New opening · Chelsea
Bar Lento Brings a Verona Wine Bar to Chelsea, NYC, With a Garden Open All Year
Bar Lento, an Italian wine bar and bistro from Verona owners, has opened on 8th Avenue in Chelsea. It pours more than sixty Italian labels, seats guests in a heated covered garden open all year plus an open-air one in warm months, and runs a weekend happy hour.
Bar Lento has opened at 158 8th Ave, at the corner of W 18th St in Chelsea. It is an Italian wine bar and bistro run by owners from Verona, and it is their first brick-and-mortar location outside Italy. The house line is "Drink slowly, think deeply," and the name itself means "slow" in Italian.
The wine list is strictly Italian, running from the Alps to Sicily. More than sixty labels are on it, mostly from small producers, and many are poured by the glass so a guest can sample several regions without committing to a bottle. The bar serves wine and beer only, with no spirits, by design. The food is Italian from start to finish: lunch and brunch run Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 4 PM, and the dinner menu is available all day.
The garden is the main draw. A covered garden under a glass roof is heated and open all year, with plants all around; the restaurant describes it as warm in January and airy in July. A second, open-air garden puts tables under the sky from the first warm evening of spring to the last of autumn, and in winter guests are seated inside. Indoors, a marble counter faces 8th Avenue, wine shelves line the wall behind it, and a framed drawing of the storefront by Rob Wilson hangs on the brick.
L'Ora Lenta, the happy hour, runs Saturday and Sunday from 4 to 6 PM, and live jazz plays on selected nights. Walk-ins are welcome, and reservations go through Resy. Anyone who wants the garden can write "garden" in the Resy notes, and the staff will do their best to seat them there. Groups of seven or more should write to info@barlentony.com. Dogs and children are welcome.
The room can also be booked for private events. The covered garden suits 20 to 30 guests, and the whole place holds up to 65 standing. Parties, birthdays, shoots and film or TV requests are handled by email, with a reply promised within 48 hours. The nearest subway is the A, C, E and L at 14 St–8 Av, one block south, or the 1 at 18 St, one block east. A lunch-to-go service with online ordering is listed as coming soon.
Hours
