Upper East Side · Italian
The Upper East Side's clubbiest Italian restaurant since 1981 — red sauce, regulars, and a room that runs on recognition
Elio's opened on Second Avenue in 1981 and has functioned ever since as the neighborhood's living room for a certain slice of the Upper East Side. The food is Italian-American done properly and without irony — a good vodka rigatoni, veal Milanese pounded thin and fried right, escarole and beans, seasonal specials recited at the table. The real product is the room: crowded, loud, lined with regulars who are greeted by name and seated accordingly. If you are not one of them the service can read as brisk. Go with a reservation, order the classics, sit at the bar if you want the show without the politics.
Elio's is the Upper East Side's clubbiest Italian restaurant since 1981 — red sauce, regulars, and a room that runs on recognition. Regulars order rigatoni alla vodka and veal milanese.
Elio's is priced at $$$ — approx. $40–$75 per person.
Elio's does not list an online reservation system. Reservations strongly recommended; the bar takes walk-ins
Elio's is at 1621 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028, in Upper East Side. Street parking on Second Ave; garages on 86th St