Il Corallo Trattoria
- Nearest Transit:
Spring St-6th Ave (C, E)
Houston St (1)
Prince St (R, W)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
44 Reviews for Il Corallo Trattoria
I was recommended to this place by a friend, and I will also recommend it to my friends. For a restaurant in Soho, this place has great prices and amazing service. This is probably the best pasta in the city. I think it's pretty authentic, and the menu is HUGE, so there's always a ton of stuff to choose from!
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They give you a good amount of food -- the Mussel/Clam appetizer came with big pieces and the broth was lovely. Shared a pasta and fish entree (special of the day). Both were really good and the fish entree was HUGE. +3
The service was fast. SO fast that they gave us the entree WHILE my friend and I were enjoying our appetizers... Irritating. -1
In the middle of our meal we were asked to move to accommodate a party of 5. Irritating. -1
Would go again for the good deal and good food.
We just there for our 5th year anniversary and this is not our first time either. For the location and the price you pay around SOHO I almost say priceless. You can get a lunch special or Brunch for $9.95. Try Lobster and Crab meat Ravioli and Tiramisu (OMG) speechless. Just a warning for people who like their pasta a little overcook, they cook their pasta the Italian way so don't think that they are under cook you pasta.
Others list of recommendation:
Antipasti
Insalata corallo
Steam mussel and clam
Pasta
Taglierini Sorrento - Fresh thin black noodle with shrimp, crab meat, scallops, clams, fresh chopped tomato, parley, olive oil, white wine and garlic sauce.
The space is kind of tight so you might want to eat before you shop in SOHO.
i was a little bit of a cranky bitch face a few nights ago, and still, my boyfriend walked and got us some take out from Il Corallo Trattoria.
it's weird because italian is hands down my favorite food, but often overlooked like a red headed step child.
it's one of the last things i get to eat when i am not at home cooking tyson chicken tenders or mrs. t's pirogies, i usually got for french, or thai.
but people. you have to know. Il Corallo Trattoria does not disappoint. their food is authentic tasting and delicious, and their menu is extensive. it's the sort of place you could have numerous favorites, and also try a different thing almost every time you went. and despite the sheer joy of maybe trying a new favorite, you're almost sad you didn't get to order your last favorite.
but hey! this place is not that expensive at all. i'm tempted to eat here more than once a week.
i'm picky about taking food home, but the containers were up to par and the pasta did not taste rubbery at all from the short walk from the restaurant to home (styrofoam kills food, avoid like the plague!) and this pretty much lifted my crappy mood.
i ordered the black taglierini sans peas: black squid ink pasta sun dried tomato & shrimp in a creamy of tomato sauce.
my boyfriend had fettuccine with chicken and mushrooms in a truffle sauce and it was sinful.
lourdes maria i love this place.
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*actually* more like 4.5 stars. Here's why:
This joint is a very close rival to Vesuvio's, in Bay Ridge. I was completely blown away! Fresh pastas, a bit thick but perfectly chewy. A nice selection of straightforward antipasti (different combinations of mozz, tomato and proscuitto), salades, and of course pasta! I loved the large selection of non-cream based sauces; in fact, there was a multitude of white (olive oil, wine and garlic) sauce dishes. Thin noodles, fettucine, ravioli, rotini....wow. The vodka sauce smelled and looked amazing. Prices ranged from $9 to $14 for the Fettucine Frutti di Mare which included lobster meat. These are true homestyle dishes; nothing fancy, trendy or homogenized.
Minus 1/2 a star because by the time we paid at 8:30, all tables were full. As we're finishing our espresso and prosecco, the manager sent a staff over to ask us to vacate the table. Well, homestyle service apparently!
They don't take reservations, but the place doesn't fill up until about 8pm on a Saturday.
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omg. this place was a godsend during my vacay in NY--well that and my blackberry.
i have to say not being super familiar with the city can be overwhelming, but luckily enough i was able to yelp on my bb while wandering around. and i came across il corallo.
i doubt i've had better pasta in my life. i'm dreaming of this restaurant still. if i move to NY, this place would probably be 80% of the reason why. although busy when we visited, i still loved the ambience and overall feel. unfortunately, i had been on a sangria kick all week, and they didn't have any here. but i was still more than content with water here. if you haven't been, go. you absolutely won't be disappointed.
