Restaurant in New York City, United States
Serious Italian that rewards staying late.
Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria on Great Jones Street is a kitchen-driven Italian address with consistent OAD recognition (Casual North America #363 in 2025) and one of the few serious Italian kitchens in NoHo running to 11 PM on weekends. Booking is easy relative to the NYC Italian field — a week out is usually enough. Best for food and wine enthusiasts who want ingredient depth without the formality of a white-tablecloth room.
The common assumption about Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria is that it is primarily a daytime deli or a casual lunch stop on Great Jones Street. That undersells it. The Alimentari side — the retail and provisions counter — is part of the identity, but what matters most to the food-focused traveller is that this is a kitchen-driven Italian restaurant with a wine program serious enough to anchor an evening, and Friday and Saturday hours that run to 11 PM when most comparable Italian addresses in lower Manhattan have already closed. If you are planning a late meal in NoHo, this is one of the few places where the kitchen is still doing real work.
Chef Garrison Price runs a program rooted in Italian technique and ingredient quality. The room combines the retail provisions space with a proper dining area, so the ambient scent on arrival leans toward aged cheese, cured meat, and the faint olive-oil warmth of a kitchen that has been running all day , details that signal the seriousness of the larder before you sit down. For a food and wine enthusiast, this is not incidental atmosphere; it tells you something meaningful about how the kitchen sources and what it prioritises.
The awards record backs up that read. Opinionated About Dining, which tracks serious casual dining with the kind of rigour usually applied to fine dining, has ranked Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria on its North America Casual list in every tracked year: Highly Recommended in 2023, #303 in 2024, and #363 in 2025. A concurrent 2023 appearance at #95 on the OAD Gourmet Casual Dining list for North America positions it in a competitive tier well above neighbourhood-restaurant territory. With a 4.5 rating across 1,031 Google reviews, the quality holds at volume.
For the food traveller comparing Italian options in New York, the positioning here is distinct from the more polished, service-forward Italian of Ai Fiori uptown, or the rustic Roman simplicity of Via Carota in the West Village. Il Buco Alimentari runs closer to the ingredient-obsessed, market-driven Italian that you would associate with a serious salumeria-restaurant hybrid. It shares some DNA with Altro Paradiso in its commitment to Italian product sourcing, but with more visible pantry depth.
On the late-night question specifically: the kitchen runs until 10 PM Sunday through Thursday, and 11 PM Friday and Saturday. That makes this one of the more practical options for a proper Italian meal after a show, a late arrival, or any evening where 9 PM feels too early to settle in. Ammazzacaffè, a short walk away, works if you want drinks and small plates after; Alimentari is the call when you want a full meal that holds up technically at that hour.
Booking is currently easy. Unlike Babbo a few blocks west, where the reservation window is longer and the name recognition drives demand, Alimentari does not require weeks of lead time. A week out is typically sufficient for a weeknight booking; Friday and Saturday evenings benefit from more notice, but you are not working against the same pressure as the city's most-booked Italian rooms. Walk-in viability exists, particularly at lunch and on Sunday, but calling ahead removes the uncertainty.
One practical note for groups: the hybrid retail-restaurant layout means the room has a distinct energy that works well for two to four. Larger groups should confirm space in advance, since the room configuration does not automatically scale. No phone number is listed in the current venue record; booking directly through the restaurant's reservation system is the most reliable path.
For context across the New York Italian field, see our full New York City restaurants guide. If you are building a wider trip itinerary, our New York City hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the surrounding decisions. For comparison across serious Italian programs internationally, 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong and cenci in Kyoto represent the format at different price points and cultural contexts. For high-end American dining benchmarks, The French Laundry in Napa, Alinea in Chicago, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Providence in Los Angeles, and Emeril's in New Orleans put the casual-but-serious register of Alimentari into sharper relief.
| Venue | Cuisine | Late Kitchen (Fri/Sat) | Booking Difficulty | Award Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria | Italian | To 11 PM | Easy | OAD Casual #363 (2025) |
| Via Carota | Italian | To 11 PM (approx.) | Moderate | Widely recognised |
| Babbo | Italian | To 11 PM (approx.) | Moderate–Hard | James Beard recognised |
| Altro Paradiso | Italian | Standard hours | Easy–Moderate | Critically noted |
| Ai Fiori | Italian | Dinner service | Easy | Michelin recognised |
Lunch is the more relaxed and accessible visit , the provisions counter is fully active, the room is quieter, and the retail side of the operation is worth time if you are interested in the Italian pantry sourcing. Dinner, particularly on Friday or Saturday when the kitchen runs to 11 PM, is the better call for a full meal with wine. If you want to use the late kitchen and sit with a proper Italian dinner rather than a quick lunch, evening is the right choice. The OAD recognition applies to the full dining program, not just the daytime offering.
