Cancel

Open app

Search

Rafele Ristorante

4.2 (591 reviews)
PriceyItalian
Closed • 4:00 pm - 9:00 PM
Updated 3 months ago

Order Rafele Ristorante Takeout or Delivery

Rafele Ristorante Photos

RAFELE RISTORANTE ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Good for groups
Outdoor seating
Good for kids

You might also consider

More like Rafele Ristorante

Recommended Reviews - Rafele Ristorante

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

Kurtis J.

This is what American-Italian in New York is all about. Enjoyed all of our dishes and the service was great. Would recommend.

Adam S.

Food was good overall, and the inside was very ambient! The service was slow to start out for our group of 5, which made sense because they want you to order everything at once when they are ready for your order. I would recommend the pizza over the pasta dishes. And for appetizer the side of Brussels sprouts were amazing.

Pizza
Wendy Z.

The service was fast and super nice, they put us in the basement at request because one of my friends is super loud and thinks sound travels in one direction. Food is great too, for an Italian spot I'd say it's on the lighter side because I felt good after eating a lot. Not too salty. Great spot!

Marinara Pizza
Jennie S.

This is just an amazing Italian restaurant. The food was made fresh right in front of us. You can see in the photo I tagged the chef is making the pizza fresh. The eggplant rotini was amazing. The ricotta cheese was so soft and creamy. The sauce was perfection, and then we also got fresh focaccia bread. The service was so good I loved how it's an open kitchen concept and you can watch the chefs cook. Everything was also super fast.

Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe Tagliolini al Funghi
Jad F.

The lighting sets a cozy atmosphere, and the tables are spaced just right--close enough to feel the energy of the room but not so close that you're eavesdropping on your neighbors. We ordered the Tonarelli Cacio e Pepe and the Tagliolini al Funghi. The mushroom pasta captured the essence of the dish; if you appreciate al dente pasta, this place won't disappoint. The Cacio e Pepe was enjoyable but could have been a bit creamier to meet my personal preference. The service was commendable; our waiter checked on us several times, ensuring that we were satisfied but not interrupting the meal.

Found ourselves in the West Village and stumbled upon Rafele's. Unfortunately weather was terrible but made it a perfect time to stop in as it was not too busy. Food was fantastic! Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina was a table favorite and perfectly cooked. If you find yourself in this area definitely stop in you won't be disappointed.

Great service and drinks are top notch. Let not forget about the great food. Nice small spot with a lot of attention

BEST cheesecake
Kristie P.

Came here for restaurant week. They have a great deal of 3-course for $30 and there's a lot to choose from. The restaurant is super cozy and we never felt rushed even though we sat around chatting long after our meal. I started with a Hugo spritz which was made perfectly. They also serve complimentary bread that was still warm. I had the arancini which was very crisp on the outside and delicious on the inside. It came sprinkled with some Parmesan cheese, just so good. I went with the paccheri all amatriciana after ready it was really good on Yelp. I think I liked my dish more than others did theirs so I definitely recommend going with this option. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the flavors were awesome! But the real star of the show was dessert. The cheesecake was SOOO GOOD, definitely the creamiest cheesecake I've ever had.

tables and chairs in a restaurant
Dom M.

We were on our way to photograph the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. To beat traffic, we took an early train and hoofed it downtown. My friend wanted Italian and, as if by magic, we passed Rafele Restorante. A quick glance at the menu told us we found dinner! We sat in the airy street side outer dining area and watched the world pass by...traffic, people in costume and, ahem, more traffic! Our waitress was prompt seating us and taking drink orders. A tray of perfectly toasted bread arrived with a cup of tapenade ... quite tasty. I always ask the wait staff for recommendations and our server, without hesitation, said the pasta bolognese was her favorite. My friend and I had already zoned in on that offering and we both picked it ... we each chose different pastas to go with the meaty ragout ... yum. We picked a tray of mini pizzas for our appetizer and the perfect crust and sauce as good as my mamas ticked the review into 5 star heaven. With the steaming, generous dishes of pasta and meat sauce in front of us, our waitress heaped Parmesan cheese on as we grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. We dug in and made yummy noises until we saw the bottom our plates. We stopped up sauce with our second helping of that excellent bread. This was the perfect start to our Halloween adventure and if we weren't in a hurry, the dessert menu help temptations worth exploring. Service, a talented chef at the helm and a date night quality atmosphere racked up 5 stars ... something I seldom do on one visit but here, well earned.

