The Verdict
Lilia is one of the hardest tables in New York, and the dish everyone fights for costs $26. That is the whole story. Missy Robbins opened it in 2016 in a converted 1920s auto-body shop on Union Avenue in Williamsburg, won the James Beard Best Chef: New York City award in 2018, and built her reputation on a radical idea: a plate of pasta does not need eleven components to be the best thing you eat all year.
The Kitchen
Order the sheep's milk cheese agnolotti with saffron, honey and dried tomato, about $26, and you understand Missy Robbins immediately. The pasta is thin, the filling is rich, the honey does one clever thing and then gets out of the way. The mafaldini with pink peppercorn and Parmigiano is the other plate people cross the river for. Robbins ran the kitchens at A Voce before going out on her own, and the discipline shows: short menus, wood fire, no clutter. The grilled seafood is very good, but the pasta is the headline and she knows it.
The Room
Lilia lives in a high-ceilinged former auto-body shop, all white tile, warm light and a wood-fired oven you can watch working. It runs buzzy rather than hushed, loud enough to feel alive and still quiet enough to talk across a two-top. Tables sit close, the energy is Williamsburg-confident, and the bar is the underrated seat in the house. Dress is smart-casual, and nobody is performing formality.
Best for a First Date
Book Lilia for a first date because it does the hard part for you. The room is warm, the pasta hands you an easy thing to be delighted by together, and a $26 plate of agnolotti reads as effort without staging a financial event. If the dinner slots are gone, take two seats at the bar, which is the lower-stakes, easier-to-land version of the same night.
Not For
Not for anyone who needs a quiet, white-tablecloth hush, and not for anyone who books the day before. Lilia is loud, the tables turn, and the reservation opens a month out and disappears in minutes. If you want a calm room and an easy booking, this is the wrong address; the hype is real and so is the scramble.
Also in New York City
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