Pisticci

Oh, Pisticci. I am so grateful I live 2 minutes away from what I consider heaven on earth. I have only gotten takeout from this restaurant, but they absolutely DELIVER on the quality every time. Forget the overhyped TikTok restaurants, Pisticci, to me, is incomparable.

For transparency, not every dish I rank below is absolutely perfect, but I have not had one meal so bad that I disliked it. My rankings range from absolute perfection to this was okay.

First off, the Fettuccine al Funghi... oh my gosh. This is on another tier. The fettuccine noodles are always cooked al dente, and the sauce is delightful. I always pay $4 extra for the truffle oil, and this really elevates the dish to the next level. This dish is plate-licking clean, and if you are a mushroom fan like me, this is the pasta for you. My absolute favorite.

When I'm in a meaty or tomato sauce mood, I opt for the Maltagliati with Ricotta, Spinach and Lamb. This, as someone else described it, is like a deconstructed lasagna. I especially love it when I get a bite of the ricotta, just so creamy. I will note, however, on my most recent order of this dish, they may have forgotten the tomato sauce? Because when I opened up my order, the pasta was totally drenched in brown from the lamb, in comparison to the previous times I have had it. It was still good, but one, it didn't look very appetizing, and two, it was too meaty without the tomatoes to complement.

In the times I felt like venturing away from my beloved Fettuccine I have tried the Rigatoni alla Vodka, Tuscan Bean Ravioli, and Cavatelli Broccoli e Portobello once each. The Rigatoni was a solid basic dish! For the Ravioli and the Cavatelli, however, I couldn't help but regret not ordering the Fettuccine. These weren't bad, but the Fettuccine truly is THE best. The Ravioli was okay, guess I'm not a white bean fan. I really enjoyed the creamy tomato sauce it was in, so if you order this, make sure to get a side of bread with it for dipping. I recently tried the Cavatelli tonight, and while I liked it, I learned I'm not a fan of cavatelli pasta. I probably would have liked it more if it was with penne. I also wish the portobello mushrooms were sliced into smaller pieces to be integrated throughout the pasta.

Next, desserts. I have tried two - the Coconut Cake and the Chocolate Mousse. The Coconut Cake goes insaaaaane. One of the best slices of cake I've ever had, 100%. I can't help but order this every time I place my takeout order. Just absolutely sumptuous. Chocolate Mousse is good, but the portions are ridiculously small for $9. For your $'s worth, you're better off with the Coconut Cake, but maybe the Mousse's portions are bigger in person.

All in all, I adore Pisticci, and I do hope I'll sit down and experience the actual restaurant itself at some point, especially since I know they have jazz Sundays!

Updated to reflect owner response:

I appreciate the owner's response to our review. I want to first say that I am so excited to hear that Pisticci is transitioning to employee ownership! That is incredible, and it definitely makes us want to come back, despite the subpar experience we had.

I also want to address what you've said about our interactions with staff "on a day that we were unhappy." To put it plainly, I know that people can be assholes to staff when they are unhappy with their experience, but I want to emphasize that we are NOT those kind of people under any circumstance. I think it's clear from what I wrote previously (and if you read my reviews of other restaurants, my views are consistent) that we are ALWAYS on the side of workers, and no matter what kind of dining experience we have, we never take out frustration on staff. We always tip generously, our tips NEVER reflect food (or even service) quality as we know that staff rely on their tips for the majority of their income and I would never f**k with someone's ability to pay rent, even if I have a bad experience. I assure you that we were kind, polite, friendly, and understanding throughout. We didn't even tell the waitstaff that the food was not great because we knew it wasn't their fault and weren't trying to get a comped meal. When I said "weird experiences," I didn't mean negative, I just meant that there were several moments throughout service that were awkward, starting with being brought to a table while it was still dirty, so we had to kind of awkwardly stand very much in the space of another table dining while they cleaned it - stuff of that nature. I apologize for assuming a connection between staff energy and how they are being treated by employers. I obviously don't know what goes on behind the scenes.

I hear everything you've said about having the same line of chefs working and that you say that the attention to food quality hasn't changed. I'm sure you feel that's true - I am simply reflecting that those are just words if the food being served is bad. What I received on my plate was overcooked eggs, dry lettuce, unseasoned potatoes, soggy/stale bread, sauce that was unpalatable, and burnt pancakes. None of which I ever used to receive when coming here in the past. All of this lead me to guess that, because things are not great right now economically for New York and for restaurants, maybe there's been a change in the ingredients that are being purchased, or other changes to cut costs that have impacted food quality. I would understand why a restaurant would be driven to do that, but that ultimately doesn't change the fact that as a diner, the quality of my food would be impacted, and I would choose not to come back.

Because of your response, I've updated my review to 3 stars, but the fact remains that the food really wasn't good. I would be (reluctantly) willing to come back for brunch one more time (especially because of the exciting transition to employee ownership!) in the hopes that it was an off-day. Though I'm hesitant to fork over another $50 if you're implying that there was nothing wrong with the food we were served and that we should expect a meal of similar quality. If this experience was a one-off, I would delightfully remove this review and write a new one that reflected the better food quality.

Our waitress was lovely, the vibes were also great. The food however was mid at best.

We ordered the steak and eggs, breakfast carbonara, uovo contadine, lemon ricotta pancakes as well as an espresso martini and a carafe of the Bellini.

My favorite dish was by far the uovo contadine but I felt like I could make it at home. Honestly everything I tried felt like something I could make at home. There was no wow factor. The lemon ricotta pancakes were also solid but nothing special. The least appetizing dish was 100% the steak and eggs. It was the tiniest little steak you'll ever see. We ordered it medium rare and it was RAW (in a Gordan Ramsey voice). Breakfast carbonara was fine I guess, but needed salt.

