There are restaurants where you go for dinner, and then there are restaurants where dinner quietly turns into “Should we get another martini?” Piccolo Morini is very much in the second category.
The new SoHo Italian restaurant at 40 Kenmare Street is the latest chapter in the Morini restaurant legacy, bringing a smaller, livelier take on the beloved Osteria Morini concept to downtown Manhattan. The focus is firmly on handmade pasta, Italian small plates, cocktails and a social atmosphere designed for lingering.
And then there is the headline-maker: $9 martinis.
Piccolo Morini offers $9 martinis every night at its bar, lounge and patio, with walk-ins welcome. That’s the sort of pricing that makes you briefly forget you’re in Manhattan.
The restaurant bills itself as “The Pasta Specialistas,” and the menu backs up the branding with a lengthy selection of Italian favorites. Current choices include cacio e pepe, carbonara, linguine alle vongole, tagliatelle Bolognese, gnocchi and cappelletti filled with black truffle ricotta.
There are also cicchetti for anyone who prefers to graze, including arancini, calamari fritti, burrata and peach, braised octopus and a salumi board. Basically, ordering “just a few things for the table” is how this becomes a three-hour dinner.
Piccolo Morini also brings a more energetic personality to the neighborhood, with DJs on Friday and Saturday nights and late-night programming that keeps the restaurant going after dinner hours.
Weekend brunch has joined the lineup as well, making the restaurant an option for everything from morning-after pasta cravings to late-night martini missions.
For anyone searching for Piccolo Morini NYC, SoHo restaurants, Italian restaurants in NYC, handmade pasta or $9 martinis in Manhattan, this newcomer is already giving New Yorkers a very convincing reason to stay downtown.
Come for the pasta. Stay because someone ordered another martini.
