John's of 12th Street

Enjoyed John's of 12th Street over the years, typically a destination with guests from out of town looking for a place in the Village and who'd appreciate a good Italian meal in an intimate "old school" setting. The atmosphere is special. Have never been disappointed.

As I normally do, went last night for Veal Cutlet Parmigiana with linguini. (See pic.) It was a solid entree,... but what really knocked our socks off was the absolutely amazing homemade house salad dressing - with familiar notes. My similarly foodie dinner companions and I, savoring the flavor, tried to identify how it was made, however it eluded us.

We hoped John's of 12 Street's "Auntie Rae" would let us know. When the waiter returned, we asked. Not revealing the secrets to the sauce, he only indicated it included anchovies. (Note - It tastes nothing like Caesar dressing.)

If anyone out there knows what's in their house dressing, please let us know! We promise not to share the secret... that is if it is a secret!!!

Another thing this round that caught my attention in particular, beyond the wall art, was the restaurant's beautiful floor mosaics. (See pic.)

It all contributed to another wonderful experience at John's of 12th Street we'll share and talk about well after the meal.

Absolutely wonderful! When we read about their vegan menu we went to try a little dinner and dessert and I'm glad we did!

My s/o ordered the John's Old Fashioned which he enjoyed (he loves an old fashioned) and surprisingly I did as well (usually I don't like them at all so that really surprised me!). We had some questions about the menu which the waiter kindly asked the chef and got back to us. We enjoyed the vegan Alfredo which was especially delicious with some of the Follow Your Heart parm on top.

The owner asked us how everything was and when I asked about the famous Sopranos scene he kindly gave us a little tour of the place which was awesome! The inside is still the original early 1900s flooring and hand painted trim on the walls, which gives you that quaint, traditional old school Italian restaurant feel - which we appreciated. He showed us where the iconic Sopranos scene was filmed & gave us some other really cool history! My s/o and I both agreed, even if the food wasn't good (though totally not true) that experience alone made us want to go back!

When we said we were too stuffed for dessert, the owner sent us home with some vegan tiramisu and cannoli to try. I am so excited to report they were absolutely divine!! Tiramisu was very tasty & I'd bet the cannoli is the best item on their ENTIRE menu. And it's vegan - almost couldn't believe it!

Overall - nice traditional Italian place with both regular and vegan traditional Italian dishes. Service was good. We recommend the vegan Alfredo. Try John's Old Fashioned & do not leave without trying the cannoli. Heck, next time we're there we will absolutely be taking several to go!

Thanks again for a wonderful meal & experience!

This place is still amazing and does no wrong! We go here for my husbands birthday each year and the food is always amazing and fresh.

Get here early before it gets too crowded on weekends.

John's of 12th Street has a cozy interior with warm lights and lots of Italian memorabilia across the wall. There are lots of Italian restaurants in the area but what makes this place unique is their vegan selection which has its own page in the menu. Vegans aren't stuck to ordering spaghetti marinara here so I ventured out to try the seitan parmigiana. The seitan was sliced into a thin cutlet and was lightly breaded, the flavor was great on this. I've never been a fan of vegan cheese, and this was no exception so I peeled that layer off. The parm was accompanied by some spaghetti that wasn't anything noteworthy.

Our server was attentive and even in a large group our dishes came out without too much of a wait. The house red was fine and they had a selection of wines from Italy that I might opt to explore next time. I also tried the cheesecake which confused me a bit as it had a cake-like base. It tasted good but almost like it was confused as to whether it was supposed to be a cake or cheesecake. My meat-eating companions also enjoyed their meals so John's is a great place for people of any dietary preference to be able to enjoy quality Italian food.

Vegan menu available!
I was so excited to find an Italian restaurant with a vegan menu that had more than just a few options. There were 5 of us and as the only vegan in the group, I was excited to have good options.
We ordered the vegan garlic bread basket for table to share. I ordered the seitan parmigiana and someone else ordered the vegan eggplant parmigiana, which I tried. Both were really good.
The place is small and gets busy but the service was good and servers were very helpful in making recommendations.

NYC has some of the best Italian food in the country so we always have at least one Italian dinner, separate of the pizza we eat. I make it a point to ask local New Yorker's where they go and I received a lot of recommendations to John's on 12th, which is a key distinction since there are many John's restaurants in NYC.

As soon as one enters the quaint restaurant you know you're in a classic Italian place. We were immediately greeted by the owner, who was happy to get us quickly seated. It was especially surprising because we had a party of 6 and needed a larger table, but he squeezed us in.

The server was also both quick and friendly. He gave us several recommendations and we took him up on most of them to include their famous Tuscan Ragu Over Homemade Pappardelle, homemade manicotti, spaghetti with meatballs and their fettuccine. Another great surprise was that they made some of their famous dishes vegan, which was perfect for our daughter and her boyfriend. Every dish was delicious.

For dessert we also followed the servers recommendations and got their cannoli (both regular and vegan) as well as their tiramisu (also both vegan and regular).

This will be the Italian restaurant I recommend to anyone who visits NYC, and I will point out it was recommended to me by New Yorkers.

I felt like I stepped into a time machine at John's of 12 Street.

It's such a cool old-school, vintage red sauce joint with the cool booth seats and old hooks for your clothes to be hung.

Generous portions!

You can definitely split the Chicken Parmigiana with Spaghetti with two people.

You can't go wrong here.

This place is an old-school red sauce museum.

Wear that nice dinner jacket.

Amazing!!! Came here with a friend, we celebrated my retirement!!! We had the garlic bread and stuffed mushrooms for starters, then she had the eggplant parmigiana and I had the linguine with white clam sauce....absolutely delicious.

Service was great and waiter was very attentive. We sat right where the candles were...loved it.

This is a pretty standard Italian restaurant. I had the rollatina of eggplant parmesan and garlic bread here. The eggplant bit was delicious and cheesy, but the spaghetti it came with was a bit lackluster. The wait staff was super nice. This is probably one of the darkest restaurants I have ever been in, I had a bit of trouble reading the menu by the candlelight. At $36 after tax and tip, the bill was a bit higher than I would have liked.

Finally made it to this historical landmark of a restaurant on 12th st.

Food
- go with the old school classics here like chicken Parm, spaghetti and meatballs, etc
- burrata was very top notch , you can order free bread to go with it.

Service
- everyone was very friendly and welcoming
- didn't have any issue getting a table walking in on Monday evening

Vibe
- felt like you walked into a time capsule into an Italian spot in the 70s (good thing)
- really nice little booth options to sit in