Restaurant Review: The Meatball Shop

Tonight Jeremy and I gave the new UES location of The Meatball Shop a try. We have been to the West Village location and had a great experience, so naturally we were excited when we heard their biggest location yet would be opening just 3 short blocks away. Why not cap off a great Labor Day Weekend with a ball-rific dinner?

We had great service - did not have to wait at all, which was a big plus, and our food came very quickly. Everyone was super friendly. It's a fun place, and I especially like the laminated menus that allow you to use markers to check off what you want.

As for the food, we had 2 different orders of "naked balls," which is four meatballs served with your choice of sauce and a stick of focaccia bread. We got spicy pork balls with mushroom gravy sauce and chicken balls with pesto sauce. The balls are a nice size, not too dense, and very delicious. Even the chicken ball had tons of flavor. My favorite part was the pesto sauce. While it was a little oily, it had toasted pine nuts in it, so that was a nice touch.

For sides, we got the two daily specials - sweet corn and cherry tomato risotto and roasted squash with chili lemon butter. I was a little disappointed with both. I expected the risotto to be super creamy, but it wasn't. I mean it was fine, just not what I expected. And I really did not like the squash. The chili lemon butter gave it a weird kick, and I am pretty sure there were a few other spices like paprika or cumin that did not mix well and gave it an odd flavor.

From Top to Bottom:
Spicy Pork Balls with Mushroom Gravy Sauce
Sweet Corn and Cherry Tomato Risotto
Roasted Squash with Chili Lemon Butter
Chicken Balls with Pesto Sauce

For dessert, I had to try one of their famous ice cream sandwiches. Glad I did! They give you the option to mix and match the 2 cookies and the ice cream, so I went with snickerdoodle and honey vanilla cookies (daily special) and the brown sugar ice cream (daily special) in the middle. The snickerdoodle cookie was actually a bit hard, but the honey vanilla was super chewy and buttery-delicious. The brown sugar ice cream was sweet and it all came together well.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Will definitely be returning, especially to try some more of their daily specials, which vary by location. A cute, fun, casual, cheap spot! What more can you ask for?