Adoro Lei

Last Friday evening, I was looking for a new place to try pizza in my neighborhood. I decided on this restaurant as I had never been. Upon arrival with a reservation, the very nice hostess attempted to seat me at a bar table near the front door. This option was unacceptable to me and I requested a table in the main dining room. The hostess informed me that one was not available and that it would be a 25 minute wait for another table. As my guest and I turned to leave, a table miraculously became available in the main dining room. Surprise, surprise. I really hate when restaurants play games with their seating.
In terms of the food, we shared a plate of the calamari, which was simply OK, but not great. We also split one of the pizzas which again was not bad, but not memorable either. The bottle of red with the meal was acceptable. In terms of the service, the timing was a tad off.
Since the overall experience was marginal at best, I left a little bit under 15% as my tip. The main reason that I am writing this review is that either the server or the manager added extra tip to my bill, bringing the total tip to 20%. I discovered this when I checked my AMEX statement online today. I immediately telephoned AMEX and was provided with a credit for the overcharge.
In all honesty, the amount of additional overcharge was not significant. However, it is the principle. There is no way that this was an accident. I am writing this review to warn other patrons to be careful when dining at this restaurant. This type of behavior is totally unacceptable for a neighborhood establishment. People… watch your credit card statements.
You’ve Been Warned!

perfect place if you want authentic, casual Italian fare of high quality, along with a cool, metro vibe. Can get in and out pretty quickly if you’re looking for somewhere to go before a show at City Winery. Owner takes great pride in what he has to offer and is there often, assuring customers are having a good experience. Pizza and pasta… up there with any in the city.

I found Adoro Lei on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. There was a slight mix up with our reservation, but they made sure to seat us the second we arrived anyways. The manager then came over to personally apologize and give us a bottle of wine. It was extremely nice of them especially since they fixed our reservation without any problem at all.
Separate from the service, the food was GREAT too. The Caesar salad was one of the best I have had, and the pizza was delicious. We also got the purses pasta that was so unique and very, very tasty.
We got to meet the owner and talk to him about the food which was fun too. He’s extremely nice and passionate about his food and the restaurant.
The vibe is great — very clean and trendy.
Overall, I highly recommend!

I love Adoro Lei. Been there so many times and I always leave saying wow. My favorite restaurant and bar for a few reasons.
Aesthetically, it has got a certain coziness to it while still having a modern feel. Adoro Lei has a unique atmosphere created by the artwork, a cool bar, interesting lighting, open kitchen and much more.
The food and service are always amazing. I have had about 5 of the pizzas and they are all delicious, my favorite being the Pietro. The entrees like the cherry steak, espresso tuna and others are fantastic too.
All the employees are really polite, and have good attitudes. Service is always quick, and when they aren’t super busy can be lightning fast.
I love how it can have a relaxed mood during the day appropriate for family, private parties, or just casual food and drinks; While later at night is a great spot for a fun night out with friends. All of that at more than reasonable prices and good
portions. Miss this place wish I could go more often!

I came for a quick bite before a friend’s art opening. Service was friendly and they didn’t make a deal out of me eating alone or ordering one dish, nor did they rush me. The dish I had was good, but a little small for the price. I was curious about the menu and I can see they’re going for a date vibe, not sure I was wowed enough to see it as a «treat yourself» experience worth spending that kind of money on. But a good place if you’re not broke and have to be in that area.

Excellent. We shared a pizza. Will return.

A great up and coming restaurant with an even better owner. Excellent music, well thought out food, and a great drink selection. Definitely one of the best up and coming west village casual dining drinking locations.
Alex

Love the pizza and appetizer! Just can’t finish the pizza!

The pillowy dough which held the ladle of fresh tomato sauce and hand-​pulled Mozzerrella for the Margherita pie was good. I expected a bit more bite but the sauce tasted like it was just pressed through the mill without much fuss. It was great fresh flavor but I am a more savory kinda girl. Put caramelized on half. They could’ve had lots more carmelization but the sweetness of what tasted like a Spanish onion held up.
The ambiance is chic with a decently sophisticated bar and wine list. Although you can bring children, I would suggest daytime only because at night, grown folks want to be unencumbered, let their hair down and groove to the dj.
Nice place for a first date with chic sophistication without breaking your pockets

Adoro Lei is awesome for a dinner meets party scene. There is a live DJ, so it feels a little bit loungy, but you are seated at a table with regular waiter service and delicious food. The truffle rice balls are addictive!
We had a holiday party here for 21 people and had a blast. They were able to get us in on relatively short notice and set up a 3 course meal with open bar featuring beer, wine, prosecco, and their house sangria. The sangria was VERY popular! After we finished eating we all got up from our table where there was open space to stand and mingle and enjoy the DJ.

