Justin N.

Great wine selection, great pasta, and the best service in NYC. Ambiance was a bit dark in the stairways and hallways, but overall very sophisticated. Words can't explain the deliciousness of the food, so I'll leave everyone with some lovely photos instead

Vishnu G.

Definitely misses the mark, particularly for the price. This place joins the endless stream of overpriced Italian restaurants in New York. The server recommended a pizza and two pastas, but I decided to go with just a pizza and one pasta. The initial bite of a savory leek tart was nice. The stagione pizza was a bit underwhelming - the fava puree tasted a bit starchy and really needed some salt. The crust had a nice texture to begin with, but it softened very quickly, leading to the toppings completely sliding off each slice. The ravioli was interesting - seems likely it comes from frozen, as I found parts of each one to still be a little cold. The sauce was pretty liquid and really didn't cling to the pasta at all. And the filling was a bit flat in terms of flavor. To finish, there was a nice chocolate candy with caramel. Not too sweet. The whole meal ran to about $60 with tax and tip. I'm not sure why this restaurant got all the buzz it did when it first opened.

Secil A.

Pretty good service, good food but too small plates, and romantic ambiance. We started with the crude pizzette and that was really delicious. Out of the pastas, raviolini came kind of cold but candele was very good. The rum cake had too much rum in it and we would have been fine without the gelatos. Overall good restaurant but I think prices and plate sizes don't really match up

Haley R.

Came for brunch - was seated right away (with a reservation but don't think that was imperative, at least for brunch). Bar and seats downstairs, as well as a bar and seating upstairs. Cute! Staff was very friendly and helpful, but not overbearing. Drinks were good. Food was good too! A few dishes impressed, but overall a really solid meal. Fusilli with prosciutto ragú was delicious and so was the ciabatta bread. Dessert!!! Was so good, airy donuts with chocolate and caramel dipping sauces. Could've eaten like 100 of them. No complaints, everything was yummy! Would like to try for dinner too.

Helen S.

Very expensive for small portions of above average food. Good for a corporate meal or event but I'd personally skip this. Space is beautiful and huge inside, dark and moody. Kitchen is fairly open and adds to the atmosphere.

Richard S.

Surprised to see that reviews of Massara have been on the lower end but I found my experience here to be an incredible and delicious tour of all the best foods of Italy. My only gripe was that it took some time (~10 minutes) between arriving (we came at promptly our 5PM reservation) and getting seated but other than that everything was fantastic. For those comparing directly between here and Rezdora the portion sizes are bigger here and the variety (e.g. pizzas) are better in my opinion. Plus, the restaurant is less cramped vs the seating at Rezdora although service remains high across both. The pizza was some of the best I've ever had and very authentic as you'd expect from a proper Italian restaurant. I highly recommend the Crudo and our favorite pasta was the candele ragu.

Michelle K.

The architecture of this space is interesting because there are so many angles at which you can see cooking / pizza making in progress. We got 2 pizzas and 2 pastas. Both pizzas were absolutely delicious; the bread is extremely chewy, and I'm not that much of a bread girlie but found myself wanting more I loved the broccoli pasta but thought the lobster mafaldine pasta was not good. It was too nutty and grainy.

Salisha D.

Have you ever had food so good you reviewed it at the restaurant? That was Massara. EVERY single dish was incredible. The cocktails and wine were impeccable. The service was amazing! Karen and Becca made thoughtful recommendations and ensured we got everything we ordered promptly. I cannot wait to go back! They have a "pasta tasting menu" which is right up my alley!

Eric H.

I went to Italian restaurant "Massara", at 913 Broadway at East 20th Street. Massara menu is food from Southern Italy, specifically, Campania, which includes Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, and Capri: a region that's known for burrata, spaghetti with clam sauce, and pizza. This place was amazing. Two floors for Italian dining. I ordered Cheesemakers raviolini, with six ravioli filled with burrata imported from Campania. This dish was incredible. The second dish was pasta "candles" in this dish are layered with a concentrated onion-and-beef ragu fortified with herbs known as "alla Genovese," though it is associated with Naples. It is hard to imagine a richer pasta. The last dish was Crudo Pizza. Which is truffles, stracciatella, arugula & prosciutto. This is cooked in Italian oven. It was out of this world. The staff members were warm, knowledgeable, and very professional. Also the aesthetic/ambiance in this restaurant was on point. Would absolutely go back!!!!

