L’Apicio
“A larger, more updated version of the other restaurants run by the same folks (of Dell'anima, etc), L'Apicio has a lot to love.”
“- Braised short rib polenta: perfectly smooth and fluffy polenta complemented by tender short ribs.”
“The ricotta was so light and creamy, my companion commented it had the texture of clotted cream…divine.”
L’Apicio
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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This the sister restaurant to L'Artusi; therefore, I had really high expectations!
L'Apicio did not disappoint. The atmosphere is very cute and comfortable (intimate but enough room between tables to not feel cramp).
Food/drinks – Charred Octupus was very good, grilled to perfection, not dried out. Grilled Asparagus – Vince loved this appetizer. Bucatini with Shrimp was amazing (highly recommend). Once I added fresh pepper and Parmesan cheese, it was heavenly! Spaghetti with Meatballs – I was very skeptical of getting this dish. Too simple, right? Wrong!!!! It was so good and possibly the best dish of the night. The Tomato Basil sauce and meatballs were the truth!!!! Wine list was very good.
The service was spotty and could be better, but not a total distraction.
Will definitely come back here or L'Artusi in the future.
KenScale: 7.5/10
L'Apicio is an Italian restaurant in East Village from Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale who have created such fan favorites as dell'anima and L'Artusi in West Village. Unlike the previously two restaurants they opened, which have more cozy settings, L'Apicio is bigger and seems to play more safe catering to a large number of different crowds. Overall, I generally liked the dishes here, but there were some hits and misses.
Any meal at L'Apicio would probably start well with charred octopus that comes with fregola, pepperoni, olives and lemon. The octopus had really nice texture and worked very well with the vegetables underneath. Because we weren't particularly hungry, we decided to go ahead and over two pasta dishes. It turned out that the server brought a wrong dish and gave it as a freebie on top of the two orders, so we were lucky to have three different pastas. My favorite was definitely tagliatelle with short rib ragu and parmesan, a dish that looks deceptively simple yet had quite a nice hearty feel to it. On the other hand, orecchiette with spicy sausage ragu and broccoli rabe pesto was more or less pedestrian, even with bread crumbs, More disappointing was the bucatini that came with shrimp, garlic, chives and chili. I was hoping to have a perfectly al dente noodle with spicy kick that could totally bring the dish alive; instead, I had oily dish that was simply forgettable. For dessert, we shared ricotta panna cotta with fig jam and fig sorbet. I've had panna cotta in a lot of different places, but the one at L'Apicio was a bit bizarre, as the texture of the cream was off and instead of enhancing its flavor, the fig jam and sorbet were acting more like a distraction.
The restaurant has a nice vibe and stylish decor that would be ideal for a first date. Getting a restaurant wasn't particularly difficult, and I wasn't sure how they would be able to fill a relatively large dining space every night. The restaurant has a nice wine menu, consisting of a lot of solid Italian. Maybe it was an off-night, but the experience at L'Apicio wasn't quite like what I had at dell'anima; even L'Artusi, despite its hits and misses there too because of occasionally excessive use of salt, had some memorable moments. Couldn't say I had the same for this restaurant.
Good food, we ordered almost 4 kinds of pastas since we had 7 people – mushroom, linguini, crab, squid. Loved the home made pasta. I think it's a bit pricy though. We paid about $70 per person – 7 people we ordered 4 appetizers, 6 entrees, 2 sides, and each of us had a glass of wine. No desert or tea/coffee. All of them were really small portion and we had no leftover. I found the glass was dirty. But overall, good food and food service. Not so good on value/price ratio.
I am a fan of this place! I'd passed by it before, but never really thought to go. A friend recently suggested that our little group get together for dinner since it had been awhile, and he had suggested we go here. It sounded good, so why not?
We had reservations for 7:30 on a Tuesday night. The place was a little crowded but not packed. I really liked the décor here. It was kind of dark and cozy, and also super cute in the front bar area. We were seated in the corner by the window. We were a group of 6, so we started off looking at some bottles of wine. We got a few recommendations from the waitress and then settled on a bottle of red and white. Then we decided on some appetizers to share. Since we were a big group we got two of the ricotta with persimmons, sooo good! The ricotta was so creamy, and the persimmons went really well with it. We also got the grilled octopus and Hamachi crudo. Both were really good, the octopus was cooker perfectly and not chewy at all. The Hamachi was really fresh, and the pomegranate seeds were a nice accompaniment. I was torn between a few dishes for my main, but my friend and the waitress both said the bucatini was a favorite so I went with that. It did not disappoint! It is extremely garlicy, but I didn't mind. The shrimp, pasta, garlic, breadcrumbs, it was all really good! It says chili in the description, but it wasn't really spicy to me. My friend who suggested it ordered it extra spicy so if you're looking for a real kick you probably have to ask for it. When they brought all our mains they also brought us some ravioli stuffed with golden beets on the house. I am not a beet fan, but I figured I'd give it a try and it wasn't too bad. If I liked beets, I'd say it was amazing though. My friend had asked about this polenta dish with mushrooms that he had had there before that wasn't on the menu anymore, and the kitchen made it for him. So that was really cool of them. We looked at the dessert menu, but we were stuffed and didn't get anything.
