Sal Anthony’s S.P.Q.R.

Best meatball I’ve had in my life and I think you can really tell the quality of an Italian restaurant based on their meatballs. Nothing compares. I guess don’t get penne alla vodka because that seems to be mentioned in all the low star reviews. I love the ambiance, large dining room, and great service. Every time I’m in NYC I insist on eating here.

This place is a classic, I always come here when I visit NYC. The chicken/​fennel dish is amazing. Dining room is large and classy with room for big parties or sit street-​side for an early dinner while sight-​seeing and hear the sounds of the busy city.

There are so many better places to eat in Little Italy than this one… very under whelming for the price

So bummed Angelos was closed for lunch, so checked out across st remembering their old joint.
Service was fine. The food has really lost it. Spqr was good when they were also on 17^th.
Restaurant was empty.
The best thing was the water and bread.
Treat the meal like a cleanse because after you finished… it runs right thru you. Happened to both of us.
Avoid it!!!

I actually read all the bad reviews but I must say it far exceeded my expectation. maybe because I had such a low one though to the negative Unilocal comments.
–the service was attentive and daily water check and the occasional check up was good.
–the food was fairly good for the price within this location. both veal dishes came out good with a good sauce and the white wine sauce was delicious. only complaint was the red tomato sauce. nothing special there.
–overall this place from my dining experience garner a 4star for me.

SPQR is a great place to take a big family or out of town guests, but not for us New Yorkers, here’s why:
PROS:
1) Good food and nice selection
2) Friendly, proper service
3) The real heart of Little Italy on Mulberry, big enough for a bunch of diners to enjoy a meal together
4) Big servings — if you leave here hungry… well, just sayin’
5) No reservations needed, this place is HUGE
CONS:
1) SLOW service — my boyfriend and I were itching to get out and it took forever to leave despite the place being on the empty side
2) Tourist pricing — never fun
3) Not the best — I have a picky palette and like REALLY flavorful, rich Italian food
TIP: tell your waiter your schedule right away if you want a faster meal or more service

One of the fancier interiors in Little Italy.
My 3 stars is really not only for SPQR, its for Little Italy as a whole. Meeting family from CT there for lunch and we walked for a while before settling on SPQR. Walking down Mulberry Street felt like walking through the games area at a carnival, constant hawking by each of the restaurants sales people standing outside trying to get you to come in. Maybe its just a reflection of a dying neighborhood and a poor economy. Either way, its annoying and unbecoming of this NY tradition.
SPQR had a reasonably priced menu for lunch and the food was good. No complaints however the meal was no different than any other decent Italian restaurant in the City or LI.
Personally, I love Arthur Ave in the Bronx. As my son said, «Little Italy gets their bread from Arthur Ave and their pasta from their too so why not just eat on Arthur Ave». Couldn’t agree more.

I work in Chinatown, RARELY go to Little Italy for Italian food (Too much tourist and food is not Out of the ordinary).
Apparently my friend and I wanted some pasta, picked this place (since SCOUTMOB was offering 50 percent off the meal). Went inside (Big place, spacious, great for large group to dine in).
I ordered a Penne a la Vodka pasta with Mushroom, and my friend ordered a typical Lasagna. Showed my app and waiter mention (sorry miss this is only during weekends**).
FIne, we stil ordered regardless… Food came 10 minutes later, The lasagna was so-​so, Meat was falling apart from the pasta and not much cheese in it.
My Penne a la Vodka was quite so so also, pasta was still hard and sauce was watery. But finished it regardless
The end the Lunch special was NOT that bad ($ 11.00 /​Per person not including tax and tip). So we let that go and don’t think will come back again since there is 50 other Italian restaurants around the block.
Staff — They have plenty of staff, but they are pretty slow and don’ t pay much attention to you.
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**Scoutmob usually will post if is for specific dates, and I double check this place did not have any particular dates to use it.

