Don Angie
Summary
This restaurant had been on my peripheral for a while because of the lasagna dish. I didn’t decide to try to book a reservation until I learned it was awarded its first ever Michelin Star. I had tried a few times on Resy, but always missed it. Fortunately, I was able to land a reservation on a weekend at 5 PM EST. The restaurant itself is in West Village and felt like a typical trendy cafe in the area. The tables were social distanced, and had a nice romantic setting.
The Alpiña (left) came with mezcal, genepy, caffe borghetti, pineapple, and lime. This somewhat smokey drink also had a lot of sharp citrus in it. It was pretty smooth though not my favorite.
The Bambino’s Vino (right) came with lambrusco, house ginger ale, and vodka. I loathe ginger ale, so I was not a fan of it. My partner, on the other hand, enjoyed it.
The tonnato vitello came with spicy veal tartare and tuna carpaccio. The one word that speaks to my mind immensely was “fresh”. The tuna and veal tartare was so good. It was very fresh and seasoned beautifully and also minimally… allowing its natural flavors to shine.
The stuffed garlic flatbread came with a ton of garlic and cheese. If you love garlic and cheese, well it’s inevitable that you will love this. The bread was quite interesting because it has the same texture as Chinese shaobing.
The eggplant agrodolce came with eggplant, pine nut brittle, and mint. There wasn’t anything truly unique about this, but it was really good. The eggplant was crispy but tender. The pine nut brittle was evenly crisp, and the mint complemented everything well.
The lasagna for 2 came in a piping hot ceramic pan and was served with some bread. The bread tasted as if it was drenched with olive oil and was toasted perfectly. If you are not a fan of olive oil, then you won’t like the bread too much. The lasagna though was very delicious and tasted as good as it looked. The lasagna pasta was basically a thin sheet and rolled with pasta sauce inward. In the center of each rolled up lasagna, there is ground meat. The ground meat was tender and seasoned deliciously. Iif I was blindfolded, I would think “this tastes like a really good lasagna”. But when you view the presentation, it only added a lot of bonus points to the dish. With that being said, this a definite must order for those sentiments.
The service was nothing short of excellent. The server was attentive, and the food came out promptly. Be forewarned that during COVID times, they automatically charge a 4% surcharge that is excluded from tip. In my mind, I was so delighted by not just the lasagna but the entire meal, so I didn’t mind tipping close to what I normally do.
Final Verdict
This Italian restaurant is nothing short of amazing and well deserving of its Michelin Star. If you are in the West Village area and want to eat at somewhere that’s special enough to fight for a reservation, this one should be on the top of your lists.
Yelp Jabs
Although i was dreaming of the Lasagna they serve all the way from Beirut Lebanon, while in New York last night and trying to reserve for dinner me and my girlfriend, we had to experience the most bad experience ever, the host/ waiter was so stuck up and rude, he eas so mean and made us wanna vomit honestly .
This Yelper wrote a bad review strictly on the reservation interactions with the host but left no details whatsoever. They didn’t even eat at the restaurant. I suppose that’s one way to get the attention of the business manager.
I do not get the hype. The food was over seasoned and way too salty. I am a chicken scarperiello fan and have had many different variations on the theme by different chefs.
The hype was certainly not about the chicken. Unless the chicken is super special or is super unique, I would recommend as a general rule to stay away from eating chicken at restaurants. Otherwise set your expectations accordingly. People will rarely hype a mid/upper tier restaurant over chicken.