Nonna Dora's Introduce
For New Yorkers craving the true, soul-warming taste of Italy, finding a restaurant that captures the essence of a traditional "nonna's" kitchen is a rare and precious find. Nonna Dora's, an Italian restaurant in the heart of Murray Hill, has built its reputation on just that. This establishment is dedicated to the craft of handmade pasta, a labor of love that is central to Italian culinary tradition. The ambiance is designed to be cozy and romantic, providing a perfect escape from the city’s constant motion. It is a place where every dish feels special, prepared with care and an authentic touch that sets it apart. While the dining experience may feel intimate, the restaurant is well-equipped to handle the fast-paced nature of New York life, offering options for a quick lunch or a more leisurely, multi-course dinner. Nonna Dora’s is a destination for those who appreciate the finer details of Italian cooking and seek out a meal that is both a comfort and a delight. The name itself promises a certain level of authentic, home-style cooking, and for many, the restaurant delivers on that promise, making it a noteworthy addition to the city's vast culinary landscape.
The culinary philosophy at Nonna Dora’s is a beautiful blend of tradition and modern dining. The menu is focused on handmade pasta, with a wide variety of options that reflect different regions of Italy. While some dishes are a testament to classic comfort food, the restaurant also serves up more unique offerings, showcasing a sophisticated approach to traditional cuisine. The commitment to quality is evident in their use of fresh ingredients, which is the cornerstone of great Italian food. From the appetizers to the desserts, each item is crafted to be a memorable part of the meal. The atmosphere, described as cozy and trendy, makes it a great spot for various occasions, whether you’re looking for a romantic date night or a quiet place for solo dining. This combination of an inviting environment and a menu that highlights the best of Italian cooking is what makes Nonna Dora’s a compelling choice for food enthusiasts in New York. The restaurant's dedication to the craft of pasta-making provides a unique and authentic dining experience that is hard to find elsewhere in the city.
Nonna Dora’s is conveniently located at 606 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10016. This address places it in a well-trafficked and easily accessible area of the city, making it a viable option for many. The restaurant is situated in a modest space on the first floor of an apartment building, which might make it easy to miss for a first-timer, but the hidden gem aspect only adds to its charm. For those traveling by public transportation, its location is ideal, as it's within reach of various bus and subway lines. If you plan to drive, paid street parking is an option, although this can be challenging to find in the city. The restaurant is also committed to accessibility, with a wheelchair-accessible entrance, restroom, and seating, ensuring that all guests can enjoy their dining experience. The central location in New York, combined with its accessibility, means that Nonna Dora's is a convenient and welcoming spot for a wide array of diners, from local residents to tourists seeking an authentic Italian meal.
The atmosphere inside Nonna Dora’s strikes a balance between intimacy and urban chic. It's described as both cozy and trendy, making it suitable for a variety of occasions. The setting is ideal for a romantic dinner for two, with a quiet and clean environment that allows for intimate conversation. A bar onsite provides a great place to enjoy a drink before your meal or if you're dining solo. The restaurant is particularly popular for both lunch and dinner, and reservations are highly recommended, especially for evening dining, a sign of its popularity and intimate size. The service is often described as fast and attentive, ensuring a prompt and pleasant experience, a key consideration for New Yorkers on a tight schedule. While the space may be modest, it is thoughtfully laid out to create a comfortable and welcoming dining experience. The combination of a pleasant atmosphere and professional service helps make every visit to Nonna Dora’s a memorable one, reinforcing its status as a great local find.
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## Services Offered
Nonna Dora’s provides a range of services to accommodate their customers' dining preferences. These services include:
Dine-in: Enjoy a cozy and romantic meal within the restaurant, complete with table service and a bar onsite.
Delivery: For those who prefer to eat in the comfort of their own home, Nonna Dora’s offers delivery service.
Takeout: You can place an order to go and pick it up from the restaurant at your convenience.
Reservations: The restaurant accepts reservations, and it is highly recommended to book a table, especially for dinner, to ensure a spot.
Full Bar: A wide range of offerings, including alcohol, beer, cocktails, and a great wine list, are available to pair with your meal.
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## Features and Highlights
Nonna Dora's stands out in the competitive New York dining scene due to several unique features and a focus on quality. Key highlights include:
Handmade Pasta: The restaurant specializes in handmade pasta, which is the cornerstone of their menu and provides a true taste of authentic Italian cuisine. This dedication to craft is what sets them apart.
