Best Italian American Restaurants NYC, by Price Band
Tony Marchetti · October 22, 2026 · 8 min read
Six Italian-American restaurants sort into three price bands on their own posted menus. Gargiulo’s (2911 West 15th Street, Coney Island), John’s of 12th Street (302 East 12th Street) and Ferdi (15 7th Avenue South) start meat and parmigiana mains under $30; Cafe Fiorello (1900 Broadway) and Don Angie (103 Greenwich Avenue) start them at $30 to 39.99; Patsy’s (236 West 56th Street) is the set-price splurge, at $76.99 for its 3:00 to 7:00pm dinner. Gargiulo’s prints the lowest parmigiana prices, starting with Eggplant Parmigiana at 25.00 (printed without a dollar sign; confirm), and John’s the lowest pasta, at $11.95.
Prices, hours and policies below were read from each restaurant’s own site in October 2026, and the bands are cut on those printed prices, not on ratings.
What is the cheapest main at each Italian-American restaurant?
The entry plate is the cheapest meat, poultry or parmigiana main on a restaurant’s main menu. Across the five restaurants that print a la carte dinner prices it runs from 25.00 (confirm) to $34, a spread of 9.00, or 36 percent.
| Band | Restaurant and address | Entry plate | Cheapest pasta | Set-price menu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gargiulo’s, 2911 West 15th Street, Coney Island | 25.00 eggplant parmigiana (no $ printed; confirm) | $23.00 | none listed |
| 1 | John’s of 12th Street, 302 East 12th Street | $27.95 | $11.95 | none listed |
| 1 | Ferdi, 15 7th Avenue South | $28.00 chicken (Dinner tab) | $24.00 (Dinner tab) | $30.00 Fri/Sat early; $44.95 Sun-Thu |
| 2 | Cafe Fiorello, 1900 Broadway | $30 eggplant parmigiana | $28 | $39.95 weekday lunch |
| 2 | Don Angie, 103 Greenwich Avenue | $34 chicken | $27 | none listed |
| 3 | Patsy’s, 236 West 56th Street | none readable | none readable | $46.99 lunch; $76.99 dinner |
“None listed” means no set-price menu on the pages read.
How were these six chosen, and how do the bands work?
Each needed a dinner menu with prices in readable text on its own website and at least one parmigiana, lasagna or spaghetti-and-meatballs dish. Patsy’s all-day menu page shows only a heading, so it enters through its two prix fixes, which price a full meal rather than a single plate. Its Band 3 placement is therefore a judgment call; Ferdi’s $44.95 prix fixe also tops 40 dollars, but its entry plate sets its band.
Bands are cut at round numbers: under 30 dollars, 30 to 39.99, and 40 and up. Only meat, poultry and parmigiana mains count toward the entry plate; burgers, pizza, seafood-only plates, appetizers, vegan menus and shared “for two” dishes do not. That rule keeps Cafe Fiorello’s $28 cheeseburger out, so its entry plate is the $30 eggplant parmigiana, which sits exactly on the 30-dollar line, two dollars above Ferdi’s $28.00: the closest call. Re-sorting the five restaurants that print pasta prices by cheapest pasta, cut at 25 dollars, gives the same two groups. Dollar signs mark printed prices; figures without one are this page’s arithmetic, except Gargiulo’s 25.00, which its menu prints without a dollar sign.
Rubirosa lists its dishes, including a Sundays-only Sunday Sauce, but prints no prices, so it cannot be banded; the chicken parm comparison covers who does post one.
Best for a main under 30 dollars: Gargiulo’s, John’s of 12th Street and Ferdi
Gargiulo’s calls itself “a Brooklyn tradition since 1907”. Its dinner menu, a PDF linked from its Dining page, lists Eggplant Parmigiana at 25.00 (the PDF prints that figure without a dollar sign, so confirm it), Chicken Parmigiana at $26.50 and Veal Parmigiana at $28.50, with pastas from $23.00. As of October 2026 the site gives noon to 9:30pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 10:30pm Friday and Saturday and noon to 9:00pm Sunday, with Tuesday closed.
John’s, established in 1908 according to its home page, prints the lowest pasta prices of the six. Pastas climb from Butter Sauce at $11.95 and Tomato Sauce at $13.95 to $24.95 for Carbonara or Spaghetti with Meatballs. The Specialties of the House begin at $27.95, for Chicken Parmigiana with Spaghetti, Eggplant alla Parmigiana and Baked Homemade Lasagna, and reach $34.95 for Veal Cutlet Parmigiana. Its location page lists daily hours from 4pm, with reservations by phone after 3pm. John’s and Patsy’s both appear among the oldest Italian restaurants in NYC.
Ferdi’s Dinner tab lists Pollo Parmigiana at $28.00, “served with spaghetti pasta”, and Veal Parmigiana at $34.95, and shows no day restriction. Its Sunday-through-Thursday prix fixe tab, the one that carries the $44.95 option, prints lower entree prices, including Eggplant Alla Ferdi, a baked stuffed eggplant, at $24.95. The table uses the Dinner tab. On a Sunday-to-Thursday night the chicken parm drops to $26.95, still 0.45 above Gargiulo’s $26.50, so confirm which menu applies to your night. Ferdi’s homepage lists, as of October 2026, opening at 5pm Monday and Wednesday, 3pm Thursday and Friday, and noon Saturday and Sunday, with no Tuesday hours.
Best suited to: the lowest-priced parmigiana (Gargiulo’s), a pasta night (John’s) and a downtown Manhattan table (John’s or Ferdi).