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I was so impressed with this place. The pasta dishes they have are absolutely delicious, and everything is so affordable (especially given the location).
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I've been going to this SoHo joint with 30 pasta dishes under $13 bucks since I was a poor college student. This is an intimate cafe-style place with doors that open to the sidewalk in the summer. I've been there on different days of the week, dinner, lunch, and late, and always seem to see the same waiters and manager/owner. These guys are dedicated!
The brick-oven pizza, Bocconcini (Mozzarella, tomato, parmesan and prosciutto salad), White fish stuffed with capers, zucchini & fennel, Squid Ink taglierini, Fettucini with Salmon, Bowties with avocado, shrimp and lobster, Squid-Ink ravioli stuffed w/crabmeat are among my Favorites.
The bottles and table wines are always pretty good, especially for the price point.
Little quirks that you need to get used to, but will dismiss as part of the experience:
Dishes come a little too quickly if you order an appetizer.
If you like olive oil with your bread, you gotta ask.
You will be elbow-to-elbow with your neighbor.
Tables are small, so the table gets a little full with water pitchers, bread, side plates and entree plates
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This is my favorite Italian place in the city. Yeah, they will only seat a party if everyone is there, they don't do substitutions for ingredients in their pastas, and the hostess/manager woman who wears that ridiculous pencil skirt every day is kind of a bitch, but once you get past her, the food is excellent.
Whenever I have friends come to visit NYC from out of town, I'll take them here, so they can get overwhelmed by the menu. There are probably 30 different types of pasta on the menu to choose from - from whole wheat pastas in forms of fusilli, taglierini, pappardelle, and penne, just to name a few - to even black squid ink taglierini, for one of their popular seafood dishes.
The price is hard to beat too - the pastas are priced near the $10 range, but most of the time less than that. Recommended menu items from me include:
Penne Alpino - penne pasta (tube pasta) with walnuts and zucchini in a gorgonzola cheese cream sauce. Add chicken if you want some meat, which I do
Fettuccine Buttera - fettucine with italian sausage, spinach, pine nuts (YES!) in a light olive oil/garlic sauce
Pappardelle al Pollo - ribbon noodles with peppers, mushrooms and asparagus in a light olive oil/garlic sauce
Fusilli della Linda - tricolor spiral pasta with diced chicken breast and zucchini in a tomato basil sauce.
As an appetizer, I sugest the Crostini Toscana - it's to die for. Basically, it's bruschetta with tomato, celery, beans, basil, sweet onion, and olive oil - with a boiled egg on top to finish. RIDICULOUSLY good.
And their wine selection is great too. I usually order a Soave (white) or Montepulciano (red) if I'm with friends and want to get a bottle. The house wine by the glass works too.
They offer a daily brunch/lunch special for $8.95, where they offer a select number of their pastas to choose from, plus a choice of soup or salad. This is only offered from noon to 4.
My goal is really to try everything on their menu - but of course it's hard when you find favorites.
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While dining at one of the only remaining inexpensive eateries in "chi chi" Soho, the maitre d' sat a 20-something noveau riche British couple next to us by the front window. We were already mid-way through our first beer - and with the tables at Il Corallo situated European-style (very close) - we managed to easily eavesdrop on parts of their conversation: they were apt. hunting in Soho..oh goodie!
He said....with his legs spread wide open ( he must be packin?!? ) slouched in his seat..."Darling at $1,000/sq feet, the apartment is reasonable, considering the Soho location. Yeah babe, the broker says it is almost 240 sq meters." FYI 240 meters is 2,583 sq ft. not too shaby eh?
"I think if we submit a bid of $2.3 million, I am sure they will accept it....plus the banks are not lending money to anyone right now." (translation -not lending to us poor American sods). "And when you convert that to pounds or euros, the price is very reasonable."
