Louro

Sadly Louro has closed its doors for good. A shame because the food and service were always phenomenal, wherever chef Santos ends up next I will definitely seek him out. The only negative experience I ever had here was with the angry little French guy that ran the host stand. Had some super delicious meals here and am sad to see the place has in fact closed for good

Eating at Louro reminded me of that 80s Wendy’s commercial that Walter Mondale riffed on in his presidential campaign: «Where’s the beef?» At Louro, I was asking myself «where’s the pork?» when we were served the pork butter with the bread; «where’s the seafood?» when eating the seafood fritter; and finally «where’s the octopus?» when eating the octopus bolognese.
Look, I’m not expecting big chunks of these proteins in any of these dishes. But I am expecting a little more of the *taste* of these ingredients. None of these dishes was terrible, but neither were they delicious.
The one present and accounted for protein we had – the pork belly – was very dry and not pleasant to eat. Far superior and far cheaper pork belly appetizers can be had at any one of a number of excellent ramen places in the city.
The one good thing I had here was an excellent cocktail. I don’t remember the name.
Finally this place offers booths (a definite plus) and then manages to ruin the booths by having slatted wood seat-​backs that are extremely uncomfortable to lean against.
Our experience here made me perplexed by some of the raves on Unilocal and various food blogs. Less surprising in retrospect was the fact that we were one of only three tables on a weekend early evening.

Went to Louro for Cinco de Mayo and it was the first and last time I will set foot in there. I cannot say anything about the food or drink because after 30 minutes of waiting at the bar trying to get the attention of the bartender who clearly seemed very angry and frustrated to be the sole bartender for both the seated tables and bar that night, decided to take it out on the customers. He completely ignored the entire right side of the bar, had the biggest scowl on his face and was moving at snail pace. Even ppl next to us who were trying to get their check and leave couldn’t get him to come over. By the time we left it was not nearly s crowded as it had been when we arrived but that did not seem to change anything.
Granted, we should have just left as soon as we walked in. Noticing there were a few empty tables we asked the hostess for a table for two and he said those were reserved. I told him we didn’t mind waiting for a table and he replied that without a reservation there was no way we would be seated that night. After stupidly deciding to try our luck at the bar, ½ hr later those tables were still empty. I don’t know who manages this place but they need to either retrain their staff or find new staff.

We had an unfortunate experience with Louro last night. The restaurant had a light crowd and we made a reservation easily with OpenTable (for Saturday at 9pm in Manhattan) — all time slots available. But we weren’t looking to fight a crowd, so we were glad.
The restaurant is nicely decorated but a little sparse — the bar shelves had lots of empty space and it just seems like a place that isn’t really in high rotation. But again, no worries there — strong reviews, right?
We were seated promptly and ordered the Piri Piri Shrimp, the Chicken, and the Halibut, and some wine.
The Piri Piri shrimp were very good. Simple, well spiced, fresh and crisp. Things appeared to be off to a good start.
My Halibut was in a pot, immersed in broth and with thin shavings of ham, beans and «foraged greens». It was a nice preparation, and the fish was fresh, but the overall effect was so subtle as to be bland — and I am a person that adds salt to nothing. But it was fine. An Ok, if unremarkable dish.
My wife’s chicken, on the other hand, was definitely not ok. The meat itself was cold, while the rice it came with was hot. My wife is the type that does not believe in sending food back, and she was very hungry, but she told me that she felt like it might be off, and was very noticeably cold. I confirmed it, and we asked the waiter to send it back.
This is where things got weird.
The waiter stopped my wife on the way to the restroom to tell her that the chef was working on the chicken and that he was going to bring it back out to her. She told him that she didn’t want it.
While she was in the restroom, the waiter appeared with a bag and placed it next to her table setting, leaving without a word. I looked inside to see a meal to go, and called him over, asking what it was. He said that «the chef said it came out hot and that I should bring it back to her». I told him that she definitely did not want it, thanked him, and asked that he take it again.
We declined dessert and asked for the check. The chicken was on it. I asked the waiter why, and he told me that he was instructed to leave it on the bill, as the Chef was claiming that it was hot. He said that I could speak with the manager if I wanted to.
I did, and after a short conversation, the chicken was removed, with apparent reluctance.
I’ve been dining in NYC for years and I’ve never had anything like this happen before. It was surprisingly confrontational, when the kitchen/​chef was clearly in the wrong.
For a drink and a shrimp appetizer, sure, this place is fine. For dinner? I’d pass.