Focaccia
Marian S.

Gorgeous, delicious food, impeccable service, and a classy, approachable ambience perfect for friends, family, or date night. I ordered my first cacio e pepe and it absolutely blew me away. You can tell they make their own pasta, oh my word. Divine. The focaccia they brought out at the beginning was divine as well, although I will say I didn't touch the topping they brought out with it, as I'm not a bell pepper fan at all. If you are, though, I'm sure you'd love it. I just made reservations for my whole family when they fly out for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to go back!

Priyal A.

Absolute gem in NYC! My fiancé and I got engaged the day before and he planned a surprise here with a party of 16 people, which you know is extremely difficult to find in the city. The staff were extremely warm and helpful and made our celebration so amazing. The great thing about Rafele is they have a downstairs area which almost feels like a private seating room. Besides our table of 16 people, there were only 2-3 other parties there, so it felt like we had an intimate space to ourselves. We started with some cocktails and everyone loved what they got - I personally recommend the Paper Plane if you're into bourbon drinks. We also got a few bottles of wine, and the servers ensured that everyone's glasses were always full! They sure know how to host a party! Everyone also loved the appetizers and food they ordered. If you're looking for solid Italian food in the city and a place that can host large groups, Rafele is your spot!

Caesar salad
Elise B.

Absolutely amazing Italian food! Waiters and staff were amazing and the food was to die for. Such good Italian food. The inside was so cute with a lot of tables and they have bread for free. Decorated for Christmas but you will not go wrong here. So good! Recommend the soup and chicken parm as well as the clams. Can't go wrong!

Eggplant dip, the best!
T. G.

Classic spot. Great neighborhood. I've been before and was so glad to come back many years later and reconfirm the starter complimentary eggplant dip is in fact phenomenal. Seriously so good and just as I remembered. We ordered cocktails and decided to share a few items. We ordered Tagliolini Con Funghi (mushroom pasta) so good and the special, which was a Spaghetti Puttanesca. Very good, little spicy but my friend loved it as I knew she would! We also split pepperoni pizza. Everything came out all at once which was a little overwhelming but everything was hot and quality was good! They do have both indoor and outdoor patio seating and service was good. You can also make a resi! I would recommend, great for groups!

Gelato

See all

11 months ago

Helpful 24
Thanks 5
Love this 21
Oh no 0
Photo of Austin C.
4
38
163

8 months ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 3
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

7 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

10 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 3
Oh no 0
Photo of Dom M.
270
539
1227

4 years ago

Helpful 5
Thanks 0
Love this 4
Oh no 1
Photo of Marian S.
8
84
172

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 1
Love this 2
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of R B.
0
80
1

1 year ago

The food here is great. Lots of nice vegetarian options. The service is good. Solid spot to share small dishes. Good date restaurant.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of T. G.
490
886
2934

4 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 1

2 years ago

Business owner information

Photo of Raffaele R.

Raffaele R.

Helpful 2
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

5 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Dean S.
6
145
89

2 years ago

Helpful 3
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

6 years ago

Helpful 6
Thanks 0
Love this 6
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

4 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Tim O.
491
1439
320

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of John L.
408
7
0

2 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Page 1 of 15

Rafele Ristorante Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Rafele Ristorante

Are small dogs allowed to eat outside?

I would assume they would. Not 100% though.

Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

You might also consider

Verify this business for free

People searched for Italian 172,667 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

Verify this business

Fumo - Roni pizza

Fumo

4.2(45 reviews)
0.9 mi•Chelsea

Are you going to the Joyce for a wonderful evening of dance ?…read more Do you prefer a location close by ? Is inexpensive Italian food a preferred choice ? If you answered "yes" to all three, then Fumo is a place to seriously consider. The restaurant is bright and comfortable. The service is fast and attentive. The menu has lots of excellent choices. The portions are generous. The prices are very reasonable. There you go ! Fumo is for you, (at least the Chelsea location) is for you. Any drawbacks ? youi ask.....well, yes, there is one, and it should be cosnidered. The restaurant is so so so popular that the noise level can be a bit ..... shall we say "daunting." Fumo is a great place but if you want a soft, quiet place to have a serious conversation, maybe save it for another time....

