The Spot:

“What happens when your shitcanned, broke and hungry? You go to the meatball shop.”

The Meatball Shop currently has 3 locations in NYC, their LES shop is a bustling 39 seat (50 if you count outside) restaurant and is the hub of delicious casual dining. The atmosphere is coloured by its diverse patrons and by its interior decor, they have racks and racks of bottles behind the counter and boast a tattoo adorned staff.

What’s Really Good?:

We highly suggest going with a hungry group and splitting everything on the menu (okay, maybe not everything but definitely pick a large selection of nibbles), we tried everything from spicy pork naked meatballs, to the beat salad to a polenta made of cornmeal from upstate NYC to a chicken meatball in parmesan cream sauce (YUM!).

Breaking down the menu is so simple and is completely customizable, it’s a legit DIY journey. The menu (printed and laminated) is given to you with a dry erase marker and so the experience begins. Choose from their mains, sides, desserts and obviously DRINKS (because who doesn’t want to wash down a Chicken meatball in Pesto sauce with a 2$ can of PBR?).

Their food sources are local, fresh and always seasonal. They grind their meat in house and make homemade ice cream daily. Oh and their Ice Cream sandwiches are AMAZING, mix and match freshly baked cookies and sandwich in one of their 5 ice cream flavors or the flavor of the day.

You’ll wanna know:

This is a inexpensive restaurant (we’re talking $3 meatballs and $2 cans of beer) and food is served as ready, so go in a group of 3 or 4 and taste test the shit out this menu bc it’s constantly changing and is always awesome.

The Details: