Cheap Eats Near Union Square: What Pasta Really Costs
By Jules Bennett · November 2, 2026 · 8 min read
Cheap eats near Union Square, priced from official menus: a $15 lunch pasta, dinner pastas from $23 to $38, a $4 slice and happy-hour plates. October 2026.
Cheap eats near Union Square start with the Lunch tab at Pasta Eater, 9 East 17th Street, where every homemade pasta is $15 (the page gives no end time or days, so confirm). At dinner, the cheapest pasta at the five pasta kitchens that print dollar prices runs from $23 to $26, and Nuovo York Pizza, the only slice shop in this comparison, sells a cheese slice for $4. Every price below is printed on the restaurant’s own menu page, read in October 2026. Tarallucci e Vino prints its menu prices without a dollar sign, so its figures are flagged to confirm.
Where can you eat cheaply near Union Square?
Eight kitchens are in the table, pasta rooms first and pizza shops last. Every price is an a la carte menu price as of October 2026.
| Restaurant | Address | Dinner pasta, low to high | Lower-priced option on the same website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasta Eater | 9 East 17th Street | $24 to $36 | Lunch tab: homemade pastas at $15 (confirm hours) |
| Tarallucci e Vino | 15 East 18th Street | 23 to 36 (no dollar sign; confirm) | Happy Hour, 3pm to 6pm, bar and outdoor area only |
| Olio e Più East Village | 106 3rd Avenue | $23 to $32 | Aperitivo Hour plates at $10 to $12, bar only |
| Leon’s | 817 Broadway | $26 to $34 | Happiest Hour: Lemon Tagliolini at $17 (portion not stated) |
| Massara | 913 Broadway | $26 to $29 | Pizzette from $23, listed under Antipasti |
| Rezdôra | 27 East 20th Street | $26 to $38 | Lunch tab: lowest pasta $25 |
| Pizzazz | 38 Union Square East | No pasta; pizzas $11 to $18 | Marinara pizza at $11 |
| Nuovo York Pizza | 105 East 9th Street | No pasta | Cheese slice at $4 |
Is Italian food near Union Square expensive?
It depends on the meal. At dinner, the cheapest pasta on a dollar-priced menu runs 23 to 26 dollars, and the priciest runs 29 to 38 dollars. Across the five kitchens that print dollar signs, the lowest dinner pastas are 23, 24, 26, 26 and 26 dollars (median 26) and the highest are 29, 32, 34, 36 and 38 dollars (median 34). Method: each kitchen’s cheapest and priciest dinner pasta, with risotto, pizza and tastings left out. Tarallucci e Vino prints 23 and 36 with no dollar sign, so it stays in the table but out of these figures.
Inside a kitchen, the dinner pasta list spans 8 to 12 dollars at four of the five (12 at Pasta Eater and Rezdôra, 9 at Olio e Più, 8 at Leon’s), wider than the 3-dollar gap between the kitchens’ cheapest pastas. Only Massara’s list is as narrow as 3. For the citywide version, La Superlativa’s Why Is Pasta So Expensive in NYC? compares eight Manhattan menus.
How much does a pasta dinner cost near Union Square?
Two diners ordering each dollar-priced kitchen’s cheapest dinner pasta spend:
- 46 dollars at Olio e Più (2 x $23)
- 48 dollars at Pasta Eater (2 x $24)
- 52 dollars at Leon’s, Massara and Rezdôra (2 x $26)
That is before drinks, tax and tip. Tarallucci e Vino’s cheapest dinner pasta is printed as 23 with no dollar sign, so no total is given for it. On Pasta Eater’s Lunch tab, two pastas at $15 come to 30 dollars, and an add-on line reads “+ $5” for chicken, shrimp, sausage or meatballs; the page does not say whether lunch portions are smaller. Shapes and regions, dish by dish, are in Pasta Near Union Square: What Each Kitchen Makes.
Is there good Italian food near Union Square for under $25?
On price, yes. On the lunch and dinner lists, two restaurants print a pasta under 25 dollars, and a third prints bare numbers that would also qualify. Prices say what a dish costs, not how good it is:
- Pasta Eater, Lunch tab: eight pastas and a mac and cheese, each $15.
- Pasta Eater, Dinner tab: Basil Pesto Gnocchi and Spaghetto Tomato Sauce, each $24.
- Olio e Più East Village: Ricotta Gnocchi al Pesto at $23 and Lasagnetta Classica at $24.
- Tarallucci e Vino: Spaghetti al Pomodoro at 23 and Spaghetti al Limone at 24, with no dollar sign printed.
Rezdôra’s lunch Tortello Vuoto al Pomodoro, at $25, just misses the cut.
What is the cheapest slice of pizza near Union Square?
