Having lost a number of our favorite place in the last few years, and with the dumbing-down of so many menus, we needed to find some other options. I discovered some of these using the Seated app, which is a great way to save money while exploring new options. Here are the ones we liked and have been returning to:
Portale - Pricey but excellent
Rosa Mexicano - Big and loud but the food is very good
Sotto 13 - Wonderful pastas, pizzas and main courses
Laut, and Laut Singapura - Malaysian/Singaporean
Le Coucou - Fancy French, perfect for a special occasion
Osteria 106 - Wonderful Italian in Manhattan Valley
Baazi - Formerly Awadh, food has gotten really good, our favorite Indian restaurant
Piccolo Angolo - Old-school New York Italian, huge portions of delicious food, nice wine list
Scampi - Modern take on Italian, with a selection of crudos, pastas, and main courses
Thanks for writing about these here! Glad to know about Baazi; I was a fan of Awadh early, but then it went down hill. Indian Table is my current favorite Indian spot, but it’s a hike for me from the UWS. Went to Portale when it first opened, and it has remained just very, very good, plus everyone in my family adores it. Just something for everyone, and the vibe is also great. Noisy, yes, but full of life, IMO. I will check out your blog.
The only unfortunate thing about Portale is that the menu doesn’t change, and they rarely have daily specials. We’ve had every dish more than once, so it’s not something we can frequent as much as we used to.
Agree…when they first opened (pre-pandemic) the menu was always changing. Now, it just does so seasonally, and it seems they even cheat a bit on that so there are not even four rotations. It is always packed, though, so perhaps they are fine sitting on their laurels.
We intended to go to Ayat Hinds Hall, but the rest of Morningside Heights got there ahead of us, so we pivoted to Osteria 106. Very cute place! I tried two of the salads, esotica (excellent) and snow pea (overdressed, according to me). For my main, I had the fried artichoke. The fry was clean, but the aioli it was served with overpowered it. Lemon would have been a better choice. H had the paccheri alla pescatora, and I was jealous, because it was really lovely.
We used to like Osteria 106, but the last time we went there (couple of years ago) we were treated so horribly we will never go back. They had obviously overbooked, as when we arrived on time for our reservation there were no tables available, nor would there be any soon. We ended up waiting well over an hour; would have left but there isn’t anything else worthwhile in the immediate neighborhood. The manager was terribly rude and dismissive of our complaint. One of the friends who we were dining with had been there many times and gotten to know the owner, who wasn’t there that night. Our friend stopped by another day to speak with the owner about this and she was as dismissive at her manager. They obviously feel they don’t need the business. Disgusting.
Oh, my goodness! That’s awful! We just strolled in and got a table immediately - the place was only about half full. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience.
