IL Passatore
“Wine by the carafe, gorgeous home made focaccia for the table, and a wonderful constantly changing variety of specials.”
“We ate in the backyard which was fairly barebones (table, chairs, umbrellas in case of rain) but comfortable.”
“You split two desserts – a Tiramisu and an excellent Chocolate Torte (warm to the taste) with ice cream.”
IL Passatore
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Personally, I don't understand the rating on here. I live in the area. Granted they have fresh pasta, which was a plus, but they leave a bit to be desired.
We got the procini and truffle oil risotto (bland, but the porcinis were perfectly cookied)…and the seafood taglione, which was good, but the sauce quality runs about the same as what we make at home. Great amount of seafood and the pasta was delicious.
I was quite pleased with the 3 things I got to try here, let's break it down:
1. Shrimp and cannoli beans in red sauce over arugula. Good richness from the beans and the peppery finish ties the whole thing together.
2. Beef Ravioli – the portion was kinda small but was quite well made. The small portion size was notable though because my friend's veggie lasagna and the next dish were both quite large.
3. Strozzapreti with mushrooms and sausage – really tasty, the noodles are kind of rough and chewy like most chinese knife cut ones. Sort of reminded me of spaetzle.
I came in here for a nice Sunday afternoon/evening dinner and really enjoyed it. The funny thing is, i called them to make a reservation and it was really loud when i was trying to talk to the woman to make it. I was like, man this place is packed! When we actually arrived for dinner, it was pretty empty. I guess it was after brunch time? Ah well.
We came in and ordered a bunch of things and enjoyed all of it. To start we got the caprese salad and the tagliere di sulumi, which is just an assortment of delicious italian meats. Really great starters for 3 people because everyone got a little big of everything without getting too stuffed. I got the tagliatelle bolognese, because well i NEEDED to have some bolognese. It was good. I believe my friend got the mezellune, which was filled with meat in a cream sauce (yum) and i think my girl got the tortelli, which was also good. Pretty much everything we tried here was good, and went great with the wines we decided to have as well. The best part about the place, asside from the food and service, was the fact that the place is really good food for really cheap. It's a really nice vibe too, so you would be ok taking a date here if you wanted to. I would definitely go back if I'm in the area. And i feel like I have to because I don't exactly remember what everyone got, so I want to figure it out!
Let me start by saying that I never eat Italian food in America, becuase it is too heavy and I feel awful when I finish. The only place I've been able to tolerate Italian food was in Italy. That being said, when my friend gasped after hearing that i lived only 3 blocks from her favorite Italian restaurant and had never been there, I thought "why not, I must be missing out."I have been back now twice in 2 weeks!
Il Passatore is everything I LOVED about Italy. Their light sauces, perfect portions, fresh pasta that is clearly made to order, and robust selection on their menu is why I gave it 5 stars. The service is impeccable! Not only are the servers knowledgeable and honest about the menu, they never stand over you while you eat and let you enjoy your meal in peace.
The culinary experience is so wonderful that I felt I was in another country for an hour and a half. I can't wait to go back!
My fiance has been here several times and loved the food. She took me out here for dinner and unfortunately the food was just ok this time around.
Had the Bruschette to start, Tagliatelle all Bolognese for the pasta, and a fish of the day. The starter was fine but the pasta was super salty and the fish was too greasy and oily.
They have many options on the menu and dessert too. Wine and beer only and CASH ONLY.
Get at this place.
It's small and cozy and packed, and totally worth a short wait (if you're willing to sit at the bar). The staff here are amazing; they run around taking care of folks and rappin' in Italian to each other.
The pasta is incredible. They've got the full set up so you get the primi, then the secundi, but I couldn't imagine goin' the whole shebang with the portions they dish up.
My she-beau is Italian and vouched for this place, and she knows my rants on GF pasta and the difficulties, particularly with restaurants, but these guys nailed it.
Big ups for the free limoncello, too, homies!
Il Passatore is a tiny restaurant in East Williamsburg that has the opportunity to corner the Italian Market. Seriously, no one else within a half mile serves italian food except Carmine's, which is decidedly more traditional and aimed low brow.
