Porsena
“Sara Jenkins has the time, patience AND TALENT to pull off one the best versions I've had in the city.”
“The pasta was al dente and was nice and tomatoey…and cheesier than i expected, which was a nice surprise.”
“They are affiliated with Porchetta which is an Italian Street Food Sandwich Shop that we frequent quite often.”
Porsena
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My new favorite Italian restaurant for pasta! Both the guinea hen ragu and kale pasta were delicious! I'd definitely come back again to try more since the menu changes. I'd skip the pork chop and the smashed potatoes next time and just stick to pasta but I do wish our table was served bread, which I assume we were not since we ordered an appetizer that was essentially bread but it would have been nice to be asked anyway since we had two pregnant and starving ladies!
I wanted to like this place, but I had a less than mediocre experience here. The inside is dark and cramped and feels dingy. Our server was not great, and our food took forever and arrived at all different times (my friend waited a good ten minutes to get her food after we got ours, and hers arrived cold). The food was just not good, I feel like I could buy something from the freezer section and it would be better. I like this place for the cute side bar that it has, and that's about it.
Adorable little place in the east village. Came here with an amazing groupon deal, got an appetizer to share, two entrees and a dessert for $40 before taxes and tips. Amazing deal and amazing food. The menu changes every week, I love it when restaurants do that, it's seasonal and fresh!
We shared the aged prosciutto for appetizer. Delectable little bites, they ran out of the pâté I would have gotten but this was delicious regardless. Very fine.
Out entrees were fantastic! We had the pork chop with creamy polenta and roasted baby carrots. Every bite was succulent, the flavors were perfectly paired, the meat well cooked and the dish was huge. We also had the steak with horseradish butter and crushed fingerling potatoes. Awesome. Both entrees were on point, modern twist to kitchen classic, filling, surprising and it all worked.
We shared the chocolate walnut cake. Simple and straight to the point, topped with homemade delicious whipped cream, you are in it for a treat.
Overall, we had a fantastic meal, the staff was kind and professional, congrats to the chef for amazing and succulent dishes!
I had duck breast and olive oil gelato. They are to die for. The duck was not too fatty and cooked to perfection. Don't be scared to order the olive oil gelato. It just had a hint of olive oil flavor.
Poresena is more than a neighborhood restaurant. Sarah Jenkins Is a celebrated chef and there are clever touches here. Crusty bread with fruity olive oil starts the service. The menu changes nightly and is pasta focused.
Ate:
Escarole salad w/ hot anchovy dressing
Raw veggies and radish with olive oil from Sarah's own Italian property
Fiorentini with garlic pork sausage kobucha squash & Calabrian chilies
The veggies and radish with her oil and sea salt was really interesting. The escarole salad was good, but I don't know if the large size of the escarole or its under seasoning just was underwhelming,
I swear anything with Calabruan chilies rocks and the pasta was first rate- meat & creamy squash- I was a tad dissapointed to hear the pasta was from a box cause I expected housemade, otherwise a solid meal.
We came to Porsena to try Lakh Lakh (Persian pop-up at Porsena's bar) and out of the gluttonous musings of our hungry stomachs, decided to eat a pre-dinner at Porsena while waiting for a table at Lakh Lakh. Turns out… Porsena is the real winner. Loved the pastas and salads – I scraped all my plates clean. Lakh Lakh was a let down after that to be honest. Skip the line, go for the pasta. That's a pretty winning philosophy in life.
Amazing food, amazing ambiance, amazing staff. I went for a birthday dinner on a Friday evening and was blown away by the entire experience. I walked in to the restaurant area and was the first one there (obviously), but they led me next door to a more quaint bar area where I sat for a few minutes and enjoyed the scenery. The walls are covered with really interesting, exquisite art, and the dim lighting in the bar area and candles across the bar make it for a great date scene.
The owner actually came up to me and asked if my whole party was coming, and when I told him maybe only 5 out of the 6 were coming he was actually super polite in asking if he could take a 2-person table out of our seating area. Honestly most restaurants I've been to are pretty rude with a 1-person late cancellation and force us to squeeze without asking, but I was really impressed by how respectful they were. When we finally got seated we got to know our server who was AWESOME. He recommended us a Xinomavro, which he really turned us onto. It was very easy to drink, a little fruity, and we all agreed that we could have been tricked to believing it was a white wine. The only thing is that the server was a LITTLE too shy in interrupting us to ask if we needed refills or if we were ready to order. He kept coming over and then leaving without saying anything, we had to flag him down a few times.
The food is divine – I got the lasagna of the day, which changes but mine had some braised rib ragu and parmigiano baked in terra cotta. It's steaming hot when it comes out, and it's great to share if you get an appetizer as well (but of course I ate the whole thing because why not). My friends loved the anneloni pasta and the gnocchi.
The nicest thing they did though was that they didn't give us just one, but TWO amazing desserts on the house for the birthday! We didn't even have to ask. They were so sweet to us, even though we were a large group of old friends catching up for hours, and the owner personally came up to me and asked about my experience when it was all done.
HUGE success, and great spot for families and large groups of friends. A little on the pricey side, so maybe not a casual date spot, but make your parents take you here when they're in town !
We stopped by the Porsena "extra bar" (the left half of the restaurant with its own entrance, it does connect to the rest of the place in the rear). We had eaten already so can't speak to the food but it certainly smelled delicious! The menu changes fairly often and looked fantastic. They have a pretty limited beer selection (five or six in total) but a very extensive wine list. The extra bar we were in had a long bar stretching the majority of the space, and one small table in the window where we sat. Great people watching from the table! The main restaurant itself looked like a popular spot for large groups due to the size of the restaurant, particularly for the area. It's also located a few doors down from McSorley's, a popular NYC spot, so could be a good place to come before or after a beer there (or maybe to drop off any non beer drinkers before you head to McS's lol). The restaurant and bar are both beautifully decorated and the bar even had a (no sound) black and white movie playing while we were there which was pretty neat!