L’Apicio

Overall positive. Pluses: nice design, very nice and service oriented staff, not too noisy even when full, food excellent. Minus: ordered a Bloody Mary but they had no mix/​tomatoes (huh?), and our server faded at the end so there was a little waiting at end. But would def recommend.

Literally just wandered into this place while walking through the Bowery district into the East Village. It’s a beautiful restaurant and the bar is staffed with great people. The bartender in particular was so warm and welcoming. She saw me sitting alone so struck up a welcome conversation with me that made the experience so much better for me. The food, was equally, amazing. I tried the octopus appetizer. Not the best I’ve ever had but certainly well prepapred. What really kicked into high gear for me was that chicken entrée. The roasted chicken with fennel, spring onion and lemon. It’s $ 28 but worth every penny. It may very well be the BEST chicken entrée I’ve ever eaten. It’s a tall order but it’s just that good. It was a large portion too and I ate every bite. Very crispy on the outside, moist on the inside and incredibly flavorful, you really cant ask for a better preparation of chicken. For dessert, although I was stuffed, I just had to see what they would do with a tiramisu (my favorite dish). Man, it was amazing. I wont say its the BEST i’ve ever had since I’ve had so many in so many cities. Also I was so stuffed when I ate it. I’ll have to try it once (or twice) more to be sure. Definitely in the top 3. Highly recommend this restaurant for the food, if nothing else.

This the sister restaurant to L’Artusi; therefore, I had really high expectations!
L’Apicio did not disappoint. The atmosphere is very cute and comfortable (intimate but enough room between tables to not feel cramp).
Food/​drinks — Charred Octupus was very good, grilled to perfection, not dried out. Grilled Asparagus — Vince loved this appetizer. Bucatini with Shrimp was amazing (highly recommend). Once I added fresh pepper and Parmesan cheese, it was heavenly! Spaghetti with Meatballs — I was very skeptical of getting this dish. Too simple, right? Wrong!!! It was so good and possibly the best dish of the night. The Tomato Basil sauce and meatballs were the truth!!! Wine list was very good.
The service was spotty and could be better, but not a total distraction.
Will definitely come back here or L’Artusi in the future.

3.5 stars
We made a reservation for 6 people on a Tuesday night. The restaurant is small and cozy. Once the majority of our party arrived, we were seated at a table. We started the night with some cocktails (Old fashioned, draught beer, dirty martini) — all were made well and was a good start. Once we placed an order for appetizers, we were brought olive oil & bread. The olive oil was of decent quality, but the bread was hard and a bit too tough to eat.
Appetizers;
1) Anson Mills Polenta — creamy, mushrooms were well cooked and not overcooked
2) Spaghetti with meatballs (not your traditional appetizer, but my cousin asked to order it so we could all try it) — sauce was decent, spaghetti was a little overcooked
Entrees:
1) Gnocchi — I still have not found one place that made gnocchi as good as one restaurant in East Village, but the sauce and rabbit was very good
2) Spaghetti with meatballs
3) Bucanti — a bit too salty but otherwise good
4) Artic Char — great flavor and cooked well
5) Roasted Chicken — my dish and was one of the favorites at the table. great combination of ingredients, chicken was juicy and tender
6) Hanger Steak — surprisingly really well cooked. It was my next favorite
7) Heritage Pork Chop — the table’s second favorite. While I agree it was good, I’m not a huge fan of pork chop so my opinion is a little biased
It’s been a while since we’ve been at a restaurant with great service. They were constantly filling up our water, asking if we needed another cocktail, asked how our food was… etc.

L’Apicio is the sister restaurant to L’Artusi which means you’re going to have a good meal. You will not be disappointed when dining here. The food is always on point with delicious flavors. The menu changes often which is cool so you’re always going to try new dishes. I’ve never had a bad meal here. I’ve been here for a casual week night dinner and for special occasions and every time has been great. I recommend L’Apicio for a good meal.

Made a reservation for 9 PM last night (Saturday). We didn’t get seated until 10 PM (what’s the point of making a reservation?). The menu has changed since 2 years ago and all the best items are either different or gone. The pasta is still amazing but I don’t know if I will go back.