She said... with her blown out hair, fake tan and tacky Chanel bag "But did you notice how horrid the doors looked?"
Mr. Packin Brit .."We can easily renovate the place for under $250,000 and decorate it very modern European."
Ms. fake tan...."I still think you should have a place in London or Amsterdam first."
Mr. PB....."But if we have this place in Manhattan, I am sure it will give me incentive to visit NY more often."
Ms. FT....."I think I am going to order a red wine, waiter, what kind of red wine do you have?"
"Ok, then fine! I guess I will take a merlot huff, sigh....it seems that these restaurants just serve Merlot, jeez I guess Americans just looooove their Merlot...."
They left a Euro tip..$0.00 I think I threw up in my mouth a little when I witnessed that!
Oh the review part right.....the pasta dishes at Il Corallo are very tasty, perfectly al dente, and reasonably priced. The service was amicable and efficient. The couple seated next to us were cheap rat bastards, but hey such is life. May we all be able to buy a 2583 sq. ft loft in Soho in 2008; unfortunately most of us will have to wait until our dollar is worth more than my dog's dung.
May 2008 be full of love and light. Money isn't everything eh!?! Oh heck....who am I kiddin? Give me cash lots and lots of delicious cash...in pounds or euros
s'il vous plat. Merci!
xoxo Tori K.
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A good place to come with friends, you can all sit close, eat cheap and enjoy. The food is good, not spectacular, but good and hot. There are 80 different pasta plates or so, it makes choosing one nearly impossible. I manage, but inevitable I always want something else 2 minutes after I order, which is about 1 minute before the food arrives.
Service is contrite, no frills, just food.
A nice place to get a quick cheap meal in SoHo.
This place never ceases to amaze me. It's small inside and there aren't too many waiters which is a down side but the food and wine is some of the best I have ever had in Manhattan!
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One of my fave pasta joints in the city. Quaint and cozy restaurant that makes you feel like you're visiting an Italian country home. Prices are very cheap and the homemade pasta dishes are hearty and perfectly cooked al dente. Their complimentary warm homemade bread and olive oil combo is a delicious delight too.
*Edit: I went back recently and no more delicious homemade bread. :-( Now it's just plain Jane French bread. Boo. However-- I still love their pasta! My favorite is the Spaghetti alla Vongole [Spaghetti w/ clams] and I get it with the red sauce which has a very slight spicy kick to it. yumm! Also, they load the sauce and the plate with lots of clams. double yum. Next time I visit, I'm going to ask if I can get this dish with linguine or fettuccine noodles instead. I noticed that their thick noodle pastas have a more firm and chewy texture-- just the way I like it!
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Angela took me to il coralio trattoria after talking about it for weeks, so when i had a great dinner from start to finish I was happy that it lived up to my expectations. We started with a mozzarella caprice salad with prosciutto, olives, and red peppers, which was delicious. Then the pasta dishes - all of the pasta is made fresh, and cooked el dente, which may not be for everyone, but i thought the pasta was fantastic. I ordered a sausage/spinach in garlic/olive oil, and Angela ordered cheese ravioli w/ ham in a cream sauce. I definitely liked her dish better in terms of sauce, since I found the olive oil to be a bit plain, but the pasta itself was done so well that I didn't mind. For dessert we had tiramisu and latte's; the cake was great, and the coffee was made well. In terms of the grounds, we had a great seat on the street, and the service was prompt. Finally, I should mention that the dishes were all amazingly well priced - pasta dishes were $10 - $12 dollars, and the whole meal all together was a round $50 straight through from appetizer to tip.
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this is one of my favorite italian/pasta places in the city. my coworkers from my first job brought me here for lunch on my first day at work. this was 6 years ago. i'm glad that this place has still survived all this time.
they have the most pasta options of any italian place i've been to, and the service is really quick. i think the food is excellent - the pasta all tastes really fresh. the prices are really good too, and oh, and the wait staff/managers are all really nice people.
the only downside to this place is that it is small, and gets kind of cramped when it's full. it also tends to be really noisy because it is so small.
but, if you're looking for an affordable, great italian meal in the soho area, i highly recommend this place.
