La Carbonara

The show on Saturday was obnoxiously loud. Literally couldn’t have a conversation and my ears hurt. Food was meh. I had to bail out and take a walk to get away from the shrill noise.

Last week I went to La Carbonara TWICE for lunch because it was so cheap and delicious and plus you can sit outside. I had a wonderful caesar to start and finished with a slightly creamy tomato sauce with ground sausage over rigatoni. It rocked! Its a two course lunch in very comfortable surroundings for only $ 8.95. In fact, while writing this I made plans with a friend to eat there next week again.

This review is for brunch only. This place is only good if you’re newly 21, don’t care about losing your ear drums, and want to get blackout drunk during brunch. Brunch food is mediocre at best (it’s honestly not great), but at least it’s «cheap» by Manhattan standards around $ 10 a plate. But hey you’re not coming here for the food, you’re honestly coming here for the boozy brunch deal. (Next time I’ll read Unilocal more carefully before I pick a random brunch spot!) If you don’t order booze, the waiters will ask you three times why you’re not drinking.

Well… Interesting experience is what I’d call my dinner at this restaurant. We were greeted immediately by a «nice» guy who ended up being our server as well.
After being seated we ordered drinks & were served them promptly. Got the $ 6 Happy Hour sangria which was not too bad, but it tasted more like a cocktail than a sangria. Not the worst part. Anywho… Finally get the attention of our server & order our food. Got calamari as an appetizer which was good. I had the rainbow trout for an entrée, my friend had the salmon entrée. I thought my food was delicious, but my friend was super unhappy with her meal to the point that she filled herself up on the bread & garlic oil (best part).
Now… The reason I give only 2 stars is because I watched this man give 3 other tables who came in after us EXTREMELY good service. He waited until people were seated to hand them menus, told them about all of the specials they were offering, & checked on them regularly. He did NONE of those things for us. Once he took our food order he literally did not come back to the table. We had to flag down the bartender for our check & we left a shitty tip because despite the food being ok the service was NONEXISTENT. As someone who works in a restaurant I know for a fact that’s not how things should be done. I won’t pull the race card, but

We were staying a hotel nearby and we’re looking for a reasonably priced, decent meal. We were taken aback by the B rating from the city’s sanitation dept, but we were tired and hungry and sold on the too-​good-​to-​believe $ 15.95 prix fixe dinner menu: an appetizer and entré plus $ 5 extra for a dessert.
The place was pretty slow, but the service was spot on, the food was delicious, and the price was for real. I had the muscles in white wine sauce followed by rigatoni alla vodka, and my boyfriend had the caesar salad followed by the pork medallion piccata in lemon caper sauce (excellent flavor and perfectly cooked). They even came around with fresh ground black pepper.
This place so surprised us with value to quality ratio that we couldn’t wait to get the scoop on Unilocal,and honestly, I don’t understand how we got to lucky. Perhaps it’s all because it was a Wednesday night…
I would definitely go back.

Atmosphere was fun. Drag show for vday. Our server Campos was not very nice. Super indifferent to our presence at the restaurant. Good place for brunch. Good prices.

Not a super-​fancy place, but pretty solid if you’re in the area and want some good Italian food.
Our party of 8 was originally waiting for a table at another nearby place, but because the wait was going to be an hour, we decided to call this place (literally across the street). I was surprised they said no problem, come on by. We got there and the place was pretty empty, surprisingly since it was a Thursday evening.
The menu has some sort of prix fixe menu for both lunch and dinner, but the dinner one ends at 7pm, which wasn’t written on the menu. The prices were pretty low, but the options didn’t look that great — the only dessert option was gelato.
We all got various pasta dishes. I liked my carbonara — a tad salty given the pancetta, but overall just tasty. The pasta was firm. Calamari was fine. We all really liked the bread and garlic/​olive oil. Nothing spectacular or otherworldly, but pretty solid all around. Service was excellent. Very family-​like. 2 bottles of wine, 2 orders of calamari, and 8 entrees, all split equally came out to about 35 bucks per person (all in). Not bad. I’d come back.

From the outside, La Carbonara could use a little face lift. The awning does scream a bit 80s and it could turn some people away looking for a more modern place. However, the food is great.
I had the namesake plate and the carbonara was delicious. No broken sauce and well cooked. The pasta is al dente. The Cesar salad is nice (sometimes a bit too dressed for me). The food prices are pretty awesome considering its location. The wine prices are bit high considering the food costs. A glass of house red cost me 12 dollars and my carbonara was 13. It is a little imbalanced in that regard.
The desserts are lovely with a great selection and the staff are always lovely. I have been here a few times and will continue to do so. There is a great little alcove in the back that is romantic for dates.
If you are in the area and looking for an affordable, yummy Italian place, La Carbonara is great.

The manager was extremely rude ! I can’t believe he could be a manager. He said he couldn’t honor the
certificate without giving me reason. On the certificate, it didn’t specify which day but he persisted not to allow me use it on Fri. Gave a very unfriendly response and unprofessional and also said some sharp words to me ! The guy, Samir H even sent me a very racist message here on Unilocal.Never seen anything like this before in my whole life dining out. The food was average. I won’t recommend this place to anyone.

Came here for dinner with my family, waiter was very friendly, food was good but not note worthy.
I am giving them 1 stars because they accidentally threw out the garlic bread we asked them to pack to go, the waiter offered to make us some more, which I thought was extremely nice of them. When I got home, I found the garlic bread they gave us were all burned BLACK! Not just a little, but inedible black, Is this some cruel joke? for making them do extra work? It’s so messed up!

