Lupa

07/28/2008 Posted by chiway

I've never been that big on Italian food growing up the in the States. To me it was all the same. Pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs, boring. But these days, post-Mario Batali, the culinary atmosphere is one where the American palate is dared to try new things and refine itself, and one where Italian food in America can be truly intriguing. Still, Italian food this good for these prices is so difficult to find. I spent 6 weeks in Italy and Lupa rivals even some of the better meals I've had in the home country of Lupa's cuisine. Boldly authentic and just so damn good, this is a place I need to go to more. P.S. Mario Batali is my hero.

07/13/2008 Posted by ggunn

After reading in City Search that this was a "The Best Italian Food," I was psyched to go for some good Italian. The angry critics at city search, who never cease to find fault with any place, gave me pause. Turns out, there's a reason that professional food critics exist - this restaurant is great. The atmosphere is super comfortable. The service was informal and intelligent. Every thing I tasted was awesome, and just different enough to edge this place above the generic Italian food that's so easy to find in this city. I found it to be overall quite reasonable as well. The pork saltimbocca was delicious, cooked beautifully. All the pastas were fantastic, with inventive use of ingredients that tasted familiar yet new. The biscotti & zibibbo for dessert was lightweight and tasty.

07/03/2008 Posted by projectboy

My husband and I have enjoyed Lupa quite a few times. We love to sit at the bar, eat a light supper, and drink the great wines by the quarto. We went the other night after going to the Film Forum. It's our summer ritual when the kids go off to camp, and we hadn't been since last summer. We were struck by the difference in the atmosphere as soon as we walked in the door. The sloppy looking women tending bar in extremely unstylish white buttondown shirts, looking like they're hanging out and don't want to be interrupted by customers have replaced the professional, skilled bartenders of the past who knew how to suspend belief enough to make you feel that you were in Rome. The service exhibited this night could easily have fit in at a diner off the Long Island Expressway. I said to my husband that if this was the first time going to Lupa it would have been the last. Hopefully, Lupa will care enough to reshape their front of house.

06/01/2008 Posted by TONINOBIANCHI

i love this place but lately i do not what is going on with the SERVICE ,my wife and i decide to not ever come back cause the service bad, bad ,bad............

Pros: best italian food

Cons: terrible service

03/21/2008 Posted by seckert2001

The food was tasty, the service was junior varsity - at best. I would honestly send you to Il Mattone...Lupa is overrated. Period.

Pros: Decent hood.

Cons: Couldn't serve the bottle of wine I ordered...get it together.

03/07/2008 Posted by jk6046

After waiting over a month for my reservation, I had high expectations and was a little disappointed. Although they were tasty, the pasta dishes (we ordered 4 different ones) were lukewarm. The acoustics of the restaurant was horrendous...a larger party next to us were shouting to hear themselves, and there was loud music playing on top of everything. Still, the waiter-service was excellent, and overall, the cost was very reasonable for the type of restaurant.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

01/07/2008 Posted by citisearchreader

I have never written a review on a restaurant before though my husband and I eat out 70% of the time in the city. So far I only preferred to read the others' reviews. But for Lupa I thought I should let others know of our experience. In short it was an awful dinner that I feel like my husband and I wasted our money on. Mediocre food, very very loud atmosphere, halfway through our dinner we literally had to stop talking as it became painful to fight the noise in the restaurant to hear each other. Absolutely NOT a romantic place (as it's noted at the top of the user review section). My recommendation go on your own so that you won't feel bad you can't talk or hear your friend, use earplugs so you won't be bothered with the noise around and pay $14 to a small bowl of undercooked , over garlicked spaghetti. If you set the expectation according to this you will have a pleasant dinner.

Pros: service

Cons: noisy, mediocre food

12/03/2007 Posted by joemissbella

The food was surprisingly good for such a busy restaurant and the prices are reasonable. Wine list is accessible price-wise. Definitely go during non-peak times, so you can have a more leisurely meal.

Pros: Food, wine

Cons: Hard to Get in During Peak time

06/12/2007 Posted by amd27

Lupa was great. The food was great, the wine was great. Especially impressive was the menu of cured meats made in the restaurants. The only bad thing was that we had a reservation for 8:30 on a Tuesday and we didn't get seated until 9:00. There really was no place to sit or stand at the bar, so we had to wait in a small hallway while trying not to spill our carafe of wine.

Pros: coppa cotta

Cons: the wait, even with reservations

04/22/2007 Posted by vkburr

my biggest recommendation regarding lupa - go on tuesday for crispy duck night. the duck agro dulce is amazing. and def start with a pasta of any sort. a month ago they had an amazing oriechette with swiss chard and sausage on the menu. the pasta carbonara is always tasty.

Pros: fantastic pasta

Cons: go early