Best Italian Restaurant in NYC for an Anniversary Dinner
Marco Reale · October 23, 2026 · 8 min
Anniversary dinner Italian restaurant NYC: Babbo's $115 tasting, Rezdôra, Scarpetta and three more, chosen on published prices, rooms and hours, October 2026.
On published facts, the best Italian restaurant in NYC for an anniversary dinner is Babbo, at 110 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village: its site describes an “intimate, candlelit dining room” and prices the Babbo Tour Tasting at $115 per person, so the base food cost is set in advance. Rezdôra suits a pasta-led tasting ($110 on its menu, $98 in its FAQ), and Giardino 54 a second candlelit room. Hours, prices and policies below come from each restaurant’s own website, checked in October 2026, and the pick is editorial, not a ranking.
Which Italian restaurants suit an anniversary dinner in NYC?
Six rooms publish enough to judge. Babbo is the overall pick; the other five are matched to what each suits. Hours and prices are as of October 2026.
| Restaurant | Address | Best for | What its pages publish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Babbo | 110 Waverly Place, Greenwich Village | The overall pick | “Intimate, candlelit dining room”; $115 tasting |
| Rezdôra | 27 East 20th Street, Flatiron | A pasta tasting | $110 pasta tasting (FAQ page says $98); dinner 5pm to 11pm daily |
| Scarpetta | 88 Madison Avenue | Ordering freely | Tableside trifle for two, $30; pastas $36 to $46 |
| Giardino 54 | 400 1/2 W 54th St, Hell’s Kitchen | A romantic-evening room | “Candlelit dining room and Back Garden”; pastas printed 22 to 29, no $ sign |
| Palma | 28 Cornelia St, West Village | A garden table, if it can be booked | Pastas printed 32 to 43, no $ sign; dinner Tuesday to Sunday |
| La Lanterna di Vittorio | 129 MacDougal Street, Greenwich Village | A late table | Open to 1am, and to 2am Friday and Saturday |
How was the best anniversary pick chosen?
The pick rests on what a couple can confirm from a restaurant’s own pages before booking: a tasting menu with a stated price per person, a dining room the site calls intimate, candlelit or a garden, and posted dish prices. Babbo is the only one of the six whose pages show a priced tasting and an intimate, candlelit room together. Giardino 54 has the room and posted dish prices but publishes no tasting for a couple. Rezdôra has the priced tasting, but the pages checked for it and for Scarpetta do not describe the dining room, so neither is credited with one. This is a judgement on published facts, not a ranking of every Italian restaurant in the city; photographs, reviews and ratings play no part.
What is the best upscale Italian restaurant in NYC for an anniversary?
Babbo, going by what its own site publishes. The home page pairs tableside presentations in an “intimate, candlelit dining room” with “a classic rock backdrop,” so a couple who want to talk may want to ask about volume when they book.
The Babbo Tour Tasting costs $115 per person for seven plates in four courses: one antipasto per guest, two pastas and one entrée served family-style, and a dessert the menu calls “a surprise.” Supplements are $10 per person for the Lobster Fusilloni, $15 for the Veal Chop and $30 for the Porterhouse. For two guests the base price multiplies out to 230 dollars (2 × $115) before drinks, tax and gratuity. The same page also lists à la carte dishes, with pastas from $28 (Corn Triangoli) to $45 (Beef Cheek Ravioli); it does not say whether a table can skip the tasting and order only from that list, so confirm when booking.
Dinner starts at 5pm and ends at 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday. The format fits an anniversary where the cost should be settled in advance and the dessert can stay a surprise.
Is a tasting menu a good choice for an anniversary dinner?
It suits two people who want the cost and pace settled in advance, and suits them less if they want different amounts of food. Two formats compare directly. Rezdôra’s regional pasta tasting is $110 per person on its dinner menu, with an optional $90 wine pairing; the menu asks for two hours and says the full table must take part, a rule that is easy for two people to meet. At the menu price, two guests pay 220 dollars (2 × $110), or 400 dollars with pairings (2 × [$110 + $90]). A FAQ page on the same site gives $98 per guest for the same tasting, which would be 196 dollars for two (2 × $98), so confirm which price applies when booking. Babbo’s tasting costs 5 dollars more per person than Rezdôra’s menu price, and its page does not say whether every guest must order it. Other formats are compared in multi-course Italian dinner in NYC. Ordering à la carte instead, Rezdôra’s pastas run from $26 to $38; the best pasta in NYC verdict sets that list beside five other kitchens.