Booking is currently easy relative to the competitive New York Italian field. A week of lead time is typically enough for weeknight dinners. Friday and Saturday evenings are busier , aim for two weeks out to be safe. If you are comparing this to Babbo or Via Carota, where demand is consistently higher, Alimentari is the lower-pressure booking. Sunday lunch is the most accessible visit if you are willing to try your luck without a reservation, though calling ahead is always the practical move.
Small groups of two to four sit comfortably in the room without special arrangements. For larger parties, the hybrid retail-restaurant format means space is not unlimited, and you should contact the venue directly to confirm availability and configuration. No phone number is currently listed in our venue record, so reaching out via their reservation system is the most reliable path. Larger groups looking for a more straightforwardly scalable Italian room in New York may find Babbo or Ai Fiori easier to configure for six or more.
The kitchen is rooted in Italian technique with a strong emphasis on charcuterie, cheese, and animal-based ingredients , which is worth knowing if you are dining with strict vegetarians or vegans. The market-driven sourcing means the menu shifts, which can work in favour of flexible dietary needs but also makes it harder to plan around specific restrictions in advance. Contact the restaurant directly before your visit if dietary needs are a deciding factor. For a kitchen better suited to fully plant-based dining, Eleven Madison Park is the city's most considered option in that category.
Yes, with the right expectations. The OAD recognition and the seriousness of the wine and provisions program make this a credible special-occasion choice for a food or wine enthusiast who values ingredient depth over formal service. It is not the room you book for a milestone anniversary if you want white-glove service , that call goes to Le Bernardin or Per Se. But for a birthday dinner or a celebratory meal where the focus is Italian product quality and a kitchen that takes sourcing seriously, Alimentari delivers. The Friday and Saturday late kitchen also makes it practical for occasions that run on a flexible schedule.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria | Easy | — | |
| Le Bernardin | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Masa | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Per Se | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
How Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria stacks up against the competition.
Dinner gives you the fuller picture. Lunch at 53 Great Jones St skews toward the deli and counter side of the operation, which is good but not the reason this place holds consecutive OAD Casual North America rankings. Evening service is when the vineria side comes into its own and the kitchen, under Garrison Price, runs at full stretch. Come for lunch if you're nearby; plan around dinner if you're making a trip.
Book at least one to two weeks out for weekday dinner; aim for two to three weeks if you want a Friday or Saturday slot. The restaurant holds OAD Casual North America rankings in both 2024 and 2025, which keeps demand steady. Weekend lunch (doors open at 11 am Saturday and Sunday) is a slightly easier entry point if your dates are flexible.
Small groups of two to four fit the format well. Larger parties should check the venue's official channels, as Italian-format venues on Great Jones Street in NoHo typically have configuration limits and may require a set menu or deposit for bigger bookings. Nothing in the venue record confirms a private dining room, so don't assume that option without checking ahead.
Italian kitchens at this level generally handle vegetarian and pescatarian requests without difficulty, and Garrison Price's approach to Italian cooking leans ingredient-forward, which gives the kitchen flexibility. That said, specific accommodations aren't documented in the venue record, so flag any allergy or dietary requirement when you book rather than on arrival.
Yes, provided your occasion suits a convivial Italian setting rather than a formal tasting-menu format. Two consecutive OAD North America rankings (including #303 in 2024 and #363 in 2025) confirm it's a recognised address, not just a neighbourhood spot. For a milestone where ceremony and tableside formality matter more, somewhere like Eleven Madison Park fits better. For a dinner that feels considered without being stiff, Il Buco Alimentari is a strong call.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
