don't be fooled just because it is little italy

i have waited many years to go to nyc and esp. to little italy for a good italian dinner. of all the restaurants we were coaxed into canta napoli. first mistake, listening to the guy who talked us into going into the restaurant. he offered us free sangria as well! lesson one... if they have to talk you into trying their restaurant, don%26#39;t go.

the sangria was watered down and the bread and olive oil was cheap. the food was the worst italian meal that i have ever had. the sauce for my pasta tasted like tomatoe soup with a few chucks of tomatoes.

beware!!!! so disapointing for our first trip to nyc.

except for the bad meal, nyc was a great.

don't be fooled just because it is little italy

Hi I guess you should of read here before going to little italy. There are a FEW good places to eat but mostly when I do happen to go there it%26#39;s for dessert

Did you read here?

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don't be fooled just because it is little italy

yes, i read of a few restaurants but when we were walking around little italy, we were on mulberry and after looking at a few, got sucked in to this place. the guy just charmed us into going in. i assume he earned his pay, cause he was a great actor!

i wanted to also say, i%26#39;m sure there are some amazing restaurants in little italy. i just wish we would have picked a different one and with good reviews. we will the next time. we ate at katz and it was soooooooo great! morandi%26#39;s in greenwich village and it was very good.

Sorry that you had a bad experience. I would put a review on here for this restaurant so that other%26#39;s won%26#39;t have to suffer with tomato soup pasta:)

I can%26#39;t imagine why you are ';sure'; there are ';amazing'; Italian restaurants in little Italy.

1) It hasn%26#39;t been an Italian neighborhood in decades, so its not as if you have local neighborhood patrons who know the difference between good and bad Italian food

2) the whole block is a tourist trap, and city residents avoid tourist traps like the plague. Thus, local foodie types who are are connoisseurs of great Italian food would also avoid the area

3) Almost all of the patrons are tourists, with many of them being people from places like Kansas who know nothing about the neighborhood except the name, and nothing about Italian food that they haven%26#39;t learned at Pizza Hut. Many of them would not be able to tell the difference between manicotti and panna cotta, and if that is who you are cooking for, what kind of effort is it necessary to put into the food?

4)As you yourself note, what sort of great restaurant needs to have touts that pull people in from the sidewalk? If the food was ';amazing';, wouldn%26#39;t the tables all be reserved at least a month in advance they way they are with every other ';amazing'; restaurant in New York? But which restaurant in Little Italy doesn%26#39;t have open tables every night, and try to pull in passersby?

It has been said time and time and time again here that as far as full meals in restaurants go, Little Italy is NOT the place to go, and that the best you can hope for there is overpriced mediocrity. I am afraid it is people like yourself, marimia, who despite being told over and over again to give so-called Little Italy a pass insist on disregarding this advice because they are so ';sure'; there has to be good Italian food in tourist trap restaurants in the middle of a Chinese neighborhood that keeps these places going. I rather hope you will learn from your mistake, and will not bother going there again to find that ';amazing'; Italian restaurant. There are plenty of genuinely great Italian restaurants in NYC, but NOT ONE of them is on Mulberry Street in what used to be Little Italy, and life is far too short to waste one%26#39;s time eating indifferent dishes of pasta.

Why Sangria? Isn%26#39;t that Spanish?

Yes Sangria started in Spain %26amp; Portugal But Italian%26#39;s make it also.

hubpages.com/hub/Sangria-Recipe-Italian

We ate at La Mela last week, and it was wonderful! There are 100%26#39;s of famous people%26#39;s pics on the walls who%26#39;ve also eaten there. And they did not lure us in.

I%26#39;m with GWB on this one. Little Italy must have been something in the 30%26#39;, 40%26#39;s and 50%26#39;s. Back then, it was still an Italian neighborhood. Now, it is Italian in name only, and morphing, little by little into Chinatown. All that remained when the Italians left were the restaurants.

The City constantly changes and evolves. The kids of the Italian families wanted more than tenament life. They wanted houses, yards, and the American dream. This once cohesive neighborhood dispersed into New Jersey, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester.

Can you get a decent meal here? Probably. Will it be overpriced. Probably again. Will it be as good as other Italian restaurants in the City? Probably not.

Little Italy is not what it once was, but for many visitors who would like to see where Italians settled and lived, it is a worthwhile visit, whether you eat there or not. The festivals there are still fun.

yelp.com/biz_photos/SfB4abDdeFol2fqrwa51LA鈥?/a>