Sotto la Luna

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Pasta, Pizza, and the Real Flavors of Italy in Astoria

Sotto la Luna plants its flag on 31st Street in Astoria, Queens, with a straightforward declaration: "We love food, we love our neighborhood." That neighborhood warmth is matched by an equally clear ambition — to bring genuine, traditional Italian cooking to the table without compromise. The result earned the restaurant two forks from Gambero Rosso in 2026, one of Italy's most respected food guides, a recognition that carries real weight for an Italian restaurant operating outside Italy.

The kitchen describes itself as a pasta and pizza bar, and the menu lives up to that billing in full. Every pasta on the list is homemade, from the fusilli al ferretto shaped around an iron rod and served simply with Italian cherry tomato, garlic, and fresh basil, to the pappardelle ribbons braised in duck ragout, to the cacio e pepe tonnnarelli finished on a wheel of pecorino. Signatures like the Carbonara Tartufata — spaghetti with Italian guanciale, black truffle, and egg yolk — or the calamarta, thick ring pasta with wild salmon and pistachio pesto, show a kitchen confident enough to work with both Roman classics and more inventive combinations.

A Pizza List with Personality

The pizza section runs from the plainly excellent — a marinara, a margherita, a diavola with spicy soppressata — to a set of house originals the menu calls Pizze d'Autore. The Sotto la Luna pizza itself tops mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, and porcini mushrooms with black truffle. The SoleLuna splits the pie between a calzone half filled with 'nduja, ricotta, and gorgonzola, and a regular half of mozzarella, tomato, and basil — a playful nod to the restaurant's name.

Antipasti and the Full Table

Starters range from an imported burrata from Puglia served with multicolor cherry tomatoes and basil oil, to a lightly smoked filet mignon carpaccio, to a daily arancino and a fritto misto of wild calamari, shrimp, artichokes, and zucchini. The tagliere misto brings prosciutto, mortadella, smoked prosciutto, pecorino, parmigiano, and gorgonzola to the table with focaccia — the kind of spread that makes the decision to order pasta afterward feel entirely reasonable.

Desserts close the meal with Sicilian cannoli, tiramisu, panna cotta, and a Torta Caprese, keeping things rooted in tradition to the last bite.