Party on: Long Island Italian restaurants that are good for big groups

So much pasta! So much garlic! So much wine! So much toasting and celebrating and, as the evening latens, singing, napkin waving and, later still, dancing!

Long Island has thousands of Italian spots to suit every need — from the neighborhood pizzeria that supplies your lunchtime slice to the white-tableclothed restaurant where a black-jacketed server decants your Barolo. But there’s a certain breed of eatery with a mission that goes way beyond food and drink. At restaurants like Salvatore’s of Elmont, Vincent’s Clam Bar of Carle Place and Patrizia’s of Hicksville, Hauppauge, Massapequa Park and, soon, Commack, the prime directive is PARTY.

PATRIZIA'S 

1040 S. Broadway, Hicksville; 358 Vanderbilt Motor Pkwy., Hauppauge and 4913 Merrick Rd., Massapequa Park

Patrizia's is "home of the family style," so nearly every table at this Bronx-based mini chain is filled with large families celebrating birthdays and special occasions. The main draw here is the four-course family style dinner for $59.95 a person, complete with unlimited beer and wine. But even if you come alone, all "guests become family" by the end of the meal, as the restaurant's slogan goes. "It's an energetic time," says manager Christian Cafarella, who is gearing up for the latest opening this August in Commack. Solo parties can post up at the rowdy bar area for people-watching.

ON THE MENU Patrizia's has an a la carte menu complete with homemade pastas like the Fioretti alla Boscaiola ($19), delicate moneybag dumplings of ricotta cheese in a pink prosciutto cream sauce. But most partygoers opt for the family style menu, a smorgasbord of dishes like baked clams, burrata, lamb chops, chicken scarpariello and desserts like housemade puff pastries and tiramisu. Items are served family style, so the more people in your group, the more dishes you'll be able to try. 

PARTY ON On weekend evenings and Sunday afternoons, the scene is complete with a live crooner belting out Dean Martin as customers wave their napkins in the air. In the lively outdoor tent at the first Long Island location in Hicksville, servers carry cappuccinos by the trayful. Pitchers of beer and sangria are plentiful. And every table seems to have a cake or birthday balloons. The outdoor area is also available for private parties, which you can book through the restaurant's website. 

MORE INFO patrizias.com

VINCENT'S CLAM BAR

179 Old Country Rd., Carle Place

“It only took 40 years,” Vincent's Clam Bar owner Bobby Marisi said, panning over a full dining room on a recent May afternoon. The restaurant, which is decorated with twinkle lights across the ceiling and massive faux flower arrangements, bustles with large parties celebrating graduations, communions and milestone birthdays. Everyone's favorite Italian specialties are on display, piled high along servers’ forearms as they shimmy through the maze of tables, shouting directions at each other, clearing messes, delivering goblets of drinks.

Started as a seafood pushcart on the streets of Manhattan's Little Italy back in 1904, the original Vincent’s Clam Bar on Hester and Mott streets was named for owners’ Guiseppe and Carmela Siano’s son, Vincent. Two young servers working at the Carle Place franchise saw an opportunity when the restaurant went up for sale in 1983. Since then, the Marisi family has been at the helm of the Carle Place Vincent’s, continuing the traditions of red sauce and big, celebratory meals. At 4 p.m. on any given afternoon, expect Vincent’s to be packed.

ON THE MENU Start with one of the house appetizers — jumbo garlic knots, mozzarella sticks or fried zucchini — saving room for others like rice balls, baked clams and fried calamari. If you want fresh and light, the seafood salad is loaded with shrimp, calamari, mussels and scallops. Pasta comes in all shapes, sizes, and sauces — Bolognese! Vodka! Alfredo! Pesto! — while all the Italian food groups are represented in the entrees — Parmagiana! Fra Diavola! Marsala! Francese! There’s also brick oven pizza, and essential sides like broccoli rabe and mini meatballs for the kids. Vincent’s “World Famous” red sauce fans have their choice of three heat levels: mild, medium and hot. Believe your server when he tells you the hot sauce is too hot.

