone else’s reservation.

It’s a shame since the restaurant is so close, but I’m reluctant to eat here again, especially...

Taking the time to leave this review so other diners can avoid wasting their time and money at the UWS location. As Jersey residents, outings to NYC are not uncommon, and with a 4.8-star rating, we expected a great experience. Unfortunately, this was far from the case.

The only positives were the restaurant’s proximity to nearby attractions and the availability of street parking. The service, however, was extremely poor. Whether due to being understaffed or simply not caring, it was nearly impossible to get our server’s attention. Not once during the entire evening were we asked how our meal was, which meant I couldn’t provide feedback or request adjustments.

As for the food: the bread was cold, hard, and stale. We ordered four different dishes — three of which were disappointing, with the quality seeming to decline with the next. The Garganelli and Campanelle both tasted old. My seafood pasta came with cheese, which I wasn’t asked about beforehand, and it completely ruined the dish for me.

When we asked another staff member (since our server kept rushing past) to wrap up the one dish that was just okay, there was still no interest in how our meal went. Two other dishes were barely touched, and again, no one asked if anything was wrong.

We’re not the kind to make a scene at a restaurant, but we left with a truly bitter taste — both literally and figuratively. This is a place we would never return to and definitely would not recommend to anyone...