Bucatini
Bucatini has been on my list for a while. It stealthily opened not too long ago, and unfortunately my partner was not asking for Italian restaurant choices for many weeks. This week surprisingly was an exception, and we were able to go visit this restaurant. I made a reservation a few days in advance very easily for a 5:30 PM outing on a Friday evening. Note that when I looked at reservations prior to January, it wasn’t as easy, so I suspect maybe this is the low season for many restaurants except for the most popular ones.
Ambiance & Service
When you walk in, you check in to the right with the host. They then bring you to the dining area where it has many mirrors, low mirrored ceilings, and pointed lights. My partner mentioned that the combination of all these gave them some claustrophobia and dizziness. As the night went on, that feeling faded away.
The area can be a little loud as you can hear conversations around you. The music was not too loud as they played modern alternate takes on popular songs.
The service was good in that the busboys were very attentive, and the servers were quick to check in with us. We were in and out in about an hour.
Food
The Fregola Mist ($12 - left) came with strawberry, lime juice, simple syrup, and club soda. This was really good, albeit, it was filled with ice, so my partner mentioned they finished it rather quickly.
The glass of “Luigi Enaudi” ($18 - right) came from Nebbiolo Langhe, Nebbiolo, IT 2023. This ruby red nebbiolo had a nice flavor to it. It was dry and more fruit forward with nice cherry and earthy notes. The texture was quite delicious, and it felt more of a medium body weight.
The Grilled Octopus ($45) came with a large grilled octopus leg, a small side salad, and a sauce. This was one of their daily specials. I made a mistake and assumed this would be reasonably priced. If you order this at any of the Astoria Greek restaurants, this would probably run no more than $25. The octopus was pretty good, except the thicker parts of it were chewy. You can tell it was fresh, so it’s more related to the octopus cook and preparation. Everything else on the plate was fairly standard similar to most other octopus dishes.
The Bucatini al Gusto ($30) was house-made bucatini with a carbonara sauce. The bucatini had a nice bounce to it though surprisingly not the best that I’ve had. The carbonara flavors were fairly straight forward, so there wasn’t much else to it.
The Veal Maneiro ($58) came with a golden veal cutlet, lemon-butter caper sauce, sauteed spinach, and potato puree. The veal was pretty good. Like many Italian cutlet dishes, it had a nice batter that soaks the sauce that wraps it. The lemon-caper sauce had a nice balance of acidity and zest. The sauteed spinach is always considered a good complement to this sauce’s flavor profile. The potato puree surprisingly reminded me of the mashed potatoes in a frozen dinner. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the texture was basically pureed to the extreme without as much butter as you’d might find in a Joel Robuchon potato puree.
Overall Impression
Bucatini is a no-frills Italian restaurant just north of Bryant Park. The food here tasted comparable to many Italian places in Midtown, so there wasn’t much that stood out for us. If you do end up showing interest on the specials menu, make sure you are aware of the price. The prices for some things may seem a little more expensive for the portion and flavor.
Yelp & Google Jabs
There might be a lack of Italian restaurants in this section of Midtown… Food was decent. Nothing was bad. Pizza was good but not amazing.
I think there are too many pizza places to go to than to order one at a sit-down place like this. If you want pizza, you should go to a dedicated pizza place, and not an Italian place that just happens to have pizza on it.
The bucatini was alright, but wish there was a little more acidity
This Elitist ordered bucatini with vodka sauce. I’m not sure how you’re going to get any acid when vodka sauce is made of heavy cream, cheese, and tomatoes. The heavy cream and cheese will heavily drown out any acidity from the tomatoes.
Revisions
- Feb 27, 2026 - Initial revision.