Pastitalia — Restaurant in New York

Food is amazing here. If you want absolutely delicious pastas that are made fresh in-house, you have to stop by here. The quality of the different noodles are excellent and worth a visit for that alone.

Staff are very friendly and are quick to prepare meals.

We got a norma pasta (eggplant, burrata, and noodles in a tomato sauce with Parmesan) as well as a funghi e tartufo (creamy truffle mushrooms).

For the norma, we got caserecce noodles (think of them like more spiralized and thick macaroni noodles). This pasta was light, delicate, and had a great balance of sweetness along with the tartness of the tomato sauce and the nuttiness/umami of the parents on top. Excellent pasta, but I would say the eggplant part was just ok. It is really small pieces of eggplant that are hard to taste.

My personal favorite was the second pasta. We got the creamy truffle mushroom pasta with linguine. Let me say that this was the best linguine texture you will have. The fresh noodles have such a good bite to them and are cooked just a little less than al dente which is a perfect texture.

The sauce is bold, rich, and topped with Parmesan. All the ingredients together make an excellent umami explosion that may be too rich for some people, but it was just enough for me.

I would say there are a few reason I can’t give this spot 5 stars.

First, everything is self serve and yet the restaurant still asks for tips going up to 25% on the point of sales system. I would be happy to give a good tip if I felt there was actually customer service involved. But you have to buy food at the counter, find a table after, get your own water, clean your own tables, and take your bowls/plates/utensils to the counter as well. Additionally, any extra condiments or other items you want also have to be retrieved yourself. Also it feels pretty cheap to use small plastic disposable cups for water instead of some type of glass. With all of that, it’s hard to justify tipping on top of doing all of that yourself.

Second, I feel like they could give more bread with the meal. Currently, they give 2 small pieces of bread approximately 1” x 2”. It would be really nice if they could give a good chunk of an actual loaf with the meal.

And last, the price does not make up for what you are getting. 2 vegetarian pastas for $50 and still leaving slightly hungry isn’t great. The portions could be a little bigger, and they should adjust prices to be more in line with the quality of the service. Many pasta spots downtown that are similar concept (pay at front, sit down and get your own stuff) are $10-15 for...

THE WORST PASTA in all of New York City!!!! I have lived in Harlem for 23 years and I had never seen this handmade pasta place and I wanted to try it. I ordered 2 orders of penne pasta with Bolognese sauce with the expectation that it would be delicious. I arrived at my house and as shown in the photo the pasta had almost no sauce, it was totally tasteless, without salt, totally without any flavor. I called and explained that I had paid $40 dollars for something that was boiled pasta that was not even well cooked, had no salt and no sauce. The person responded that she couldn't do anything because the owner had traveled and she alone I worked there for two days. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE GOING TO THIS PLACE TO WASTE THEIR MONEY ON FOOD OF SUCH POOR QUALITY AND SUCH BAD SERVICE TO THE CUSTOMERS THAT THEY ARE NOT EVEN ABLE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISASTER THEY SELL. IT WAS $40 LOST AND ONE OF THE WORST EXPERIENCES IN FOOD AND...

As an Italian living abroad I am very critical of the Italian cuisine offered in restaurants around the world. At Pastitalia, I fee like I am in my own country. It’s a journey through space and time: the friendly warm welcome, the food made with love, the respect for recipes and tradition, the decoration and music...everything is perfect! Eating in the quiet little back yard relive the flavors and emotions of Sunday lunch at my grandmother's. I recently purchased on their website (pick up) some fresh Creste di Gallo pasta to cook at home with artichoke sauce for my guests.The dinner was an incredible success and my friends also madly loved the slices of home made cakes that I had added to my order at the last minute because they were too beautiful and tempting. Absolutely a highly recommended restaurant, where everything on the menu is...