Dinner Greenwich Village: A Course-by-Course Guide

If you are looking for a dinner Greenwich Village regulars come back to week after week, Da Andrea at 35 W 13th St is a good place to start. Between 5th and 6th Avenues, a short walk from Union Square, this family-run Northern Italian ristorante serves fresh pasta handmade in-house daily, classic dishes from Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, and a curated list of Italian wines. It is the kind of neighborhood dining room where you can stop in for a plate of pasta after work or settle in for a full, unhurried Italian evening.

Da Andrea began in the early ’90s as a narrow storefront on Hudson Street serving Bolognese pastas, and it has been a West Village and Greenwich Village favorite for more than two decades. The menu has grown since then, but the idea is the same: hearty, homemade food served with warm Italian hospitality.

This guide walks through dinner at Da Andrea Greenwich Village one course at a time. You will see how a Northern Italian meal is meant to flow, which dishes to order for different kinds of evenings, and what the neighborhood around West 13th Street feels like once the sun goes down.

Key Takeaways

• Da Andrea Greenwich Village sits at 35 W 13th St, between 5th and 6th Avenues near Union Square, Washington Square Park and NYU.
• A Northern Italian dinner moves through antipasti, primi (pasta and risotto), secondi (mains), contorni (sides) and dolci (desserts). You can order every course or just two.
• Every pasta is handmade in-house daily, which is why the primi course is the heart of dinner here.
• Dinner favorites include the tigelle with Parma prosciutto, Spaghetti Bolognese, Calamaretti alla Griglia and the braised lamb shank with saffron risotto.
• Reservations are recommended for dinner, especially on weekends, and walk-ins are welcome when tables are available.

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How a Northern Italian Dinner Flows

An Italian dinner is not built around one big plate. It moves in a gentle rhythm, with each course doing a different job. Antipasti wake up the appetite. Primi, usually pasta or risotto, bring comfort and craft. Secondi are the meat or fish course. Contorni are the vegetable sides you share alongside the secondi. Dolci close the night, often with an espresso.

Nobody expects you to order all five. Some guests share antipasti, split a pasta and each take a secondo; others are happy with a starter and a bowl of pappardelle. The point of the structure is pacing: small plates first, richer dishes in the middle, something sweet at the end, and plenty of time to talk in between.

A Course-by-Course Dinner at Da Andrea Greenwich Village

Here is how the courses line up on the Greenwich Village dinner menu. You can see the full, current list on the Greenwich Village menu page.

Course	Dishes from the menu	What to expect
Antipasti	Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto, Burrata con Basilico, Calamaretti alla Griglia, Polpettine di Vitello, Cozze in Guazzetto	Shareable starters, from warm bread buns with Parma prosciutto to grilled squid and veal meatballs
Insalate	Barbabietole, Insalata di Cesare, Insalata Tiepida di Polipo	Fresh salads, including roasted beets with goat cheese and a warm octopus salad
Primi	Spaghetti Bolognese, Pappardelle, Tagliolini Neri alle Vongole, Ravioli di Crostacei, Risotto del Giorno	Handmade pasta and the risotto of the day, the heart of the meal
Secondi	Stinco di Agnello, Filetto di Manzo, Galletto Arrosto, Filetto di Salmone, Zuppa di Pesce	Meat, poultry and seafood mains, each plated with its own vegetables or sauce
Contorni	Spinach with garlic and oil, sautéed broccoli rabe, roasted potatoes, butternut squash	Simple vegetable sides to share around the table
Dolci	Tiramisu, Panna Cotta, Tortino di Mele, Affogato	Classic Italian desserts to finish, ideally with an espresso

Antipasti: Start With the Tigelle

If there is one dish to order on your first visit, it is the Tigelle Modenesi con Prosciutto. Tigelle are small, round flatbread buns from Modena, baked fresh and served warm with thinly sliced Parma prosciutto. You split them open and fill them yourself. The New York Times “$25 and Under” column once featured Da Andrea’s tigelle, and they are still a table favorite.

The Greenwich Village menu also has a starter you won’t find at our Chelsea location: Calamaretti alla Griglia, grilled baby squid with a corn and cucumber salad and a bright lemon dressing. It is light, a little smoky, and a lovely way to open a dinner that will move on to richer pasta. Other good choices include the Burrata con Basilico (creamy burrata with vine-ripe tomatoes and basil sauce), the Carpaccio di Manzo (thinly sliced beef with arugula, shaved Parmesan and hearts of palm) and the Polpettine di Vitello, tender veal meatballs in tomato basil sauce with ricotta.

Primi: The Reason People Come Back

The primi course is where Da Andrea’s history shows. The restaurant started out serving Bolognese pastas, and the Spaghetti Bolognese, with its classic slow-cooked meat sauce, is still the dish many regulars order without opening the menu.

From there the pasta list covers a lot of ground. Pappardelle comes with a sweet sausage ragout (a slow-simmered meat sauce) and a finish of truffle oil. Tagliolini Neri alle Vongole pairs thin squid ink pasta with clams, cherry tomatoes, garlic and white wine. Cappellacci Tartufo e Porcini are spinach ravioli filled with truffle mushroom and ricotta. For something rich, Ravioli di Crostacei are filled with lobster, crab and salmon and served in a saffron sauce. There is always a Risotto del Giorno too, a risotto of the day.

