A lot of buzz has been building about a brand new Filipino restaurant scheduled to open up in Greenwich Village this year.
Earlier at the start of February, we covered the plans for Bar Nine, owner Soledad Robillo’s newest project planned for 90 West Houston Street. Soledad, who set out “to focus on serving the best Filipino food in New York,” initially applied for a liquor license for Bar Nine but was denied a license due to the late operational hours. Soledad has since adjusted her concept in order to highlight that her new project is envisioned as a full-service restaurant and not just a bar, as the name Bar Nine implied.
Now, Soledad is once again visiting the community board with a brand new pitch. The restaurant that was once known as Bar Nine, is now Choly Filipino Restaurant and will be replacing Railway NYC, another bar and restaurant that operated from 2014-2018 at 90 West Houston Street. The location features about 1,180 square feet of space and has a certified maximum occupancy of 74 guests.
Bar Nine’s original application was denied on the basis that the community board felt that another neighborhood bar would not serve the interests of a community with so many bars in the neighborhood in operation already. A new Filipino restaurant though, may be sorely needed, as there are not many Filipino restaurants within 500 feet of the space. The original proposal also featured live music and DJs, but the proposal for Choly only features background music from iPods and CDs.
Bar Nine was initially proposing operating hours all the way until 4:00 AM, but Soledad has since adjusted her operating hours to 11:00 PM – 2:00 AM Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 PM – 2:00 AM on Sunday. Hopefully, these adjustments should make the community board much more amenable to Soledad’s proposal so that we can all enjoy some fine Filipino food in one of our favorite neighborhoods. As Choly has not yet received its license, there is no social media presence to follow at this point. However, as with Bar Nine, we will continue to update you as the story progresses and Soledad can move forward with her new restaurant.
