San Matteo

Went to San Matteo on a recent business trip and I was ELATED by the experience, food, and quality of service. We got seated by the street which made for amazing people watching, and then we had a starter of THE BEST EGGPLANT DISH I might have had in my life. It’s been a week and I’m still thinking about it. Pizza is solid and is exactly the right balance for woodfire pizza but this was a lovely spot.

We got the arugula salad with pecorino, short rib fusilli short rib ragu and prosciutto pizza. Each thing was literally amazing!

Don’t go. It was the soggiest worst pizza I have ever eaten. Even the salad was covered in sauce.
Meatballs were gross. The eggplant appetizer was good. But after this gross soggy pizza… I didn’t even finish and got the check. Had an extra whole pizza and didn’t even want to take it to go!
Don’t go.
Sooooo many better places to go!

Pizza toppings are great however their pizza is so thin it shouldn’t even be called pizza. More like a crêpe!
First time I ordered from here the toppings arrived in the box and not on the pizza and the pizza was transparent. when they sent the new batch same thing. Disappointing!

I love this place! I live very close by, and I probably go about once a week. It has yet to disappoint. Quality and consistency are key in a five star review. The short rib ravioli with the parmesan cream sauce special has been my favorite dish that I’ve tried thus far. Also, any dish with truffle oil is a go-​to. Their rice balls are also very good. I’m Italian, we have homemade arincini a lot, and I can officially give them a good rating. The staff is ridiculously nice and gracious. They’re the kind of people that if they see that you’re cold when stuck seated at a table by the door, they will try to find you a different table without you even having to ask. Those are the best kind of people. Basically, you should definitely come here for a great time and even better food.

Came here on a Friday during Lent (no meat diet of course) the porcini mushroom pie and margarita pie was out of this world. We were seated right away and our service was phenomenal. Definitely a welcomed new addition to the amazing food scene on 2^nd.

Summary
New sit down pizza option in the neighborhood. It’s a great spot to catch a game!
Atmosphere
Decent pizza bar kind of scene. Decent spot to watch a game with a pizza and a beer for sure. A little more bar scene than Pizza Beach.
Food
Got the burrata and the sausage/​pep pizza. Both were great. We’ll definitely be back to try other options. It’s one of our new favorite spots!
Drinks
Decent wine selection. We went with an Italian pinot which I know is not where good pinot comes from but it was still tasty.
Service
Very friendly and accommodating. When I came here with my girlfriend we actually closed the place out and they let us stay much longer than we expected. Cool guys.

I really enjoyed my experience at San Matteo. The food was «finger licking» good. I had the burrata as an appetizer and prosciutto pizza for my main & both equally delicious. The table next to me cleaned their desert which tempted me but I was stuffed! I really enjoyed the music and the vibe was cool. I am very glad you’re in the neighborhood!

I came here on a busy Sunday night — there wasn’t much of a wait because I was a party of 1 — however there was only 1 waiter and he was very busy.
I had the DI POLLA Calizone– Tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, soppressata, fresh basil, Pecorino Romano– it was HUGE and had a great hint of spice! Paired with a nice Chianti — made for a great meal! As soon as they get more help it will be a 5 star pizza/​pasta/​sandwich place for families, couples & singles like me :) very cute bar area and upstairs seating as well!

I went there last night and they are still in their «soft» opening of this location. I have never been to the original (and I think still in business) location, so I can’t compare the two places.
Pros: spacious, especially the upstairs dinning area. Fast service. Reasonably priced wine list. Tasty crust on the pizza.
Negatives: I didn’t try anything but two «Rosse» pizzas, so I can only comment on those. But the pizzas seemed a little weak and thin in the middle of the pie. It was difficult to slice the pizza and put a piece on my plate. The middle of the pie seemed to disintegrate, while the edges of the pie were nicely chewy and thick. Are they using a sauce that is too watery? Or are they stretching the pie to thin in the middle? I had the Diavola and Vestuti pies. They were tasty, but I felt they could have been much better.
This might be nitpicking but the menus were all torn and worn. Did they bring menus from their other location, instead of printing new menus?
They are in a new location, so I’ll cut them some slack and try it again, but right now there are two Neapolitan pizza places in the East Village that are much better. I’m hoping they improve as I would love to be able to walk to a great pizza place. But if they don’t improve, I would rather have traditional NYC pizza that is in the area, or head downtown.

Unfortunately it seems that we stopped in too close to when they first opened because two pretty significant sections of the entire menu were completely unavailable — Secondi and all Pastas, which was disappointing. We also were told that the one appetizer that we tried to order was also unavailable, so I assume there were a few other items on the menu that weren’t available that night either.
However, what we did order — one caprese salad and two pizzas (one had eggplant chunks and the other had ham and burrata — don’t remember exactly what they were called), was all really good. The pizza was thin other than the crust itself which was super thick and soft and tasted great. The caprese salad was a very good (big) size.
Service was pretty good even though we were seated in a corner and the food came out SO fast even though it was decently busy.
To summarize, we were very disappointed at how much of the menu was unavailable, but the food that we were able to order was good enough that we would try again!

Best burrata in nyc. Pizza specials are always a must — especially the prosciutto and black mozz

San Matteo is currently in soft opening. It is the updated version of the original at 90^th street. It is more spacious with large windows and great bar seating. The menu has been expanded to include sandwiches, pastas and more appetizers and salads. We did not get a salad but it was huge!
If I didn’t have the original to compare it to, I’d be more enthused, but unfortunately I do. We had a calzone and a pizza special with black mozzarella. Both were delicious. However, I did notice that the pizza oven is free standing unlike the oven at the original that is built into the wall. The crust has yet to reach that great balance of crunch and chew that the original has. I’m sure it will be perfected.