Really good food (pizza is incredible) and cocktails are amazing/​reasonably priced. What I really liked though was the space! Love the loungey vibe you guys have and the décor. Can’t wait to come back :)

I came here on a Thursday night for dinner, maybe around 8pm or so. What I didn’t know is that the place easily doubles as a club/​dance bar later at night. There was a dj in the center of the restaurant playing mostly top 40 hip hop and dance hits. I wouldn’t complain so much about the music itself, rather the volume. I went there on a dinner date and it was nearly impossible to have an in depth conversation (so if you’re simply aiming for a few drinks out with someone, this is the place for you).
In terms of food, we ordered the prosecco mussels and the little queens pasta. The mussels were pretty good. They came in a tomato sauce that had some spice to it and a decent sized portion. The pasta, on the other hand, was terrible. Extremely bland. The menu said there should have been olive oil in the pasta, but it tasted plain and dry. I could’ve easily mistaken it for a bowl of pasta cooked by a teenage college student.
The service was pretty good. I can’t remember the name of our waiter, but he was pretty attentive and refilled our waters constantly. He brought us small tassels of Limoncello with our check, which was a nice added touch. The food also came out in under 10 minutes, which was crazy.
I think this place would be a better place to go for drinks, dancing and maybe pizza, but if you’re looking for a high quality sit-​down meal, don’t bother.

«This used to be a really divey bar,» my friend said three or four times at the course of our unplanned meal at the now pizza place.
The occasion of coming here was another night of drinking — thankfully even though the bar closed there’s still plenty of ways to get tanked in the neighborhood. We wandered in here, ordered some pizza and appetizers. A couple of us even drank a bit more.
Pizzas are fine — a corner slice shop would have been equally satisfying — with being particularly standout. Perhaps if I had gotten one of the stranger pies with golden raisins or speck I would have a stronger opinion, but my drunk self just wanted spicy meat and cheese. And this place fit the bill.
Service was slow and inattentive, however, especially considering how empty the place was on a Wednesday. Perhaps they could have kept on the bartender from the last place, as I’m sure he knew how to handle a crowd.

Hmmm. Not necessarily a horrible dining experience, but still ended up feeling slightly dissatisfied after our dinner here the other night.
Saturday night. Starving, we were last minute scrambling to find a italian dinner place in the area on Unilocal.Most of the places we called up were fully booked or had long waits, but this place had room and good ratings, so off we went. The pizza was good, but the marinara pasta felt a little plain and uninspiring. Boiled way past ‘al dente’. Also had a $ 10 side of cauliflower which was ok.
All in all a little pricey for what you get in my opinion, considering that there’s tons of great and inexpensive pizza places in the area. And by how this restaurant was labeled on Unilocal as being an ‘italian’ restaurant, we were hoping for some good options for pasta etc. Since the menu on their Unilocal site is incomplete, we were surprised to see they only had 3 pasta dishes on the menu.

To preface this. I’ve never before been so disgusted by management for simply not managing. I’ve been to Adoro Lei roughly 6 times or so for drinks, lunch and dinner seeing as it is literally a block away from my office. I stopped in last friday for a drink whilst waiting for the gf and proceeded to have a seat at the bar. To set the scene, it is ridiculously cold outside on this particular day. Midway through a round of drinks we noticed they began setting up some tables behind the bar seating area (far from in our way). Our bartender alerted us that an older lady (patron) had offered to settle everyone’s tab at the bar in exchange for us to leave the bar. She came by to offer some fake sincerity and suggest other bars in the neighborhood to frequent. Now, I’m from NY and I know that some folks are accustomed to dictating via financial means the actions of others. It was the restaurants duty to let her know that the space they were given was in fact suffice and they could not suggest patrons at the bar leave just so her party could have a bit more stretching room. When an establishment begins to cave to unreasonable requests from guests that affect everyone else’s experience it is a sign that they either don’t get it or are strapped for cash and will lick a hedge fund managers wifes taint to make rent. I humbly suggest we show these places in NYC that we are all equal in terms of right to service and no longer visit these types of establishments. The sad part is the staff that evening were friendly and attentive yet as we all know bad managers have an uncanny way of messing up seemingly good places. Adoro Lei owners — get rid of your manager that was on shift ¹⁰⁄₂₃ at 7pm. I almost can’t wait to tell everyone I know in the neighborhood how much I now hate Adoro Lei and the lack of backbone by management by making a simple call in terms of managing a decrepit old white ladies tantrum.
And with that I say good day sir.