When my party arrived we were greeted by two very nice hostesses and we had a drink at the bar before we sat down for our reservation. So far so good.
Once we were seated we met our waiter for the evening, Edward. Edward turned out to be extremely rude, sarcastic and condescending. Yea we were not happy with him at all.
That being said, the food was ok, nothing to write home about. My wife and I split a pasta dish for an appetizer and like I said before it was good, not amazing. Portion was very small. If I had that as an entrée I would have been so mad. We both ordered the steak which was cooked just right but was served slightly cool and you can tell the potatoes were reheated.
Olive oil cake for dessert which was very good but again not amazing.
Overall I wasn’t impressed and probably will not return.

This was my first time back to L’Apicio in a few years. I was pleased overall with the meal. Our waitress was very bubbly, energetic, happy, etc, however our glasses sat empty on the table a few times– both water and cocktails. So, although our waitress was beyond pleasant, the service overall could be cranked up a notch.
We got the octopus and asparagus appetizers to start. The octopus was okay– not amazing. However, the asparagus appetizer was great– I pretty much love everything and anything with a fried egg and bread crumbs on it. I definitely recommend the asparagus app.
For our entrees we got the bucatini and the skirt steak. The bucatini was absolutely delicious. The pasta alone was great– it doesn’t even need the shrimp. The skirt steak was was also a pretty good dish– however a little on the salty side. The entrée came with crispy potatoes.
The interior is open, dark– nice spot for a dinner for two off Bowery on a Friday night.

First time experience and it was awful… I didn’t have too high of expectation but I expected decency because I am a regular at Dell/‘anima and L’Artusi which belong to the same restaurant group– Epicurean Group.
Firstly, I was overcharged due to the wrong check delivered to me and my friend (Feb 5^th). When I physically present the next day at the restaurant talking to the general manager, there was no explanation or apology communicated until I expressed my unsatisfactory experience. The general manager couldn’t wait for me to leave when I questioned «if the payment was adjusted, don’t you think it’s a courtesy to call and notify the customer?» She then apologized and yet failed to learn my request of need to adjust my tip amount according the correct bill amount.
For the next 1 week and half, I never received a call from anyone in the restaurant with my account still overcharged due to the tip amount. Still waiting for a call back at this moment.
Apart from the service, the food is just mediocre, we had the Kale& Radicchio Salad, it was overly savory, too sweet and vinaigrette-​ish that the original taste of greens are totally lost in dressing.
I had the streak as main, it was a little hard to chew and the flavor of the sauce was bland.
The menu in general is lack of imagination, same ingredient used in appetizer and sides and in the main course. Kale salad, and kale in pork chop. Sultanas in Kale salad, and appeared again in our cauliflower side dish, as well as the Atlantic Cod fish my friend ordered. So for the whole meal, 3 out of 4 dishes had sultanas. making it quite a boring experience for my palate.
I don’t understand how the same restaurant group can run L“Artusi and Dell’anima so successfully manage such a disappointing branch in East Village.
(I’d go Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken next door rather than L’Apicio.at least they do a good job in frying the chicken and fries)

We tried to get in their sister restaurant L’Artusi was full but were then recommended L’Apicio.
We ordered:
Charred Octopus– this was solid– just wish there were more meat.
Bucatini– I really liked this dish, it was a tad bit salty but otherwise near perfection.
Orecchiette– if you’re a pesto fan, you’d be in heaven, if you’re not it’s super oily and heavy so beware.
Roasted Chicken– this dish is HUGE, the chicken very tender and came with various sides on it. It was kind of a mismosh but it all worked well together.

