Torrisi is housed within the iconic Puck Building on Mulberry Street, right in the heart of Nolita. The restaurant comes from the Major Food Group, most well known for Carbone and The Grill. The one annoying part about this restaurant is how difficult it is to get a reservation. They seem to only release specific timeslots late in the evening (like after 10 PM), and none around the 5-6 PM. I was scouting for a few days, and so I opted for the lunch times on the weekend instead of trying for dinner on a weekday or weekend. After 3-4 tries, I was able to manually snipe a reservation for 12:00 PM on a Saturday. I took a look at the menu, and I noticed it was not too drastically different than dinner.

Ambiance & Service

When we walked in, I thought for a weekend lunch time they would be loose with attire. I wore some shorts and a no-brand t-shirt, but they told me they disallow athletic ware. They said they’d offer an exception this “one-time”. As I was observing other people coming in, the host gave the same spiel to all the male diners coming in, whereas the women could wear revealing or comfortable clothing. Similar to Don Angie, the “influencers” make the experience not so great in my opinion. As with the Major Food Group hospitality network, you see a lot of women dressed to impress (each other?).

The interior wreaks a bit of a posh atmosphere for better or worse. The wait staff didn’t really seem to care, but already the host gave off some unwanted pretentiousness at no fault of her own. We were seated in a a table with nice chairs, and it was comfy there.

The service was pretty speedy, as the seem to aim to rotate tables especially during lunch. As I was observing around, I noticed that there were quite a few tables that were available.

Food

The bread was complimentary, and it was quite delicious. The butter they served was phenomenal, and it spread so easily on the bread. They asked if we wanted more after we were done with our 3 slices, but we decided not to for saving room in our stomachs.

The Pigato ($28) came from Punta Crena Liguria, Italy, 2024.

The Cucumbers New Yorkese ($21) came with cucumber and dill. This was surprisingly very crunch and fresh, but for me personally, I thought it was pricey for what it was. Yes, it’s fresh cucumber and dill with some sauce on it, but that’s really all it is. In a way, it reminded me of the Chinese style marinated cucumbers.

The Spritz Italiano ($18) came with Pentire Coastal Spritz, Italian Orange, and Cherry. This was definitely a little on the sweet side.

The Octopus Nha Trang ($37) was pretty decent. The octopus portion was very light for the price, but the flavors were all there. It reminded me of the oyster sauce saute on the outside of the octopus. The meat itself was tender, though we’ve had better.

The Chianti Classico ($21) came from Volpala Tuscany, Italy, 2022.

The Tortellini Pomodoro ($32) was their classic “must-get” pasta dish. The tortellini was cooked perfectly, and it had a nice texture and flavor. Outside of that, it was just a really well-prepared tortellini stuffed with ricotta cheese and pomodoro sauce.

The Chicken Alla Griglia ($49) was surprisingly very good. It was served grilled with a light onion and mushroom sauce. Surprisingly, the mushroom was very tame and nearly nonexistent. The sauce itself had a lot of umami and paired well with the chicken. The meat reminded me of a set of mashed chicken thighs all melted together, and it was very tender.

They gave some lemon and strawberry fruit ice. This was pretty good, but I felt nothing special.

The Almond Cheesecake ($22) was pricey, but it was very good. It wasn’t too sweet, and the almond flavors were really prominent. The wait staff said this was not as popular as the affogato, but my partner didn’t want any coffee flavors (albeit decaf), so this was a no brainer.

They gave some complimentary rainbow cookies, which tasted like soft, almond cookies.

Overall Impression

Torrisi was a good Italian restaurant. Now, one might wonder if it’s worth the hype. I think it’s most definitely not worth the hype as I was already expecting. The food itself was pretty good, albeit salty. Most importantly, it was not snipe stress worth. If you really want to try a popular spot like this, feel free to check it out. I just didn’t think the effort to deliciousness ratio really make this restaurant desirable even after eating.

Yelp & Google Jabs

One of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten in my life was the cucumber salad here. Whatever you’re imagining right now, it’s 10x better. It will blow your mind.

With so much good food out there and if you have dined other cuisines, this will surely remind you of something else. I found the cucumber salad to be good but not great.

Some of these dishes are quite creative and you would not be able to find anywhere else… We just were dying to try it, it had to be THAT good.

Unfortunately it seems more often than not that hype is not directly proportional to taste.

Revisions

Aug 1, 2026 - Initial revision.