The Meatball Shop, Lower East Side, NYC

Food: ☆☆☆ ½

Service: ☆☆☆

Ambiance: ☆☆☆

Cost: $$

Good for: kids, foodies, small plates, hip cheap eats

Dishes not to miss: Spicy pork slider with pesto sauce, ice-cream sandwich

Special notes: Cramped quarters/ not good for large groups, long waits unless you go right at opening time, open until 4:00 AM Thursday through Saturday, and until 2:00 AM every other day of the week.

The Meatball Shop on Stanton Street is a shrine dedicated to one of America’s favorite Italian imports – the meatball!

The concept is so simple and the execution so clever – it blows my mind.

At the Meatball Shop, they use all natural ingredients to make really great meatballs coupled with simple sauces, great bread and a range of modest sides.

Wipe-away laminated sheets serve as do-it-yourself menus. Using dry erase markers you mix-and-match exactly how you want your meatballs served.

There are five regular types of meatballs (including veggie) and a daily special. The menu is a maze of really fun options. You can get your meatballs naked, smashed, on a hero, with polenta and so on. It gets those brain cells working and the gastric juices churning.

My personal favorites are the sliders. These bite-sized beauties priced at $3 a piece allow you to really experiment with all the offerings they have.

I would skip most of their sides except for the mashed potatoes and simple salad. Do not skip dessert though. Here’s where you have more options of self-designed ice-cream sandwiches, which are really good.

I tip my hat to the co-owners and creators of The Meatball Shop, Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman.

Job well done guys!

Here is some of what we ate: