Nonna Dora’s Tribeca

My fiancé and I had a really great dinner here yesterday. I have a gluten sensitivity and they make pretty much all of their pasta shapes gluten free! The waitress was super nice and helpful explaining the menu. We got the gluten free calamari and the meatballs which were insane. Then I got the gluten free pesto ravioli and my fiancé got the lasagna (not gf). To share we got the mushroom tagliatelle (gf). For dessert we had this awesome frozen chocolate mousse 🥲 unreal. Everything was sooo good! Highly recommend if you’re gf or not. It’s a very cute date night spot 🥰

First time at Nonna's and what a treat to walk in and be greeted by Dora herself! We had the trout tartare and the calamari for starters. The tartare was fresh with a kind of raw shallot throughout, topped with micro greens. I thought it could have used a little more seasoning but my palette might have been still recovering from an omakase the night before. The calamari was lightly breaded with a nice crunch and the paired marinara was bright with a lemony bite to it. I could have used a little more salt in the calamari batter. For entrees, we had the orecchiette, malloreddus, and the ravioli per olivia. Every pasta type was beautifully made and cooked but the stand out flavors were the orecchiette and the ravioli. The rabbit ragu was rich and seasoned well with zero "gamey" flavor. The malloreddus was good though the saffron was a little bit too much for me. The pistachio pesto in the ravioli was unreal and will be actively seeking / creating this at home. We finished the meal with the "half-frozen" mousse, which seemed mostly frozen but nonetheless, delicious. Not too rich and more on the milk chocolate side. We paired it with a few digestifs which were recommended to us from one of the servers. One was a $6 pour of Amaro and the other was limoncello-adjacent. Both great. Overall, we enjoyed the meal and while being on the pricier side, the texture of the homemade pasta was a nice touch.

This restaurant is receiving one star, and one star only, because the meatballs and crab-stuffed pasta were prepared well (kudos to the chef). Unfortunately, the overall experience was deeply uncomfortable. The owner walked around the otherwise empty restaurant loudly yelling on the phone, presumably to vendors, and was not welcoming in the slightest. It was a Tuesday afternoon and the restaurant was nearly empty aside from my friend and me, plus one older man seated in the back. At one point, the owner began a loud political conversation with that guest and openly expressed racist views, including stating that Black people should not be admitted to Harvard because of the color of their skin and that “tests” should determine who belongs there. The other guest attempted to challenge him, but at that point I just wanted to leave. I never expected to write a review like this, but I strongly suggest skipping this restaurant altogether. The food is not worth the environment.

Nonna Dora's is great for pasta and cocktails, and if I were you I'd come here immediately for Pasta and drink as many cocktails as you can. If you're going to have just one pasta make it the Ravioli per Olivia, and if you expand beyond that I think the Lasgna and the Cappelitti are both really good, with the carbonara also just being so amazing! Wine list is good, but truly the negronis are the way to start, and then the list goes on from there!

Maybe it was the company or the holiday spirit but it was hard to find anything wrong about this place. If you’re on the mood for perfectly prepared pasta, this is your place. Everyone loved their various fish apps. Good wine list. Friendly service. Clean bathroom. Easy to get to from Penn Station.

Even with mine and my wife's high expectations, Nona Dora's in Tribeca surpassed and surprised for an ideal restaurant experience. The space was clean, and understated but animated with colorful design choices expressive of the owner Nicola's charisma and good humor. Staff struck the perfect balance of attentiveness without being overbearing. Acoustics in the space were ideal for intimate conversation. And then there was the meal. The list of Negronis alone was comprehensive and exciting. We enjoyed the mini calzones, arugula salad and the beet salad, the paccheri with tuna and pappardelle with wild board ragu, and tiramisu for dessert, everything to perfection. We finished with a couple amaros prepared by the host, George, with walnuts from his own trees that provided me a proustian remembrance of the aroma of walnut fruit drying in the schoolyard from my childhood. What more could you ask for?

We had the spaghetti and meatball. The meatballs tasted ok but texture-wise felt overcooked or dense. The sauce was a bit thin and bland. It could use more salt or Parmesan grated over it which they didn't offer. Overall not worth the price for the quality

This place opened recently two blocks from my place. Pasta there was excellent, one of the best I've had in a long time. Portions were just right and prices not excessive considering the neighborhood. My Italian friends thinks the pasta was fantastic.