I absolutely love Fumo but this location is by far my least favorite of the bunch and needs a lot…read moreof work. Obviously, I love their food which is amazing and always why I come here. Particularly the penne funghi is to die for. Tried the linguine vongole clam pasta for the first time and was pretty good as well! Just wish there was more sauce and the clams were the tiniest size I've seen which was disappointing and to make matters worse, a good 1/3 of them were empty. Besides that, the meal was delightful and still great value as it was delicious with huge portions! Love! However, service at this particular branch is nowhere near as good as other branches. I understand it's busy and it's always incredibly crowded with people and cramped seating and loud music/voices but this was like no other. When I arrived party of 2, they had nearly 5 tables empty and yet we couldn't sit at any of them because the had to wait for reservations to see if they arrived and we had to wait 15 min but they said they'd let us know. We were forced to sit at the bar which the giant metal can of alcohol bottles took up 1/2 my seating/dining area and no one bothered to move it or ask if that was okay because obviously it wasn't but the didn't care. We waited awhile for the food to come and during that time we asked if there really wasn't any table availability since tables clearly open and the denied again even though reservations never came. Literally 3 tables remains consistently empty throughout our entire dining experience confined to the cramped bar area. They even closed the door, separating the outdoor diners which was weird and it became insufferably hot inside, even on a cold windy day. Bathroom situation here is also terrible as it is downstairs with steep narrow stairs and me and other customers almost bumped into each other and staff carrying multitude of food dishes and dirty dishes up and down the stairs. Never have I ever had such an undelightful experience going to bathroom at a restaurant. Additionally, sink water pressure either had no water coming out or a giant spray of water making it impossible to wash hands without getting a whole shower. This location really needs work. Only reason why I'm not giving it five stars is because I love Fumo as a whole. Just skip this location.

Photos
Fumo - Bathroom - cool design

Bathroom - cool design

Fumo
Fumo - Interior view of the restaurant

See all

Interior view of the restaurant

L'Artusi - Amatraciana - incredible

L'Artusi

4.3(2.7k reviews)
0.2 mi•West Village
•$$$

We really enjoyed our counter dining experience at L'Artusi, especially the chance to watch the…read morebustling open kitchen in action. We started with the housemade focaccia and Wagyu carpaccio--both were outstanding, with the perfect balance of crispy, flavorful, and fresh elements. My partner and I shared the pasta, hangar steak, and potatoes, which turned out to be the ideal amount for two. We finished with the famous olive oil cake, which we loved for its subtly sweet, moist and tender bite. Served with lightly whipped cream and raisins, the combination was surprisingly delicious. We were also touched by the complimentary anniversary scoop of ice cream. The interior seating is a bit snug, but the decor is beautiful--elegant yet homey. The service was good as well. Overall, we highly recommend L'Artusi for a special night out!