YUM!!!
I came here with a few people during San Gennaro feast. At first we just stopped by to get some sangria (they have red and white). We had white sangria which was refreshing but not too sweet. Another wine I would recommend was Greenpoint Shiraz 2006
We had the cold antipasto family style — really good especially the buffalo mozzarella.
We also had the cannolis which were OUT OF THIS WORLD as well as the Cheesecake that was exceptional.
I was surprised with how big the restaurant was. They have outdoor seating but the indoor restaurant is huge! I do not think you would need to wait for a table.

NEVER AGAIN!
Waiter SPILLED HOT WAX on my leg & foot… OUCH!
No apology, no makegood, not a single person working at that restaurant, including the owner, manager and wait staff had any concern about their staff knocking a burning candle onto my foot with broken glass everywhere and hot wax all over my leg and open toed sandals.
I asked for my meal to be comped or discounted and this was the response: «if we did that everytime we spilled we wouldn’t be in business»

I’ve checked Unilocal and been forewarned about the quality of food in Little Italy, but I really came for the experience. SPQR is zagat rated. and how bad can you really mess up Italian food?
Well. You can. This was the worst Italian food I’ve ever tasted. Meatballs were dry. You can do better with the Ikea meatballs. Cheese was barely there on the pizza and the entire crust was like cardboard. The chicken penne was the best of the night and even that was only barely average.
Service was practically non-​existent. It took forever to get the food (in a restaurant that was 5% full) and when it came, there was a layer of film over the food, like it’s been sitting out.
Try a different restaurant if u want the Little Italy experience, but I wouldn’t suggest that it be here.

Ok, so I should have checked Unilocal before coming in here, but I was starving. The $ 8.50 pasta special? Lies. Its not even enough to feed a small child. So after upgrading to the larger portion for «only $ 1 more» I found that the portion size is about 1 oz more. What. The. Hell.
So, after the waiter refused to talk to me and only spoke to my friend that I was with, he proceeded to serve me with the $ 9.50 we will call it toddler sized portion. The dish was incredibly bland and I honestly wish I would have just crossed the street to try a different restaurant in little italy.

The only positive is the location, in the heart of Little Italy.
The food was not tasty at all! We ordered chicken roll with sausage and broccoli ribe inside, and it was dry. Shrimps with linguini and wine sause was underseasoned and not salted at all. Pasta was like from a grocery story. All way below avarage. Service was OK, but not worth 20% that they charge automatically. And drinks: $ 9 for each glass of wine is not worth it!
At the end, after we paid we told a manager about the food, and he said that chicken supposed to be dry!!! and they are not allowed to put salt in pasta!!! Dumb manager and owners probably too, if it is there policy.

You know what they say about restaurants that try hard to howl you in. There’s always a reason when they hire a hot guy to lure you in.
My birthday dinner was ruined by this mediocre experience. Before you even ask why I would choose this restaurant for such a special and important event, like my birthday, the original restaurant I chose was fully booked and unfortunately, a random restaurant on Little Italy was chosen on a whim.
Leery about choosing a plate for more than $ 15, judging by the looks of this restaurant, we each decided to choose something cheap off the specials list. I got the Penne Alla Vodka and Fettucine Alfredo for my friend, while the other 2 didn’t eat. The waiters were nice about the other 2 just watching us eat and often coming to refill all of our glasses.
First of all, I’m not a great cook; I don’t cook at home and even when I do, the most I do is cook leftovers by flipping it around the pan. But My God, even I could make a better Penne Alla Vodka. It was completely dried up with super sweet tomato tomato sauce and the bacon bits made it so distasteful, I couldn’t finish it anymore. It was a very small plate for $ 13 to begin with. My friend complained about his dried-​up Fettucine, saying (and I quote), «I can make this at home!»
I did like the free crunchy bread sticks and as sad as it sounds, I enjoyed them more than my meal. The waiters are very nice here but it’s not the cheap-​looking interiors and the exteriors — it’s the food. As far as food goes, there is no way I’d ever come back here again.

This is my first time in this place as I was near the area. Worst pasta e fagioli and cheese ravioli I have ever had.
Not recommended!

