25 Best Pasta Dishes In NYC

There are few meals as nourishing, comforting, and delicious as a heaping bowl of pasta. In New York City, there are endless exceptional pasta dishes to choose from, with inspiration ranging from all over Italy — Tuscany, Piedmont, and Emilia-Romagna — featuring quintessential dishes like cacio e pepe and carbonara, as well as innovative flavor pairings of cream and seafood. 

Like all dishes, pasta is subjective. Your favorite may be a bowl you can eat several portions of, or alternatively, a combination so decadent you can barely finish in one sitting. The commonality between all our favorite New York City pasta dishes is the freshness of the ingredients, including the pasta dough, and the thoughtful pairing of noodle shapes to pasta sauce to allow for optimal flavor and creaminess. We rounded up our favorite pasta dishes across the city, including pasta from several of Tasting Table's best Italian restaurants in NYC, so you can plan your next pasta adventure.

Speaking of decadence, if your wildest pasta dreams include being submerged in a bowl of truffle and cream, look no further than Uva's gnocchi di ricotta. Homemade gnocchi is a rich pasta dumpling from Northern Italy, crafted from either ricotta or potatoes rather than wheat. Ricotta gnocchi is lighter and more flavorful than potato gnocchi and stands up to bold sauces well. 

Uva's gnocchi di ricotta features in-house gnocchi bathed in a sauce of creamy black truffle and chives. The chives add a touch of freshness and bite to an otherwise cheese-forward dish. Uva is located on the Upper East Side and is better known as a wine bar. We recommend pairing your glass with a bowl of gnocchi rather than sampling the rest of the menu.

Bucatini is a pasta that closely resembles spaghetti, but is thicker and features a hollowed center. That center allows the noodle to lap up sauce so that every mouthful is slick with tomato. L'Artusi's bucatini with pancetta, tomato, chilies, and pecorino is a complex and well-balanced dish with acidity and sweetness from the tomatoes, heat from the chilies, meaty intensity from the savory chunks of pancetta, and tangy creaminess from the shredded pecorino. 

This is the type of pasta you can eat several bowls of as the sauce is immensely flavorful, but not too heavy. L'Artusi is a must-visit West Village gem.

Lemon is an everyday ingredient that instantly enhances the flavor of any dish it's added to by amping up the acidity. At Misi, Missy Robbins' modern Italian restaurant in South Williamsburg, lemon is used in the restaurant's famous sheep's milk ricotta-filled occhi which is covered in shavings of bottarga. 

The origins of occhi are disputed lore, with Missy Robbins taking partial credit for the round ravioli-esque pasta with a smooth band around the dough rather than ridges. Robbins is also at the helm of Lilia, where her sheep's milk cheese agnolotti is amongst our favorites. At Misi, sheep's milk ricotta serves as the filling for Robbins' occhi, which is balanced with a pop of lemon and the salty, umami intensity of bottarga — a cured fish roe that is generously dusted over the pasta.

At Dell'anima, our favorite pasta dish is anything but simple. The tajarin alla carbonara features a bright yellow egg yolk, coarse black pepper, thick chunks of speck, and generous shavings of Pecorino Romano. 

Tajarin is the Piemontese version of tagliatelle, which is made with more egg yolks than the latter resulting in an amplified noodle flavor. Here, the tajarin carries the flavor of the egg through both the noodle and the decadent whole egg yolk. The inclusion of speck, a cured smoked ham, in this dish adds fat and salt, which is met with creamy, peppery richness. At Dell'anima in Gotham West Market in Hell's Kitchen, sit at the chef's counter to enjoy a hearty bowl of the stuff.

Nothing says pasta night like lasagna. The lasagna for two at Don Angie is a dish that is in and of itself a reason to celebrate. Served in a massive ceramic dish, the lasagna for two, is cut into thick ovals so you can gape at the layers of melted cheese and rich Italian sausage bolognese before diving in. 

The lasagna sits atop a bed of sauce and whipped robiolina — an Italian cheese that resembles cream cheese but is simultaneously tangy and delicate. The lasagna noodles at Don Angie are freshly made and very thin, making each bite of lasagna all the more special.

Rubirosa in Nolita is perhaps best known for its pizza, but don't sleep on Rubirosa's pasta. The spaghetti alla chitarra with fresh tomatoes, shredded basil, and shaved Parmigiano is your quintessential bowl of tomato, cheesy goodness that is as satisfying as it is flavorful and nuanced. 

