Pastai

6/28/22 after roaming around for a meal that would satisfy my craving... I chose Pastai, I've eaten here some time ago so I figured why not. I had the bucatini with sardines and a side of sauteed spinach. Both dishes were really good and had great flavors. The house red (pino) was ok. $13... Kinda steep for house, eh? Lol, but yeah it's the neighborhood. Maybe that's why I was the only one at the bar? Friendly and fast service. I'll be back to try other pasta dishes.

Absolutely lovely, chewy, fresh egg pasta. my sauce was perfectly balanced, delicate. It was not overly meaty or overly creamy. I reccomend the Reginette, so curly with sauce licking the sides. However, there was a strong blemish on an otherwise wonderful meal. The arancini, a dish found in Italian restaurants at all price ranges around entire country, was severely lacking in salt. It was incredibly average, and didn’t even feel cheesy! I was hoping for some funky from classic sheep’s milk cheese, obviously pecorino cheese but maybe something else?! I’ve had dozens of better arancini. Sorry for getting held up on the arancini but arancini is incredibly important to me. obviously the appetizer was a small portion of my eating experience but I found it to occupy a lot of my brain waves in the coming days.

i had the paccheri alla genovese per the recommendation of the waiter. the pasta tasted homemade and had great texture. the sauce was flavorful and most importantly balanced. in my opinion there was too little meat and slightly too much onion. still a great dish though and will come back to try other things! update: came back and tried their lasagna. their tomato sauce was amazing. the meat was a braised beef that was flavorful and had a great texture. all of the cheeses were delicious. most importantly, as stated in my last review, their dishes have a great balance of flavor—the ratio of the ingredients is perfect and nothing is overpowering.

This restaurant was recommended to us UK visitors to NYC for the first time by native New Yorkers we met on the subway. This is one of the most authentic Italian meals I have had outside of Italy. We had three courses for two people plus a glass of wine and a cocktail the bill was $118. It was absolutely delicious and the service as really good making us feel completely at ease as two women on our own.

The lunch menu on their website which was supposed to be served until 4pm wasn't available when we arrived at 3pm. We made the reservation for the lunch menu specifically, too. On top of that one of the dishes we ordered was totally different from what was listed on the menu. Food was pretty good, especially the antipasti, but for $50/person it was not worth it. Very disappointed...