Santina
“Also, whatever magical sauce comes with their "Cecina" dishes should be on every dish.”
“Squash carpaccio: delicata squash, spiced honey agrodolce, pumpkin seeds, sage brown butter, winter savory, chives, pink peppercorns, creme fraiche.”
“I had a crisp glass of rose and the chickpea pancake with Avocado Trapanese–absolutely excellent and quite filling.”
Santina
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Santina is great if you…
a. Have no problem being seated 30 minutes after your reservation by an uppity and unapologetic hostess.
b. Don't mind waiting 10 minutes before asking a passing busboy (is that the right term?) to find your waiter so you can actually place an order.
c. Are okay screaming to converse with your fellow brunch-goers, in a very noisy and very packed restaurant.
d. Enjoy spending $$$$ on underwhelming food ($9 for half a sliced avocado…seriously? $15 for a kid's sized pasta? $20 for a vegetarian omelette?). The prices were laughably outrageous for completely average food that even I – a terrible cook at best – could make. There are no prices on Santina's online menu, by the way, which is shady if you ask me.
e. Find standing in line for 15 minutes for one of the two filthy bathrooms enjoyable.
I'm not even sure why I'm giving Santina two stars – I guess I'm feeling generous. Not generous enough to EVER return though. Save yourself…it's too late for me.
Really nice little spot in Meatpacking at the base of the highline. Got an outside table and had a super chill dinner with some great eats.
We tried a bunch of apps:
– Octopus – tender and delicious
– Squash carpaccio – so good. You must eat this. Crispy and nutty and sweet all packed together.
– Radish & Salmon – really good and surprisingly complimentary
– Crudite – light and delicious with 3 great sauces
– Cecina (pancake) with spicy tuna – so good. Really complex and not too spicy flavor with a subtle and tender chickpea pancake
Also, entrees were really good… swordfish with beans and a whole grilled orata that was so perfectly cooked and pesto-y.
Seemed pretty busy, but service was decent – not sure I can put my finger on it, but wanted it to be just a bit more authentic.
Really good spot – especially if you want to walk the highline later. Enjoyed!!
This place would deserve a lower rating if solely based on the menu and food. Fortunately the ambience, beautiful people, service, vibe, location help it up to 3 stars. My friend and I ordered a whole bunch of stuff off the menu but felt like everything was a bit off- some dishes were too salty- others had a random combination of ingredients- and I felt like the place had a bipolar Mexican/Italian identity. Not sure what that's all about. The drinks were great and the service was really fantastic, so I want to definitely mention that. I would probably only go back for drinks.
Fun atmosphere. Fun staff. Fun drinks.
Food:
Cecina with rock shrimp – ok
Salmon carpaccio with radish – delicious
Squash carpaccio – very good but could've had less spices/herbs; bitter aftertaste wasn't that pleasant
Octopus skewer – not great in texture or taste
The sea of cilantro dish (aka blue crab spaghetti) – sounds delicious but it was utterly disappointing and transported me to cilantro hell.
Fusilli with lamb sausage, mussels, etc – delicious
Hazelnut cake – ok
Coconut sundae with pineapples – very good
I've been to Santina for both brunch and dinner. Funny enough, most of the dishes that I like are offered at both meals, but I'm not usually in the mood for heavier stuff on a weekend morning. Recommend for dinner
FOOD
Branzino Crudo – If you order this, make sure it comes out first. It's incredibly delicate and easily overpowered. My friend thought he tasted something almost like rose.. it's hard to capture, but I really liked it.
Tricolore Splendido Salad – Yummy and healthy. There greens are layered on top of tuna carpaccio.
Shrimp ZIngara – this is a great comfort food dish. The tomatoes and spiciness makes me prefer this to the Guanciale e Pepe rice, both for the flavor and the color. The guanciale e pepe is totally white, which is offputting
Tortellini Sorrentina – Omg,l this is one of my favorite dishes at Santina. Everything about it is so good.. the sauce, the pasta, the ricotta cheese. Highly recommend!
Went yesterday night 4 girls and sat in the terrace.
Service, it is definitely 1 star or even 0:
The main reason was that while I was eating the salad in my plate, I found 2-3 small pieces of fallen ceramics from a plate mixed with the salad! It would be very harmful for my health; If I would swallow a piece of broken ceramics, I could have cut my throat!!
I told the waiter this big issue and he just left with the plate without being actually concerned or even saying sorry. He then just brought me a new plate. Nobody came to apologize at all. Like nothing happened. We all were so suprised.
Also, when we finished our order, our waitress pushed us to add more dishes, she said that it was not enough, that pasta were small, not actually considered as main dish. We politely said that we would order more later in case we feel hungrier: portions were perfect and more than reasonable taking into account that we are 4 girls that are used to eat big portions.
Maybe we had bad luck with the service, but I really think the management should be more aware and more responsible.
Food, I would give 4 stars
We ordered a fig salad to share and one pasta/rice dish each of us.
– Tortellini sorrentina
– Broccoli and pecorino rice
– Rigatoni rosso
– Spaguetti blue crab- I had that dish and it was incredibly tasty and mild spicy. It came with cherry tomatoes and small like shreded pieces of crab (but any actual piece of crab)
As dessert we had tricolor canoli (sweet, colorful and good!) to share and we had a bottler of white wine.
Decoration: superb
Bill around 180$.
I would come back to this place, but I am very concerned about their management and service, always checking before cutlery and crockery!!!!!!
Had a fun girls dinner at Santina last night (a Saturday). We were a party of 3, and were sat immediately. Seating is definitely a bit tight, and we were 3 at a table for two which made space on the table snug as well. Not a huge deal but I wish parties of 3 were sat at 4 tops rather than 2 tops.
Anyway – our waitress was very nice and let us take our time, ordering appetizers and finishing those before putting entrees in. It felt great not to be rushed.
Overall, the food was good but to me nothing special. We started with the avocado cecina which came with a delicious salsa verde, and also got 2 scallops, which were priced individually, as appetizers.
For mains, I didn't try my friends but I had the wild rice calamari dish and really enjoyed it. Light for summer but filling, with good flavors. We finished dinner with the lime meringue which wasn't my favorite but did the trick for the sweet tooth.
With a bottle of wine and a martini, the dinner was $230 total (2 apps, 3 mains, a dessert). Not cheap, but for a cute place in meatpacking not at all terrible.
Would recommend Santina for future girls nights!
This place is actually amazing! The food was incredible, we had these neat tequila cocktails. But I think what amazed us the most is in the restaurant you don't actually feel like your in New York. You feel a chill vacation vibe. Definitely a place to check out! Love it !