Nightlife
Upstairs Martinis, Downstairs Disco at Bar Leone in Soho
Bar Leone splits a Soho night across two floors and two decades
The martini costs $45 and arrives with Russian Ossetra caviar. That is the opening move at Bar Leone, the two-story lounge that took over 527 Broome Street on September 10. Upstairs, you sit. Downstairs, you dance. The staircase between them is the whole idea.
The address is not new to its owner. Restaurateur Andres Diaz opened Her Name Was Carmen, a Latin American restaurant and lounge, in this same bilevel space in 2018. He told WWD that he had been asking himself what came next after a few good years there. The answer was to close his own restaurant and build a room rooted in older decades in its place. The new room covers 4,800 square feet, and Time Out reports it took two years to develop, with the New York architecture and interior firm BOND.
Two Floors, Two Eras
Diaz described the plan to WWD as a way to capture two great periods of twentieth century nightlife and design. The upstairs looks to the 1960s and 1970s. The downstairs picks up in the 1970s and runs into the early 1980s.
Upstairs is the martini lounge. Time Out's first look lists the materials, and they read like a mood board. Sapele wood. Corduroy velvet. Red travertine. WWD describes a palette of amber and mustard tones under cozy lighting. The room also works as a gallery. The walls will hang art that changes every three to four months, with lighting built to show it off.
Downstairs is the other half of the night. Red velvet wallpaper. Vinyl banquettes. A red lacquer bar trimmed in chrome. Time Out hears Italo disco at its most extravagant in it, along with the downtown New York of the seventies. This is where the night goes once the chairs lose their appeal.
Upstairs, you sit. Downstairs, you dance. The staircase between them is the whole idea.
The music follows the same split. The resident DJs were chosen by Luigi Ambrosi, a DJ born in Italy who now works out of New York. The upper floor drifts between Neapolitan jazz, Afrobeats, funk, and Balearic records. The lower floor sticks to Italo disco, classics, and nu-disco. The tempo climbs as you descend.
The Martini Menu
Diaz wants to make the martini less intimidating. He told WWD he wanted to reach people who are scared of the drink by building versions around spirits they already like. So the upstairs list reaches past gin and vodka into mezcal, sotol, and tequila.
The headliner is that $45 caviar martini, dry or dirty, made with Seventy One Gin or Beluga Gold Line Vodka. Time Out lists a $36 Golden Martini with gin, two vermouths, and grapefruit bitters. There is a cranberry and rose Cosmotini. There is a cucumber martini finished with dill vermouth, fino sherry, and a sesame tincture. The Spirits Business reports that the signature list includes the Leoncino Martini, made with Cardenxe Sotol del Desierto, citral lemongrass, Cocchi Americano, and pink peppercorn. Downstairs, WWD reports, the drinks run lighter and more refreshing, served in formats that survive a dance floor.
The food is built for grazing between rounds. Kumamoto oysters with yuzu granita. Fluke and coconut ceviche. Octopus carpaccio. Beef carpaccio, zucchini bruschetta, and crispy artichokes. A $36 dry-aged short rib burger with Taleggio on brioche. For the committed, a $45 Beluga caviar bump with a shot of vodka, or a full caviar service at $135. Both floors serve the same menu, according to Eater.
The Details You Are Not Supposed to Notice
Diaz goes further than most. He hired a scent designer to create a house fragrance called Disco Lace, a blend of lavender, rose, and enoki, and he told WWD the smell greets you the minute you walk in. He talked about the acoustics and the design with the same intent. His goal, as he put it to the magazine, is for guests not to notice any of it, only to feel comfortable without knowing why.
That is a very Soho kind of ambition. It also explains the price of the martini. You are paying for the drink and for the room that holds it.
You are paying for the drink and for the room that holds it.
One footnote travels with the name. Bar Leone is also the name of a celebrated bar in Hong Kong, run by bartender Lorenzo Antinori, which was named the world's best bar in 2025. WWD notes the Soho lounge has no connection to it. According to WWD, the name came from the branding team, after someone saw The Lion King on Broadway and noticed its colors matched the interior.
Bar Leone opens Wednesday through Saturday from 6 p.m., and Time Out notes that closing times vary by night. The Infatuation has not been yet, but flagged the opening for its focus on martinis and Italo disco. If you like your nights to change shape as they go, this is a room that does the work for you. Start with a martini and some oysters under the gallery lights. Finish downstairs on the vinyl banquettes. For more on how a basement turns into a dance floor, read our story on the lighting designer who makes a dance floor feel like a dream.
Bar Leone is at 527 Broome Street in Soho.