Great Wine List: Nonna Dora's is praised for its excellent wine selection, with a variety of options to complement every dish on the menu.
Delicious Desserts: The dessert menu is a highlight, with options like Tiramisu and Panna Cotta that are highly praised by diners.
Serves Local Specialties: The menu includes dishes from specific Italian regions, providing an authentic and unique dining experience.
Variety of Offerings: From comfort food and small plates to vegetarian options, the menu caters to a variety of tastes and dietary needs.
Cozy and Romantic Atmosphere: The restaurant's ambiance is perfect for special occasions or a quiet, intimate meal.
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## What is worth choosing?
When dining at Nonna Dora’s, the menu offers a rich selection of authentic Italian dishes. Given the restaurant's reputation, a great place to start is with the handmade pasta. The Pappardelle with wild boar ragu is a popular choice, praised for its rich sauce and perfectly cooked pasta. Another fan favorite is the Mezzelune filled with shrimp and ricotta, which is a testament to the kitchen's creative and flavorful approach. The Ravioli Per Olivia with Sicilian pistachio sauce is also highly recommended and is a unique dish that showcases the chef's skill. For a true taste of a local specialty, the Orecchiette is a great choice. While some reviews have mentioned that some dishes might be inconsistent in flavor, the handmade pasta itself is consistently highlighted as being "bouncy, chewy, and flavorful," making it the centerpiece of any meal here.
For appetizers, the Melanzana, or baked eggplant Parmigiana, and Calamari Fritti are excellent choices to start your meal. The Polpette (meatballs) are a classic that can be a great indicator of a kitchen's skill, and while some reviews have varied on this dish, they are still a popular option for those seeking a traditional starter. When it comes to dessert, you must save room for one. The Panna Cotta is a particular highlight, described as "absolutely delightful" by one customer, and the Tiramisu is a classic that is done very well. To pair with your meal, the restaurant's great wine list offers a variety of options that can be expertly matched with your chosen dishes. Given that dinner reservations are recommended and the atmosphere is known for being cozy, it is a great idea to make an evening of it, taking your time to enjoy the food and the company. The quality of the pasta and the delicious desserts make Nonna Dora's a worthwhile choice for anyone in New York looking for an authentic and satisfying Italian meal.
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## Contact Information
To make a reservation or learn more about the menu, you can contact Nonna Dora’s directly or visit their location in New York.
Address: 606 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10016
Phone: (917) 261-6544
Nonna Dora's Menu
Antipasti
- Rucola $18.00
Arugula salad with confit tomatoes, in a lemon vinaigrette
- Pulpo $22.00
Octopus salad with shaved fennel, white beans & black olives
- Barbabietole $20.00
Roasted beet salad with ricotta & chickpeas
- Melanzana $20.00
Baked eggplant Parmigiana
- Cavolo $18.00
Baby kale salad with pecorino & pine nuts
- Fave E Cicoria $18.00
Dried fava bean puree with braised greens
- Panzerotti $18.00
Baby calzones filled with San Marzano tomato & mozzarella
- Calamari Fritti $20.00
Cirspy-fried squid with tomato sauce
- Focaccia $6.00
- Burrata $22.00
Creamy Pugliese mozzarella with Dora's giardiniera
- Polpette $20.00
Dora's Sunday meatballs in sauce
- Piatto Emiliano $22.00
Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano
Dora's Handmade Pasta
- Cavatelli $28.00
with broccoli rabe & toasted almonds
- Pappardelle $32.00
with wild boar ragu
- Mezzelune $32.00
filled with shrimp & ricotta, with shiitake mushrooms & thyme
- Orecchiette $32.00
in a rabbit ragu
- Maccheroncini Grano Arso $32.00
burnt wheat pasta with duck confit, peas & pea shoots
- Tonnarelli $34.00
with scallops & green onions, in a lobster reduction
- Linguine $34.00
with local clams, white wine & parsley
- Garganelli $30.00
Bolognese sauce
- Ceci E Tria $28.00
Fresh & fried pasta with chickpeas, tomato & pecorino
- Rigatoni $32.00
alla Carbonara
- Ravioli Per Olivia $30.00
ricotta-filled, in a Sicilian pistachio sauce
- Spaghetti Neri $34.00
squid ink pasta with anchovy, bottarga & bread crumbs
- Spaghetti $32.00
with Dora's Sunday meatballs & sauce
- Malloreddus $32.00
saffron-seasoned, with sausage & tomato
- Gnocchi $30.00
with a basil & pine nut pesto
