Mareluna — Restaurant in New York

Italian Off the Beaten Path

I chose Mareluna for our 32nd wedding anniversary celebration based soley on my appreciation of co-owners Marco Britti's and Andreea Migram's other successful venues; the two Calle Daos and Favella. We were not disappointed.

Mareluna is a small, beautiful, congenial space that really sets the atmosphere for the dining experience to come. The menu is small but interesting. If you are looking for a conventional Italian dining experience I strongly suggest you look at the menu online before you go; this may not be the place for you. It should be noted that the place doesn't yet have a full liquor license but that is no reason not to sample the food and wines available. The prosecco we were served was lovely.

We shared a frito misto that was well made and nicely presented. There were zucchini spears instead of zucchini flowers but I actually expected that as the blossoms have a viable commercial season of about two weeks. I particularly enjoyed the fried Meyer lemon slices. The sauce was a perfect match.

Chef Anson gave us what I believe to be the current iteration of the chickory and apple salad which has been modified to include frizee, radicchio and walnuts. The lovely cheese rosettes were Tête de Moine, a particulary lovely cheese. The dressing was subtle and a beautiful composition. In my opinion this was a serious improvement on the original salad concept.

We had two pastas; the Papardelle with Duck Ragu and the Mussels with Nduja.

Suddenly I am a fan of duck! I've had Papardelle with dozens of ragu iterations but this was fabulous! This included the right balance between the amount of perfectly al dente pasta and the sauce, which in the era of "super size" is hard to find. I actually ate slowly to enjoy the dish. I will have this again for sure!

Warning! If you are not familiar with Nduja and are not used to eating seriously spicy food, this mussel and pasta dish may be a painful surprise. The pork-based sauce contains a healthy amount of Calabrian chilies. The heat of these chilies is more floral and on the tongue than, say, the throat-searing habanero. But it is plenty hot! Eat, enjoy and take an acid reducer when you get home!!!

Our dessert was a classic Tiramsu that almost floated off the plate. I grew up in Italy where the dish includes Marsala wine or another liqueur and I have to say I miss that added element which is never included here in the US. But it was so good we almost ordered another!

Lastly, I would like to commend the service team lead by Vlad, who could be everyone's favorite uncle. They were, everyone of them, well trained, attractive and attentive in the finest and most unintrusive way, which I feel is the hallmark of a great restaurant.

I look forward to my next visit and I highly reccomend you...

Came here on a Saturday afternoon and place was not busy. It is a tiny place in soho with only a few tables but serves some outstanding dishes. There is another Mareluna at around 21st st, but be careful if you come here for the Duck Ragu, as ONLY THE SOHO location carries it. My friend really liked duck so we came here after a long morning of walking at around 3pm.

They still have the brunch menu available so we ordered some brunch items along with their regular items.

Lobster Benedict This is a brunch item, and yes, order it please if you are running-egg yolk frantic like me. I always always get mad if my eggs on the egg benedict are not cooked properly and this place saved me so much trouble. The eggs are perfectly cooked; the eggs are jiggly and the yolk is orange-yellow, indicating their top-notched freshness and quality. The lobster crema sauce on top is surprisingly light and airy, umami and addicting, and they gave abundance of lobster meat. I was so happy to find the salad also refreshing: the market salad is paired with some pear vinaigrette I believe. It is sweet and inviting, which offsets any heaviness you get from eating lobster crema and the yolk. The whole dish is a treasure find, both in its look and in the taste.

Duck Ragu I chatted with our waiter and yes almost every party came here ordered this dish. This is a dish that got popular due to social media as some say its flavor reminds them of some Asian dishes they grew up with. The pappardelle noodles are thicker and a bit sheet like, good for grasping sauces. They have a bit of chew, but not al dente (more cooked than that). The sauces are tangy and sweet, cooked from the cherry balsamic. The duck meat is said to be cooked for 8 hrs, but still we can taste the fiber: it is a bit stringy. Overall, a quite unique dish I haven’t seen anywhere else yet.

Lobster Ragu A classic tomato and sweet dish with rigatoni. I got tons of sauces due to the shape of the spaghetti and I was happy with it. There are again lots of lobsters. I really like the bread crumbs and the concentrated tomato flavors from the San Marzano. It is dish that elevates familiar flavors to the maximum: I know what I am gonna get, but still I was pleasantly impressed with the flavors.

I came in actually really wanted to try their French Toast, but I guess maybe next time. The service is great, everyone is welcoming and helpful. The entrees took a little time to cook, but the flavors were delivered astoundingly so I...

This was probably some of the worst service I’ve ever experienced. I was so embarrassed bc I chose the restaurant for my friend’s bday. Him and his wife were visiting from out of town and I wanted to try to find a place with good food and excellent service. First of all the waitress didn’t even introduce herself and was kind of rushing us to order. We ordered our appetizers but said we weren’t ready to order our entrees and she said we had to order everything together, which is odd. She assured us our entrees wouldn’t come out at the same time as our appetizer, alas it did. I also asked her if they did anything for bdays for my friend and she said yes but didn’t elaborate, so I figured she’d take care of it. We didn’t have water for awhile so I asked her for another bottle of water for the table, which she never brought. We had to ask another waitress to bring us water which she did right away with our food and refilled our glasses for us. The waitress asked us once if we were ok but after that never returned, not even to ask if we wanted another drink or dessert. Waiters kept coming to take our dishes even though we weren’t done eating. Then a male waiter brought the check, even though we didn’t ask for it and said we’d probably be ready for the bill. My friend asked if there was a time limit for the table and he said yes about an hour or hour and a half and my friend said it would be nice to know that ahead of time. So we started heading out and I told the hostess that we felt very rushed and no treat ever came for my friend’s bday even though the waitress said she would do something for it. I understand it was busy and there’s a time limit but COMMUNICATE THAT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS! No excuse for bad customer service; I have no patience for that and therefore will never go back or...