This review is long overdue. I had my first experience at Adoro Lei back in March. I met up with a few friends after work for some drinks and snacks. I love everything about this place from the ambiance, to the great service and certainly appreciate even the spacious, beautiful bathrooms in the basement!
Intimate kind of setting, but with a very chic lounge feel. There’s a long bar and a decent number of tables with leather seats in the booths – comfortable and sexy. Candlelight at night and the dimmers lowered, this is a great place for a dinner date or a group dining experience. Definitely don’t roll up in your sweatpants because you might feel a bit out of place.
Everything I’ve had the chance to try here has been executed perfectly in both presentation and taste. I do mean EVERY SINGLE THING. Both of my Adoro Lei dinners were with small groups so we ordered a variety of items which made it possible for me to sample so many of the wonderful things here! Things I’ve tried and loved (more to come on my third and fourth, etc. visits):
1. The Love Board – divine charcuterie board with prosciutto, dry figs, honey crostini, olives and pecans, plus parmigiano! delicious and great for sharing with 2 – 5 people depending on what else you order ($ 18)
2. Calamari Fritti – lightly fried to a perfect, golden crisp and served with grilled lemon and topped with all sorts of other fried goodies! namely zucchini, pear (interesting and tasty), and carrot. Different than your typical serving of squid.
3. Little Queens Pasta – sausage, broccoli rabe, rotini pasta (if I remember correctly) and yass, girl, GARLIC!!! in a white wine sauce. I’m not typically a sausage lover, but this was flavorful and not too aggressive, except on the garlic, which makes me a happy camper.
4. Tullia Pizza – white sauce, mussels, fresh mozzarella, ground sausage (I was with a couple sausage lovers). Neapolitan dough, obviously. I love a crustacean and the mussels were a nice touch to this pizza and went really well with the sausage, much to my surprise. OK, maybe sausage is growing on me the way bacon did after a quarter century on earth. I’m converted.
Second Visit – add another Love Board and change up the diners, switch those cocktails to many bottles of red wine, and we’re off:
5. All My Love Panini – Prosciutto, arugula, tomato, burrata on their house bread. Super thin crust, which I love and it was a light, perfect panini bread. I’ll take burrata anytime it’s available, so this was a definite choice for sharing.
6. In The Light Panini– grilled chicken, mixed greens, dressing, tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella. If you needed something a bit more filling, but still not heavy, this is it.
I’m pretty impressed with everything here, if you hadn’t already noticed. It’s kind of annoying (to me) to make my way down here, but I like to travel for a good meal and great service. Not to mention, this is a really amazing space. Highly recommend to anyone with taste buds.
Moderately priced. Casual fine dining?

Best pizza ever! I love the sauce, crust and everything!!! Pasta is also great too. Perfectly cooked and seasoned. Great atmosphere
Service is great and i will definitely go back!

I had a great experience planning a dinner party at Adoro Lei.
The food is amazing & the service is great!
Working with the managers to plan the party was a very easy process & they were more than accommodating.
I will definitely be going back to this trendy restaurant again!

New restaurant built from the ashes of Antarctica (bar). Inside has a very open feel, you can even see the wood-​fire oven they use for the pizzas.
Extensive (and expensive) menu, with all sorts of pizza to choose from. Naturally I decide on the panini ($ 10) and the meatball sliders ($ 14). Sliders are well made — tender and juicy, with just the right amount of marinara sauce/​cheese. Panini was okay, but I had to add hot sauce and olive oil to bring out the flavor. Okay selection of light beers to go with the meal, ended up with a standard pilsener ($ 8).
A pricey option for lunch, but quality environment/​service. Will re-​rate once I try their lunch special (they didn’t tell me there was one) and pizza.

I was sad to see my favorite local dive bar Antarctica close, but think the neighborhood is getting a pretty solid new restaurant with Adoro Lei. Starting with the décor, I absolutely love what they did with the space; keeping a bar area, opening up the kitchen, and the finishes are very chic, well done! Service was very friendly and attentive on my two visits as well. Before I mention the food, I do want to say that Adoro Lei is a great addition to the Hudson Square area which is lacking in sit down restaurants. It’s not a far walk to Carmine Street or Spring street, but it’s nice to have a closer option, aside from Westville (which is always mobbed for lunch) and The Ear (which has horrible acoustics).*
On to the food, I was impressed with the numerous and delicious sounding pizzas on the menu, there must be at least 10 choices, ranging from the low to high teens in price. On my last visit I split the Isabella pie ($ 17 –tomato, artichoke, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, pecorino, mozzarella) and a Chianti Kale Salad ($ 10 — Kale, spinach, shiitake mushroom, ricotta salata, chianti sesame dressing) and found the portion size to be a little too small to share 1 pie and a salad; I would recommend each person order their own salad and share a pie. I liked the sauce, crust, and brick oven char on the pizza, but I was a little under whelmed by the toppings and will try another pie next visit. I should also mention they have a great lunch special, $ 10 for the margarita pie and a side salad.
Also there is happy hour during the week from 4 – 7 with a lovely sounding drink menu.
3.5 stars for food, 4 stars for décor and service, and 5 stars for naming the panini’s on the lunch menu after Led Zeppelin songs.
*I should note I haven’t yet tried Union Bar & Kitchen, and City Winery does a nice lunch as well. There are also some nice sit down restaurants on Greenwhich Street.