- Tagliatelle $34.00
with mushrooms & salsa tartufata
- Dora's Lasagna $32.00
with meat sauce & bechamel
- Paglia E Fieno $32.00
'Straw & Hay' with Foggia tomatoes & fresh ricotta di bufala
- Cappelletti $30.00
filled with ricotta di bufala, with tomatoes & guanciale
Dolci
- Panzerotti Dolci $12.00
Baby calzones filled with nutella
- Semifreddo $12.00
'Half-frozen' chocolate mousse with caramelized hazelnuts
- Torta Di Ricotta $12.00
Dora's ricotta cheesecake
- Panna Cotta $12.00
Vanilla bean custard with berry compote
- Tiramisu $12.00
Dora's classic recipe
Nonna Dora's Details
Service options
- Delivery
- Takeout
- Dine-in
Highlights
- Fast service
- Great dessert
- Great wine list
- Serves local specialty
Popular for
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Solo dining
Accessibility
- Wheelchair accessible entrance
- Wheelchair accessible restroom
- Wheelchair accessible seating
- Wheelchair accessible parking lot
Offerings
- Alcohol
- Beer
- Cocktails
- Coffee
- Comfort food
- Hard liquor
- Small plates
- Vegetarian options
- Wine
Dining options
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Dessert
- Table service
Amenities
- Bar onsite
- Restroom
Atmosphere
- Cozy
- Romantic
- Trendy
Planning
- Dinner reservations recommended
- Accepts reservations
Payments
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- NFC mobile payments
- Credit cards
Parking
- Paid street parking
- Parking
Nonna Dora's Photos










Nonna Dora's Location
Nonna Dora's Reviews
negroniorecchietterabbit ragufresh pastapanzerottitasting menuboar ragupappardellecourse mealmalloreddus
★ 5★ 4★ 3★ 2★ 1The food is decent, but somewhat overpriced. The service was prompt and attentive. You will need to select from their 3- or 5-course tasting menu.The portions are quite small — especially if you’re ordering salads for appetizers. The flavors are somewhat underwhelming.For our dinner, we ordered meatballs and seafood salad for appetizers; squid linguine with clams and shrimp mezzelune for the main course; and panna cotta for dessert.The meatballs were my least favorite dish. The ground beef was quite dry, bland — and just boring. The mince needed cumin, garlic, and onions, IMO. The marinara sauce was extremely underwhelming. It tasted like generic canned marinara sauce. It certainly didn’t taste like an Italian grandma’s slowly simmered Sunday sauce — or something that any self-respecting Nonna would permit to be served at the table. I sorely regret not getting the eggplant appetizer — which looked amazing.The shiitake mushrooms on top of the shrimp ravioli were sad and flavorless. They lacked the delicious, umani flavor characteristic of shiitakes. I’m guessing they used frozen mushrooms — and didn’t sauté them properly. I say this as someone who regularly cooks with fresh shiitakes — and who once made the tragic mistake of using frozen. As a moderately proficient home cook, I could have easily prepared something better — so maybe I’m more critical than the average reviewer. Still, this is shameful quality for any decent restaurant. It’s a very small detail — but it’s what makes a meal special and exciting.The restaurant itself is located in a very modest space, on the first floor of an apartment building. It’s easy to miss. The ambiance felt like something in a fast-casual chain restaurant — rather than in an Italian grandmother’s kitchen. Everything felt industrial and impersonal — and somehow unloved. Ironically, it’s right next door to a Chipotle.On the positive side, our waitress was friendly and helpful. The restaurant was clean and quiet. The pasta was quite good. It’s made-from-scratch — and there were lots of gluten-free options. It was bouncy, chewy, and flavorful — and everything that you would expect from a Nonna’s homemade pasta.Overall, the food wasn’t bad. The shrimp mezzelune and the panna cotta were my favorite dishes. The ravioli pasta and shrimp filling were very good. The fruit compote and vanilla custard were absolutely delightful — although the serving was tragically minuscule. (I considered getting seconds.)It’s probably best to come during lunch — when you can personally observe Nonna Dora making the pasta. Perhaps the quality of the food is better during lunch, when Nonna is carefully watching — and standing at the ready with her rolling pin.It’s 3/5 stars for me — it’s definitely not bad — but not anything special either. Instead of Nonna, it looks like Cousin Vinny was perhaps doing the cooking that evening.The quality of the food probably depends upon who’s cooking — and whether Nonna is watching.
