Trattoria Spaghetto

"Scenes From An Italian Restaurant..."

by PhillipLisa

This review is LONG overdue!

If you remember the lyrics to "Billy Joel's - Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" (see lyrics at end), then it puts you in the mood and paints a image of Trattoria Spaghetto! The space has been there for over 30+ years (was a luncheonette and then a restaurant -owner bought building and restaurant, smart move).

We have been going here as a family for years! They say never judge a book by its cover; yes there are some plastic red/white checkered table clothes (being replaced, with cloth - hey for me as long as they wiped the tablecloths clean after each dinner, I have no problem with them), which when I first brought my wife here years ago she said "This can't be good" - she took that back after dinner.

One of the traps of Little Italy (which is how I told her about this place) is that practically every restaurant down there serves the entrees a la carte with pasta an EXTRA side dish (except Paesano). That is not the case here, EVERY dish comes with a choice of salad or pasta, marinara sauce or meat sauce, ALL at no extra charge!

There is always a basket of bread on the table along with olive oil for coating if wanted. I see by some reviews here, some people are surprised and amazed that they got "free bread" (LOL!). The Manager Rene is a good friend of ours and has been there for years. The staff new or old are all a great bunch of accommodating guys. The house wine is one of the best in the City and is all we drink when there by the crafe. The food has always been consistently good throughout all the years and very reasonably priced. We have had many holiday dinners (Christmas eve and New Years Eve dinners there and this past May we did my first birthday dinner party there) there. We have still not tried everything on the menu after all these years as I normally get a different dish each time. Our "staples" are normally: Chicken Alla Romana (me) , Chicken Parmigiana (both) and Penne Siciliana (her).

Now to be totally and brutally honest, with my wife being the picky foodie (and a chef in another life) she now feels that the portions are smaller compared to the past (example: Chicken Parmigiana) and her favorite dish that she practically orders ALL the time and the entire staff know it - Penne Siciliana - ONLY Italian restaurant that a. makes it, b. makes it to her liking, has now disappointed her in the taste department of the dish. This place used to serve huge portions on EVERYTHING that you could practically share with 2 people family style or definitively have a doggy bag to take home. I have actually seen another reviewer on another site say the actual same thing. We have been told that it is still the same chef, so we have not figured out what the problem is with that dish yet.

Aside from that, everything is good (maybe the recession has to do with the reduction in portion size...). Some of the veteran waiters that we knew: Tony and Noel are gone. My wife is temporarily boycotting the place due to her Penne Siciliana dish but to everyone else reading this, if you are looking for a nice Italian restaurant with great staff and reasonably priced food with a nice atmosphere (there is indoor/outdoor seating), great house wine, loud and lively (we love - YES you can have a romantic date there, great low lighting and secluded corner tables), then go! If you are looking for Babbo, you have come to the wrong place. No pretentiousness here!

Lyrics:

A bottle of white, a bottle of red,

Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead.

We'll get a table near the street

In our old familiar place

You and I - face to face hm, hm

A bottle of red, a bottle of white

It all depends upon your appetite

I'll meet you any time you want

In our Italian Restaurant....

A bottle of red, a bottle of white,

Whatever kind of mood you're in tonight

I'll meet you anytime you want

In our Italian Restaurant...

Phillip & Lisa

Magnifico! Yum.

by angelafiorello

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we found our table of 4 seated without a wait. We skipped the appetizers, and went straight for the food. The Italian bread was everything you could want, and the house wine wasn't bad at all.

The meal was good (spaghetti and meat sauce) but I was somewhat disappointed that the noodles weren't fresh. I guess I was expecting too much. The sauce was awesome, and I managed to eat every last bite. My only recommendation would be cooking the noodles another minute. They were just shy of al dente.

The table was warm, and the Christmas music and decorations were just perfect. I would go back again, and probably seek it out the next time I am in town.

poor choice

by seekingfinedining

We were all very hungry and looking for an Italian dinner. I should say that the majority of the group was made up of full blooded Italians. We stumbled into this place without reading the menu...big mistake!

The menu was limited with hardly any appetizers at all and nothing that you would expect to be considered an appetizer in even a decent Italian Restaurant. The service was less than satisfactory, slow and not particularly attentive, especially since it was not very crowded.

The dinner menu was reasonable but they did not have two of the items we wanted to order. At 5 p.m., no white clam sauce for dinner, are you kidding? The food was very ordinary at best. One of the specials, pizza margherita was clearly frozen pizza. The chicken in the Chicken Contadina was a mix between dark and white meat chicken. The menu is not exactly kid friendly either.

The price was o.k. but even at those prices, it was no bargain. I would never go back again!

• Pros: fairly cheap
• Cons: food is not very good if you really know and like Italian food

Horrible customer service - GOT KICKED OUT FOR ASKING TO HAVE DESSERT ONLY!!!!!!!

by restaurantreview2008

I went to Tratoria Spaghetto a while ago with a friend. We were looking for a restaurant that served dessert in the area and decided to go here. We were seated and given menus. At that point my friend went to use the rest room and I asked if we can only order dessert. While my friend was in the restroom, the waiter started yelling at me and told me to get up and leave, very rudely, too. I was extremely embarrassed, and I am not exagerrating at all!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I would have ordered an entree if the waiter explained this nicely, but after seeing this, I was horrified. I WAS LITERALLY THROWN OUT BECAUSE I ASKED IF I CAN ORDER ONLY DESSERT!!!!! I had to wait for my friend to come back, and when I told her the situation, she was apalled and surprised, too. We left to never return. I have never gone back, not have I ever recommended this RUDE place to anyone. NICE WAY TO TREAT 2 YOUNG LADIES. TWO THUMBS DOWN FOR THIS RUDE RESTAURANT.

Where tourists go before seeing a cover band on Bleecker street

by ktobiassen

The only reason I've eaten here is because I lived around the corner for many years and occasionally an out-of-town guest would insist upon it (presumably for the people-watching). It's a tourist restaurant. The old-school Italian fare is well below average. The pasta is over-cooked and watery. There are so many great, inexpensive Italian places in the city, why would you choose this one? For example, within just a of couple short blocks are Bar Pitti, Lupa, Extra Virgin, and (if you gotta go old-school) Arturo's.

• Pros: cheap, people-watching, lots of outdoor seating in summer
• Cons: below-average food