KenScale: 7.5÷10
L’Apicio is an Italian restaurant in East Village from Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale who have created such fan favorites as dell’anima and L’Artusi in West Village. Unlike the previously two restaurants they opened, which have more cozy settings, L’Apicio is bigger and seems to play more safe catering to a large number of different crowds. Overall, I generally liked the dishes here, but there were some hits and misses.
Any meal at L’Apicio would probably start well with charred octopus that comes with fregola, pepperoni, olives and lemon. The octopus had really nice texture and worked very well with the vegetables underneath. Because we weren’t particularly hungry, we decided to go ahead and over two pasta dishes. It turned out that the server brought a wrong dish and gave it as a freebie on top of the two orders, so we were lucky to have three different pastas. My favorite was definitely tagliatelle with short rib ragu and parmesan, a dish that looks deceptively simple yet had quite a nice hearty feel to it. On the other hand, orecchiette with spicy sausage ragu and broccoli rabe pesto was more or less pedestrian, even with bread crumbs, More disappointing was the bucatini that came with shrimp, garlic, chives and chili. I was hoping to have a perfectly al dente noodle with spicy kick that could totally bring the dish alive; instead, I had oily dish that was simply forgettable. For dessert, we shared ricotta panna cotta with fig jam and fig sorbet. I’ve had panna cotta in a lot of different places, but the one at L’Apicio was a bit bizarre, as the texture of the cream was off and instead of enhancing its flavor, the fig jam and sorbet were acting more like a distraction.
The restaurant has a nice vibe and stylish décor that would be ideal for a first date. Getting a restaurant wasn’t particularly difficult, and I wasn’t sure how they would be able to fill a relatively large dining space every night. The restaurant has a nice wine menu, consisting of a lot of solid Italian. Maybe it was an off-​night, but the experience at L’Apicio wasn’t quite like what I had at dell’anima; even L’Artusi, despite its hits and misses there too because of occasionally excessive use of salt, had some memorable moments. Couldn’t say I had the same for this restaurant.

Good food, we ordered almost 4 kinds of pastas since we had 7 people — mushroom, linguini, crab, squid. Loved the home made pasta. I think it’s a bit pricy though. We paid about $ 70 per person — 7 people we ordered 4 appetizers, 6 entrees, 2 sides, and each of us had a glass of wine. No desert or tea/​coffee. All of them were really small portion and we had no leftover. I found the glass was dirty. But overall, good food and food service. Not so good on value/​price ratio.

This place is a good 3 star… maybe a 3.5 but there is just too much competition in NYC to really be generous. Came here on a Friday night at 915 with my fiancé and another couple. It’s really great for groups given the sleek style and spacious dining room (though our immediate area was a bit cramped).
We started off with some drinks: the men some standard IPA beers, the women an Italian champagne/​sparkling white and me the house’s beverage director’s own white line. sorry I totally forget the Italian names. Something like Annora? Anyway, the wine was interesting. It’s hard to describe. it was amber in color too. It was buttery and crispy with a lot of citrus; it almost took on a cider-​y flavor. We got a standard Italian bread basket.
On the food. To start, we ordered the grilled octopus and the peekytoe crab starters. Sadly, these were disappointing. And small. Well the crab was. It was a good, citrus, clean flavor (served cold) but just not enough for four but priced accordingly… the octopus was a little overcooked and the farro to octo ratio was a lot. The octo was also overcooked a bit– too charred.
The mains were good. The women had the shrimp bucatini which was a healthier portion (bigger) with succulent shrimp, home bread crumbs, lots of garlic, citrus ad chili flakes. the sauce was light but flavorful and melded well with the pasta. It was lemony and yummy. Very good.
The men had the linguine nero (the black ink spaghetti) with seafood– I didn’t try it, but it looked good. And the other (my guy) had the tilefish which was the fish of the day which was again, a little small and just kind of sad looking. It tasted good though.
This is a place you come for the pasta, for sure. Apparently people say their other restos are better L’Artusi, Dell’Anima but I was not really too impressed. It was ok to good. This is supposed to be more of the casual of the restaurants but I felt the price point didn’t reflect as such given our pasta was still like $ 25. Don’t hate that I came, but didn’t love it to come back. I would try L’Artusi though.
Also. our service was slooow. I don’t blame our server because he tried his best but it took way to long to get orders in, get food, etc. Partly why I think our octopus was overercooked. It was ok because we were socializing (and this is a big place as far as Manhattan goes, so come in a group, sure) but still. fyi.

