What to Order at I Sodi

I Sodi is Rita Sodi's Tuscan restaurant on Bleecker Street in the West Village, a room The Infatuation compares to "the reading room at the New York Public Library," and the quiet works in your favor: this is a menu you order deliberately, not by pointing at the dish you saw online.

What should you order at I Sodi?

Start with a negroni and a salad, then build the meal around two pastas. That is the shape critics keep landing on, because the pastas are the point and the portions run larger than the minimalist room suggests.

1. Pappardelle al limone. The Infatuation calls it one of the top 10 pastas in New York City. It reads plain on the menu, lemon, black pepper, wide ribbons, and that restraint is what the ranking rewards. If you order one pasta, critics say this is it.

2. Lasagna a sugo. The famous one, stacked roughly 20 layers tall with a texture reviewers describe as almost custardy. It earns the photos. The Infatuation's honest take is that it's "not even the best thing here," which is less an insult than a measure of the rest of the list.

3. Paccheri. The contrarian pick with sourced backing: The Infatuation argues its ratios beat the lasagna's, with rich meat sauce clinging inside each al dente tube. Regulars treat it as the upgrade once they've done the lasagna once.

4. Insalata di carciofi. Planks of parmesan over raw artichoke, dressed in olive oil. Critics describe it as pure cheese and olive oil and recommend it as the cold, sharp opener before a rich pasta.

5. Verza. The Infatuation's other salad pick: shredded cabbage with walnuts, raisins, and a creamy robiola dressing.

6. Cotoletta alla Milanese or peposo, if you want a secondi. The breaded pork cutlet arrives with a proper crust and flaky sea salt, and the peposo is a peppery short rib over polenta. Neither is mandatory, and the kitchen's pastas are where the reputation lives.

What should you skip at I Sodi?

Skip extra secondi on a first visit. Critics don't flag a true dud on this menu, so the question is opportunity cost, and they consistently steer first-timers away from loading up on mains, because the pastas arrive in surprisingly large portions and the mains crowd them out. The Infatuation's advice amounts to: have the lasagna once or twice for the experience, then spend future visits on the pappardelle, the paccheri, and whatever pici special the kitchen is hand-rolling that day.

How does ordering actually work at I Sodi?

The room is small, calm, and conversation-friendly, closer to a dinner party than a scene, with low jazz and bare white walls. Order the way the menu is built: a salad each, two pastas for the table, and a secondi only if your party is three or more. The negroni list is a house signature, with variations like the bourbon-based Invernale, and it's the standard way to start here. Pace matters less than at the louder reservations on this list, so settle in.

How much does dinner at I Sodi cost?

Pastas sit in the high-$20s to mid-$30s range, with the pappardelle al limone at $32 and the lasagna at $26 per recent menu listings. A salad, two pastas, negronis, and dessert for two lands somewhere around $150 to $200 before tip, which is notably gentler than the other reservations this hard.

Frequently asked questions

Is the lasagna at I Sodi worth it?

Yes, once. It's the dish that made the restaurant Instagram-famous, and the 20-layer construction is real. But the pappardelle al limone is the stronger pasta by critical consensus, so a first visit should include both if you're two or more people.

How hard is it to get a reservation at I Sodi?

Hard. The room moved to a bigger space down Bleecker Street and demand still outruns the seats, with tables typically claimed as soon as each day's booking window opens. Bar seats and early or late slots are the realistic walk-in paths.

Can I eat at the bar at I Sodi?

Yes, the bar serves the full menu and doubles as the negroni counter. It's the standard fallback when tables are gone, though the bar fills fast on weekend evenings too.

Watching for a table beats refreshing the booking page. Set an alert on DinnerElite's I Sodi page to see the drop pattern we're tracking, and get notified the moment a table opens so the only decision left is pappardelle or paccheri.