I have so much respect and empathy for any restaurant that opened right before or during NYC’s COVID-19 lockdown. Owning and maintaining a restaurant is hard to begin with, but doing so when you literally can’t fill your restaurant? Sounds impossible. Piccola Cucina, a string of Italian restaurants in NYC, Montana, and Ibiza, did just that on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

I’ve now ordered from Piccola Cucina twice for delivery, and have sent numerous people to eat at the restaurant. I’ve never heard anything but glowing reviews. While I haven’t experienced the service myself, everybody I know that’s dined in says the staff and atmosphere are both wonderful. As for delivery, my preference is always to order direct from the restaurant, but they don’t have the option on their website, so I order through Seamless and the food consistently arrives quickly and piping hot.

So, what should you order? I truly don’t think you can go wrong and there’s a lot I haven’t tried yet (the huge selection of raw, grilled, and fried fish in particular), but I’ll share my favorites to date.

For starters, the caprese salad made up of creamy burrata and a bunch of fresh, sliced cherry tomatoes is incredible. I also absolutely love their eggplant parmigiana. The arancini ball (i.e. fried risotto ball) is so great too. Friends and family have also recommended the burrata with octopus, and the bruschetta that comes with lobster and burrata.

For mains, I couldn’t recommend the pastas more, but I’ve also heard great things about the fish. I’ve now ordered the Maccheroni alla Norma (i.e. pasta with red sauce, ricotta, and eggplant) twice, and I can’t get enough of it. I want to branch out to other dishes, but it’s hard to depart from something so good.

For dessert, they’ve thrown in two cannolis both times I’ve ordered. Not only is that a kind gesture, but they’re amazing cannolis.