Eataly All Ages / All Types / Bakery / Beer & Wine Only / Casual / Crowded / Dessert / Dinner / Expensive / Family / Italian Food / Italian Restaurant / Lunch / Market / Moderate / Pasta / Pizza / Pizza Place / Sandwiches / Specialty Beer / Street Parking / Tourists / Trendy Casual / Upbeat / Wine

Italian meats, cheeses and wines as far as the nose can smell. The brainchild of Italian chefs Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich , Eataly has served as a staple of Italian cuisine and market goods for the past 3 years. If you are on Fifth Ave, take a stroll inside the Italian Mecca and choose to dine at a restaurant, shop for dinner, or take an afternoon gelato and cafe break. A great spot for tourists, and an even better spot for Manhattanites who are too busy to take a vacation to Italy themselves. Stay for an hour or spend the day.

For some, grocery shopping can be a chore. For others, it's the highlight of their week. Regardless of where you stand on the spectrum, a trip to Eataly will be well worth your time. One foot in the door and you will be hit with the delicious aromas of fresh cappuccinos, just-baked bread, and simmering pasta sauces. Take a stroll through the market and find the latest catch of fish, hanging meat, and aging cheese. Although you'll encounter a few familiar items (like Barilla pasta), the novelty of most will provide endless hours of entertainment - the majority of the store comes right from Italy itself! Have a blast looking through the various kinds of olive oil and wine native to the country, or learning of the many types of pasta that actually exist. If you have time, eating at the restaurant on the roof - Birreria - is a treat in the warmer months. The open-air restaurant features authentic Italian cuisine with the perfect atmosphere for both a midday meal and a night on the town. Buen provecho!

This is Disneyland for Italian food. The cavernous Eataly, from Mario Batali & Co., is a temple of all things Italian. Boasting 50,000 square feet of restaurants and peninsular provisions, with a fishmonger and butcher (and vegetable butcher) and an espresso bar, a wine store, a cheese store, a cooking school, a kitchenware department and a great deal more, Eataly is a food lovers playground. There's also a full-service pizza and pasta restaurant, a raw bar and fish eatery, and a wine bar for sipping wines by the glass and beers on tap. Gourmet Italian chocolates for chocolate lovers, coffees, gelati, and pastries are all delicious to take away, too, though, note that this is all for the affluent crowd. One could go on and on about Eataly but instead just go, there will be no disappointments, and you will have enjoyed one of the greatest markets you have ever visited. Once there, if you can overlook the pasta snobs, wine geeks, and amateur cheese sniffers, you will, hopefully, leave magically, culinarily inspired.

As certain signs suggest: Eataly is Italy. But it's clearly not just the signage but the signals to all your senses that support this bold claim, so much so that you want to find something, anything wrong with this place. Look no further. I got you Big B. The only thing wrong with this label is that once you step out onto broadway through a wafting farewell from the aroma of the balmy blend of espresso and gelato or let out onto 23rd street through a cadre of Kartell chairs is that you're not actually in Italy. Hey, but the Flatiron ain't too shabby. In every way, Eataly is Italy and if I dare say, even better than plenty of parts of Italy. If you took the "great ingredients, don't mess 'em up" approach of the beloved Mediterranean cuisine and souped it up with a polished efficient American "No BS" attitude, you'd get the autonomous nation of Eataly. From fresh market products, to micro-restaurants, this place has one of the best selection of Italian food in the city. Enjoy pizza and pasta, margarita and all the standards plus some cuts of pasta you can't pronounce and couldn't pick out in a line up - baked in a wood fired towering mosaic oven. Scialatelli, per favore. Wines by the bottle and glass, specialty dishes to pair. Then, each microcosm of cuisine efficiently laid out in harmony around La Piazza, a standing room only marble plaza for charcuterie and fine cheeses. I recommend the cotto, the one Batali's pops makes out on the west coast. For real. It's like Lardo met spicy Soppressata - devilishly delicious. Surrounding this centerpiece Il Pesce, Le Verdure specialize in fresh fish and vegetables respectively. Ask for specials. Better yet, ask the Bella whose serving you to "bring me what's good." You can't go wrong here. Did I mention they have a lux sit down steak joint called Manso? Came here for Easter - the ribeye and rabe - ridiculous. And just so you know you're in heaven for real take yourself up the elevator to Birreria, a rooftop craft beer garden. It's just stupid how smart this place is, how delicious everything is and now three years in you'd think they'd hit the wall. But just stand in the center for a minute, and you can see it, smell it, taste it, and even hear it. You feel it, the Batali train ain't showing any signs of slowing down.