I understand now this place is meant for dinner. I would like to try dinner but only if someone else suggested it. Would probably not go back on my own. If I lived next to it I would go all the time, but I don't so probably won't go back.

P.s. espresso martini was REALLY good

My friend and I had an excellent meal at Pisticci! We ordered their famous artichoke to start and their lemon butter sauce was ahhhmazing. The cavatelli with broccoli and mushrooms was also delicious, and the salmon was cooked exactly as we requested. Our server Julietta helped us make an excellent wine selection and was very attentive and helpful during our meal with anything we needed. A perfect atmosphere for a great italian meal!
Thanks Pisticci!

When I think of visiting NYC, I think of great Jewish deli's and neighborhood Italian trattorias. While most of the former are gone - thank goodness for the later - you know the small cozy places that bring you back in time or transport you to a small street in Sienna. Pisticci hits the mark big-time!
Quaint, unassuming, welcoming- you feel like you are home. Local art fills the walls ( many of the staff are artists) and the dining space is intimate. The menu, while straightforward, is filled with delicious choices. There are no bad choices here. Daily specials will tempt you for sure.
Start anywhere, make sure you get a pasta dish ( cooked perfectly), and whatever you do save room for the coconut cake ( made in house ). It is like none you've ever tasted! Enjoy dear readers - enjoy!

Really good food! I had the rigatoni in vodka sauce and it was really tasty and flavorful! Friendly staff and cute spot to go for a quick dinner.

I especially loved the ambiance in Pisticci. The food was great! The burrata salad was amazing. I also had a pasta dish with truffles, also delicious. Service was timely and up to par. I'd go again. I loved the outdoors and entry way, you kinda have to step down to enter the restaurant which gave me a cool Italian summer vibe. It was spot on! All in all service, food, ambiance was wonderful.

Love this place. Th service here is excellent, there all well educated and super nice. I always see the employees at some point t sitting down to and enjoying a nice meal.

There were 7 of us. First time sitting in the back room. This place have 3 bars, a beautiful outdoor decks and 3 separate dining areas.

For appetizers we had the mussels, great sauce, but wasn't living the mussels, a insalada mista, insalada pisticci, yummy pancetta, and a Barrata. Also someone had the spaghetti al pomodoro, quite good too.
For entrees we had the rigatoni ala vodka, 1 plain, 1 with meatballs, and 1 with sausage, I had the sausage and loved it. We also had the orecchiette with broccoli rave and sausage, the Fettuccine al funghi, my wife's favorite dish , but she substitutes the pasta to a rigatoni. My daughter had the maltaiati with ricotta, spinach and lamb, delicious. All the pastas were fresh and cooked to perfection.

I did say our waitress, the actress, was terrific as well.

We drank too much so our bill was not inexpensive.

I've been to Pisticci twice before, once for dinner and once for brunch, and while their dinner was good, I found their brunch to be underwhelming. Most recently, however, I came back for a large holiday party hosted by my partner's work and I will say I was a lot more impressed this time than on my prior two occasions. We were a pretty large group of around 20 or so and they sat us in a long table in a private room at the back so we had the space to ourselves. The ambiance was very nice, dimly lit, quiet, and felt really intimate and cozy. They had a set menu for us to choose an app, an entree, and dessert from. Service was really excellent and organized although a little slow but they made sure to bring out all our drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts at once which is probably why it took a little longer. They had a variety of options for apps: salad, garlic bread, or caponata; for entrees: rigatoni alla vodka, grilled salmon, and steak; for dessert: chocolate mousse or sorbet (raspberry and passion fruit). I ordered a glass of Chardonnay which came cold and was very delicious and refreshing. For food I got:

Caponata: very substantial appetizer which I did not take a photo of but came with a very hearty stew of eggplant, tomatoes, and other veggies like olives, celery, etc (this is the caponata), and was topped with a generous amount of burrata. In addition there was a nice very toasted piece of buttered bread to eat it with. I appreciated the amount of caponata that was served and also really loved the flavor of it since it was very rich from all the vegetables, with perfect hints of sweetness, acidity, and earthiness. The burrata was creamy so it balanced everything out nicely. I only wish they had given me an additional piece of bread to eat it with!

Grilled Salmon: I've only gotten pasta here before but after ordering this dish, I realized I had been doing it wrong. The salmon was very flavorful, tender, and flaky. Perfectly cooked! It came with some cooked potatoes which were soft and also very delicious as well as some broccoli rabe which added an extra savory punch. I added some of the lemon which came on the side and this was also delicious.

Chocolate Mousse: one of the best chocolate mousses I've had. Everyone in the table agreed it definitely felt too dense and thick to be a mousse but we all loved it. Not too sweet on its own and either a very rich chocolate flavor. Perfectly balanced by the slightly sweet whipped cream and the tart raspberries. Will definitely be coming back for one of these alone.

I thought the staff handled a big party really well. They were really amicable, attentive to our needs, and got all our orders right. The space is very nice and does lend itself for larger private events. The food was delicious and everyone left very happy with their meals! The prices a la carte are reasonable but I'm not sure about the larger groups since I was only a guest but I will definitely keep this place in mind if I ever have to host something large. Would be perfect for a work, graduation, birthday, or engagement party! Would recommend!

So I'm up here in the Morningside Heights section. I'm early for picking up an associate so I've managed to park right in front!
This restaurant has a delightful upbeat look! The young lady at the desk has managed to find me a nice large table in the middle of the room. Looks like there are a few dining areas. All very appealing with brick or stone walls.
The crowd is very eclectic. Professionals, some neighborhood people and generally younger millennials
I am impressed with a good number of people for a Tuesday night. A lot of vibrant conversation going on.
This is a come back spot!!