Restaurant Review: Rana Pasta is a NYC Gem

New York City has a ridiculous amount of food choices, and sometimes it’s hard to pick. Everyone has their restaurant recommendations and will give you their opinions, but it’s hard to know if it’s really what you want.

“Chelsea Market an indoor mecca of food joy sparkling with the culinary energy of a street fair, and Rana is a magic heaven of fresh pasta.”

And that’s when Chelsea Market is there for you. Inside this indoor mecca of food joy are abundance of restaurants and tiny shops which offer tastes and dishes that could satisfy literally any craving you might have.

They have everything from taco stands, to shops stocked with myriad olive oils, to bakeries, to wine bars. It’s like an indoor mecca of food joy, and it’s all beautifully decorated like a street fair.

Inside Chelsea Market is a place called Rana, and it’s a magic heaven of fresh pasta divided into two distinct sections. The takeout section has rows and rows of homemade pasta, noodles, and ravioli of every shape, color, and size.

As you’d expect, they have a large menu where you can pick your pasta, sauce, and proteins. And there’s also a full-service dine-in restaurant with an incredibly extensive menu of unique pasta, salad and soups. It’s more elaborate so it’s a little more expensive. My friends and I went back and forth trying to decide if we wanted to dine in our take out- we actually sat down at a table for like two minutes before we figured out we wanted the take-out menu.

To be honest, the restaurant menu overwhelmed me because of the fantastic combinations of flavors that they offered, so we went with the simpler menu in the front of the place.

It wasn’t like it was much easier of a choice for me as they have at least 20 kinds of pasta to choose from. I asked the girl working what she thought, and she recommended doing a combination of the alfredo and marinara sauces together, and I went with the Brasato ravioli (filled with beef.)

It was AMAZING. Every ingredient was fresh, and I could taste it. The sprinkle of parmesan on top really brought all of it together for a fantastic bowl of pasta that I will never forget.

My friends went with a penne topped with their basil pesto and some fresh grilled chicken, and it was just as delicious!

There’s something about homemade pasta that will trump basically all other foods for me, and Rana did not disappoint. I did see some chocolate ravioli that were apparently filled with chocolate, but I was afraid if I got them, they wouldn’t make it home. If you’re in New York and love fresh pasta, you owe it to yourself to check out Rana!