Porsena

To simply put it, the food was stellar, just the perfect comfort pasta we were looking for and the flavours were wonderful. But, the service left more to be desired. To eat at a restuarant that took over 20 minutes to ask us for a drink or food (even though there was barely anyone in the restuarant at that time), and our server (Miguel), who was really never around our area to be waved down or checked how we were doing, made the experience exhausting. Did not help whenever we ordered or asked a question, he would look at the rest of the restuarant so we wouldn’t even know if he was engaged enough with us to take our order properly. It’s disappointing that such thoughtful food is incorrectly represented by lacklustre service.

Porsena feels like home. The staff is super friendly, the food and wine are excellent, and you can even sometimes walk in without a reservation and get seated in a reasonable amount of time. It’s an east village gem. While the menu changes from time to time, there are a few mainstays. The Anelloni pasta and escarole salad might be the best pasta/salad combo in all of New York Italian food. The high praise is well deserved.

Found this place through NYC Summer Restaurant week 2019. A truly gem in the area. We ordered three appetizers to share and they came in big portions and enough for five of us to share, pasta were homemade and delicious, side orders shishito peppers and mushrooms are excellent. We tried the goat milk cheese cake and it was nice too.

Moved our reservation from a dining table to high top before we arrived, our table wasn’t ready when we showed up, and a huge party congregated by the door for a while disrupting our meal but the food was completely worth it. Some of the best homemade pasta I’ve had in a while and the peach salad appetizer was really delicious.

One of the best Italian restaurants in New York, serving simple honest and delicious food with fresh ingredients. About what you'd find away from the tourist track in Italy. Of course they make their own pasta, and a wonderful variety of interesting salads and appetizers. Plenty of choices for vegetarians (especially seasonal stuff), and yet they satisfy the real carnivores too. There is always a risotto, perfectly prepared, and usually vegetarian. We try to eat here every week or two.