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I am sad to give this place two stars. I am. Let me explain.
I have been to Il Corallo several times, as it is within walking distance of my work is nice for a semi-quick lunch or an after-working-late dinner. The pasta is cooked exactly as I like it, and there is soooooo much to choose from.
But. I have been treated rudely twice already. That is two times too many. Most other places in NY manage to pull off al dente just as well.
The first time was when I was with out-of-town friends. They wanted pasta, so naturally I thought of this great & nearby place. But when we all put cash down at the end, but server stood there, right above our heads, counting it. Then he showed me the bill and said we were short $20. We were confused. Yes, it can be confusing to do math when there are four or five people who have ordered different things and not everybody has exact change, but we couldn't have been off by that much. After much deliberation, I looked down and noticed that he didn't even take all of the money that was on the table. Boy were we annoyed and insulted.
Then tonight. I was supposed to meet a friend here, and she was running late (I really love the MTA). I went to the small bar type area in the front room and asked if I could get a glass of wine while I waited. "No," the guy behind the counter said. A little taken aback, I said "I... can't have ANYTHING while I wait?" and he vigorously nodded his head, gave me a "didn't you hear me the first time" look (wide eyes & raised eyebrows included) and said "yep, that's right." GAAAAAAAH.
When my friend showed up, we went to Peep instead (directly across the street & one of my favorite restaurants). I will not be returning to this place. ever.
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I could talk about this place all day...affordable italian in Soho!! I am so happy that I found this place. The menu is riduculously large, and the portions are hearty...hmm, i don't think i've ever actually typed the word "hearty." The word even looks weird...
Anyway, this place has fared well with Zagat for over close to 10 years (made evident by the list of Zagat rating stickers all over the front door). The space is small, which plays on the family-style, cozy effect. You would think that with such a large selection of pizzas and pasta dishes, things would begin to taste the same. Certainly not the case. I am always surprised that every new dish I try is distinctly different from the last. I dare anyone to find another restaurant that packs as much seafood on your plate at Il Corallo's prices...
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After 15 years, still never disappoints. Fresh ingredients; efficient service; warm friendly propietors; phenomenal pasta selection; delicious pizzas; tasty entree specials; fesh salad; great appetizers; yummy desserts; sensible/reasonable wine prices ....
Get the picture? It's a home run for good food, good vino, good service at a super reasonable price.
Now I have a hankering for some Farfalle de Spiaggia, Fettucine Buttera, Black Taglierini, Taglierini Sorrento, Cappelini Limone, Papperdelle Funghi, Tortellini Boscaiola, Minestrone, Pureed Carrot Soup, Pizza Esotica, Tartufo, Tiramisu ... that's the biggest "problem" there, making a choice!
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An affordable Italian restaurant in SoHo. Shhhhhh... don't tell anyone. The decor is rustic and the tables are very close together so be prepared to eavesdrop on everyone else's conversations. Make sure everyone in your party is here or they won't seat you. They have a great selection of pizzas and pastas. I wouldn't get dessert here but if you have a craving for sweets and want to walk off all the carbs you just ingested, head over to Rocco's in the West. Village or Veniero's in the East. Village.
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We stopped in here with an old friend for dinner a couple months ago. We were all happy with our dishes, and my SO kept raving about the lamb. The homemade pasta noodles were good. We also got a tasty bottle of white for under 20. Service was decent and fast. Dinner and wine for three people for about 60 bucks is a great deal. Overall a good experience, but it was kinda rude that the bus boy grabbed the credit receipt off the table and read the tip right over our heads, then showed it to the waiter, who nodded his approval before they both walked away. I didn't like that so much.
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Remember those damn word problems in high school... if there are 6 people each of whom have to shake hands with 8 others, how many handshakes are there? Yeah... combinations and permutations. YUCK!
