How to Get Into Roscioli in New York

Resy: Your reservations drop 30 days in advance at 10 a.m. When do they usually fill up?

Giordano: We are so fortunate in this opening time right now. I tracked them one day and within one minute all the reservations for Fridays looking 30 days out are gone, although, of course, we are a small space. That is always great to see. We’re very lucky to have such high demand for the restaurant. It’s not always one minute, but I would say within an hour.

Wow. And do you use Resy’s Notify feature?

Yeah, we use Notify. It’s exciting for me to see it reach up to 1,200 people.

Is 1,200 typical, or the most you’ve seen?

Right now by the time we get to the day-of, we are looking at about an average of 1,200.

Whew. And you don’t hold any tables for walk-ins, right?

We don’t, just because we are a tasting menu restaurant, so we like to spend time when we do confirmations to reach out to see if there are any allergies or dietary restrictions. We are also just such a small space; we can fit about 40 people. So, we book up really quickly and unfortunately, we just can’t  hold space for dinner for walk-ins. Still, if there aren’t any private events, we do sometimes accommodate walk-ins in our wine cellar in the lounge area for some wine and snacks.

How many tables do you have?

We have 12 tables and four bar seats. Then, we have one communal table that can seat six people. We do the full tasting menu at the bar, too.

What’s the best seat in the house? Where are you sitting, if you get to choose?

Oh, that is such a good question. You hear this all the time, but we have really sexy booths. There’s this booth right in the center of the room that gives you a perfect view of everything without feeling obtrusive. You can see everything; you can see the bar, you can see the dining room, you can see a little bit into the kitchen. I like that table.

What’s the best piece of advice you can give to someone hoping to snag that table, or any table?

I think that it’s to be nice. I think you need to have determination, kindness, and sincerity. Sometimes I’ll just get a nice email that seems very sincere from someone who is familiar with the brand and has been to the location in Rome. Maybe they had a wonderful experience there and they live in New York and want to have that same experience in their home city. I think that’s always good. Also, I genuinely do check to see what kind of effort people are putting in. I will get a lot of emails saying, ‘It’s like it’s impossible to get a reservation!’ but I’ll notice that they’ve never put themselves on the Notify list or made any extra effort or attempt.

Also, in September we’re opening the à la carte restaurant, which will be walk-ins only. That is definitely going to be another opportunity for people to come in and dine with us.

And how many seats will that be?

It’s around 25 right now.

What will be on the à la carte menu? Any of the classics from the tasting?

It’ll be all Roman classics. For right now, we’re planning to have the supplì, a personal favorite of mine, the cheesy rice balls. Hopefully, the cacio e pepe, carbonara, and lots of the Roman classics, too.

You’ll still only be able to get the tasting menu with a reservation, though, right?

Yes. The ground level space will always be à la carte, and the subterranean level will always be the tasting menu.

Tell me a little bit about you and your background. How did you come to work in this role?

When I was in college, I very randomly got a reservationist job at Major Food Group (Carbone, Torrisi Bar & Restaurant, Sadelle’s), and I grew within that role. I worked there for three years and then Ariel [Arce], who was the owner of and Air’s Champagne Parlor at the time, was one of my friends. She was opening this new concept that grew to be Niche Niche, and she asked me to come on to help her with guest relations and events. I started doing that in January of 2019 and then stayed on throughout the pandemic. Eventually this concept kind of rolled over into talking to the Roscioli lead team after they did a pop up with us in December of 2021. That kind of got the ball rolling as far as, “Oh, we could this. this could be a reality for us.”

How has it been opening a place that has such a storied history already in Rome?

It’s been so exciting and amazing to see. When we opened Niche Niche, it was a brand-new concept from someone who was established in the city, and it was really exciting to shepherd that in. This is so exciting in a different way. People aren’t familiar with it. There’s kind of a baseline that I really have personally liked; there is a high standard and expectations are very high. I think that that’s a good thing because we’re all trying to be the best that we can be.

It is also an enormous pressure. We want to make sure that people have, not the same experience that they have in Rome, but that they have some of those embellishments and flourishes of the experience that they had in Rome with a New York twist.

Is this different for you in terms of the level of demand?

Definitely, yeah. That has been like that has rocked all of us a little bit. Notify was always a thing we always used at Tokyo Record Bar, and it could reach up to like 500 people. But to see these numbers and to see people engaging with the brand, to see that so many people want to come into your restaurant … I mean, there’s nothing like that. It’s pretty remarkable.

Absolutely. Let’s talk food. What are your favorite dishes?

The No. 1 thing for me, and honestly for most people, so it’s kind of unoriginal, but I love the carbonara. It’s so true to the flavors that I have had in Rome. That’s been a great experience for me and I think for other people, it’s a transformative experience to be in New York City eating a very authentic Roman dish made by a Roman chef.

My second favorite is the tiramisu. I eat it every single night and I never get sick of it. I think that’s a true testament to a quality dish.

The attention to detail [with all the food], not just in the preparation but in the sourcing, is my personal favorite part of working with the Roscioli team.

Roscioli NYC is open daily from 6. until 11 p.m., with tasting menu seatings at 6 and 8:30 p.m.