One of the best places for lunch on East 4th! I was slightly skeptical of Chinato at first, but I have never been so happy to be proven wrong!
The place has a modern, bright decor with a touch of old world- similar to his other restaurants. It's a nice meshing of both styles. Their booths are pretty comfy too!
The service was slightly slow for lunch hour with plenty of bread to fill the time between ordering and receiving our food. But, not as bad as some other places on East 4th. The olive oil that they serve is ridiculously fragrant and tasty with the seasoning salt!
One of the best pasta dishes, I have ever tasted is the col boco with shredded pork in a tomato broth. Pasta was perfectly al dente and absorbed the flavors of the tomato sauce. The pork was tender and scrumptious, adding to the dynamics of the col boco. The tomato sauce is a bit more liquid and thin, like a nice warm tomato soup, but 1000x times tastier. I can't wait to have another trip there to get the col boco!! The light grating of fresh Parmesan just pushes the dish over the top and it's a wonderful explosion of deliciousness. It reminds me of warm comfort food that you would want to eat on a chilly Fall day or when you don't feel well.
The only downfall to the dish is that it's slightly pricey for the portion that you get. It's definitely filling, but you can spend a good chunk of change just for lunch.