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Went here with my girlfriend for dinner on a random Thursday. The list of specials is longer than the menu, which was nice but meant you had to listen carefully and remember any dish that sounded interesting. Overall, great food and service. Cash only. They occassionally enforce a 2hr maximum, and $40 miniumum per person (we had no problem hitting $40 per person while splitting an appitizer, and ordering 2 entrees, and 2 deserts)...so yes, you MAY feel rushed, but 2hrs is usually more than enough time. Go early, because the place will fill up fast.

Nica and his staff are attentive and charming. The restaurant is tiny. The gnocchi is to die for. The other food just OK. The cost is outrageous.

Great food, and great dinner theater. If you're a New Yorker who likes to order food, put your head down, eat and not talk to anybody... this is not your kind of place. I've been with 3 people and parties of 8 and the owner is a blast to interact with, he's very funny & entertaining. The gnocchi is the best I've ever had, the cauliflower gratin would make any kid devour cauliflower, if you'd even share it with a kid. Never had a bad dish in the 5 times I've been. I moved to LA but whenever I get to NYC I make the trek uptown. Once we ate until closing and he sat down with us after dessert and showed us a fantastic book of Italy, including his home town, giving us little historical tidbits and origins of certain dishes, as well as a little old fashion Italian gossip. Nica's is priceless.

We've been to this place about three times and I thought the last time would be the last due to the owner's pushing but we tried it again. The food is good no better than any other Italian restaurant the difference with Nica's is they push you to buy more than you want. They push you to order quick, eat fast and leave quickly and if you don't your kind waiter will come over and ask you to leave My girlfriend said they do have a sign outside regarding how long you can stay. They don't take credit cards so you need to bring cash and bring a lot as it is expensive. Next time I'm going out with some friends to share a good time a couple of bottles of wine and good food it won't be Nica's. I can think of many great Italian restaurants that have a full bar not wine only, take credit cards, and you can stay a while.

I can finally say that I know what my Last Supper would be. Their gnocchi is out of this world. I also recommend the stuffed artichoke, cauliflower and eggplant. I don't think that anything on the regular menu or on the specials would disappoint. Enjoy!

This may have been a good restaurant some time ago but not now. It is a shtick or performance with ordinary food and a high profit margin. They are taking advantage of people in a number of respects. I made my reservation for Valentine's Day dinner and rec'd a call back saying we would have to come at 8 not 8:30 because they had 2 seatings, 6 and 8. I thought this sounded strange but agreed. I left work early in a difficult situation to get there - discovered there were no "seatings," people coming in continually. It was a ploy to make me take an 8 o'clock reservation. They also told me they offered their regular menu. Got there and found a menu with no prices. Questioned the waiter and was told they were serving only their "specials" - all main courses were 32 dollars, appetizers 12 or 14, etc. Now, about the food. We ordered eggplant rollatini for appetizer to share. It was a small portion of eggplant virtually drowning in tomato sauce - sauce quality was the higher priced jar variety. It costs a lot less to heap tomato sauce on a plate than prepare the rollatini. My husband ordered swordfish with caper sauce. I ordered lamb shank. The chef (and the shtick here is idiosyncratic talented chef, loves the food, loves his place) asked how the food was. I told him the swordfish portion was very small (shockingly so). He said "it is 8 ounces". I said "no". He turned his head and walked away. The fish was fresh but for 32 dollars this was sinful. The shank was fine, nothing great. We ordered tiramius to share. It was small, fine but not great. Wine by the glass was good and fairly priced. Oh, the bread, which we had to ask for,was mediocre. My husband ordered decaf. When he tasted it, he said "tastes like regular coffee". Given the restaurants' patttern of truth telling and respect for the customer, it probably was not. Everyone has a fantasy of finding a small good Italian restaurant and being known and treated well. They play on this but it is all perception, not good food, not caring chef. In other words, "the emperor's new clothes."

For some reason never tried this place before even though I live a few blocks away - what a find! The food is just delectable, not even close to your average Italian. It's a hole in the wall place, maybe 20 seats...but the owner is a riot and makes you feel right at home. How they have so many specials for such a small place I have no idea, but we everything sounded so good we wanted to try all of them. There's always next time, which will be soon!