One of my favorite parts of traveling, like many others, is trying new restaurants and dishes! Walking through Eataly, although always filled to the brim with bustling shoppers and gazers, I loved taking my time and checking out the various sections. They seem to have a great variety of specialty products that are sold at prices slightly higher than I usually spend, but with great quality. I wouldn't do my everyday grocery shopping there, but it did spark my inner creative chef and make me want to throw a dinner party and whip up a delicious meal for a couple close friends! There are a couple different restaurants within the high-end grocery store, but I didn't stick around to try them because it was so crowded and I prefer to dine in a more calm/relaxed atmosphere. Overall, I'm really glad I checked it out and would go back for special occasion grocery shopping, but I might recommend chelsea market to those asking before I recommend eataly.

Step into La Piazza Di Eataly and let your eyes, nose, and tastebuds guide you. This lively atmosphere will add a bit of diversity to your day- some Italian escapism per se. Indulge in some artisan cheeses paired with classic wines and fresh prosciutto e melone. Afterwards, buy some of your favorite Italian food imports to take home. If you're planning to visit over the weekend, don't be surprised to wait at least 15 minutes for a seat at the table!

if you're serious about food, make a trip to Eataly. you'll find a lot of authentic Italian ingredients and products that are hard to find in a lot of other places, and there is SO much. I kept thinking it ended, and then there was more to see. I really liked how it is set up in stations or segments based on what kind of food you're looking for. We also ate really well at one of the restaurants. Be aware though, it will cost you.

I've been to Eataly a handful of times - a mix between dropping by because I've been in the area and the other times because out of town guests have wanted to see what it's all about. For the New Yorker, you're probably stopping by to grab some fresh Italian ingredients (not cheap). I've ran in for steaks, fresh pasta, mozzarella and vegetables. All have come out very nicely when cooked at home. The restaurants housed within Eataly are always packed. That being said, I'm not waiting around to eat in a conservatory food mall like atmosphere with all of the restaurants in New York City. I can see why tourists are attracted to Eataly. There's so much to see and sample. A special pizza restaurant, wine/cheese bar, rooftop Birreria, coffee section, gelato section and much more. If you haven't been there and you're on the fence it's worth checking out. Keep in mind there will be lines and if you actually want to sit and eat in one of the restaurants you could be waiting a bit. There's plenty to see while you wait though!

While I'm a big fan of any food oriented place, Eataly was kind of a mixed bag for me. While I enjoyed the diversity of the market and the availability of fresh and unique products a lot of the things could also have been found at Chelsea Market. The food I sampled at one of the counter restaurants was also good, but could also have been found better at a nearby restaurant, and I have a hard time justifying $10 for a sandwich with just cheese and vegetables. The idea of having all these Italian products and restaurants in one location is nice, but to a discerning New Yorker everything is available better and cheaper if you know where to look. If you're looking to do a one stop trip however and are not in the quickly shrinking Little Italy vicinity I guess this is a good alternative.

Ehh as disappointed as I felt about Birrera (their beer garden up top). Yes, they have some novelty items like these little chip candies I used to eat when I was three, but I'm sure if I really tried I could find them elsewhere. I have not been to any of the four restaurants inside, but dining in between people grocery shopping does not sound like my idea of a fun time. Their produce is very expensive, but it is cool to browse because they have a few interesting items that you can't find at your local bodega. The pasta is another section to browse. I brought home some pumpkin ravioli sprinkled with amaretto cookies. Cook it in a brown butter and sage sauce and it's magnifico! Other then that, it's a jumbled maze of Italian products and stupefied patrons acting as if they have never gone to a grocery store. Obviously, the first thing you walk into at the entrance is espresso and gelato because apparently that's also all that Italians are known for. Just go to Trader Joe's. Less of a hassle and money better spent.

Everything about this place feels fake to me--even the selection. Obviously, Eataly is not the only place in New York to flaunt itself as a high-end organic kind-of-rustic overpriced hangout for the sophisticated, but it manages to do so with so little style, class, or chic that it stands out as a poser. The food is truly ordinary, even though its prices, appearances, and hype suggest that you're going in for something wonderful and delicious. Worst of all, this place is constantly packed with trendy jerks and sadly uninformed tourists who feel like they've tripped over the next big thing while slurping down Grade C gelato. Check out the many farmer's markets in Brooklyn for shopping and Italian joints downtown if you want some real cuisine.