If you suggest Little Italy for dinner, you MUST not know me and what things I expect when I go out to dinner.
J asked someone about where we should go and that someone suggested two Italian restaurants of all places — Little Italy.
I definitely was not crazed about the idea of having dinner here, but you know what — I am not going to be difficult, so I went to meet J there.
J got the Chicken Alfredo and I ordered the Clam Linguine — the linguine with the white wine sauce was good and clams were okay.
It was not as horrible as I anticipated, but still Little Italy?

Very nice Christmas décor and my main dish of gnocchi calabrese was awesome. They were flexible with their menu, letting me change my plate as I wanted, so that’s a plus.
They served their bread with crunchy breadsticks which were salty but still good. The fried calamari was not only chewy but horrificly salty, just not good.
Now, the reason for my two stars. HORRENDOUS SERVICE! They sat us in a corner and just forgot about us. Granted, the restaurant was fairly busy, as it was the day after Christmas, but there was plenty of wait staff running around. They took forever with the appetizer, then after the main course was served it was a mission to get the waiter back to ask for the bill. Just bad business.
Although I enjoyed my meal, it’s another restaurant in Little Italy I’ll be crossing off my list.

There is no shortage of restaurants in Little Italy, and unless you come with a plan, you can be easily pulled into a restaurant you will regret.
For our party of 4, our plan was to explore at least 2/​3s of the hood, comparing venue atmospheres, appearance of food, and perhaps most importantly, bang for the buck. SPQR appeared to be the best value on our so-​called expedition, and while not the greatest, it did not disappoint.
The service was quick and the atmosphere (we were seated outside) was great, especially with all the foot traffic on warm spring/​summer nights. While not outstanding by any means, it at least meets the standards to be expected.
We each had prix fixe dinners. I had calamari and pollo parmigiana, as in my pictures. The quantity was substantial and filled me up quite well. Taste wise, the food was good. Not amazing, but delicious nonetheless. I saw previous reviews of dirtiness, but everything during my experience was clean and professional.
If you want a nice prix-​fixe Little Italy dinner that won’t break the wallet, consider SPQR.
+1 bang for the buck
+1 atmosphere
+1 service
Glad I came, but I can’t say that I would specifically recommend this place over another.

I have no idea how my friend found this restaurant, and I didn’t know they have such a low rating here. I didn’t experience anything bad. But if I had seen their rating, I wouldn’t come for sure.
It was a big restaurant, and the decoration outside was very pretty. Their bread was not that good, but the biscuit are tasty. Our salad was so-​so, it was a vinaigrette dressing, but didn’t taste much. We didn’t finish it, cuz I think my friend is not a veggie guy.
Our main course was a lobster and a seafood risotto. I like my risotto, though it was a little salty. His lobster was very big, with leguinne beneath. It was funny that they wore him an apron. But I have to admit the mussels in our dishes were not that fresh.
For our dessert, we tested out sth that I’ve never tried before. It was a cake outside, with chocolate cream cheese filling. It was tasty, just I shouldn’t eat that much dessert!
It was weird, where ppl rate low, I had good experience; while where ppl rate high, I had bad experience… I think it really depends on whether you ordered the right dish, and eat with the right person.

MAGGOT IN MY FOOD. MAGGOT IN MY F’N FOOD.
There was a maggot in my asparagus hearts. I brought it to the managers attention and instead of recognizing it, not making a big deal and fixing my food. He shook his hand in my face and said he’s Italian he knows asparagus.
I sat fuming for a few minutes got back up and put it in the other manager’s face and he said in a quiet voice, yes its a maggot, what do you want. He took back my plate, didn’t charge me for my food but my entire table got a bill. If they would allow you to post pictures on this site, I have pictures of the entire thing, on the plate, in the food and in the restaurant. Stay the fuck away from here.
I wouldn’t have posted this if they would have comped my whole table or been more concerned with a maggot in their customer’s food. But no… so fuck you too.
You know what fuck that, I posted it as my profile picture.