Lamarca

Awesome Pasta

by caryn donohue

I love this place. It's easy to miss it since there's nothing remarkable about it from the exterior, but what it offers inside is exceptional. I've only gone to the take-out part in the back with a separate entrance and have found one man, not the owner but he's always there, to be so kind and helpful each time I visit. He always offers free samples of the sauces (which I always accept) and he just makes me smile. I loooove the arrabiata sauce and aurora. They also have great soups!

But really, for $5 you get a pint of pasta (penne, linguine, gemelli, cavatappi, fusilli or orecchiette) with a sauce (bolognese, pesto, aurora, arrabbiata, toscana, puttanesca, filetto, marinara, ciociara), all of which are homemade on site except the pesto (just not made on site). You can upgrade to a larger size for $6.50 as well. And don't forget to check out the basket of leftover cheese wedges by the register. They're delicious and cheap (my fav is some kind of goat cheese).

• Pros: Pasta sauces, cheese, soup
• Cons: Ambiance

terrible food

by Wagnerp

The food sucks

Affordable, well made, delicious!

by ProgGrrl

Every meal I've ever eaten here has been excellent. While the service is mediocre (and when the restaurant gets crowded they can make you feel guilty for lingering), the food and the wine choices are perfect. The place is just the sort of affordable, low-key eatery NYC needs in these crazy times. Homy, cozy, with a wonderful deli that has amazing cheese selection. When the wait for a sit-down meal is too long, go for the takeout!

Foods Good, but they left me in the Cold

by michaelsm

I agree with most of the reviews about Lamarca Pasta but I have to relate a recent experience that was very disturbing to me. I was refused service on a Monday evening because I was only one person. Over many years I was a frequent patron of the restaurant, most of the time I went there along with my Mother who lived three doors down the street. While she was in the hospital, I went there for dinner one evening. Four tables were empty but when I asked to be seated, I was refused being told that they would not seat a single person. I've never heard of such a thing.

The following morning I raised this issue with the owner of the restaurant, Joseph Lamarca, who provided no apology for this refusal other to say it was a business decision to maximize his business and offered NO resolution to this problem.

I filed a complaint with the NYC Dept of Consumer Affairs, the NYC Restaurant Association, and the NYC Office of Human Rights being told that after they each contacted Mr. Lamarca, he remained stubborn and unwilling to resolve this issue.

All I can say this is a bad business practice to refuse service to any customer based on being a single customer. I refuse to return to the restaurant and feel that when a eating establishment no matter how good it may be, how friendly the overall staff is, the customer should be treated with professional courtesy even by it business practices as overseen by its owner.

• Cons: policy about seating singles

Chef Boyardee!

by jbtava

I am, like another reviewer on this site, completely confounded by other people?s glowing reviews of the food at this restaurant. The food here truly is comparable to Chef Boyardee (and I don?t mean that in a good way). If your idea of authentic Italian food involves syrupy sweet tomato sauce and overcooked pasta then this place is for you. Otherwise, go to the diner across the street and you?ll have a better chance of finding some Italian food. The most Italian part of this meal was the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies that we picked up at the Duane Reade on the way home.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Foul tomato sauce, overcooked pasta