Spina

So sad to hear this place closed, this was my go-​to Italian place in the EV. I hope they reopen somewhere soon.

To start, we got the Kale Caesar Salad, dressed with focaccia croutons, parmigiano reggiano, anchovy and classic dressing. It was divine. I really do love kale, especially when it is covered in creamy dressing :) I also ordered some delicious wines but didn’t take any pictures — trust that they were splendid.
As another appetizer, we also got the meatballs, made with veal, beef and pork served in a tomato sauce and parmigiano reggiano. The serving size allowed each of us to enjoy one and a lil bit more. They were very flavorful and moist. Perfecto.
Because I don’t know how to say no to duck fat, we ordered a side of duck fat fries with truffle aioli. Just when you thought the fries were decadent enough, they had to add truffle because WHY THE HELL NOT.
Christine and I split the Squid Ink Fettuccine, she raved about having it previously, so I knew I had to experience it. This unique pasta is served with jumbo lump crab meat, shrimp and jalapeño lime pesto. A completely unique flavor combination that I absolutely loved. This is a must order dish! We also got the Lamb Orecchiette made with those cute ear shaped pasta, braised lamb and peas in a truffle butter sauce. Truffle 2x in one night? Boom. I loved this dish as well. Each of the pasta dishes were very different and didn’t taste the same. They were a great complement — if you’re looking for a variety of pastas, go with these two! Zach ordered the Malloreddus Bolognese made with saffron infused gnocchetti with a veal and pork tomato ragú. I was too focused on splitting our two pastas, so I didn’t try Zach’s — he seemed to enjoy it though!
This is a wonderful restaurant with delicious food at very reasonable prices for the portion sizes and ingredients used. I look forward to coming back!

Such an incredible place. From start to finish the meal never disappoints and the service is impeccable. Ella was amazing (our waitress who held the whole room down!)
Please get the squid ink pasta. It’s killer. Also the market fish (red snapper w crispy skin) was magical.
Seriously nothing is bad. I’m almost tempted not to leave this review bc I don’t want my favorite place to be crowded!!!

This place has a really nice atmosphere and solid homemade pasta dishes. The eggplant side is advertised with a tomato vinaigrette which the dish needed more of as it was lacking in favor. They gave a homemade focaccia with ricotta to start, personally would prefer olive oil, but it was unique. The Brussels sprouts were crispy.

All homemade Pastas here are delicious! The butternut squash gnocchi with oxtail is a must try! Both truffle pastas are great. Bolognese so delicious. Squid ink pasta not my favorite.
Meatballs are good, shrimp was tasty.
Cute date spot small quaint cute bar!

Ordered:
Orrechiette Lamb Pasta — One of the best pastas I’ve ever tried. Lamb was cooked perfectly (even though I normally don’t like lamb), the sauce was buttery and flavorful
Squid Ink Pasta — Pasta texture was good, could use more crab/​shrimp (as labeled on the menu), could use a little less oil too. Jalepeno flavor wasn’t spicy at all.
Eggplant side and Arugula salad were great starters. But you MUST GET the mussels for the table. They were garlicky, peppery, and everything else delicious.
Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert and you definitely should get one to share. It’s pretty heavy so I doubt anyone can eat that much of it.
Atmosphere and service was delightful. It’s a warm, exposed-​brick, one-​room restaurant, which makes you feel like you’re in someone’s home. You can see people making fresh pasta behind the bar, which is really neat. Overall, I would definitely go again. If you go when you’re starving, be prepared to spend a decent amount of money because the portions are small.

Getting good, fresh, handmade pasta on a busy night in the city is not always an easy thing. The crowds are too big, the rush is on, and when it’s made by hand there’s always that factor of time… at what point does the freshness start to degrade? That said, Spina delivered a gorgeous meal at a price that made us happy and we even arrived during the rush at peak time. Luckily there was a spot at the bar and we were happy to grab it. The folks working here couldn’t be nicer and the food was superb. We opted for the meatball appetizer, a couple of glasses of red wine and followed that up with pasta courses and a side of mushrooms (superb!). We had intention of going for a meat course that followed but quickly realized we’d filled up. No harm done. We don’t get to this part of the city often but if we did we’d return here in a flash. A cute little corner restaurant with a pleasant vibe and no pretense. Like.