It seems like someone here saw the opportunity and decided to go with it… half heartedly.
The food is ok. I can't say any of it was great. The Kale Salad with pecorino (last item on the salad list) is just that : kale salad with pecorino.
The Gambo di Farra is a shrimp dish served with farro grain. The whole dish is underwhelming. Shrimp looks like it was lightly sauteed with tomato based sauce. The farro grain is… essentially brown rice but even harder in texture.
The Taglioni di Funghi is a pasta dish with porcini mushrooms. This tasted heavily like mushrooms but the pasta itself wasn't really cooked… it was still a bit hard.
The highlight should have been the Tilapia but again this dish is underwhelming. The top skin is perfectly fried and has some decent flavor but the rest of the dish really had no flavor what so ever. It mostly tasted like a piece of steamed Tilapia.
The damage for all this was $48 in cash only (minus half star) which isn't bad for 2 people. We were certainly full afterwards.
But the whole place you could tell was something else and turned into an "italian" restaurant half heartedly. The place looks like it used to be a speakeasy but didn't get enough business. So they threw on some table cloths and some candles, dimmed the lights and turned it into a restaurant.
Except Passatore doesn't fully commit. The table cloths are nothing more than pieces of brown paper that don't even cover the whole table. Hand napkins are eschewed by regular paper napkins. That romantic dim lighting anchored by candles in a mason jar? Well.. the candle is electronic.
And for some reason this so called italian restaurant played an ethiopian big band album (we shazamed it) for the entire dinner. One song dragged on for what seemed like an eternity and sounded to an untrained ear like arabic chanting.
Passatore has the chance to be that understated restaurant in the neighborhood in a small cozy space that serves excellent italian food. Instead it's a hipster trap in every way : dim the lights, slap on paper table cloths, load it with fake candles and play ethiopian music (I still don't understand this) and call it a day.
2.5 stars : deductions were for cash only, mediocre food and a startling lack of tabling and decorative effort.
I almost don't want to write this review and give away the secret of the hidden gem on bushwick ave. I figured I would anyway because if I don't give it away someone else will and lets face it, I like giving the scoop when the food is this good. I also love talking about cheese.
I recently came here for a friend's birthday dinner and the 6 of us were promptly seated in the back "garden" where all the cool kids were seated. Our waiter was so patient with us even though we obviously couldn't pick which wines we wanted to try or which entrees or which starters for that matter. Everything looked tempting but we ended up all sharing seven items on the menu.
The excellent:
1) Lasagna Vegetarian: This lasagna could hold its own against any of the big guns. You do not miss the meat believe me. The flavors are so perfectly balanced and I love that its topped with more ricotta and their delicious basil pesto. It also doesn't hurt that it looks gorgeous! This is something everyone would want to taste and take multiple instagram shots of.
2) Burratina: Burrata is a beautiful cheese and I could never dislike it. Ever. This one is presented with prosciutto and a tomato jam. YUM.
3) Butternut squash tortellini: These are HUGE rectangle pasta goodies stuffed with squash filling and they swim in truffle sauce. I mean, enough said.
4) Steamed octopus: This starter was perfect. The octopus was really tender jut the way it should be. Don't be afraid of those suckers, just dive it.
Just good but still solid:
5) Pappardele con Agnello: The ribbons of pasta and lamb Ragu is very tasty but It wasn't the best I've had. I would recommend this only if you really love lamb sauce but otherwise try the other pastas
6) Piadina with brie and speck: Think of this as an Italian quesadilla. Its very nice as a starter but we were not overly impressed with it
This dinner is what all birthday dinners should be. I'll also mention that our wine glasses were never empty and we all left drunk, happy and with complimentary limoncello shots and lava cake. This place is a keeper. Shout out to our amazing waiter who deserves all the credit!
-ONLY BAD THING: Make sure you bring enough cash because YES they are CASH ONLY and no they do not have an atm (They really should). You will have to stumble your way over to the gas station next door and extract cash while still in your food coma.