Gina La Fornarina – West Side

This place has the most perfectly cooked spaghetti and meatballs I can remember having. Waiters are spot on, offering refills of water at timely intervals, and the place is clean. I’ve only been here once, and will be going often in the future if my first experience is any indication of those to come. The only reason we hadn’t come here sooner than the year and a half we have been passing it by was because based on the outside décor and logo of the lady holding a pizza, we thought it was strictly a pizza joint.

This is a lovely place on the Upper West Side — it’s very cute on the outside and just as quaint on the inside. I have been going here for brunch for quite some time now. This is a wonderful place to go to brunch with a nice group of friends — great French toast, salad with fennel, breakfast pizza, and Eggs Benedict. Oh and how can I forget the fresh squeezed orange juice! Delish.

Fabulous brunch today for Mother’s Day, thank you To our server and the great staff, we had a table of 11, three families and everybody was happy :-) I loved my eggs Florentine, had a great bloody Mary — though I did ask for it to be made a little stronger and they topped it off with vodka– With the five kids in our party and six adults all enjoyed their food, the atmosphere and the service. I have been twice for brunch and I am not so sure about on the negative reviews on here, I would say check it out and ask for a window seat, great people watching in a bright, fun atmosphere.

Very hip place not to mention their gourmet pizzas are really good! Mixing breakfast and pizza you can’t go wrong! I really love the pizza florentine…

I was wary after reading some reviews, but Gina did not disappoint. The service was terrific, the prosciutto fig pizza rich and savory, and the Bianca was covered with peppery arugula. The poached salmon salad, although a little overdressed, was pleasing and plentiful. We made it to the Beacon Theater in plenty of time and mellowed by some nice pinot grigio.

Ah Gina… it looks like it should be a GREAT restaurant. Its cute and charming with a little kitsch. Its in a prime location with awesome people watching on the corner of a busy intersection. But its really just ok. I’ve had dinner, brunch and lunch here and while the food’s not bad I always feel a little disappointed. They have a salad with shredded chicken and the chicken is a little dry and flavorless. With the dressing its ok but I think they can do better than that. I recently had salmon benedict with the option of potatoes or salad. I got the salad and the balsamic dressing (which I didn’t know would be on the salad) ran onto the eggs and salmon and kind of ruined the flavors of the eggs/​salmon/​hollandaise combo. Another person in my party got the ricotta pancakes which tasted fine but were very dry without the syrup and accompaniments. The standard pizza is decent and the pastas are fine. Anymore adventurous orders than those and you may feel let down. On the plus side, the service is fast and accommodating and they hustle in order to squeeze us in when its crowded.

I’ve come here a few times after some sort of occurrence, whether it be I just ran a 5k or a rough night out before. The 3 cheese omelette with a salad, bacon or sausage and a Bellini or mimosa on the side will fix all your problems! On week nights it’s packed. I think daylight is the best time. One of my upper west side faves!

We loved the Tahitian Vanilla Bean French Toast and Ricotta Pancakes. My favorite, however, is the freshly squeezed OJ!

Don’t rely on the negative reviews; Gina’s West was a wonderful experience for my small family reunion (7 people, including several vegetarians and my 9-​year old foodie niece). We loved the whimsical décor and cozy atmosphere, the food was lovely and the service was exceptional. Everyone raves over their dishes and the desserts were a huge hit; I had the most delicious short rib ever and everyone would try some of that and the mashed potatoes and declare it ‘heavenly,’ my girlfriend had authentically thin-​crust Italian pizza, my brother got the white fish and declared it delicious, my sister in law was completely enamored with her pappardelle and lamb stew which was cooked perfectly, and my niece loved dessert; the flan, and the chocolate mousse, were epic. Everyone was so happy. The waitress was a complete delight and made sure we liked our wine selection, bringing us tastings of the wines and even comp’ing a glass of wine my girlfriend didn’t like when she accidentally chose incorrectly. Everyone from the hostess to the waitresses congratulated us on our anniversary and all 7 of us were quite thrilled when we left.

After attempting to order online @ 4:45pm, I was called and informed that my order was canceled (even though it says they deliver until 11pm).
I attempted to order the follow evening. I was called again, apparently their menu is very out of date. They had me select a new item, ravioli ($ 21.50). There was a $ 6.50 difference that they asked me to cover in cash with the delivery arrival. The ravioli were tiny –I wish I had taken a photo, they were sightly larger than a half dollar, not to be confused with a half of a dollar, no they were a half dollar– they were also over cooked. There were about 8 of them. I would not recommend. My friend had pasta, it was alright, also overpriced.

