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Soho’s newest nightlife spot lets you sip a caviar Martini upstairs, then descend into a red-velvet disco den once sitting still begins to feel unreasonable.
Bar Leone opened yesterday, September 10, on Broome Street, bringing two floors of cocktails, food, art and dancing to a 4,800-square-foot space. Restaurateur Andres Diaz, the hospitality veteran behind Her Name Was Carmen and La Rubia, spent two years developing the lounge with New York architecture and interior-design firm BOND.
The two levels are meant to feel like separate destinations: upstairs is an intimate, mid-century-inspired Martini lounge dressed in Sapele wood, corduroy velvet and red travertine. The brighter room will also operate as a gallery, with exhibitions changing every three to four months and lighting designed to spotlight the artwork.
Downstairs, things get groovier, with red velvet wallpaper, vinyl banquettes and a shiny red lacquer-and-chrome bar that channels the glamorous excess of Italo disco and 1970s downtown New York. (There is, crucially, a dance floor.)
Italian-born, New York-based DJ Luigi Ambrosi curated the venue’s roster of resident DJs. Upstairs playlists will range from Neapolitan jazz, Afrobeats, funk and Balearic sounds, while the subterranean room will spin Italo disco, classics and nu-disco. You can essentially start the night feeling like you’re drinking in Milan and end it as the star of a very stylish vintage music video.
Martinis occupy substantial real estate on the cocktail menu. A dry or dirty Martini made with Seventy One Gin or Beluga Gold Line Vodka and served with Russian Ossetra caviar costs $45. Other options include the $36 Golden Martini with gin, two vermouths and grapefruit bitters; the cranberry-and-rose Cosmotini; and a cucumber Martini finished with dill vermouth, fino sherry and sesame tincture.
The raw bar serves Kumamoto oysters with yuzu granita, fluke coconut ceviche and octopus carpaccio, while the broader menu includes beef carpaccio, zucchini bruschetta, crispy artichokes and a $36 dry-aged short-rib burger with Taleggio cheese on a brioche bun. Those feeling particularly flush can order a $45 Beluga caviar bump paired with a shot of vodka or commit to the full $135 caviar service.
Bar Leone is open Wednesday through Saturday beginning at 6pm, with closing times varying by night. Reservations are available through the Bar Leone website.