May 27 · J.H. MiretskayThis was such an overpriced disappointment.We did the pasta tasting menu for $75 and $85 for gluten free. Normally a tasting menu seems a bit special, you’re paying more to relax with your meal and try a few different options. But here they put a small portion of two different pastas on one ugly, long plate.The homemade pasta were very nice, even if the gluten free were undercooked, but the sauces were terrible. None tasted as if they were made from scratch, which would have been impossible with the speed we were served. All the sauces were very watery, and the tasting menu lacked a good variety. I had to douse the last sauce with Parmesan cheese it had such a soapy liske taste. I’d say maybe we had a full portion of their pasta, maybe a bit more, but for 2.5X the price.The servers tried on two occasions to take my plate while I was still eating to serve the next course. A five course tasting menu in under an hour is crazy.Plus, the place had a terrible atmosphere. There was a windowed room servicing station area that was messy. Directly behind me in one corner was a huge area covered in garbage bags.This is an absolute skip.
September 07 · Courtney MajorAmazing food and very warm service! Definitely worth the trip! Even though we don’t get to see the Nonna make the pasta, we definitely felt the warmth!! Very homey vibes and soul satisfying food. Went for the orecchiette, stayed for the rigatoni carbonara❤️ amazing!
May 22 · Shiao-Lan PanCame here on a Friday night on a whim and was so happy we got spots up at the dining bar. The ambience was wonderful and the service even better! The hosts were warm and inviting and our server was so great - even throwing in some extra desserts for us. We had a variety of things that were all terrific - fried calamari (French fries of the sea!) and panzerotti were some app highlights. I went with the vegetarian tasting menu and my favorites from that menu were the paglia e fieno and tagliatelle with mushrooms. The portion sizes for the tasting menu were manageable and not overly filling. Dessert with the tasting menus included nutella panzerotti but we also tried the panna cotta from the dessert menu. There were honestly so many more pasta options and dessert options to try that I will definitely be coming back to get some more! A true gem in the middle of Kips Bay.
June 21 · Nilima ShetThis is by bar on my top 3 favorite Italian restaurants of ALL time.For starters, the staff was amazing. She was quick, professional, personable, and took her time to patiently explain the menu. We were so lucky she even brought us the fried calzones to try and they were amazing! That dough was so fluffy and crispy, I could have eaten six (they’re very small).My favorite part was watching the girls behind the clear glass hand making all the mess cool different color pastas and variations. The precision that went into perfectly crafty each and every one of them was amazing. The fact that they took so much time and care into crafting each one alone is a reason to support and pay for the quality of this pasta.We ordered the arugula salad, meatballs, lasagna, and bolognese. These meatballs omg, the best over heard had. Unlike the spongy like taste in many, these had the perfect texture and flavored covered in super fresh tomato sauce. The lasagna was delicious. Huge portion, I barely ate half. The winner was the amazing fresh sauce poured over. It tasted like the tomatoes were picked from the garden the day off and handled with care directly into the plate. The noodles on the bolognese melted in your mouth. Everything was perfectly seasoned, piping hot, and made with great quality and ingredients. Don’t sleep on that complimentary bread either! It was a combination of soft and tender bread with a crunchy coat with tomatoes embedded in it. The tomatoes were sooo fresh and so delicious, no dipping sauces or oil was needed. They were perfect.We took the bus on broadway at just 6 stops and walks one block to our destination. Very easy to find. I am so glad we decided to try this place and can’t wait to go again. This place is truly amazing and deserves every single start. I didn’t get to meet non a Dora who I hear is there mostly every day hand making her pastas at the table.I would recommend this place over and over again.
June 26 · Angelica Montalvo [Diversity & Affirmative Action]
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