Of the eight places compared, Nuovo York Pizza is the only one that sells by the slice, so its $4 cheese slice is the cheapest slice in this set, not a citywide claim. It also lists a square cheese slice (the Herald Square Slice) at $4.5, a pepperoni slice at $5.5 and a margherita slice at $6. The shop is at 105 East 9th Street in the East Village, five streets south of East 14th Street (14 minus 9).
Pizzazz, at 38 Union Square East, lists no slices: its About page says every pizza is personal-sized, and the menu runs from the Marinara at $11 and the Margherita at $13 up to $18.
Does lunch cost less than dinner near Union Square?
Mostly not. Comparing each kitchen’s cheapest pasta at lunch and at dinner:
| Kitchen | Cheapest lunch pasta | Cheapest dinner pasta | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasta Eater | $15 | $24 | 9 dollars |
| Rezdôra | $25 | $26 | 1 dollar |
| Tarallucci e Vino (no dollar sign; confirm) | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| Olio e Più | $23 | $23 | 0 |
| Leon’s | $26 | $26 | 0 |
| Massara | $26 | $26 | 0 |
Five of the six cheapest-pasta prices move by a dollar or less between lunch and dinner. Pasta Eater is the exception, and its menu page gives no end time or days for the Lunch tab, so a call to (212)-627-5910 settles it; the restaurant opens at 11:30am every day. Leon’s labels its lunch tab 11:30 AM to 3 PM, and Massara’s Lunch Menu tab says every selection is also sold a la carte, the price used here. Olio e Più and Massara also print lunch prix fixe menus, which are set menus and left out. For which rooms are open when, see where to eat Italian lunch near Union Square.
Are happy hour and aperitivo plates a cheaper way to eat?
Often, and the windows overlap from 3pm to 6pm. Olio e Più’s Aperitivo Hour starts earliest, at 2pm, and runs to 6pm daily at the bar only. Leon’s Happiest Hour and Tarallucci e Vino’s Happy Hour both run 3pm to 6pm daily, the second in the bar and outdoor area only.
Three price comparisons come straight from those menus:
- Olio e Più: a Pinsa Caprese is $11 in the aperitivo window and $22 on the lunch and dinner list, 11 dollars less.
- Leon’s: a Lemon Tagliolini is $17 in the Happiest Hour list, against $26 for Lemon Tagliolini with Misticanza on the Primi list, 9 dollars less, though the pages do not say it is the same dish.
- Tarallucci e Vino: a Prosciutto pinsa is printed as 19 in the Happy Hour and 25 on the dinner list, 6 less.
None of the pages says whether portions shrink in the window, so part of each gap may be a smaller plate. More windows are in aperitivo and after-work drinks near Union Square.
What these prices leave out
The eight are Italian-menu kitchens and pizza shops near the park whose own websites print priced menus as page text; it is not every restaurant nearby. Pasta ranges count pastas only. Rezdôra’s regional pasta tasting, listed at $110 with the full table required, is a set tasting and is not counted. Menus change with the season, and totals here leave out tax and tip. Confirm Tarallucci e Vino’s numbers in particular, since its menu prints no currency sign, and confirm any other price before a special trip.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest dinner pasta near Union Square?
Of the five kitchens here that print dollar prices, Olio e Più East Village at 106 3rd Avenue has the lowest dinner pasta: Ricotta Gnocchi al Pesto at $23, as of October 2026. Pasta Eater at 9 East 17th Street is next at $24, and Leon’s, Massara and Rezdôra start at $26. Tarallucci e Vino prints Spaghetti as 23 with no dollar sign, so confirm its price.
Is there a cheap pasta lunch near Union Square?
Pasta Eater, 9 East 17th Street, is the cheapest: every homemade pasta on its Lunch tab is $15, as of October 2026. The page gives no end time or days for the tab, so call (212)-627-5910 to confirm. Elsewhere the lowest lunch pasta is $23 at Olio e Più, $25 at Rezdôra and $26 at Leon’s and Massara.
How much is a slice of pizza near Union Square?
Nuovo York Pizza at 105 East 9th Street lists a cheese slice at $4, a square cheese slice at $4.5, a pepperoni slice at $5.5 and a margherita slice at $6, as of October 2026. Pizzazz at 38 Union Square East sells personal-sized pizzas only, from the Marinara at $11 to the Prosciutto and Arugula at $18.
Where can you eat for less between 3pm and 6pm near Union Square?
Olio e Più, Leon’s and Tarallucci e Vino all publish a daily window covering 3pm to 6pm, as of October 2026. Olio e Più lists aperitivo plates at $10 to $12 at the bar, Leon’s lists a Lemon Tagliolini at $17, and Tarallucci e Vino lists Polpettine at 10 with no dollar sign printed.
