Via Carota

Popular/lively spot. On a Friday night, we got on the list and grabbed a drink nearby while waiting ~45 minutes for two seats at the bar. Service, wine, appetizers, and mains were all great!

I’ve been wanting to come to Via Carota for a few years now and I was a tad nervous it wouldn’t live up to the hype and I’m happy to report it did. The food was very good. Not the best in NYC, but exceptional and worth the price. Outside allows for some prime-time people watching with your meal. All together a great experience – I definitely want to go back to try more of the menu.

Was worried about getting in with the no reservations policy but it actually wasn't that bad. Arrived at around 5:15 on a Wednesday and they had a table for our party of 4 at 6:30pm. We had a drink at the bar across the street while we waited. Once seated we were overwhelmed by the menu and decided to focus on vegetables and pasta, ordering the beans and sausage, cabbage and faro, artichokes, leeks, cacio e pepe, fried rabbit, and pappardelle. Everything was delicious, I was really impressed with the pastas. We finished our meal with cannolis, chefs kiss!

Best pasta I had so far. Service can be better. Atmosphere and the room layout is great. It is the first place that I went and not felt like squished by the people and by the tables and chairs. A lot more space compared to its sister I Sodi. However, similar to I Sodi, you have to pay for the bread, but Via Carota’s bread looked sliced and better (didn’t order but our neighbors did). Appetizer: Carote, carrots done to perfection. It is a cold-dish and felt almost like a dessert. The colored carrots are cooked well inside yet shape is still intact. It resulted the texture into kind of “not-mushed” mushed potato texture. When paired with creamy yogurt, aromatic olive oil, and roasted pistachios, the carrots are elevated to another level: no kidding, it tastes significantly different with and without the yogurt and pistachios. Pastas: Tonnarelli cacio pepe, best one I had so far. It can be very filling if you have too much. It is creamy from the cheese, butter, and spices from the pepper. The pasta is cooked to wonderful al dente. Not the best metaphor but pasta’s texture is similar to a thinner udon: a bit chewy, slightly slippery, clingy with the cheesy peppery sauce, really yummy. To counterbalance, we also had papparedelle wild boar ragu. I taste red wine reduction in the sauce and there are big chunks of wild boar meat pieces. The pieces are not sausage like, but rather stringy. The thick papparedella can catch a lot of sauce, but I had to pick out the meat to eat as they cannot be caught on the pasta noodles. Dessert: I always believe that there is minimum threshold of how bad a tiramisu can be in an Italian restaurant. I was choosing between tiramisu and zabaione, and ended up going with tiramisu. The cake layer (I cannot even tell if they are lady fingers) are soaked with expresso but I don’t taste any alcohol. The ratio of cream and mascarpone to soggy layer is not correct in my opinion (it is very subjective I guess). The cream and mascarpone mixture was fine, it is more on the creamy and dense side than airy side. I am versatile with the whipped cream to mascarpone ratio, as long as it is too off that makes it hard to swallow. Overall, I loved the carrots and the Tonnarelli cacio pepe. The only complain I had is with the receptionist: I knew it is a very popular restaurant, but it bothers me a bit when the receptionist stood behind our table and start arranging tables when we are still there. It felt a bit weird as he was trying to get us going faster (all personal feelings, probably I am too sensitive). Anyway, their lunch and dinner menu looked similar, not sure I wanna come to dinner again but definitely want to try the zabaione if I get a chance.

My daughter and I had a fantastic lunch. We ordered multiple dishes and everything was delicious. The menu is so much fun. Great wine list too. Grazie mille 🇮🇹🍷