"Tommy Lasagna"??...ugh...Irving Place area needs better restaurants! (long)
For the past few weeks, a small restaurant space on 18th betw Park and Irving has been being renovated...
I had high hopes...what would it be?...i despise most of the other restaurants in 100 metre radius of 18th/Irving:
-- i won’t go to Casa Mono because of snotty staff and mediocre oversalted/overpriced food pretending to be tapas...
-- Chosei Sushi is like old supermarket sushi
-- the menu at Cibar seems to be plagiarized from TGIF
-- Friend of a Farmer is just awful...a teflon place for people who want to pretend to be eating fresh food while actually eating stale hospital food...
-- and the massive newly-opened Kibo seems, judging by the 100% empty sushi bar i see all the time when i walk by and by its aspirations to be better than Japonais while cloning Japonais w/ a tiny DNA splice of Epcot Center, it seems like a bad joke which the owners are playing on themselves...(haven’t eaten there yet, so who knows, please prove me wrong, but the vibe i’ve witnessed there is pretty grim)
-- Pierre Loti is a nice cozy bar and seems to serve cheese and charcuterie and i go there to drink wine, but not a real place for a meal
-- i actually like the vinegary/non-creamy quasi-Caesar salad at Pete’s Tavern and a friend of mine has enjoyed their pasta&meatballs when she’s here, but when that’s the best choice in the given radius, we’re talking about a very mediocre multiple choice question for ultra-close eats...
So i’d been wondering what this tiny new restaurant was going to be...a good tapas bar a la Tia Pol that would shame the lame folks at Casa Mono?...a Xian Foods?...a relocation for the wonderful Soba Koh?...
So imagine the look of horror on my face when the name/sign “Tommy Lasagna” went up on the joint today, along w/ some window etching that looks like something you’d see at an Italian place at Newark Airport -- note to owners/investors: if you walk fifty feet west and look at the mostly empty Kibo and listen closely, you can hear the sound of money flushing down the toilet -- the Epcot/Short-Hills-Mall restaurant model doesn’t go over so well around here...
...will this place possibly be good?...hard to imagine...i’d love to be proven wrong and have it be wonderful, even if i have to explain to everyone i take there that they have to ignore the poor name...
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Casa Mono
52 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
Choshi
77 Irving Pl, New York, NY 10003
Tia Pol
205 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011
Friend of a Farmer
77 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
Pete's Tavern
129 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003
Pierre Loti
53 Irving Pl, New York, NY 10003
Cibar
56 Irving Pl, New York, NY 10003
Kibo
111 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003
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LOL i feel sorry for you. That Kibo is horrible, it;s the famous Joel Robuchon ( i hope i spelled his name wrong), he is the most overrated chef there is. Kibo is absolutely horrible, japonais was so much better and that was bad. The one in Chicago wasn't too bad. I ate at Joel Robuchon's japanese place in Monte Carlo and it was a total rip off, and terrible. Casa Mono, usually the staff is OK , you mustve had a bad night. There used to be a really good red sauce place for many years on 18th and irving , i forget the name, it was two guys like Joe and vito, anyway it was good, so maybe Tommy Lasagna is actually good. Or you can walk over to 15 East , isn't far. Also on Steak Rules list EMP is good but you can't just walk in, Tocqueville is Ok if you want white table cloths, you already said you had a problem with case mono, blt fish, and prime are not good,ABC kitchen is very good,Maialino is good,Craft is also good,I forgot how Ciano is, i hate blue water grill, and Union Square, I'm no fan of Gramercy either. Veritas and Novita I've never been to. But Steak rules point I guess is, there are plenty of places for you to find. Take a walk to Ippudo, or 9th St for Japanese food, or to 13th and C to Cafe Cito for Cuban food. You'll find something. I'll be eating at Tommy Lasagna's
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re: foodwhisperer
The Italian restaurant on 18th off Irving whose name you can't remember is Paul and Jimmy's. It's still there, and you're right. The food's quite good.
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I recently moved to the area and agree that the restaurants right on Irving aren't spectacular (other than Casa Mono), however there are some of the most incredible restaurants in the city in the surrounding areas (within 5 block radius). Also, Irving Place really only goes from 14th st. to 20th st. and is mostly residential. I don't think it is fair to trash block because it doesn't have a Michelin restaurant on every corner.
Here is a lot of some noteworthy restaurants and some good neighborhood spots extremely close and certainly within walking distance. I haven't been to all of them but based on their reputations:
Casa Mono (ON Irving Place)
Craft (19th bet. park and 5th)
Eleven Madison Park (23rd and park)
Maialino (21st and Lexington)
Gramercy Tavern (20th bet. park and broadway)
BLT Prime (22nd bet. lex and park)
Novita (22nd bet. lex and park)
Veritas (20th bet. park and broadway)
Ciano (22nd bet. park and broadway)
ABC Kitchen (18th bet. park and broadway)
Giorgio's of Gramecy (21st bet. broadway and 5th)
Tocqueville (15th between 5th and Union S W)
Union Square Cafe (16th bet. Union Sq W and 5th)
Blue Water Grill (same as above)
There is also a newly opened steakhouse Vic and Anthony's on park between 19th and 20th that looks very nice and I want to try. Even Gotham Bar and Grill and Strip House are not far at all.
I'd say that is a pretty impressive restaurant list if you ask me!
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re: steakrules85
hi steakrules...i live on Irving Pl: i'm not trashing it; i'm trashing the restaurants...i agree that we have great places within several blocks and it's a fantastic place to live...but the quality of the places on the street itself and the adjacent blocks is embarassingly bad...
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Bob Martinez
Oct 25, 2011 08:10 AM
Tommy Lasagna?
I guess Lasagna Factory was taken.
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Tommy Lasagna
119 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003›3 Replies-
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re: Simon
Bob Martinez
Oct 25, 2011 09:03 AM
"The renovated 1,800-square-foot restaurant will be called Tommy Lasagna, which is coincidentally also the name of a minor character from the old Saturday morning standby The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!"
How dare you criticize this place before it opens! It sounds wonderful! Maybe if we're lucky a Pirates of the Caribbean seafood shack will open on the same block.
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Tommy Lasagna
119 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003
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sgordon
Oct 25, 2011 07:53 AM
Well, if Irving Place has no good restaurants for you...
...walk a block North or South. Or, if you're feeling particularly brave, two blocks.
Jeez, I know people who are neighborhood-centric to a fault, but this is the first street-centric complaint I've come across...
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re: Simon
jon
Oct 25, 2011 01:55 PM
i used to live in the area and was always surprised there weren't better options on irving proper (other than casa mono and bar jamon which i actually do like). yama isn't terrible but admittedly it's not great.
however, venturing to lower lexington, on the other side of the park, you'd hit maialino, novita, and blt steak, not bad options, and you get to walk around the park (or through if you have a key!)
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Casa Mono
52 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003BLT Prime
111 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010Bar Jamon
125 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003Yama
122 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003Novita
102 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010-
re: jon
I forget about Yama for my list: i actually think its the worst of all of them.
Yeah, i love walking and tend to eat in W. Village and Soho and Nolita and E. Village and even walk to the E. 40's Japanese places once in a while. Just wish the ultra-close options werent so embarassingly bad.
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Yama
122 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003
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