Overall everything was really good from all the food to the service. It's not an inexpensive place, but it wasn't really that expensive either. It's a good Italian place to keep in mind for the future cause I definitely want to go back!
L'Apicio is the sister restaurant to L'Artusi which means you're going to have a good meal. You will not be disappointed when dining here. The food is always on point with delicious flavors. The menu changes often which is cool so you're always going to try new dishes. I've never had a bad meal here. I've been here for a casual week night dinner and for special occasions and every time has been great. I recommend L'Apicio for a good meal.
What a great Italian restaurant! Great food & service. The atmosphere definitely gives off a romantic feel with the dim lighting and intimate seating. A hot date spot!
The staff is super friendly and helpful. Our waitress helped to pick our dishes, and both were phenomenal.
We started with the bruschetta. One word: amazing! The ricotta cheese was unbelievable. Tomatoes and basil were so fresh! 10 out of 10!
For entrees we got the (1) spicy sausage orecchiette with a broccoli rabe cream sauce and the classic (2) spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs were my favorite part. Very moist and flavorful! Yum!
All together: one appetizer, two entrees and sparkling water came to $65. A little pricey for dinner with no alcoholic drinks, but well worth it! Definitely will come back soon!
3.5 stars
We made a reservation for 6 people on a Tuesday night. The restaurant is small and cozy. Once the majority of our party arrived, we were seated at a table. We started the night with some cocktails (Old fashioned, draught beer, dirty martini) – all were made well and was a good start. Once we placed an order for appetizers, we were brought olive oil & bread. The olive oil was of decent quality, but the bread was hard and a bit too tough to eat.
Appetizers;
1) Anson Mills Polenta – creamy, mushrooms were well cooked and not overcooked
2) Spaghetti with meatballs (not your traditional appetizer, but my cousin asked to order it so we could all try it) – sauce was decent, spaghetti was a little overcooked
Entrees:
1) Gnocchi – I still have not found one place that made gnocchi as good as one restaurant in East Village, but the sauce and rabbit was very good
2) Spaghetti with meatballs
3) Bucanti – a bit too salty but otherwise good
4) Artic Char – great flavor and cooked well
5) Roasted Chicken – my dish and was one of the favorites at the table. great combination of ingredients, chicken was juicy and tender
6) Hanger Steak – surprisingly really well cooked. It was my next favorite
7) Heritage Pork Chop – the table's second favorite. While I agree it was good, I'm not a huge fan of pork chop so my opinion is a little biased
It's been a while since we've been at a restaurant with great service. They were constantly filling up our water, asking if we needed another cocktail, asked how our food was… etc.
This place is a good 3 star…maybe a 3.5 but there is just too much competition in NYC to really be generous. Came here on a Friday night at 915 with my fiancé and another couple. It's really great for groups given the sleek style and spacious dining room (though our immediate area was a bit cramped).
We started off with some drinks : the men some standard IPA beers, the women an Italian champagne/sparkling white and me the house's beverage director's own white line.. sorry I totally forget the Italian names. Something like Annora? Anyway, the wine was interesting. It's hard to describe.. it was amber in color too. It was buttery and crispy with a lot of citrus; it almost took on a cider-y flavor. We got a standard Italian bread basket.
On the food. To start, we ordered the grilled octopus and the peekytoe crab starters. Sadly, these were disappointing. And small. Well the crab was. It was a good, citrus, clean flavor (served cold) but just not enough for four but priced accordingly… the octopus was a little overcooked and the farro to octo ratio was a lot. The octo was also overcooked a bit- too charred.
The mains were good. The women had the shrimp bucatini which was a healthier portion (bigger) with succulent shrimp, home bread crumbs, lots of garlic, citrus ad chili flakes.. the sauce was light but flavorful and melded well with the pasta. It was lemony and yummy. Very good.
The men had the linguine nero (the black ink spaghetti) with seafood- I didn't try it, but it looked good. And the other (my guy) had the tilefish which was the fish of the day which was again, a little small and just kind of sad looking. It tasted good though.
This is a place you come for the pasta, for sure. Apparently people say their other restos are better L'Artusi, Dell'Anima but I was not really too impressed. It was ok to good. This is supposed to be more of the casual of the restaurants but I felt the price point didn't reflect as such given our pasta was still like $25. Don't hate that I came, but didn't love it to come back. I would try L'Artusi though.
Also.. our service was slooow. I don't blame our server because he tried his best but it took way to long to get orders in, get food, etc. Partly why I think our octopus was overercooked. It was ok because we were socializing (and this is a big place as far as Manhattan goes, so come in a group, sure) but still.. fyi.