Bar Stuzzichini

Critics' Pick

928 Broadway, New York, NY 10010 40.740129 -73.989469
nr. 22nd St. See Map | Subway Directions Hopstop Popup
work212-780-5100 Send to Phone

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Cuisine: Italian
Price Range:
$$$
Key to Prices and ratings
Upscale

Almost Perfect

Exceptional

Generally Excellent

Very Good

Good

Cheap Eats

Best in Category

Excellent

Delicious

Very Good

Noteworthy
Very Expensive

Expensive

Moderate

Cheap
Critics' Rating:
**
Key to Prices and ratings
Upscale

Almost Perfect

Exceptional

Generally Excellent

Very Good

Good

Cheap Eats

Best in Category

Excellent

Delicious

Very Good

Noteworthy
Very Expensive

Expensive

Moderate

Cheap
Reader Rating:
5.3 out of 10
|
22 Reviews | Write a Review

Photo by Youngna Park

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Hours

Mon-Thu, 11:45am-11pm; Fri, 11:45 am-midnight; Sat, 11am-midnight; Sun, 11am-10pm

Nearby Subway Stops

N, R, W at 23rd St.

Prices

$12-$28

Payment Methods

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Special Features

Dine at the Bar
Lunch
Notable Chef
Notable Wine List
Take-Out

Alcohol

Full Bar

Reservations

Accepted/Not Necessary

Make a Reservation with opentable.com

Profile

The room, for the record, is not one of Bar Stuzzichini’s strong points. It’s overly big and poorly lit, and decorated with shades of firehouse red and lots of prefab wood moldings, like some unfortunate marriage between Pottery Barn and a local outlet of Pizzeria Uno. But what the restaurant lacks in style it makes up for with the easy, even artful simplicity of its cooking. Stuzzichini are the Southern Italian equivalent of antipasti (the word comes from stuzzichare, meaning “to pick”), a series of small dishes served, usually, at the bar. This means candy-size rolls of eggplant stuffed with creamy ricotta cheese, gold-brown arancini (rice balls) as big as plums, and artichokes, frizzled in the Roman Jewish style and served on sheets of butcher paper with wedges of lemon. The meatballs aren’t the usual giant cannonballs; they’re bite-size, with a crisp exterior, and the codfish stuzzichini come stacked in little strips, each one fried, like zeppole, in a balloon-thin batter crust. The chef at Bar Stuzzichini is Paul Di Bari (formerly of the Austrian restaurant Wallsé), and he imbues many of the dishes on his sparely edited menu with a light, gourmet touch. There are only five pastas available, but at least three of these (the handmade gnocchi Amatriciana folded in a ragù made with guanciale and onions, the chewy tagliolini alla limone with crunchy bits of pistachio, and the orecchiette mixed with spring peas, sweet onions, and cream) are themselves worth the trip. Order them with the weirdly delicious Scamorza alla brace—smoked mozzarella melted into a crunchy pancake and scattered with olive oil infused with chile pepper. — Adam Platt

Note

The Italian wine list is eclectic and well priced, and features many wines poured by the quartino, that friend of cheapskate oenophiles everywhere.

Ideal Meal

Stuzzichini codfish, artichokes, meatballs, or orecchiette with spring peas; lemon chicken or short-rib braciole, olive-oil cake.

Food:	1

Service:	1

Décor:	1

Value:	1

We arrived before our friends, and were told our table was empty and we'd be seated shortly. Twenty minutes passed. When we asked what was going on, the hostess said her manager told her he'd only seat the entire party. She, of course, didn't bother telling us. When we finally were allowed to our table, the service got even worse: our wine, which we ordered as soon as we sat down, arrived well after most of us had already finished the main course. The food was mediocre, too. A complete disaster.

Bar Stuzzichini

Never, ever again.

liel from 10025 | Posted on 1/9/10

Overall Rating: 101 (Not Recommended)


Food:	3
Service:	1

Décor:	3

Value:	1

This is probably the worst dining experience I’ve had in a New York restaurant. Everyone, from the hostess to the manager and the wait staff, was extremely rude, which didn’t stop them from tacking on a mandatory 20 percent gratuity to our party’s bill. The food, when it finally arrived, was mediocre; thankfully, the portions, too, were small. The wine came too late for us to enjoy. This, too, is fine, as the wine list is overpriced and underwhelming. In short, never again.

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