I probably would have done better if the word problem involved Il Corallo's pasta. Several different pastas, a couple of different base sauces, seafood, chicken veggies... how many different combinations under $15 can you come up with? Yeah, this place has been a staple for years. Discovered while broke in grad school... still frequented since I'm still broke and out of grad school. Cheap. Delicious. And hey, that $12 plate of pasta? Huge enough to be two meals (and maybe a nibble at breakfast). So really, a $6 meal? I'll gladly do that math.
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One cold, late night, 5 starving friends shopping in SoHo were in the mood for some yummy eats that would not break the bank. We ended up here.
Seated right away and given bread to stave off the hunger while we decided and waited for our food to come, we discussed how cheap the prices were. A dizzying array of pastas to choose from - not to mention a decent selection of appetizers and pizzas as well. All for very reasonable prices!
Food arrives and a definite hush falls on the table for a good ten minutes while we stuff our faces. Then all the mmmmm's and yummy's come flying from everyone's mouths, forks are jabbed into everyone else's dishes and another round of compliments goes around again.
Would give it another star, but they're just not consistent enough. Subsequent trips have produced similar quality eats at times and overly salted ones other times. And I mean salty! Like to the point where your tastebuds can't even taste anymore and you're trying to drink every glass of water on the table (and more!) to prevent yourself from drying out...
Great pasta selection. The Tortellini Pesto Cheese Filled Pasta in a Fresh Pesto Sauce is my favorite dish. Overall a good experience, but you have to accept that all things are not perfect--the hostess was a bit much.
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hmmm 14 bucks a person for pasta after tip/tax... pretty good deal...
friend ordered some kind of pasta in very light garlic sauce with seafood... that was ok... nothing special... i would stick to things that have more sauce to it...
i thought the pastas with more sauce ingredients had more flavor... the other two dishes we ordered were both tortellina dishes... one with pesto... the other one with prosciutto and tomatoey sauce... both very hearty and tasted pretty fresh... sauce wasn't too overwhelming... not overly salty at all...
didn't have any bad experiences with hostess... heard a side comment though of some other table that did...
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I ate here last Friday and was totally, one-hundred-percent, blown away by the food. We walked in while a packed Friday night crowd was already eating and we were still able to get a table right away. The staff was very nice and incredibly fast too. We ordered our food and it was out in like ten minutes. I had black seafood ravioli which was incredible. I ate it so slowly because I didn't want it to be gone. I wiped up every single bit of sauce with bread so I didn't waste anything. We also had a bottle of their white wine special--La Bastarda--which was phenomenal. For dessert, Chelsea had read about the tartufo here so we tried it out. I really, really enjoyed it. It was surrounded by this strawberry sauce that was out of this world.
My only beef with the place was that the portions were a little small and I was left not completely stuffed. This also could have been because I didn't get a salad or anything and just had some pasta, bread and wine. But next time I'll be sure to order a little more. Excellent, excellent establishment.
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When you've worked up an appetite power shopping through SoHo and your wallet is hurting from being in Intermix to long, this is the place you should head to for lunch. I mean its not Mamoun's cheap but for Italian food in the area it def is...and you can get a tasty sit down lunch for under $10 easily
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Full of deliciousness. However, with a zillion pasta listings, it's possible to go wrong. I always order the Pappardelle Funghi (lasagna-like noodles with oodles of mushrooms) and it hasn't disappointed me yet. I've found some of the appetizers to be somewhat questionable (like boiled egg and prosciutto on bread), but prices are extremely reasonable and service is generally efficient. Not really a place for big groups, or first dates (tables are very cramped AND you should take him/her to somewhere more expensive), but it is and remains my staple Italian in Manhattan.
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Killer food and at a suprisingly low price. They really know how to cook pasta. We all know you want it al dente, but their homemade pastas were especially firm and fresh here.
Our bill for three people w/ a bottle of wine was $58!
I had the Fettucine w/ lobster, crab, mussels, scallops, and clams and it was $13. Surely that would be $10 more at most other restaurants.
The restaurant is in a really cool location as well.
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An absolutely tremendously amazing value!! Reasonable prices, a cozy quaint restaurant and a convenient SOHO location and oh yeah: Delicious food too!