Sasha D.

I'm surprised that the reviews here are so mixed because we had a great time! The food was fantastic. The candele were heavenly and very umami, the cheese makers ravioli were perfectly tender. The pizza dough was very good and we loved the gem salad. Very solid Negroni. Service was generally friendly and pretty fast. The ambiance in the part of the restaurant that we sat in was nice, we could see them making the pizzas in the oven. I could see how some think the portions are small, but it's great for sharing and the foods are all on the richer side anyways so I didn't feel bad about it. definitely recommend

Derrick N.

Incredible dining experience! I very much enjoy enjoyed each of the three pastas and two pizzas I ordered. My personal favorites were the candele (ragu). This may be my favorite ever ragu pasta. Incredibly flavorful. Other one was the stagione (pizza). WOW! It was so tasty. The sweeter tomato contrasted so well with the pizza. As for dining experience, I sat next to where the chefs cooked which I thought was neat. The service was impeccable as well and the waiters were willing and happy to provide recommendations. One of my favorite dining experiences this year.

Andrew K.

I went in with very minimal knowledge of this spot other than knowing they have a sister restaurant that is Michelin-starred and it's very telling that the first question we were asked upon meeting our waiter was whether we had been to said Michelin-starred restaurant, so knew we were in for a debatable night. The menu to start is very overwhelming in a way that I feel like is purposeful for the sake of making it seem elevated regardless of your level of culinary knowledge. There are so many ingredients I am not familiar with (cheeses, types of pasta, spices, etc.) that I actually feel like it detracted from my ability to make an educated choice on what to order. Polpo: This was actually a bit of a miss for me. I have almost never said that about an octopus app, but the texture at first was too charred and then as I went along the tentacle became too soft. And the sauce was too gritty for my taste. Baby gem salad: A big hit. The lettuce was fresh, as were the rest of the ingredients. I'm not even sure what said ingredients were but this was a great combo of textures that hit the mark. Stagione pizzette: Looking around, everyone gets pizzettes. But I am not entirely sure why. Aesthetically beautiful. But mostly crust and what wasn't crust was not super inspiring. The cheese was nice but wouldn't order this again. Candele: This was the biggest flop of the night for me. Plating itself was very underwhelming. The pasta just didn't really look good? And the meat was hard to pull apart to put with the pasta. We had read reviews that the pasta dishes were small and this is definitely true but really I wasn't even that interested in more of this. Quadratti: This was my favorite of the night. The lobster meat was plentiful and the pasta here such a nice addition for it. If anything wish I had gotten a bigger portion of this. Pancia di Maiale: We had trouble choosing a final meat dish and honestly went with this because some of the other options were outrageously priced. The sauce was great but the meat was less so-rather meh. The "cracker" skin on top I found very difficult to eat/bite into pieces. Broccoli rabe: Really did not need this side-dish, which is our fault. Rather bitter and oily. Ciabatta: This was surprisingly well-oiled. Our waiter recommended having this come out with the pastas, which was clutch. Perfectly soaked up the pasta sauces and much better than having it come out as an app. Truly, the food itself I would not go back for. However, the service was impeccable and the most reminiscent of Michelin-rated places. They had a ton of people attending to each aspect of the meal and everyone was super pleasant. Each course got its own dishware and a table wipe-down between. Water was never empty. People checking in frequently. That was really the best part of the meal.

Wendy B.

My favorites were the pizza, petit, thin, crust fluff dough. - Stagione (sungolds, pancetta & scarmorza) very juicy and rich. - Crudo (stracciatella, arugula & prosciutto) I usually don't like prosciutto pizza but it was very good, silky quality prosciutto. Pastas all felt just okay nothing to wowed: - Candele: thought it was weird, like thick ragu with shredded meat. - Cavatelli: came with 4 tiny clams, thought the pasta has a hint of matcha flavor. I'm sure it's not match but something else, the bitterness was very interested and this may be my favorite paste. - Quadratti: lobster pasta, it was okay, smelled a bit fishy. Zucchini Flower was mostly just cheese inside. Couldn't really taste if there's other stuff. Quail was weird it was made into a stuffed sausage form? May come back for the pizza but that's it.