Best for a mid-priced dinner: Cafe Fiorello and Don Angie
Cafe Fiorello calls itself “an institution across the street from Lincoln Center”. Its all-day menu starts meat and parmigiana mains with Eggplant Parmigiana at $30, then lists Classic Chicken Parmigiana at $38 and Veal Cutlet Parmigiana at $41. The same dishes cost more than in Band 1: chicken parm is 11.50 above Gargiulo’s $26.50 (43 percent), and veal parm is 12.50 above Gargiulo’s $28.50 (44 percent). Its location page lists noon openings Monday through Friday and 10am on weekends, as of October 2026.
What the price includes differs: John’s and Ferdi serve chicken parm with spaghetti, and Gargiulo’s menu does not say. Cafe Fiorello lists a half order of pomodoro spaghetti as a $13 add-on to an entree, which puts chicken parm with spaghetti at 51.00, against $27.95 at John’s.
Don Angie calls itself “a critically acclaimed Italian-American restaurant” and sits at the modern end of the genre, as modern Italian versus old-school red sauce explains. Its menu lists five pastas at $27 to $29 and single-person mains from Chicken Scarpariello at $34 to Shell Steak al Limone at $46. Dinner starts at 5pm Monday to Thursday and 4pm Friday to Sunday, as of October 2026.
Best suited to: a Lincoln Center evening or weekday lunch (Cafe Fiorello) and a downtown shared-plate dinner (Don Angie).
Best for a set price or a splurge: Patsy’s
Patsy’s, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, says the same family has run it since 1944, and it posts the highest set prices on this list, from two prix fixes. Lunch, served 12:00 to 3:00pm, is $46.99 per person for a salad, a choice of Chicken Francese, Sausages Pizzaiola, Penne alla Vodka or Eggplant Parmigiana, and dessert. The dinner prix fixe, served 3:00 to 7:00pm, is $76.99 for Rigatoni Marinara or soup, a salad, a main (Chicken Marsala, Shrimp Parmigiana, Stuffed Calamari or Sausages Fra Diavolo) and dessert. Both exclude tax and gratuities.
Dinner costs 30.00 more than lunch and adds a course. As of October 2026 Patsy’s lists Monday hours of 4:30 to 9:30pm, so the 3:00pm start of the dinner prix fixe falls before Monday’s opening; call to confirm. Reservations are by phone at (212) 247-3491, cancellations need 48 hours’ notice or fees apply, and the dress code is smart casual.
A la carte, single dishes can pass 60 dollars too: Cafe Fiorello’s Veal Chop Parmigiana is $62, and Don Angie’s two-person plates are $72 for the Lasagna (36.00 a person) and $135 for the Whole Roasted Lobster (67.50 a person).
What do the prix fixe menus cost per course?
Five menus labeled prix fixe or pre-fixe appear on the pages read, listed from lowest to highest price with the cost per course (price divided by the courses the menu lists):
- Ferdi, Friday and Saturday, 2:00 to 5:30pm: $30.00 for three courses, or 10.00 a course. Entree choices include Classic Chicken Parmigiana and Eggplant Parmigiana, both with spaghetti. Ferdi’s homepage starts Friday hours at 3:00pm, so confirm the Friday start.
- Cafe Fiorello, weekday lunch: $39.95 for three courses, or 13.32 a course.
- Ferdi, Sunday to Thursday: $44.95 for three courses with American coffee or tea and a choice of dessert, or 14.98 a course.
- Patsy’s lunch, 12:00 to 3:00pm: $46.99 for three courses, or 15.66 a course.
- Patsy’s dinner, 3:00 to 7:00pm: $76.99 for four courses, or 19.25 a course.
Frequently asked questions
How much does dinner at an Italian-American restaurant cost in NYC?
On the menus compared in October 2026, the cheapest meat, poultry or parmigiana main at each restaurant runs from 25.00 (Gargiulo’s Eggplant Parmigiana, printed without a dollar sign; confirm) to $34 (Don Angie’s Chicken Scarpariello), and the cheapest pasta is $11.95 (John’s of 12th Street). Menus labeled prix fixe run from $30.00 at Ferdi to $76.99 at Patsy’s, and Patsy’s prices exclude tax and gratuities.
Which Italian-American restaurants in NYC offer a prix fixe?
Of the six restaurants compared in October 2026, Ferdi, Cafe Fiorello and Patsy’s list prix fixe menus. Ferdi charges $30.00 (Friday and Saturday, 2:00 to 5:30pm) or $44.95 (Sunday to Thursday), Cafe Fiorello charges $39.95 for weekday lunch, and Patsy’s charges $46.99 for lunch and $76.99 for dinner.
What is the difference between Italian and Italian-American restaurants?
On the menus compared here, the line between Italian and Italian-American is blurry. Don Angie calls itself Italian-American, Gargiulo’s describes its cooking as Southern Italian and John’s calls its food traditional gravy and red-sauce Italian, yet each of the six prints at least one parmigiana, lasagna or spaghetti-and-meatballs dish.
Where should I eat Italian in NYC?
Among the six Italian-American restaurants compared in October 2026, price is the simplest filter. For a main under 30 dollars: Gargiulo’s, John’s of 12th Street or Ferdi. From 30 to 39.99: Cafe Fiorello or Don Angie. For a set price: Patsy’s. Check the day too, since Gargiulo’s lists Tuesday as closed, Ferdi lists no Tuesday hours, and Patsy’s opens at 4:30pm on Monday.
