Easily one of the best meals and experiences I've had the pleasure of having in NYC. The food gets an 11 out of 10.. And they didn't just provide service, they provided hospitality - that is what sets a good restaurant apart from a great one and Porsena is unquestionably among the greatest. For a special night that's not gonna break the bank, Porsena is a go-to! Compliments to the chef and the management!
First time there and was very pleased. Met my son there for his belated birthday dinner. We sat at the bar and the service was very attentive and helpful. We started with a crisp escarole salad and polpo. The polpo was tender and delicious. I had the pasta with cauliflower which was very tasty with capers and toasted breadcrumbs. My son had malfalde with a creamy ricotta. A delicious no frills plain cake for dessert. We were both pleased with Porsena and will return!
Great food!!! More space for guests to move around would be a Plus! 😍
Wonderful food and atmosphere. Sunday night movie at Extra Bar is a must.
Love Porsena. I always feel like family when I come here. And amazing food!❤
This is a must go to restaurant. Friendly, cozy atmosphere and simply the best staff in the business. You cannot find a bad item on the menu. They are true artisans of their craft.
The food is always amazing, the atmosphere inviting, and the service spot on.
Had a wonderful meal, felt like the chef was cooking just for us, impeccably served, everything was amazing, thank you ...
Thank you Sara, Ian, and Aldolfo! Great meal from start to finish!
Delicious food with a great atmosphere. Best sandwiches around made with love by some awesome people.
Found this place through NYC Summer Restaurant week 2019. A truly gem in the area. We ordered three appetizers to share and they came in big portions and enough for five of us to share, pasta were homemade and delicious, side orders shishito peppers and mushrooms are excellent. We tried the goat milk cheese cake and it was nice too.
We got the prix-fixe meal with a group of 10. Meal started with appetizers: roasted veggies, snap peas, prosciutto, burrotta w bread. Next course was pastas. A great assortment of 4 different pastas... All the noodles were cooked perfect al dente; my favorite one was the rigatoni with beef raghu. Then came a steak and salmon dish which were also both delicious.
The service was on point with an attentive staff. After each course, the waiter would rotate all our dishes and silverware.
Definitely recommend for large groups!
Loved the pasta here! I had the anelloni (which I would totally recommend), my friend had the muhsroom tagliatelle. Their aperol was pretty good too.
Food and wine were delicious. Great place to catch up with friends or have a romantic dinner. Can't wait to go back.
The risotto is definitely what I need to come back for. Great service. A little space that can get very packed. Quite pricy.
Great cozy dining atmosphere - perfect for catching up with a friend you haven't seen in a while or a romantic dinner with your SO. My last visit I had their gnocchi, which was delicious. They frequently update their menu, and I have yet to be disappointed! Their staff have been always been impeccably friendly and helpful with food and wine suggestions.
Porsena feels like home. The staff is super friendly, the food and wine are excellent, and you can even sometimes walk in without a reservation and get seated in a reasonable amount of time. It’s an east village gem. While the menu changes from time to time, there are a few mainstays. The Anelloni pasta and escarole salad might be the best pasta/salad combo in all of New York Italian food. The high praise is well deserved.
This place is awesome! The spicy lamb pasta is definitely where it's at but you cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. Yes, it is pricey, hence the 4 stars vs 5 but it's just about the best plate of pasta you can get. On a weekday night you can usually get in without a reservation - get ready to leave happy! If you want fresh, homemade pasta, come here.
Very glad to have picked this place from among Italian restaurants in the city. They do have cocktails in addition to beer and wine, but, do check the price of that bottle before buying. The spicy lamb dish was AMAZING and I can't to go back and just gorge on that (we all shared for the first visit).
Cute little restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Great atmosphere. The food was excellent! The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5, is that the night that I was there, the service was poor in my opinion. My interactions with the waiter we're all too brief, I didn't even know his name by the time I left. He rarely came to my table to check up on me or ask if I needed anything. And when he did come, few words were exchanged. There was minimal conversation. Unfortunately, it wasn't even that busy of a night. Perhaps my server was just having one of those days. Other than this gripe, I highly recommend this restaurant for its food and atmosphere!
A gem. Quiet charming place on a very quiet accessible road in the East Village. The food tastes fresh, nicely seasoned and tasty. Awesome wine selection. Great friendly servers. I've been to Porsena about four times. I've never been disappointed.
Great atmosphere! We came for a dessert date and sat at the bar to have delicious dessert and espresso. It had a little something for everyone - romantic candlelight atmosphere at the bar and cozy tables for a date and larger tables for a gathering or family dinner. Dessert was delicious and the dinners going by us smelled amazing.
I came here for dinner with my fiance as an engagement gift. I can say that EVERYTHING from the moment I walked in to the second I left was simply divine. We started off with some sparkling wine at the bar while our table was being prepped. The staff was very attentive and friendly. This place is pricey, but I would come back for a special occasion.
Amazing Italian restaurant with a very neighborhood hidden gem feel. I haven’t eaten anything here that wasn’t good. Selection of salads are amazing, all the pastas are delicious, and a well-rounded unpretentious wine list makes this place feel so comfortable.
To simply put it, the food was stellar, just the perfect comfort pasta we were looking for and the flavours were wonderful. But, the service left more to be desired. To eat at a restuarant that took over 20 minutes to ask us for a drink or food (even though there was barely anyone in the restuarant at that time), and our server (Miguel), who was really never around our area to be waved down or checked how we were doing, made the experience exhausting. Did not help whenever we ordered or asked a question, he would look at the rest of the restuarant so we wouldn’t even know if he was engaged enough with us to take our order properly. It’s disappointing that such thoughtful food is incorrectly represented by lacklustre service.
One of the best Italian restaurants in New York, serving simple honest and delicious food with fresh ingredients. About what you'd find away from the tourist track in Italy. Of course they make their own pasta, and a wonderful variety of interesting salads and appetizers. Plenty of choices for vegetarians (especially seasonal stuff), and yet they satisfy the real carnivores too. There is always a risotto, perfectly prepared, and usually vegetarian. We try to eat here every week or two.
Porsena was fantastic! Very understated but the food was so fresh, served piping hot, and was remarkable. They also have very good GF pasta! Service was attentive, thoughtful and fast. Highly recommend for large parties - they have a reasonable fixed-price option that works well for large parties.
Moved our reservation from a dining table to high top before we arrived, our table wasn’t ready when we showed up, and a huge party congregated by the door for a while disrupting our meal but the food was completely worth it. Some of the best homemade pasta I’ve had in a while and the peach salad appetizer was really delicious.
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