My cousin's girlfriend thinks this place is the shit. She was raving about it and explaining how the portions are huge and exquisite.
Here's the real 411.
The food is good, but not outrageously wonderful as I was led to believe. I ordered the taglieri mare-something. It's her favorite. I had no real complaints about the pasta, but it didn't sent me over the moon, and I need my pasta to send me over the moon. Seriously. I can cook a pasta that sends me over the moon, so it has to be on par with or better than that. Also, the portions were not gigantic. They were much smaller than other Italian restaurants I frequent. I finished the whole dish, after eating bread and salad. That's unheard of for me. At C&O I never finish. And their rolls....don't get me started.
The bread was mediocre, and they didn't bring out the oil and vinegar until we had almost eaten all the bread. That was lame. In addition, our salad had no dressing. The menu stated it would be tossed in a vinagarette, but I literally couldn't taste a thing. Not even oil. I threw in my own vinegar, but it wasn't the same. Diego stopped eating it alltogether, and I was left to finish it on my own. I did, however, because it had avocado, and I'm a sucker for avocado.
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This place almost made me wish that I was still as picky of an eater as I was when I was a kid, when I wouldn't even eat other noodles that weren't your basic spaghetti and once started literally crying in a restaurant when they put penne pasta down in front of me, I kid you not. Why? It's because I know that I could have said, "Young Chelsea, chin up- there's twelve billion types of pasta here, you have to find something that will make you happy!"
I was eager to try it after finding it on Yelp, as Andrew J. & I commented a few weeks ago how despite living in New York City, we never do good Italian. Well, no more, because we were able to have a dinner of delicious pasta (and did I mention that I probably could have had spaghetti with peanut butter and jelly, that that's how varied their menu is?) at a quiet and homey-feeling restaurant. This is what New York is supposed to be. Excellent service- quick as hell without feeling like we were being rushed. And the huge selection of food? Is delicious. I wish that my artichoke ravioli had been a little more artichoke-y (the admittedly-fantastic tomato sauce kind of overpowers it), but it was still delicious nonetheless. And aforementioned tartufo was fantastic, in a delicious strawberry (perhaps cherry? Now I can't recall) sauce. Besides, two entrees, a dessert, and a bottle of wine for just over $50, before tip? That won't make anyone cry, except possibly out of sheer joy! Of course I'll go back... there are several dozen more plates of pasta I wanted to try!
ETA- So, okay, everyone talks about the enormous portions? Yeah, either I'm a total fatty (quite possible) or they've changed their portion size, or it's at least not so for the stuffed pastas.
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I love this place! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the service. They were very busy and I know that service can be off sometimes. My sister and I ordered 2 salads, 2 pastas, 2 glasses of wine and a tiramisu and the total came to $50. Plus the entrees were so big that we both took home leftovers. It was so good. I can't wait for lunch today to have leftovers. The menu is a bit overwhelming as they have 2 pages of pastas. Luckily we met at 7PM but if you come after, there may be a chance that you have to wait as the restaurant filled up pretty quickly. For a satisfying and inexpensive meal, I definitely recommend this place.
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This is one of my goto restaurants in SoHo. The prices are reasonable, the sauces are thick and rich, and the texture of the pasta is what does it for me, its hearty and al dente--just the way I like it. There have been times when the sauce came off just little salty (otherwise I'd give this place 4 stars), I'm not sure if that's because that's how they cook it, or because it was the ingredients of what they put in the pasta, regardless, every time I've been here it's been a satisfying experience.
I found this restaurant a few years back, smack in the heart of Soho with great portions and good location for people watching. There's the good ... now the bad. After dining at other good Italian restaurants, I realized what this place was missing. Great food. Don't get me wrong, for the location, price, you can't beat it. No one will ever leave hungry but will it satisfy your taste buds? If you really want a good Italian meal, go elsewhere.
The bread they provide is really hard and not special.. okay, it's only bread. Most of their pastas are pretty salty and done al dente. I'm not a big fan of what I consider undercooked pasta. The seafood they include is very small and not of great quality... lastly, they completely overcook the chicken, last time I was there, it tasted like a rubber ball.
