Meatball Shop Visited 8/26/10 4 Forks

Meatball Shop  84 Stanton St, (between Allen St & Orchard St), New York, NY 10002

 The Meatball Shop has gotten a lot of hype lately, but I figured that it might have died down enough to be able to leisurely eat there on a Thursday night.  Apparently I was wrong.  I got there at 6:30pm and it was already crowded beyond capacity and was a 30 minute, which actually wasn't too bad.  By the time we left, it was an hour wait.


The space is not very big inside, so I understand why there is always a wait.  There is basically one long communal table in the middle of the room, accented by maybe 3 or 4 two top tables.  Nancy and I were seated at the edge of the communal table, which was fine because then we were sandwiched in between two random people. 


The way you order there is that you use a black marker and check off items on a laminated menu.  The menu is pretty simple; up top you can order meatball dishes, where you order the type of meatball and choose the sauce for $7/dish (there are 4 meatballs per dish) and then a bunch of sides.  On the bottom of the menu are a variety of sandwiches and sliders.  Nancy and I chose to split 2 kinds of meatball dishes and ordered 1 side each.  I went total classical with classic beef and tomato sauce with a side of polenta.  Nancy got the spicy meatballs in a mushroom gravy and a side of broccoli.  The food came out relatively quickly and they were piping hot.  At first I was afraid that 4 meatballs wouldn't be enough for a full meal, but good lord.  After I started eating, I wasn't even sure I would be able to finish it all.  The meatballs were definitely a good size and cooked really well.  Juicy and flavorful and the spicy ones were indeed spicy without going overboard.  But I think what was the winner was the sauce.  I seriously wanted to lap up both the sauces in my mouth, but instead opted for more bread, which was also delicious (it was thinly cut foccacia bread).  The polenta was also quite good, but I could tell there must have been 4 sticks of butter and cheese in there, which is why is was so good.  The broccoli was good, but not sure if a small dish with 6 or 7 pieces was worth $4, but it was good to have some kind of non-greasy green item on the table.  They did have several other greens and salads on the menu but it's hard to come here and eat totally healthy.  


Nancy and I had every intention of ordering an ice cream sandwich, which we both heard was really good here.  But when it came time to decide about dessert, we were both so full that we had to take a 15 block walk.  The one thing that I did have a complaint about was the service.  While it was super super busy there and the waitress was pleasant enough, she never came back to our table after our meal was served (I had to ask a bus boy for bread) and it took forever to pay our bill.  But the great thing was that all this great food was only $24 for 2!  Granted neither of us drank, but $12 for a very filling and good meal that isn't take out is a great deal.