Good Unknown Italian Restaurants in Little Italy, Manhattan?

I've been to Little Italy in Manhattan a few times, though usually just for pastries or pasta to take home. The one meal I've had there was at Da Nico, which I thought was excellent--some of the best pizza I've had in the city.

I'll be back in NYC at least three times over the coming weeks, and hope to stop back in Little Italy to try an old-school, non-touristy restaurant. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

Mrs. Davooda and I were in NYC June 07 and found Little Italy to be REALLY little - in fact it appears to be all but swallowed by Chinatown. It looked to be about three blocks long and, to our eyes, very touristy. We tried to find a "local" joint but to no avail.

Our meal at Il Palazzo was marginally good - but not good enough for me to take notes. I've had much better in Chicago. I stand to be corrected but my impression is that Little Italy isn't much of a gastronomic destination.

My $.02

Davooda

This isn't QUITE Little Italy, though it is Chinatown/Lower East Side, so not too far away. Also fair warning: I haven't tried this yet, but have been dying to go for a couple of years (always being whisked away to other places.) If you go, please post a review:

Grotto, a.k.a. Via Monterone
100-b Forsyth, between Broome and Grand
http://www.grotto-nyc.com/

(From the few blocks that constitute Little Italy, walk East on Broome. It's on the west side of Sarah Roosevelt Park.)

Also, this is an old favorite for people who work in the Lower East Side/Chinatown/Little Italy/Soho areas (like I used to), though it's absolutely no frills and more of a destination for its low-key atmosphere and neighborhood feel than for outstanding food:

Sal's Pizzeria and Restaurant
369 Broome Street, between Elizabeth and Mott

Thanks to both of you for responding. Grotto looks really nice; maybe I'll try to check it out in February. I just got back from NYC, actually, and did take a walk through Little Italy. It's amazing that Mott Street is now just about 100% Chinese. That used to be one of the main roads through Little Italy. Now it's pretty much just Mulberry Street.

It's not new or interesting, but when I went told my New Yorker friends I was going to Little Italy, they suggested Lombardi's. One of the oldest, and some claim best, pizzerias in the US. Personally, I hit Little Italy after Chinatown, and on the walk, couldn't get past XO Cafe, a Hong Kong diner serving hundreds of different Asian dishes I'd never heard of in my life. I had a delicious "stew beef in noodle soup" and left full for less than $5.

My only stop over in Little Italy was for a cannoli, and my opinion is not so valuable on it because it was my first cannoli ever and I can't say for sure whether I just don't like cannoli or whether this one was only so so. Either way, it was Caffe Palermo. You'll know it from the sign "Best Cannoli on Planet Earth". Get it without powdered sugar if you're wearing black.

Lombardi's does indeed serve an excellent thin foldable New York style pizza. But, just for clarification sake, it is not in Little Italy.

New York has so many great Italian red sauce places. But, I have to admit, having thought about ity for a while, I cannot think of one that I would recommend in Manhattan's Little Italy. What a sad statement as it relates to that neighborhood.

Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is a different story. They still seem to be serving the locals there as opposed to tourists and the bridge and tunnel crowd in Little Italy. The difference in quality is amazing.