If you're looking for a small piece of Italy in Jersey City, Ita Italian Kitchen is it…read more This place has become my go-to and for good reason. The moment you walk in, the hospitality wraps around you the staff genuinely makes you feel like family. That kind of warmth is hard to fake and even harder to find. I started with the Focaccia with Garlic Oil simple, perfect, dangerous because you'll eat the whole thing before your entrée arrives. Then the Spicy Rigatoni with Shrimp? Absolutely not to be skipped. The sauce has the right amount of heat, the shrimp were cooked perfectly, and every bite just made sense. I've been back multiple times and it never misses. If you haven't been, you're late...go fix that.

Interesting food choices-started with a Margherita pizza which was excellent…read moreBut the fried Calamari was one of the best I've ever had-non greasy yet crispy. Only downside was the non traditional Chicken Parm -thicker thank usual -more like a baked Italian chicken cutlet The service was bipolar-server was aloof and unfriendly in contrast to the 2 women who were friendly and helpful

All the reviews are spot on, The Razza pizza has pure…read moreingredients and Amazing flavor. The pies are very small but I didn't mind, I just bought another pie. The takeout front desk people were so gracious and Amazing they had excellent customer service skills and vibes.

We had heard so many good things about Razza that we took the drive from NY, but it sort of missed…read morethe mark for us in terms of service. The server we had, along with the runners we had, were all quite lackluster and seemed to just want to turn the table quickly. For a place with so much buzz and good pizza to back it up, one would think that the servers would be more excited or happier to work there. Foodwise, the pizza is good - they really deliver on the quality of the ingredients. Excited to try a new restaurant, my party of two ordered 3 pies (their pies are slightly larger than personal pies and eats light). The dough to the pizza is top notch. The pizza is thin but has a good chew to it and I appreciated that the roll of the dough is slightly different depending on what toppings they're holding. For example, the burrata (which was more like stracietella and not burrata) was thinner than the funghi that had heavier toppings. The flavor of the pizzas were well balanced. The shaved onions on the Funghi and Santo pie gave the flavors a lot more depth than other mushroom and sausage pies at other pizzerias. The pies itself ate light and were fluffy with a slight chew, which we really liked. I also like that the dough was seasoned and flavorful. The salad was disappointing though. The $18 kale Caesar was not only bland but the kale was rough and tough. It needed some more massaging to tenderize the leaves. While it was dusted with a good amount of parm, you couldn't really taste anything as it lacked salt and acid. The meatballs were ok. They had good flavor and were tender; perhaps a little too tender? The sauce was excellent but the meatball itself was missing just a little texture. All in all, Razza is a solid 3.5 - I prefer better service from restaurants that charge $25+ for personal size pizzas. Should I be in the neighborhood, we may give it another go, but there are certainly places with the same or better quality of pizza and better service through the other side of the tunnel.

Great location and vibe ! You can't go wrong with this…read moreplace. It has an Amazing menu with delicious food.

The food is legit. Carbonara had actual guanciale and the right amount of chew, and the tartufata…read morepizza out of the wood oven came properly blistered, not that pale floppy stuff half the Village serves. Burrata with Taggiasca olives is a smart touch most places skip. Danilo Galati's kitchen has stayed consistent even as they've turned this into a mini empire (Bryant Park, East Village as of May, plus Chicago and DC). That's rare. Docking a star because the room is loud, tables are practically stacked on each other, and my "15 minute" wait was 40 on a Sunday. Service was warm once seated though, and for the quality the check is fair. Fifteen years in and it still beats most of the newer red sauce spots nearby. Go on a weeknight. Tips: Bar seats are first-come only, no reservations. Walk in at 5:30, order at the bar, skip the wait entirely.

This is an amazing dining experience and by far one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever had…read morein the States. Really extensive menu with very reasonable prices for the quality and quantity of food. The spicy calamari is a must try and every entree and pasta are worth trying, too. Met one of the owners (two brothers) and this is a family run business with a benefit to the community. I will definitely come back on the next visit to Newark and would highly recommend if you're in the area (especially if you are staying at Newark airport overnight!)

