Malatesta Trattoria
Italian restaurant · West Village ·
Seasonal specials, homemade pasta, cozy atmosphere
.jpg "Malatesta Trattoria by Diane Sooyeon Kang")
Seasonal specials, homemade pasta, cozy atmosphere
"Malatesta is a place that you’ll inevitably frequent once you spend enough time in the West Village. Sure, you could always try to get a walk-in table at Via Carota down the street, but if you do that, you’ll have to wait three hours before you can eat. This place is easier. Put your name in for a table, and it shouldn’t be long before you can sit in the homey dining room and enjoy some fully decent $16 pasta. Get a carafe of relatively inexpensive wine, and request a table outside if the weather’s nice." - team infatuation
"Malatesta is that ideal West Village Italian restaurant you knew had to exist somewhere, but could never actually find. They keep their windows and doors open all summer, so in addition to the plentiful sidewalk seating, every seat in the house feels sort of outside. It’s walk-in only, which means it’s a great spontaneous move. Just be sure to bring cash." - katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg
"West Village Italian spot Malatesta draws a consistent crowd without relying on internet hype. No gimmicks. Just pillowy gnocchi and infinite quantities of good-enough wine." - bryan kim
"The West Village is charming, which means that you don’t have to try as hard there. We aren’t saying you shouldn’t put in a good effort on your date, but maybe you had a long week and you’re fighting back some yawns. Go to Malatesta. Sit outside, eat some pasta, and watch people walk down Christopher Street while your date takes in the ambiance and starts to mentally photoshop you into his or her holiday cards. The setting here is quaint and the food is simple and affordable. Just be aware that it’s cash-only." - bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg
"If pasta is one of your so-called love languages, Malatesta Trattoria should be in your vocabulary. Because it’s the kind of charming, cash-only place where the menu is handwritten and you can eat veal meatballs, but it isn’t as much of a production to get into as the 400 other charming Italian restaurants in this neighborhood. Come for simple, tasty food and a bottle of red wine that might kickstart some major nostalgia for that time you both became briefly obsessed with the idea of moving to Northern California in 2013." - hannah albertine