L'Artusi has been on my radar for a while, ever since I heard it was a hot spot and saw reviews of…read moreit being one of the best Italian restaurants in NYC. Being Italian American, I'm hypercritical of spots like these - but nevertheless the positive reviews were overwhelming so I wanted to check it out for myself. One of my friends and I were looking to catch up, so I booked a table and off we went. While it can be tricky to get a reservation during prime dinner time, it's relatively easy to get a lunch reservation - or an early/late dinner. I managed to get a reservation for dinner at 9:15pm which was the earliest I could find. The restaurant is pretty unassuming on the outside - it looks like a converted brownstone and once inside we were greeted by a large space with a sceney vibe. The space is split between two levels with a large bar up front and a semi-open kitchen in the back. The decor was modern - with lots of greys and neutral tones which was a little unexpected. The main star of the menu is pasta, but they also have a few non-pasta mains as well as some crudo selections, apps, and sides. We decided to get a few apps, two pastas, and one side. To start, we went with the octopus, roasted mushrooms, burrata crostone, and focaccia. These were all really good, but my favorite was the mushrooms. I'm usually not a fan of mushrooms but these were prepared with red pepper and fried egg and were delicious; it cut through the earthiness and changed the texture to something I really enjoyed. The focaccia was also a standout - it's house made and was paired with a peppery oil that complemented the bread well. For mains we split two pastas - the caccio e pepe and the rigatoni. Both of these were very good, though I felt the rigatoni was the stronger dish. It was prepared with sausage ragu, soppressata, broccoli rabe pesto, and pecorino. The flavors worked really well together and the pasta was cooked al dente. The caccio e pepe was perfectly fine, I just feel it's been overplayed and didn't feel there was anything that stood out amongst the others I've tried. We also got a broccoli rabe as a side which was great. We couldn't leave without dessert and decided to get their olive oil cake and quattro formaggio cheesecake. The restaurant is known for the former - it was perfectly fine but I've had olive oil cakes elsewhere of the same or better quality. The cheesecake was the stronger dessert IMO - the combination of cheeses gave it an interesting, almost savory flavor. The brûlée top and mascerated strawberries were great texture and flavor complements. Service was great - the place was packed but service was consistently on point and everyone was friendly. Overall, I had a good experience at L'Artusi. While everything was very good, I'm struggling to find the exact reason why this place became such a hot spot compared to other Italian spots in the city. Nevertheless, you'll have a good meal here and I would definitely return if given the opportunity.

Photos
L'Artusi - Kitchen area

Kitchen area

L'Artusi - Bucatini Nero

Bucatini Nero

L'Artusi - Tagliatelle

See all

Tagliatelle

Trattoria Trecolori

Trattoria Trecolori

4.1(3k reviews)
2.2 mi•Theater District, Midtown West
•$$

It was difficult getting a reservation for the time we wanted so I booked for 45 minutes later. We…read morearrived at our desired time, told the hostess we were early and immediately seated. Water and excellent bread arrived immediately and the waiter was helpful describing dishes and giving advice. Salads were fresh and crisp. Caesar was nicely dressed and the mixed salad was a nice combination with well balanced herb vinaigrette. Seafood dishes had large amounts of fresh seafood and the veal picatta had the lemony flavor you expect without excessive acidity. Dessert was tasty and innovative. The ricotta based cheese cake wasn't as smooth as the cream cheese form but the citrus flavor was great. Throughout the meal water and bread were refilled, plates from completed courses removed and next delivered without being overly hovering. All in all a really great meal.

This was my first time at this restaurant and the only reason I selected it was because it was…read moreclose to the theatre I was attending (literally across the street). I read the reviews mostly good so I was hoping for the best. My friends and I were not disappointed. The first thing I noticed was there were 7 people in my party and 4 arrived early and did not have to wait for my arrival to be seated. Second the waiter who took our order was polite and on point with specials and knowledge of the menu. He (just never caught his name) suggested the Rigatoni which chicken and sausage. I am not really a pasta eater but baby that dish could change that; it was DELICIOUS. I even liked the anchovy dressing on my Caesar Salad and I dislike anchovies. All the dishes ordered (chicken parm, mussels chicken paillard etc.) everyone enjoyed them immensely. The only negative was when the Chicken Paiikard arrived it was supposed to a shared dish by the elderly couple and they asked for regular dinner plates from one of the servers. It took the gentleman who took our order to step in and said sure, lucky their food was still hot. Common Sense is not so common for all. But this will not lower my rating as it was taken care of swiftly. The portions were the perfect size and I was not stuffed but pleasantly satified. We told them the time of our show, food was out quickly, nicely presented, still hot and very tasty. The restaurant was not noisy and had space between the tables. It also had an elevator for those who could not manage stairs. Trattoria Trecolori you will be added to my must go again list! Thank for a wonderful experience!

Photos
Trattoria Trecolori - 2nd floor dining area

2nd floor dining area

Trattoria Trecolori - Francese chicken with lemon white wine sauce

Francese chicken with lemon white wine sauce

Trattoria Trecolori - Passion fruit mojito

See all

Passion fruit mojito

Rafele Ristorante - italian - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...