Warm bread with olive oil: very good Chicken parm: chicken…read morewas well fried. The vodka pasta was slightly watery but still good Bolognese: good tagliatelle, sauce meaty and good, a little sweet Calamari: very good! Salad: solid Good service and ambiance Very large portions which makes the prices more justifiable

You will get in a car & drive what seems an unreasonable distance- through a marsh, through a…read moregraveyard on both sides of the road with views of Lower Manhattan. Suddenly you'll arrive in a neighborhood, second-guessing the address. Which is correct. Laico's is in that class of restaurants that exist unto themselves, in a neighborhood rather than a typical city district, with the look and feel of a home. The kind of place you go to really understand where you are. The salad is charming, the bread a little stale. The eggplant parm fills the entire plate in 3 layers, an excellent rendition. The accompanying linguine plays nicely. Great service. The chicken piccata is also perfectly executed. We dined nearly alone in the back (save for a local, possibly family, table). On leaving another couple in front remarked "oh, so we're not the only ones here." It might seem dodgy to get to; you might have second thoughts when you walk in to find it pretty empty. Stick with it- you won't be disappointed.

I discovered Laico's from several news articles about the "best Chicken Parm in North Jersey". It's…read morea true, "old school" red sauce type of place, nestled in a neighborhood. The parking situation is a bit challenging but luckily my family was able to find parking on the street nearby. When you walk inside, there is a long bar with seating and a few tables/booths. There is a back part of the restaurant which is where my family and I were seated. Service was attentive and prompt. To start, we ordered stuffed mushrooms and calamari for the table. For my main course, I ordered Chicken Parmigiana which came with salad. The dressing made the salad a little soggy. The chicken was very tender and the sauce had great flavor. For dessert, I had the pistachio gelato which was so delicious and creamy. Overall, I enjoyed my meal and would make a trip back to try out some of their other dishes. Calamari: 4/5 Stuffed Mushrooms: 4/5 Chicken Parmigiana: 4/5 Pistachio Gelato: 5/5

In my adult years, I've developed a real affinity for classic, old school Italian restaurants,…read moreespecially the kind of places that have been around forever, have stories in the walls, and maybe, just maybe, had a little mob following back in the day. There's just something about them that you can't recreate. Yesterday, my buddies and I were supposed to hit The Belmont Tavern, but they were closed for the week. Rather than scrap the plan, we pivoted to Matthew's Italian Restaurant at the suggestion of one of the guys in the crew. What a great find. We were pleasantly surprised that an old school spot like this had somehow escaped us all these years. The atmosphere was exactly what we were looking for, the staff was awesome, and most importantly, the food delivered. We came out swinging with Clams Oreganata, Meatballs, Stuffed Mushrooms, Mozzarella Carrozza, and two different types of Ravioli. Needless to say, the table filled up pretty quickly. For dinner, most of the crew went with either the Veal Parm or Chicken Parm. A nice touch is that they'll do the parm with vodka sauce if you want to switch things up. I went with the steak special and had absolutely no regrets. Dessert was on point too, but I'll leave a little something to your imagination. Great food, great service, great old school atmosphere, and exactly the kind of Italian restaurant I'm always looking to discover. Matthew's is officially on our list now. We'll definitely be back soon.

Try the chicken parm Try the espresso martinis…read moreTry the fried calamari Try the ceasar salad Try the berries and cream Try the dirty martinis Try the straccatella soup Try the stuffed artichoke Try the fresh pasta Try the seafood dishes Try the veal Try the Sunday Sauce!! Try everything!!!!

Today we were craving some rigatoni pasta and to my surprise, not alot of places are open for…read moredinner here on Monday. But this place was and it looked great so I was so excited to try! First impression of the restaurant, there is a lot of seating and everyone was nice! We didn't know we came for happy hour so that was a happy surprise, we ended up ordering the shrimp app on the happy hour menu and it was DELICIOUS, then we got the spicy rigatoni with grilled and breaded chicken. Also AMAZING! Talk about huge portions, honestly we should have shared (rookie mistake on our part) but the portions for the money is such a good deal. We had a lot of left overs we can't wait to eat this week! We will for sure be back to try everything else on the menu.

