La Palina Restaurant
“The extremely tight valet parking is helpful if you arrive early, that is some talented parking attendant to be able to sqeeeeze into that lot.”
“Now the food, The baked clams (to me) can't be beat, the artichoke is definitely one of my favorite apps to order as well.”
“The portions are enormous and the leftovers are just as good the next day!”
La Palina Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Like many, I never realized this place existed. Located in a quiet neighborhood away from everything else, La Palina is a classic italian joint. With dim lighting and live music playing, a sense of the city is here. It was relatively empty for a Friday night but that's the way I like it. Prices here are reasonable and portions are large. Must tries are the baked clams and any of the chicken/veal entrees. Service is nice and attentive and they even have valet parking. This is a great restaurant to visit if you don't want to trek to bay ridge or the city.
Came here with my boyfriends family for Saturday night dinner. We made reservations for 5pm, and we were seated instantly when we arrived. The menus were even already on the table.
We ordered our drinks and snacked in the included bread. The sangria is very large and actually pretty damn tasty. We tried to order bruschetta but our waiter informed us he's be bringing over garlic bread which was very similar so we decided against the bruschetta and enjoyed our complimentary, and very good, garlic bread.
I had the ravioli and asked to have it done in Alfredo sauce, which they did with no problem. It was rich, creamy and very flavorful. Dishes at the table were penne ala vodka with shrimp, shrimp fra diablo & chicken parm. I only tried the penne with shrimp: the shrimp was great but I didn't like the vodka sauce. It was too chunky for my liking.
The waiter was very nice and informed us of a ton of specials. He conversed a lot with us on a personal level, mentioning his daughters recent graduation, which I thought was very personable of him.
He brought out another complimentary dish. Fried zucchini and potato balls. I didn't like the friend zucchini – no flavor whatsoever. However, the fried potato balls were delicious.
Overall, food was good, service was great. The ambiance is very family friendly but with outdated decor. I enjoyed my dinner here but it's not my kind of place so I don't know if I'll be back. But everyone should check it out!
Bf and i dined here once and we did not kno where all the good reviews came from. Their pasta was not good at all. I love pasta and have tried from many places and this was the worst i've ever had.
A Brooklyn institution for some time now. Came here to celebrate Mothers day. Waiter knew the menu well as all servers should. Appetizers were very good. The Spedini was delicious. Had to keep myself from eating the whole thing and getting full before the main course. For the entree I had the chicken specila which had mozzarella, roasted peppers bacon and spinach in a marsala wine sauce. Good portions of everything and the food didn't disappoint. we weren't able to do dessert so can't tell about that. What I can tell you is that after all these years, you can stlll come here and get a solid Italian meal!!
Today we attended a surprise birthday party for a close friend and we all LOVED La Palina. There were fifteen of us and we were there from 1-5 p.m. It was a snowy winter Saturday, so the restaurant only had a few other lunch customers – but meanwhile they never rushed us, and in fact they welcomed us to stay as late as we wanted to. They arranged everything really nicely, and all of the servers plus the owner were incredibly pleasant.
Our friend's sisters had ordered many appetizers and they were brought out at well-timed intervals. We had baked clams, fried calamari, fried zucchini, potato croquettes and mozzarella & tomatoes, followed by minestrone soup. Then we ordered our entrées, for which there were five choices (I had the lemon sole, which came with spinach). We finished with a beautiful birthday cake which came from a neighborhood bakery. All of the food was *delicious*.
I knew we'd love the restaurant after reading Justin L's review, but I didn't know just *how* much we'd love it. La Palina has been in existence for 82 years (originally it was at a different location) and it's truly a treasure.
I live very close to this place and wanted to see if it was as good as all the reviews say. I called while I was parking for a last minute reservation for 7 and got it, luckily. The hostess was nice when we arrived and were seated. But that was where the good service ended because our waiter was extremely rude to us. Once I said I was splitting a pasta dish with my boyfriend, he very rudely explained we would be charged an extra $50 if we didn't meet a $25 minimum per person. This isn't normally a big deal to me but he was just so rude about it – we had two little kids at the table so I tried to ask if it applied to them but didn't even get a direct answer. After I was done ordering, it was clear that we more than met the necessary amount since we also ordered several appetizers. I'm not sure if he was so rude because we're Chinese but he also made some rude replies to my brother-in-law who didn't notice his tone of voice or what he said but my boyfriend and I clearly did. The food itself was ok and the free garlic bread was delicious but I would never come here again when Ortobello is just as close and so much better for the food and the service.
This is definitely one of those neighborhood spots. I've never heard of it until I randomly passed by and decided to get some dinner.
The food was pretty good. Garlic bread at the table was a nice treat. Baked clams and fried calamari for appetizers were spot on. I had the chicken scarpariella. It was tasty but the chicken was on the bone which made it annoying to eat. Girlfriend got the Sole
Oreganata, I tried it and thought it was good. She however thought it was bland.
Service was good, waiter knew his stuff. I saw on another yelp review about how a fellow yelper saw the waiters arguing. Funny enough I got to experience the same.
"The Standard" that defines Brooklyn old school Italian restaurant. The last month I have made the rounds in Brooklyn on the old school circuit & La Palina reigns supreme. We went for Sunday dinner at 4PM and the restaurant was packed with people enjoying the food and atmosphere. People were talking to each other, it was special.
Food:
Garlic bread on the table is gratis
Baked clams
Grilled pork chops with sweet peppers
Sunday gravy with a side of spaghetti
These baked clams top all others- why- not only the perfect garlic breadcrumb ratio, but no fishy taste in the clam as some others have. Perfect! The Sunday gravy with pork ribs, veal braciole, a meatball was full of flavor and soul. The potatoes soaked in sauce- yum Their tomato sauce with flecks of tomato is the same as when I was a little girl and probably the same as when they opened- great sauce. The pork chops with sweet peppers was the ideal counterbalance to the meat. Our friend would not leave without a spumoni so we lingered for a while, got the car from the valet and we were very happy.