La Voglia NYC — Restaurant in New York

Too long, won't read?

Good food, but very, very high prices for very, very small portions. (Don't believe reviews saying otherwise; just look at the photos.) Poorly-trained staff, but trying hard. Good drinks, but probably the most expensive in Manhattan.

Full review:

These guys are clearly trying hard, but failing quite hard as well. Look no further than the fact that their headline chef Salvo quit after the first weekend, and you'll have an idea of what to expect from La Voglia. We went into the night knowing this, having read the reviews, which let us kind of laugh about it in the moment. But let this review serve as a cautionary tale to anyone who needs dinner to be an enjoyable affair, and won't be as inclined as we were to roll with the many missteps of the evening.

I want to start by saying that, unlike some other reviews, we found the server and waitstaff in general to be VERY attentive, probably due to management hovering around like wasps. But the wait staff clearly aren't set up for success by the bar and kitchen. Receiving our drinks took 20 minutes, and getting new drinks took ages every time. Appetizers took a long, long time to come out, and got placed in all wrong locations. Dinner took a long time as well.

The drinks are fine. Nothing to write home about, other than the eye-popping prices. Be prepared for your single cocktail to cost as much as half a bottle of whatever the constituent liquor is.

On to the food. The food is good. I enjoyed my carbonara quite a bit. However, the callouts in other reviews re: price vs. portion size are spot on. I paid $38 for my entrée, and the portion was LAUGHABLY small. Pasta is not an expensive food.

Ambiance... quite good. The outside isn't totally done yet, the patio is mess, but inside was quite enjoyable. The only downside was that it was cavernously empty for a Friday night, which made the incredibly slow service somewhat confusing.

Aside from the above, there were lots of little things that created friction -- missing silverware, the aforementioned mixups re: who got what food, and the fact that the staff were exuding palpable anxiety. This is clearly a restaurant that knows it is already failing, and management is struggling under that burden. The problem is that at this VERY high price point you have to either justify that with the food, or justify it with everything else. At La Voglia, you pay the high price, but you get little in return. Needless to say, we won't be...

Genuinely Loved the food, attendance, and experience!!

La Voglia is The new must visit Culinary Excellence in the Upper East Side

At the corner of 92nd and 3rd in Manhattan's esteemed Upper East Side, what I believe is a new culinary gem has emerged. Their presentation, attention to detail, and encompassing ambiance captivates you from the moment you walk in, and set a new standard for contemporary Italian cuisine in the area. I genuinely was transported to a world where culinary excellence intertwines with new elegance and it becomes apparent that this is not merely a restaurant but a meticulously curated experience. It is a space that invites you to unwind, indulge, and find comfort in modern luxury

Now, the true star of La Voglia—the Food. La Voglia presents a symphony of flavors that celebrate genuine Italian cuisine while pushing boundaries with innovative modern additions. Their pasta dishes, handcrafted with meticulous precision, showcase the finest and freshest ingredients, elevating what I believe will become a SUPER popular staple to the area. From the delicate folds of one of their highlights truffle tortellini filled with ricotta and the rich and velvety rigatoni Bolognese that transports you to the heart of Italy!

They also offer an extensive wine list through Italy's most celebrated vineyards. Whether you prefer a robust and fruit flavored rose, a classic Most, or a deep Red Wine, the knowledgeable staff(Our personal attendant was Benny) will guide you in finding the perfect pairing to complement what culinary experience you are looking to explore for the evening or afternoon!!

For those seeking libations that transcend the boundaries, La Voglia offers a full bar and a skilled mixology enthusiast.

Finally our course ended with two desserts including a phenomenal NY Inspired strip cheesecake adorned with blueberry slices, strawberry, whipped cream, & mint leaf topping along with a one of a kind Vanilla pinocato with a grapefruit glaze!

Hope this adds a little insight to your next time out in the city - Stay tuned for the...

It’s clear that at least some of the people working in La Voglia’s kitchen are quite talented, and it’s also clear that La Voglia has absolutely no quality control. Of the four dishes we ordered last night, one was excellent, one was poor, and two (including a special of the day) were inedible.

The winner was the pappardelle with sausage and mushroom, which was flavorful and appropriately salted and featured pasta of perfect doneness.

The poor dish was a tuna carpaccio that was so entirely devoid of salt that it was also devoid of flavor, except for slabs of jalapeño so uneven that they had apparently been hewn with an axe.

The first failure was the paccheri carbonara with seafood, which featured undercooked pasta, overcooked shrimp, and none-too-fresh mussels, giving it that classic $11.95-at-Applebee’s vibe. (Google Maps reviewer Candy Latino praised the dish two weeks ago, and given how starkly different the dish looks in her photograph—less-rigid pasta, clam meat removed from shells—I have no trouble believing the dish might be good depending on who’s in the kitchen on a given night.)

The greatest culinary crime was a $65 ossobuco-and-risotto special of the day that featured meat so tough and rice so underdone that the most plausible explanation would be that the kitchen was following a recipe from a 1986 cookbook entitled ‘Authentic Italian for the Microwave Oven’. Any chef de cuisine of integrity would have 86’d the lot, especially given that it was not on the printed menu and no one would have known.

Service was indifferent. No one asked about our mounds of returned food, and our server seemed to think that on-the-rocks is the standard format...