The chunks of thick tomato are central to this dish where the delicate noodles serve as a vehicle for the sauce made with Parmigiano, and fresh basil. Rubirosa is a warm and rustic restaurant that is a perfect setting for a date or family meal, where you'll find high-quality ingredients and dishes that amplify Italian classics.

Lil' Frankie's in the East Village is a quintessential New York restaurant with seating that spilled out onto the sidewalk long before the pandemic. While there are many excellent pasta dishes to choose from, our hearts and stomachs sing for the simple pleasure of lemon and butter. Enter: spaghetti limone, a heaping bowl of pasta served at Lil' Frankie's with Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon, and butter. 

The noodles are slick with butter and cheese and the bright freshness of citrus, adding a sharp acidity that complements the rich butteriness of the dish. The Parmigiano Reggiano is generously shredded on top of the noodles, ensuring cheesiness and decadence, making this pasta a comfort classic.

Ravioli is another classic Italian pasta that evokes feelings of nostalgia and comfort. At Nonna Dora's Pasta Bar in Kips Bay, a neighborhood restaurant with exceptionally fresh pasta prepared by Addolorate Marzovilla also known as Nonna Dora, you can enjoy any number of homemade pasta dishes in a variety of authentic Italian preparations. 

Our personal favorite is the Ravioli per Olivia, which is stuffed generously with creamy ricotta and swimming in a Sicilian pistachio pesto with small chunks of pistachio and pine nuts scattered throughout the rich, oily goodness. Every bite of this ravioli is savory, cheesy, and nutty.

Bar Pitti is a beloved cash-only Italian restaurant just south of Greenwich Village, which features a blackboard with a rotating handwritten menu heavily dominated by pasta dishes. No matter what you order, you really can't go wrong at Bar Pitti, but our favorite dish is the pappardelle alla fiesolana with smoked bacon in a rich tomato and cream sauce topped with Parmigiano Reggiano. 

The homemade pappardelle is lusciously fresh, wide, and flat, carrying the density of the sauce while also bringing its own delicate egg-forward flavor. Pappardelle alla fiesolana is true Italian comfort food that is cheesy, tangy thanks to the smoked pork, and decadent because of the cream and tomato.

Forma Pasta Factory in Brooklyn is another pasta haven where you have your pick of exceptional and innovative pasta dishes. Our recommendation is the pipette ragu with Italian pork sausage in a creamy sauce that's laced with herbs and hearty shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano. 

The ragu is both creamier and richer than any other ragu we've tasted and is complemented brilliantly by the brightness of the fresh herbs. The curbed tubular shape of the pipette allows the pasta to fill with sauce, enhancing the flavor experience in every single bite. This dish is decadent, but one we return to Forma to order time and time again.

Barano in Williamsburg is a staple in the neighborhood known for its wood-fired pizzas. We visit Barano for its homemade pasta, specifically the mafaldine, which is a specialty ribbon-shaped noodle with ridges along both sides. Barano's mafaldine takes the pursuit of umami to a whole new level. The ribbons of pasta are paired with a medley of roasted artisanal mushrooms including hon-shimeji, cremini, and maitake, all swimming in a thick sauce of garlic, butter, and Parmigiano Reggiano, topped with sautéed sharp herbs. 

The richness of the sauce is wonderfully balanced with the meatiness of the mushrooms. The texture of the ridged noodles and the hunks of mushrooms create a satisfyingly nuanced texture.

Few Italian pasta dishes have catapulted to mainstream success in recent years as prominently as cacio e pepe, the classic Roman dish with cheese, pepper, pasta, and pasta water. The heir to the cacio e pepe throne in New York City is undoubtedly Via Carota, the walk-in-only Italian restaurant in the West Village co-owned by chef Rita Sodi. 

Via Carota's cacio pepe is made with tonnarelli pasta, which is thicker and wider than spaghetti, so the noodle is coated luxuriously with sauce. Because tonnarelli is classified as an egg pasta, the flavor of the noodle adds depth to the creamy cheesiness of the coarse black pepper and Pecorino Romano sauce. Every mouthful of cacio pepe is dreamy and decadent. This is easily one of the best pasta dishes in the city.