Secondi and Contorni: The Main Event

If you are staying for a secondo, the Stinco di Agnello is a slow-braised lamb shank served with saffron risotto, a dish that suits a cool fall evening. The Filetto di Manzo is a grilled filet mignon with spinach, mashed potatoes and truffle butter. Galletto Arrosto is a roasted Cornish hen with roasted potatoes, spinach, pearl onions and a rosemary mustard sauce. Seafood lovers can choose the grilled Filetto di Salmone or the Zuppa di Pesce, mixed seafood in a spicy tomato broth with garlic and herbs.

Add a contorno or two for the table. Sautéed broccoli rabe, with its pleasant bitterness, is a classic match for richer meats, and roasted butternut squash brings a little sweetness to the plate.

Dolci: A Sweet Finish

Save room for dessert. The tiramisu is the classic: espresso-soaked ladyfingers layered with mascarpone. Panna cotta, a silky set cream, comes with Amarena cherries and a cinnamon tuile. The Tortino di Mele is a homemade apple tart with vanilla ice cream, and the affogato pours hot espresso over vanilla gelato with biscotti on the side.

Why Handmade Pasta Matters at Dinner

Da Andrea makes its pasta in-house every day, and at dinner you can taste the difference. Fresh egg pasta has a softer, silkier bite than dried pasta, and it holds sauce in a way that dried pasta cannot. Wide ribbons like pappardelle cling to a meaty ragout. Thin tagliolini carry a light, brothy clam sauce without turning heavy. Filled pastas like ravioli and cappellacci only really work when the dough is made by hand and the filling is made in the same kitchen.

This matters most in the evening, when dinner is about lingering. It is why so many guests treat the primi as the centerpiece of the meal, or share one pasta as a middle course, Italian style, before the mains arrive.

Chef Meliano Plascensia, who brings more than 40 years of experience to the kitchen, has a special love for rice dishes like risotto. That influence is easy to spot on the dinner menu, from the Risotto del Giorno to the saffron risotto that comes with the lamb shank. If you are a risotto person, ask your server what the risotto of the day is when you sit down.

Pairing Dinner With Italian Wine

The wine list at Da Andrea is a curated selection of Italian wines chosen to pair with Northern Italian dishes. The easiest way to choose is to tell your server what you are eating and how you like your wine, lighter or fuller, crisp or soft, and let them guide you.

As a general rule, lighter whites and sparkling wines suit antipasti and seafood plates like the Calamaretti alla Griglia or the Tagliolini Neri alle Vongole. Medium-bodied reds sit comfortably alongside Spaghetti Bolognese and the pappardelle with sausage ragout. Fuller reds stand up to the braised lamb shank and the filet mignon.

Dinner for Every Occasion

Here is how to order for the evening you have in mind.

Occasion	What to order	Why
After-work dinner near Union Square	Insalata di Cesare, then Spaghetti Bolognese or Spaghetti alla Carbonara	Two quick, satisfying courses that show off the handmade pasta without a long evening
Catching up with friends	Tigelle con Prosciutto and Calamaretti alla Griglia to share, then a pasta each	Shared starters keep the table lively, and everyone gets their own primi
Parents visiting an NYU student	Polpettine di Vitello, Pappardelle, Galletto Arrosto, tiramisu	A full, comforting Italian dinner that feels like a proper treat
Vegetarian dinner	Burrata con Basilico, Gnocchetti di Patate or Pennette con Melanzane, Tortino di Melanzane	The menu has several pasta and vegetable dishes without meat
Seafood night	Cozze in Guazzetto, Ravioli di Crostacei, Zuppa di Pesce	Mussels, a lobster and crab ravioli and a seafood stew in a spicy tomato broth
Slow, cool-weather dinner	Carpaccio di Manzo, Risotto del Giorno, Stinco di Agnello with broccoli rabe	Rich, warming dishes that reward a long evening at the table

If you are dining in a pair and want a romantic evening specifically, our earlier guide to a date night restaurant in Greenwich has more ideas for couples.

The Neighborhood After Dark: Dinner Greenwich Village Style

West 13th Street sits in the middle of one of Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods, and the location is part of the appeal. Da Andrea is a few minutes’ walk from Union Square Park, which makes it an easy dinner stop after work in Union Square, Flatiron or the offices along Fifth Avenue. Head south a few blocks and you reach Washington Square Park, the arch and the NYU campus.

That location shapes who walks through the door at dinnertime. On weeknights you will see neighbors who have been coming for years, professionals heading home from nearby offices, NYU faculty and students, and families meeting up with kids who study in the Village. Later in the week come friends starting a night out and couples taking their time over a glass of wine.

The dining room itself is intimate and authentic, the kind of place regulars have loved for years. It was born on Hudson Street, and after more than two decades in the Village it still feels like a neighborhood restaurant first. That is the real draw of a dinner in Greenwich Village at Da Andrea: good food, without any fuss, a short walk from wherever your evening started.

A few tips for planning the evening:

• Before dinner: take a walk through Washington Square Park or around the Union Square area, then head to W 13th St for your reservation.
• After dinner: the streets of the Village are made for an evening stroll, west toward the quieter blocks or south toward the park.
• Getting there: the restaurant is between 5th and 6th Avenues, a short walk from Union Square.

Conclusion

A great dinner in Greenwich Village does not need to be complicated. At Da Andrea it starts with warm tigelle and Parma prosciutto, moves through a plate of pasta handmade that day, carries on to a braised lamb shank or a grilled filet if you are hungry, and ends with tiramisu and an espresso. Order every course, or just the two that suit your evening. Either way, you are eating the kind of Northern Italian food Da Andrea has served in the Village since the early ’90s.

Ready to plan your evening? Reserve your table for dinner, browse the full Greenwich Village dinner menu, or find directions on our Greenwich Village location page. See you on West 13th Street.

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