I knocked it down another star because of the lacking service my party received last time we were here (a while back) but the rudeness encountered has always lingered..
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What a quaint place! I've been here several times and it has never disappointed. The number of pasta dish variations they have boggles the mind. The prices are SO cheap for what you get, but the quality is amazing.
One of their salads as an appetizer is a must. The salads are so flavorful and they give you a huge portion! You can't go wrong with any of the pasta dishes. One of the secrets of this place is their pizza. If you go, try their pizza selections. TASTY thin crust pizza that is handmade in the back in their superhot oven. Have a nice glass of wine and bask in the beautiful sensations in your mouth!
Keep in mind that there's usually a short wait, as it's so crowded, but it's well worth it. The place has a very homey feel, like you're in your grandma's kitchen or something, all kinds knick-knacks on the wall. It's wonderful and brings many different types of people to the place. The people working there are very friendly and very prompt. I love it.
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This is one of my favorite restaurants in New York, I've been coming since I was in high school - so for almost 9 years or so. Always great food, good weekend brunch, great prices and friendly staff.
I recently had a bad experience with some bad food and service, but one time out of 9 years isn't too bad.
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The menu is very impressive. So many combinations of ingredients! So many types of pasta! Everything is less than $15! Might this be heaven?
Well, maybe not. As noted before me, the antipasti are not what you would expect. We ordered the Crostini Pomdoro--expecting to get something in the vein of bruschetta. Nope. You get 4 pieces of the free bread with piles of tomatoes, bits of ricotta, and a few pinoli nuts. Disappointing. The Antipasto Mozzarella seemed fail safe, but the moss itself wasn't as fresh as I would've thought it could be.
I ordered the Fettuccine Buttera (garlic, sausage, spinach, pinoli) which was just really bland and dull. My friend had the Capellini Corollo (lobster, shrimp, mussels, scallops, tomato sauce) and was disappointed, but I had it leftover the next day, and it was pretty good--though the individual seafood flavors were difficult to distinguish.
Big winners: Farfalle di Spiagga (avocado! lobster! cream sauce!) and the tartufo (that delicious chocolate covered chocolate and vanilla ice cream dessert another Yelper suggested). The service was very nice, though one guy was serving the entire restaurant.
I'd go back--with a menu like that, there's really no excuse not to:) It's so cheap, trying it again won't kill me. But, it's definitely not the no-miss winner that I was thinking it might be.
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I mostly, love this place, i sometimes am disappointed with service here, but still mostly love it, it is really good food at pretty cheap prices in SOHO. I like the wait staff when it's not crowded, however when this place is crowded and you want to savor the moment--watch out--the waitstaff come just short of pushing you out the door--it's all about getting patrons in and out, they hurry you along and will give you the evil eye if you take an extra few minutes before heading out---still worth it for the good cheap food.
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After 4 yelpers gave this place 5 stars, I expected decent, homey italian food at a good price. We had something to do in Soho, but I had done my research, and this time we weren't going to be stuck eating a $150 dollar meal because we couldn't find anywhere else to eat at the last minute.
So, Il Corallo it was. And it's not that the experience was overly dissapointing. Sometimes, you get what you pay for, and the $40 tab made up for the mediocre food.
We had 2 appetizers - a salad with romaine, huge pieces of cucumber, feta cheese, and a tasteless house dressing. It tasted fine. Then a bruschetta with mushrooms, mozarella cheese, and proscuitto, sounded a lot better than it tasted.
Then, fusilli amatriciana - the big pieces of pancetta made me happy, but I don't think they made their own tomato sauce, as it tasted industrial - bad tomatoes and sugar to cover up their acidic taste, and tomato paste. Not that great.
My husband had fettucini with sausage, black olives, and artichokes . . . again, it satiated our hunger, but it was a mediocre plate of pasta.
I might go back to this place, if it was late at night, and nothing else was open, or if I was broke and needed a cheap, decent meal. But under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even think twice about returning.
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