Scarpetta is the open-bill alternative. Its dinner pastas, “handmade daily in-house,” run from $36 (spaghetti with tomato and basil) to $46 (Tagliolini Nero with lobster), and the dessert menu lists a trifle “for two guests, served tableside” at $30. Two orders of the lowest-priced pasta (spaghetti, $36) plus that trifle come to 102 dollars (2 × $36 + $30) before starters, wine, tax and gratuity. Its listed dinner close is the earliest of the six on every night: 9pm Monday and Sunday, 9:30pm Tuesday to Thursday, 10pm Friday and Saturday.
Which NYC Italian restaurants have a candlelit dining room?
On the pages checked, two of the six use the word for the dining room itself: Babbo and Giardino 54. Giardino 54’s dinner menu describes service in a “candlelit dining room and Back Garden,” and its home page calls the atmosphere “perfect for a romantic evening.” The fine print matters for the bill: the menu prints pastas as bare numbers with no currency sign, from 22 (gnocchi) to 29, so confirm the dollar prices with the restaurant, and an operating fee of 3.35% applies to all orders, with a 3.25% discount for paying cash. Dinner is nightly from 4pm, to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday.
Palma is the garden option. On its Private Events page the courtyard garden has a retractable roof and stays open all year, but the page presents it as an event space, so a couple should ask at booking whether garden tables are offered. The October 2026 dinner menu PDF prints pastas from 32 to 43 with no currency sign, so confirm prices with the restaurant. Dinner is served from 5pm to 10pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday and to 10:30pm Thursday to Saturday; no Monday hours are listed, which matters if the anniversary falls on one.
La Lanterna di Vittorio is the late option. It is open until 1am Sunday to Thursday and until 2am Friday and Saturday, later than any other room here, which helps when an anniversary dinner follows a show or a long workday. The pages checked do not call the rooms candlelit or quiet. The guide to cozy Italian restaurants in NYC for cold nights compares Palma’s garden and La Lanterna’s dining rooms on warmth and winter space.
How far ahead should an anniversary table be booked?
Of the pages checked, only Rezdôra’s states a booking window: its FAQ says reservations open 30 days in advance at 12:00 AM EST, and its bar is first come, first served. The other five restaurants’ pages checked state no booking window and no cancellation policy, so the reservation page or a phone call is the only source. On cakes, Rezdôra’s FAQ lists a cake-cutting fee of $10 per person, 20 dollars for two, and asks for 3 days’ notice on in-house cakes from its pastry chef.
Hours decide the rest, as of October 2026:
- Monday: Babbo 5pm to 10pm, Rezdôra 5pm to 11pm, Scarpetta 5pm to 9pm, Giardino 54 from 4pm to 10pm, and La Lanterna di Vittorio until 1am. Palma lists Tuesday to Sunday only.
- Friday and Saturday, latest close: La Lanterna di Vittorio 2am; Babbo, Rezdôra and Giardino 54 11pm; Palma 10:30pm; Scarpetta 10pm.
A sister site’s guide to what to ask for when booking an anniversary table covers the table request itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Italian restaurant in NYC for an anniversary dinner?
Babbo, at 110 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village, is this publication’s pick for the best Italian restaurant in NYC for an anniversary, judged on what the restaurants publish rather than on reviews. Its site describes an intimate, candlelit dining room and a Babbo Tour Tasting at $115 per person, which multiplies out to 230 dollars for two before drinks, tax and gratuity.
How much is an anniversary tasting menu at an Italian restaurant in NYC?
As of October 2026, Babbo’s Babbo Tour Tasting is $115 per person and Rezdôra’s regional pasta tasting is $110 per person on its menu page, while a FAQ page on Rezdôra’s site says $98. For two diners that is 230 and 220 dollars at the menu prices, and Rezdôra’s optional $90 wine pairing lifts its total to 400 dollars.
Which NYC Italian restaurants are open on a Monday for an anniversary?
Babbo (5pm to 10pm), Rezdôra (5pm to 11pm), Scarpetta (5pm to 9pm), Giardino 54 (4pm to 10pm) and La Lanterna di Vittorio (open until 1am) list Monday service as of October 2026. Palma’s hours list Tuesday through Sunday only.
How far ahead should I book an anniversary dinner at an Italian restaurant in NYC?
On the pages checked, only Rezdôra among these six states a booking window: reservations open 30 days in advance at 12:00 AM EST. Babbo, Scarpetta, Giardino 54, Palma and La Lanterna di Vittorio state no window on the pages checked, so check each reservation page or call before settling on a date.