The staff is very welcoming and when we mention we have a Unilocal certificate, we are not treated any differently. They make you feel very welcome — always. Cute corner spot — wish the ambiance was more cozy though.

The most disgusting pizza I have ever had. It has giant chunks of ham instead of prosciutto and bushels on old brown basil. Never order from this place.

I had a great experience here today on my first time in. Very nice waitress who was attentive at the right times. Bread and olive oil was a nice complimentary addition while waiting for my meal. I had chicken piccata and it was very flavorful, very similar to what I’ve had in little Italy! Great UWS Italian option and I will return.

I ordered the Spinach and ricotta ravioli for $ 23.95. I can’t lie, it was just *good* but the portion was rather small :-/​and I ordered a glass of Riesling ($ 11). My companion ordered the Turkey meatballs with fettuccine for $ 24.95 with his portion slightly better than mine. The meatballs were juicy and tasty. My least favorite part of the dinner was my ravioli portion… and the plain Olive oil given with our bread basket (c’mon, add some garlic in there or something!) [Also, I feel that for the the portions we were served this is highly overpriced food]. Our server was polite and pleasant. I wasn’t crazy about the food but I would go back for the tempting dessert menu.

We only visited this restaurant because I had a gift card for $ 25. We wont be returning. We ordered the margarita pizza appetizer, this was good, but was a little bland for me. we ordered 2 glasses of Riesling, which tasted like house white wine, so we switched to sangria, they gave us white but we wanted red, the red was acceptable but we’ve had better. we ordered the branzino special which was very very good and I had the atlantic salmon… this tasted overcooked and bland. the next morning I was vomiting I couldn’t even keep carrots down…
the restaurant feels cramped and if you get claustrophobic this isn’t for you.

Had a dinner date with one of my very special friends who I babysat when she was little now she is an adult we can go out have wine and catch up we decided to go to Gina because it looked cosy and not as loud as the other places. I loved how the atmosphere was so welcoming and inviting we ordered wine at the bar we had to wait for a table and go to taste it before we decided on what to get. Within minutes we were seated and started to order the food was delicious. I’m definitely coming back for more.

Es nuestro lugar favorito para comer en el Upper West Side. La comida es riquísima, el servicio es muy bueno, tienen buenas pastas, buenas ensaladas, y excelentes pizzas. Recomiendo la pizza de gorgonzola y pera, Y la de higos, pero todos los platos son muy buenos y muy frescos. De entrada no se pierdan la focaccia con guacamole!!!
Y el precio es super razonable!

Meh. Food is perfectly OK. Service, not so much. Last time we came here, they straight up forgot about our meals (OK, it was busy). This time, they never came by to refill/​replace drinks (it wasn’t that crowded).
And now, they’ve got a Mexican/​margarita menu? It’s unclear what the hell is going on in this place. I know there are four in the city, but I don’t understand how they get repeat business.

Good was good but not outstanding. The salad was good but plain & my spinach & cheese ravioli was good but not out of the ordinary. My date had a pasta that was home made but bland. Also expensive.

A very OK meal. My friend and I both ordered the gnocchi (hers had tomato sauce and mine had pesto), and the gnocchi were too small and I feel like for the price, I should have had a bigger portion.
Chocolate mousse dessert was delicious though!

When friends and I couldn’t get into brunch at Alice’s Tea Cup down the street, we opted for Gina’s instead… and this ended up being such a great alternative! Though the restaurant was busy, we were immediately able to get a table for five people around 1:30pm on a Sunday afternoon.
The massive menu included lunch and brunch, as well as some fun brunch drinks (unfortunately there was no unlimited alcohol option). I tried the Prosecco Sangria with Strawberries… surprisingly simple and yet so delicious! And for brunch, I ordered the Mushroom Ravioli, which was awesome. All the entrees on the table were such a great portion size, and the calzone my friend got had the most amazing and beautiful presentation.
I loved the bright space, the intimate but non-​claustrophobic ambiance, and the friendly, fast service. I would absolutely go back!

Freundlicher Service und eine ansprechende Weinauswahl. Diese waren zwar relativ hochpreisig, unsere Auswahl an Rotweinen jedoch sehr lecker. Dazu gab es eine kleinen Gruß aus der Küche (warmes Brot mit recht geschmacksneutralem Olivenöl) Die Salami-​Pizza, die wir uns zu zweit teilten, war zwar sehr lecker, jedoch von unten teilweise schwarz verbrannt. Ein Steinofen ist zwar eine tolle Sache, rausgehen darf eine Pizza so allerdings nicht. Insgesamt damit gerade noch ok.