This place was good, if not a bit overpriced. Came here for din last night and while it’s a charming place, I wasn’t blown away by the food.
Ordered a glass of Rose and it was just meh. The bread that was dropped off at the table was strangely cold and soggy. Really. I wanted to say something about it, but didn’t. It was garlicy, which was nice, but WHY was it cold and soggy? Who knows.
Got the Basil Malfatti for dinner. The pasta itself was definitely pretty great and the lemongrass sauce was refreshing and different. However, for $ 18, it was just fine. THe veggies (eggplant, tomatoes, and olives) weren’t cooked spectacularly or anything and it kind of just seemed like they were just added in there last minute. The mottz cheese was fine, but there def wasn’t enough.
Service was good and the place really is super charming, but the food was really about a B. I love Italian and don’t know if I’ll be back, but hey, maybe it was just an off night?

Spina is a super cute restaurant in the East Village for a casual dinner or a dinner date. My boyfriend and I came here after wandering around the area for a quick meal (and to escape the gross NYC summer drizzle…) There was a large party going on when we came, but the staff was still super attentive and accommodating.
We started off with a delicious seasonal bruschetta appetizer with peaches which was albeit small, but super flavorful and fresh. The bread was also amazing and the ricotta truffle butter that comes with it was heavenly.
We ordered the gnocchi and the bolognese pasta dishes and they were both appetizing and filling. The experience was overall delightful and I would definitely come back when in the area!

Very good.
The homemade Orrechiette and Cavatelli, Meatballs and Mussels were excellent.
The chocolate sort of soufflé was pretty darn good too.
The atmosphere is great. we had a street table on the side of the building and it was perfectly quiet and relaxed.
It is pretty expensive though. There are many homemade pasta places around now and this is as pricey as I’ve seen for a casual restaurant.

Outdoor seating gem! Great Kale Caesar, good beer and a spaghetti that your little Italian grandma would praise! Quick, on the ball friendly service! No waiting for a refill here!

What a great find on Unilocal in alphabet city, thanks to all the great Unilocalers in NYC!
Atmosphere (⁵⁄₅): outdoor seating available. It’s dressy casual. Very cozy and cute décor. They have artistic graffiti paint on the wall outside and dimmed orange lighting.
Service (⁵⁄₅): very attentive and friendly staff. Gave us a nice rundown of their specials available.
Food (³⁄₅): we got the peppered shrimp for an app, which in my opinion was a little too overloaded with pepper and made the dish overpowering with spices. I got the black squid ink pasta with bits of shrimp and crab — could’ve been more generous with the seafood in the pasta.
Great find. — a cute romantic place for dinner! I enjoyed the outdoor seating and ambiance.

Me and my fiancé come to spina at least once a week. I think I’ve had every pasta dish (all pasta is homemade) on the menu and I’ve never been disappointed.
They also have one of the best outdoor seating areas in the east village. My one and only complaint is sometimes the food comes out too quickly, so I like to enjoy my wine/​beer before ordering.
Love you spina!

Spina has been recommended to me because of its handmade pasta, and despite being gluten-​intolerant, I went for it anyway — and I didn’t regret it. I got a squid ink pasta with crab meat, and I thought the portions were very reasonably-​sized — i.e. small enough that I could finish it, but not so large that it felt overwhelming. The pasta had a chewier, more tender handmade quality to it that I liked but am not too used to — I guess I’m used to the al dente bite of premade pasta.
Regardless, the dish was quite well-​made. I also had a reasonably priced bottle of $ 40 wine, that was just fine. Service was friendly and unintrusive, and I’d come back here again for good pasta. Just wished they had carbonara… mmm.

Not quite sure how this place is considered small plates/​tapas. I mean they have 1 – 2 dishes in their appetizers to share but everything else was a single persons dish.
Still, food was all delicious, we ordered most of their app selections that could be shared, their mussels dish for some odd reason had a crap load of empty shells which was odd, but once we told our server they were really apologetic and took it off our bill without any hesitation. They also had a bruchetta speacial with fresh ricotta and pumpkin that was delicious, their pastas were tasty and 2 others from our party ordered steak and said that they were cooked to perfection as well.
Wine selection is very nice and dessert was also fantastic. Service was on point too. WIll be back here again soon.

We went out for a Saturday brunch here and it was LOVELY!
The ambiance is great, with exposed brick walls and lots of interesting wines everywhere. The restaurant won some kind of a «Wine Spectator» award for having such a large wine selection, and I can see why. You can get a bottle of Prosecco with brunch for only $ 12, and it’s a pretty good bottle.
You HAVE to try the «mini nutella calzones» as an appetizer. They literally are mini calzones stuffed with just the perfect dollop of nutella inside, baked to a warm perfection, and topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. YUM!
Both my husband and I (nerdily) ordered the frittata for brunch, but both had their own unique taste because you get to choose 3 ingredients. The vegetables were fresh, and the frittatas were HUGE.
Great service, great ambiance, great food, great wine selection. All in all, a lovely little gem of a place.