Been wanting to try L’Apicio ever since it performed so well on the Best New Restaurant show.
Service a bit uneven. Front of the house spectacular — friendly, highly knowledgable about menu items and wine, top-​notch service. Server was soft-​spoken, less knowledgable — seemed like he was very new/​inexperienced. Overheard other servers who were more outgoing and seemed to know their stuff. Thankfully, front of the house intervened to assist with our service.
Bread was nice, crusty and rustic, although wish it came out warm.
Table next to us got an amuse bouche which unfortunately did not come our way.
Cocktail — Takahasi. Perfect autumn cocktail. Apple, bourbon and ginger. Highly recommend.
Appetizer — little gem salad. Fantastic! Very fresh, lemon crema dressing was delicious and came together nicely with the feta and Parmesan croutons.
Mains — mezzaluna with chestnuts, squash and sage brown butter. Savory, hint of sweetness. Absolutely delish.
Tagliatelle with short rib ragu. Very good. Wish there was a little more meat in the ragu.
Had a great glass of Oregon Pinot Noir. Front of the house brought me two different wines to try to help me decide which to pair with the pastas. Very nice touch.
Side — Brussels sprouts. Perfectly cooked. Love the pickled onion accompaniment.
Dessert — olive cake. The one that made Tom Colicchio giggle with delight. Had the same effect on me. Outstanding!
Ordered a macchiato but server told us former broke so he bought me an espresso instead. Was fine with that but perhaps should have offered to take it off the bill.
Overall a very good meal out. Food and drinks were spot on. Front of the house was one of the best. Server needs some more seasoning. Didn’t seem to mesh with the friendly, outgoing vibe.

I am a fan of this place! I’d passed by it before, but never really thought to go. A friend recently suggested that our little group get together for dinner since it had been awhile, and he had suggested we go here. It sounded good, so why not?
We had reservations for 7:30 on a Tuesday night. The place was a little crowded but not packed. I really liked the décor here. It was kind of dark and cozy, and also super cute in the front bar area. We were seated in the corner by the window. We were a group of 6, so we started off looking at some bottles of wine. We got a few recommendations from the waitress and then settled on a bottle of red and white. Then we decided on some appetizers to share. Since we were a big group we got two of the ricotta with persimmons, sooo good! The ricotta was so creamy, and the persimmons went really well with it. We also got the grilled octopus and Hamachi crudo. Both were really good, the octopus was cooker perfectly and not chewy at all. The Hamachi was really fresh, and the pomegranate seeds were a nice accompaniment. I was torn between a few dishes for my main, but my friend and the waitress both said the bucatini was a favorite so I went with that. It did not disappoint! It is extremely garlicy, but I didn’t mind. The shrimp, pasta, garlic, breadcrumbs, it was all really good! It says chili in the description, but it wasn’t really spicy to me. My friend who suggested it ordered it extra spicy so if you’re looking for a real kick you probably have to ask for it. When they brought all our mains they also brought us some ravioli stuffed with golden beets on the house. I am not a beet fan, but I figured I’d give it a try and it wasn’t too bad. If I liked beets, I’d say it was amazing though. My friend had asked about this polenta dish with mushrooms that he had had there before that wasn’t on the menu anymore, and the kitchen made it for him. So that was really cool of them. We looked at the dessert menu, but we were stuffed and didn’t get anything.
Overall everything was really good from all the food to the service. It’s not an inexpensive place, but it wasn’t really that expensive either. It’s a good Italian place to keep in mind for the future cause I definitely want to go back!

A wonderful dinner with a friend at L’Apicio!
We ordered the charred octopus and fluke crudo as appetizers, and I ordered the tagliatelle as my entrée. The charred octopus was definitely the better appetizer, and I really enjoyed my dish. I had a bite of my friends’ bugatini and it was quite tasty as well. The service was attentive, my water glass never went empty, and the ambiance was great. I wouldn’t mind coming here for a dinner date.

A coworker taught us the word epicurean after he read about this place. We came with work and they had a group tasting menu (that was a first for me – it was a ~10 or so course meal but shared amongst 2 – 3 people).
Their various pasta dishes were amazing, each one better than the previous. Their vegetables dishes were also amazing with just the right about of grated cheese around it.

Great spot! Went here Bc I saw it featured on Best New Restaurant on Bravo.
Our server was fabulous and entertaining. The food was fabulous I had the special pasta with truffles. Pasta was so fresh and the portions were perfect.