My in-laws were coming into town for Father's Day and because it was super last minute, my pickings…read morewere quite slim for Friday night dinner with reservations for 6 people in Jersey City. My friend who lives in Hoboken gave me a few options for Italian restaurants and Il Taviola took reservations, had space for us, and had a very good menu at decent prices. I had thought I had never been to Il Taviola before. But the moment I stepped into the restaurant, I was like, well, actually I have been here before and I just straight up forgot. Woops. Well, it was a pleasant surprise to be back and I actually had an even better time this time than last time. I had the spicy chicken parm with rigatoni and wow, it was actually quite spicy. It was really good, but super spicy! My SFIL absolutely loved it though and killed the rest of my dish that I couldn't finish. Most of the group had the lamb ragu orecchiette and thought it was quite good. Both burrata appetizers were really good and thoroughly liked by the table. Service was attentive and we were never rushed. I really enjoyed that the restaurant wasn't super crowded. There were other tables but they were far away enough that we didn't feel like we were on top of each other.

We found this place by accident a few years ago on a work trip and had to come back again. It is an…read more"old school" family recipes, incredible service, fantastic food, and simply an amazing restaurant. My only concern is that they don't see to be busy enough for how good they are! We had 6 of us. Every single thing everyone ordered looked incredible. (I mean, I don't really care for muscles, but I could absolutely see the love cooked into even that dish.) I wish them every success and I'm already looking forward to visiting again next time I'm in the area!

"Would you like some lemoncello? Orangcello? Anythingvello?"…read more Angelo, one of the owners, is talking to the table next to us, but already I know I've found a second home. "You won't want to cook anymore" he tells us a bit later. He's not wrong. I had the fish special, cod, served puttanesca, with mash potatoes and spinach. He had the rigatoni bolognese. Perfectly cooked pasta. "Everything is homemade," Angelo explained later. Smart and fairly well-priced wine list. We asked why the 2020 Carparzo Brunello di Montalcino was so low priced, and learned the wine has been priced the same since their father closed their Upper East Side location and the kids opened in Newark. "New York food at NJ prices," Angelo explained. "I've never had tiramisu I've liked better", husband told me. "I've never had flan Ive liked better" I told him. (It is coconut flan.) Great service. Wonderful spot. And Bon Jovi has been in twice, most recently he brought his wife. Enough said.

Fun and popular local neighborhood spot in Jersey City. Though parking is a bit of a pain in the…read morearea the food and warm, welcoming atmosphere make it worth the hassle. While the inside of the restaurant isn't large (note they have a larger back patio area as well) it's cozy and parties of two may share a larger, communal table which can be a nice way to make friends should you choose. As others have noted it's a BYOB place with a convenient local wine-shop just a minute or two nearby. The menu changes regularly though we got many of the classics that have stayed on the menu (only missing the Angry Chicken which we'll get next time). The pastas were delicious though I wish the rigatoni was a bit saucier and really enjoyed the ravioli which had a lighter, mid-summer flavor with some pine-nuts for extra texture. The ricotta bread and honey was tasty though a large portion for two people and we felt that the standout was the halibut. My only complaint is the 3% mandatory card-processing fee (which at least is prominently displayed). Please also note that this restaurant calculates tips based on the total, not pre-tax amount and the waiter tends to hover while you swipe your card which can feel a bit overbearing.

Stopped by for dinner. Ordered the ricotta and honey toast plus the smoked mortadella to start. The…read moretoast was delicous. The ricotta cheese was really good. Paired with the honey and peppercorn were *chefs kiss*. Just a perfect shareable app. The mortadella was also good but smaller than I anticipated. I'd maybe pass on this next time. Honestly this would have paired perfectly with the toast but it was brought out after the toast was finished. We ordered two pastas: the rigatoni and the malfadine. Both were great and cooked perfectly. The quality of ingredients were a standout in both of the dishes. Pork pampanella was the most tender pork I've ever had. Basically melted in your mouth. Very fatty and heavy (a little too heavy...) but delicious. 4.5/5 overall. Some of the dishes were missing a little something to take it all the way but I'd still recommend this spot tho. Also it's BYOB!

Ordered the Bucatini Alla Bolognese for Take Out. Great…read moresauce, Pasta cooked al dente, good size portion. I will definitely be ordering from here again!

Excellent food , great ambiance and servers are very accommodating!! Great place to have brunch or…read moredining out . Authentic Italian food