PARTY ON In addition to television screens playing old Rat Pack flicks, Mondays and Tuesdays at Vincent’s offer live music beginning between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Monday features Johnny Avino, a smooth crooner who butters up the dining room with a string of hits by Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Nat King Cole. On Tuesday, it’s all about the Italian American classics, sung by Alessandro, a one-man band originally from Naples. The operatic boom of his voice fills the room as he bellows “That’s Amore” segueing into Pavarotti, and then, of course, Sinatra. The room sways and sings in unison as the elder diners savor the songs of their youth with closed eyes, while grandkids sip on Shirley Temples and roll their eyes. The music only pauses to allow servers to serenade birthday-celebrating diners with claps and hoots and sparklers as they deliver a tiramisu or cannoli sundae and espresso before turning the table over, placing new paper place mats down, and doing it all over again.

MORE INFO 516-742-4577; vincentsclambar.com

SALVATORE’S OF ELMONT

312 Meacham Ave., Elmont

It looks like a tiny pizzeria from the front, but follow the sign along the side of the building pointing to “garden” and you find yourself in a warren of tents whose white nylon “walls” are festooned with lights and garlands and floral sprays, glitter and sequins. There’s even a tiny waterfall.

“Hello, my friends!” chirps co-owner Anna Cortesiano as she shows you to your table, which will soon receive a big plate of garlic knots and another of Sicilian pizza (cut into decorous bite-sized pieces). Then the wine begins, red or white, served in big goblets with or without ice. (Or bring your own wine; there’s no corkage fee.) Someone will probably come around proffering Margarita shots too. None of this, mind you, will appear on your bill — nor will the plate of zeppole that will be delivered long after you can eat another mouthful (though you probably will).

ON THE MENU Between the antipasti and the zeppole you’ll have your way with Salvatore’s menu. Anna’s husband, Vito, runs the kitchen with the same can’t-stop-won’t-stop attitude. Servings are, predictably, huge. Lamb chops, not satisfied to repose on their own atop a pile of broccoli rabe, are smothered in sauteed onions and cherry peppers. Shrimp are stuffed with crab before they are placed on a bed of capellini. Of course all your favorites are here too — how could they not be? The menu lists well over 250 items and they range from perfectly simple meatballs with escarole and white beans and perfectly Sicilian panelle (chickpea pancakes) with ricotta to perfectly over-the-top grilled prime filet mignon with shrimp scampi and the salmon fettuccine oreganata special.

PARTY ON But Salvatore’s offers dinner and a show. Friday nights are for live music, which recently brought Roberto Atanasio (” Italian-American-Spanish singer / entertainer and DJ”) to the big tent. When the evening was young, he crooned Rat Pack classics like “That’s Amore.” As the sun (and diners’ inhibitions) set, he moved seamlessly among a half century’s worth of up-tempo hits. A table of 20 celebrating the birthday of Janet Trujillo rose en masse to boogie to “Gloria” by Laura Branigan.” Failing to read the crowd, Atanasio followed up with “I Only Want to be With You” by the Bay City Rollers and the dancers retreated to their seats. But they were up again with “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor and, of course, “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges.

“People came from New Jersey and Florida to be with me tonight,” the birthday girl said. “The owners are wonderful people, I knew the food would be great and we’d all be able to dance. I could not be happier.”

Of the 200-plus people enjoying themselves, almost half are here for a special occasion, whether it’s a ​​50th birthday party that gets its own tent or an intimate anniversary dinner for two. That’s what brought Susana and Jerry Palacio to Salvatore’s. “This is our neighborhood spot,” Susana said. “It fills all our needs.” Jerry will stop by for a slice for lunch or he’ll pick up takeout for a quiet meal at home. For a special celebration like their 52nd wedding anniversary, she said, “we want to be where we feel at home, and Vito and Anna are like family.”

In between courses, Atanasio serenaded the couple with a sweet rendition of “Strangers in the Night” and they danced close, as if they were the only ones in the restaurant.

MORE INFO 516-488-8484, salvatoresofelmontmenu.com