I love this place for one simple reason. Pappardelle Bolognese. And I don’t mean some red sauce with meat added, I mean a proper Italian Bolognese. I have no idea if it is the best in the city, but it’s pretty darn good.
My friends have told me there are other good dishes on the menu as well, but honestly I’ve only ever gotten the one thing here!

We had a wedding party of 19 pre booked
they were adamant that we could not have previously fixed lunch menu (available 12 – 4) despite arriving at 1 pm.
manager was rude, service was good but they gave us the wrong bottles of wine, were rude to the groom’s parents who were from England… not a great impression of New York, water was spilled in a guest’s dinner plate, food was brought out way after the rest of the party finished eating… nevwt have we experienced servers that had no regard for their patrons. poor disposition, poor service, just a bad business all the way around. Dinner was just ok.

Do not get the GROUPON! You are better off if you just come here without it. My friend and I came here with a groupon ($ 49) that included one appetizer, two entrees, 2 glasses HOUSE wines and one desert.
We ordered 2 extra more glasses of wine and that was about it. When we got the bill to our surprise it l said $ 53! We were a bit chocked and asked the waiter to break it down because it did not make sense. Well, they include the 20% gratuity out of not sure which was the math there… and to charge $ 12 for a HOUSE wine?!! Really?
Conclusion is, what’s the point of getting a Groupon if you are going to end up paying more? For that go to a nicer restaurant in NYC with a better atmosphere, better food and they won’t slammed you with 20% gratuity.
You have been warned.

I came here for dinner with a friend, and we were both disappointed by our experience. First, the service was quite slow. Second, it turned out that his pasta was out of stock in the kitchen; but instead of asking if he was ok with a substitution, the kitchen went ahead and made a pasta substitution without asking him! Third, both of our pastas were slightly overcooked. Fourth, it took forever to get our check, and they forgot to split it, as we’d originally requested (a minor gripe, but still — we had asked).
The mojitos and bread basket were both pretty good, but on the whole, the underwhelming food experience means that I won’t be coming back here.

This is a nice, authentic Italian restaurant right on 14^th street. The waiters are very attentive and make sure to seat you right away. Within 45 seconds of my entering, I was offered the wine list. Now that is good service! Onto the food itself. I ordered a Bolognese over Fettuccine, which was pure excellence! There was ample beef in the sauce, with just a slight hint of heat and spice. The portion was a bit small however, and that is the only reason I’m not giving La Carbonara the full 5 stars. Its clear they want you to order seconds and lots of appetizers and desserts. I also ordered the Tiramisu with a side of vanilla gelato, which this time was a big, generous portion thankfully. :)

Went here with my wife for our 1^st anniversary dinner and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. My wife had the short rib with spinach ravioli and the fresh pasta made such a difference. I had the Tortellini and it was deliciouso. We’ll definitely return someday!

I have mixed feelings about this place. It is very cute and fun for a date. However the staff didn’t seem to have a grasp of what they were doing or the english language for that matter.
My date and I came here for after work drinks and decided to have dinner as well. I ordered the happy hour sangria and it was GROSS one of the worst sangrias I have ever had, so I sent it back and just got cranberry and vodka. We both decided to get salmon with mixed veggies. The portions were just sad… not filling at all.
As far as the service was concerned it was pretty bad language wise. No one aside from the host at the door spoke english well, luckily my date spoke fluent spanish so it worked out. I guess if this was latin food I would understand more but as this was an Italian place I was a bit thrown.
Overall the place was decent, nothing mind-​blowing or life changing.

This is a cozy, home-​y local Italian spot that’s located on a stretch of 14^th Street that you wouldn’t normally expect to find a nice restaurant.
We came on Saturday night, and were happily surprised how fast the service was, a plus since we were having a pre-​theatre dinner and were in a bit of a hurry. The restaurant was dimly lit and was a lot more romantic than the brightly lit photos on Unilocal implied.
Some spaghetti, rigatoni, and Pinot Noir later, we left happily stuffed.

Located in Chelsea on 14^th street between 7 & 8^th Ave this little Italian spot has me sold. It was empty when I arrived at 5pm with two friends. No wait time sweet. My two friends have ate here before and wanted to go here so I was in only after checking Unilocal of course.
Cute Italian restaurant with a great pre fixed dinner menu (Monday– Friday 4pm-​7pm) I enjoyed my Cesar salad and Pollo al Limone with a glass on wine (Riesling of course)
The portions looked small but let me tell you I was completely stuffed when I finished, didn’t need a doggie bag. The service was great our waiter was kind and attentive. All in all I can’t wait to return so I can try some more items on their menu.

They have a very affordable lunch special at $ 8.95. Your choice of three starters and several entrees. Portions are small but it was fine with me — I don’t chow down at lunch since I am usually in a rush to get back to business. I had the caesar salad which was fine. I think the other two choices were a green salad or soup. For my entrée I went with the rigatoni with sausage in tomato sauce — also done well — rigatoni was cooked well, enough sausage to notice, not skimpy. The other entrée choices were mostly simple pasta dishes but there were two or three chicken dishes as well.
This would have been a very cheap lunch except for two things. A glass of house merlot cost $ 10.00. Decent wine, a large pour. Plus I went with tiramisu for an extra $ 9.00. You can get sorbet or gelato for $ 3.00. So the bill was $ 30 and change but I was a happy camper.
Place seems a little out of fashion but looks nice enough. They have red tablecloths covered by white paper. Background music was nice enough. Bread was better than some other places but was cold. Service staff were OK but could be better.
If this place was in NJ, I would be a regular customer. But I don’t get down to 14^th Street very often.
One reviewer complained about the selection of pastas — too many. I thought that was mean spirited.