I’ve been here countless times. Recently, my boyfriend and I had attended their wine tasting dinners — Rose and Riesling. Both dinner menus along with the wine tasting were very enjoyable.
Matthew, our waiter and sommelier was very knowledgable of the wine and did a great pairing with each dish. The experience was interesting and memorable. The price was also very reasonable for such an amazing meal.
Although each dish might be small, it’s enough to satisfy you until the next dish comes out. Great place for an intimate dinner or a big group of friends to hangout. Spina is very accommodating and the staff are nice and friendly. I’m hoping they do a red wine tasting dinner sometime soon.

Spina is one of the most authentic Italian restaurants I’ve been to in a while. Homemade pasta? Yes, please.
My friend and I started with a few glasses on white wine which were served in unique wine glasses… more rectangular than usual. We were served fresh focaccia bread with truffled ricotta. SO MUCH BETTER THAN BUTTER. Holy yum. I need to make that at home.
We split the PEI Mussels (white wine, black pepper, cherry tomatoes, and chive oil). The perfect amount of mussels for an appetizer. Obviousy we asked for more bread so we could soak up all the mussel broth.
For my entrée, I chose Lamb Orrechiette-​ear shaped pasta, braised lamb and spring peas in a truffle butter sauce. I was in heaven after the first bite. You can definitely tell the difference between fresh and boxed pasta. The lamb itself was very tender and a great combination with the pasta and peas.
Even though we were full, gluttony took a hold of us and we decided to split 2 desserts-​Tiramisu and the Chocolate Soufflé. After a few bites, we were sure we wouldn’t be able to finish nearly half, but alas, we put a major dent in both of them. The Tiramisu was one of the best I’ve ever had. The Soufflé was more like a chocolate lava cake… but I had no problem with that.
On top of the great food, our waitress was very sweet and bubbly.

YUM-​O!
Decided to check out this place due to a 30% discount code I snagged from BlackboardEats and mamma mia, was it so worth it!
Just from walking in, I immediately loved the atmosphere. It’s a small, intimate restaurant — perfect for a date or to catch up with your bestie :)
We started off with some complimentary delicious soft focaccia that had this seasoning on top of it that reminded me strongly of what you’d find on an everything bagel. This was served with some nice ricotta cheese that tasted like it had a bit of truffle in it. The combination was so good I had to ask for 3 pieces (shameful, I know).
To start, we got the daily special bruschetta. This was unlike any bruschetta I have ever tasted in my life. The base was a SOFT grilled bread topped with fresh tomato slices, arugula, fresh parmesan, and a lemony vinaigrette*. Guess Giada was right — simple, but fresh, high-​quality ingredients really make a world of difference! At market price ($ 13 if you’re curious), this special was a bit on the steep side, but totally worth it.
For entrees, I had the lamb orecchiette with braised lamb and spring peas in truffle butter sauce ($ 21) and my friend had the squid ink fettuccine with jumbo lump crab meat, shrimp, and jalapeño lime pesto ($ 22). Both were spectacular! I especially loved how tender the lamb in my dish was. Yes, they don’t give you massive portions but it was a decent amount and my mom always told me to eat dinner like a pauper anyways. Bonus points to Spina for making their own pasta fresh daily!
Service was on point with water glasses always filled and friendly attitudes. I’ll be back!
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*Prosciutto was also listed as a topping for the bruschetta, but we asked them to put it on the side due to my dietary restrictions.

came here with a groupon for brunch.
We ordered the mussels in tomato sauce, steak and eggs and I had the cured salmon and eggs
The mussels were the best tasting food of the meal. The mussels were big and fresh and the tomato sauce was delicious. We literally drank the whole thing!
The steak and eggs were decent. Steak was flavored nicely but the portion size was small
The cured salmon and eggs was not good. It had tiny pieces of the salmon and underneath it were some creamy sauce and the bread was soggy. on top of that, the portion was extremely small
and also I think we got treated differently because we had a groupon, the waitress didn’t check on us at all after the food arrived, we had to constantly flagged down the busboy for things, and because of that, one less star for them
Don’t think I would return again