Dell’anima, L’Artusi and Anfora… I would rank all of those at the same level, in fact, Anfora is the best wine bar in the city and Dell’anima & L’Artusi are in the Top 5 of Italian restaurants in my opinion.
L’Apicio, however falls short… very short, in my opinion.
To begin with, the space is not that great… yeah, it’s nice and modern, but it’s fragmented and compartmentalized into different areas and just doesn’t feel, well, cozy.
Second, the wine list falls short of my expectations, nothing in comparison to the other three locations which have cool off-​the-​beat wines (ie, Anfora-​aged wines, orange wines, etc.).
Third, when I did order a bottle of Friulano, which was the best thing I could find at my price point, the waitress came back after a long wait to tell me that the bottle was not chilled cause they just pulled it from the cellar and hadn’t been in the fridge. I mean, it wasn’t a unique wine, in fact, it was one of their main wines they probably serve on a regular basis… so how could you not have it already chilled on a Friday night? And I didn’t feel like spending an extra 50% for the next level of wine, so we waited while they chilled it. Amateur-​hour really — that would never happen at the other spots.
Fourth, I thought the burrata app, oreccheitte pasta, pork meatball polenta and cod fish entrée were all ok, but nothing spectacular.
Lastly, the bill was $ 191, and we didn’t even get the bottle of wine until almost halfway through our entrees. We had to order two individual glasses of wine until the bottle was chilled… and I’m not cheap and never look for freebies, but they could’ve at least comp’d us for at least one of the glasses for their mistake.
Overall, I love what Joe has done at the other three spots, but this one needs some work, a lot of work.

For someone who used to shy away from Italian cuisine, it’s almost amusing to see how Italian restaurants have crept up as one of my most-​visited venues. L’Apicio is no exception; I’d had such favorable experiences at its sister restaurants dell’Anima and L’Artusi, that it had long been on my to-​do list. There’s clear distinctions between L’Apicio and the earlier members of its family, however. It’s the first to break out of the West Village neighborhood, and its location between East Village and the Lower East Side has likely influenced the restaurant’s identity. Gone are the cozy, intimate dining rooms. Instead, guests will find a sleek, modern interior, complete with high ceilings, latticed circular lights, and a cold, almost corporate ambiance.
We arrived for dinner and were seated at a two-​top almost hidden by one of the floor-​to-​ceiling banisters, a placement that occasionally made it difficult throughout the evening to get the attention of the waitstaff. For the most part, we were taken care of, and had the requisite glasses of water and walk through of the menu. It’s fairly standard of most Italian restaurants, with a handful of starters, a solid selection of primi, and a number of meat and seafood-​based main courses. After some discussion, we decided on a shared Piattino and Primi, and our own Secondi.
We started with the Tuna Tartare, which was served with a green chickpea purée and sliced spring radishes. At first glance, the tuna was cut into too-​thin cubes, which meant that the texture of the fish bordered on mushy. I would have appreciated a little extra hit of lime or vinegar for acidity, as the chickpea purée didn’t have much dimension in flavor. We weren’t given a carbohydrate to pair it with, and had to ask for more bread; a cracker or some kind of crisp would have been a better alternative.
We were pleasantly surprised by our primi, the Orecchiette. The pasta was cooked to the perfect chew, and complemented by a spicy sausage ragu and a broccoli rabe pesto. The sausage adds just the right amount of spice and texture, and the pesto is a much-​needed aromatic addition to the dish. There’s a diced spinach intermixed into the dish as as well as a sprinkling of crushed croutons to add a little crunch to each forkful. All the flavors incorporated into the pasta worked in harmony, and in hindsight, it made us regret we hadn’t ordered another one.
For my main, I went with the humble Roast Chicken. The chicken skin was well-​charred and crisp, with a generous amount of black pepper added to it. The interior white meat was on the tougher and drier end of the spectrum, but then again, I’ve had many iterations of roast chicken at excellent places. It was served over a bed of roasted baby potatoes, fennel, and olives — again, a selection of ingredients that made me pause. It was the first time I’d had olives incorporated with potatoes, and despite the fact that it was well-​seasoned and roasted, I couldn’t help but wish they hadn’t been added in the first place. The Flank Steak was similarly lackluster; the amount of thick-​cut fries on the plate was almost twice as much as there was steak.
I’m a little disappointed in my experience at L’Apicio, given the prior successes of Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise, though; with its location and capacity of 150 guests, it’s difficult to maintain the quality and care in every plate that leaves the kitchen. Perhaps the best course of attack at L’Apicio would be to order several of the excellent pastas, and if it happens to be a Sunday or Monday night, to bring your own bottle of wine at no additional charge. There are certainly several areas that the restaurant excels in, but not enough to warrant a return visit.