This review is for The Cinco de Mayo Taqueria Pop-​up
Food
Tried the chicken, pork belly, shrimp, and brisket tacos. All very good. They were quite simple but it was perfect this way. Served with a side of guac and two different salsas. Pork belly was my favorite– crispy on the outside chewy on the inside as it should be.
Drinks
Both the classic and passion fruit margarita were very good.
Service
At first we walked in and I felt u welcomed by the server. However he redeemed himself perhaps he was just overwhelmed when we walked in. All tables were booked and there wasn’t any room at the bar, we stood at a shelf/​table attached to the wall and he brought us chairs as available and even sat us when a table no showed. The service provided by the servers was top notch.
Overall the food and experience was very good that I’m tempted to try the regular restaurant.

Exceptional service and delicious cuisine!
Walked in on a busy Friday night and hoped to sneak in for a drink & a snack, but then decided to try and get a table for dinner at the last minute.
The host was very personable and politely sat us at the bar while we waited for a table to open up. The bartenders were friendly, and their delicious cocktails were accompanied with cool stories about the origins of the drinks on the menu. I highly recommend the Eli Cash & the Arctic Cynar!
Shortly after a couple drinks, the host returned to let us know a table had opened up and we were sat. We were immediately greeted by a friendly server. He was very knowledgable on the food & wine, and really helped guide our experience for the evening. The Octopus Bolognese was to die for, and was accompanied wonderfully with the bottle of wine our server suggested.
So happy to have stumbled upon this place for a true fine-​dining experience, will absolutely be back soon!

What an incredible culinary experience. We are visiting from California and a friend recommended this restaurant. I have to admit, at first I thought the menu was a little limited… until I found out they have quite an amazing off-​menu selection. Speak with the chef/​owner and he will hook you up.
When all is said and done, I walked away having enjoyed perhaps the best meal of my life. The service was professional, courteous and spot on. Definitely superb. Drinks were well served and the food was plentiful.
The owner/​chef is very experimental and he shared with us his belief that everything should be used and nothing goes to waste. Ask him to share some of his creative ways to maximize use of all products. You will be impressed.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone living in Manhattan, or visiting from out of town. You will be amazed by the service and food selection.
Five Stars are not enough to describe the caliber of the food and service we received.

I’d been trying to come here for a few months, but things kept coming up and forcing me to change plans. I made reservations on a weekend for a date night, and I was excited to finally try this place.
I’ll start off by saying that this would have gotten an easy five stars if it weren’t for one thing that happened during the meal. Bread and a spread, which looked like a flavored butter, maybe apple butter, were brought to the table shortly after I inquired about a few of the menu items. I’d made it known that I didn’t eat meat when sitting down, but it was about 5 or 10 minutes after the bread and spread were brought to the table that I was notified of its ingredients. The spread contained pork and duck fat! After I was told about the contents, the waiter was apologetic and brought a dish of olive oil, but it did put a bit of a damper on the meal.
The place is a prefect date night restaurant. It is intimate, relatively quit, and unique. The walls have cute wood planks hanging on them, which are painted with chalk board paint and have chalk drawings of leaves on them. We had 8:00 reservations, but had to wait about 15 minutes before our table was ready. While we waited, we had drinks at the bar ($ 13/​cocktail). The cocktail list has a good range of options, and we both were very happy with our drinks at the bar and during the meal.
After the meat spread issue, the rest of the meal was amazing. We had ordered the seafood fritters to start. They came with a paprika aioli, which was delicious. I would have eaten the aioli alone it was so good! We also ordered the octopus bolognese and perogies for our main courses. Both meals were unbelievable. The octopus was a very original idea. The pasta was fresh and the flavors all worked perfectly together. The perogies were a bit rich, but the portion was perfect! We both were very happy with our meals. We had a bit of a wait for our food – maybe about 30 minutes between courses – but I didn’t mind. I could imagine some people getting antsy about that though.
I’m very excited to return here again, but next time, I’ll know better to stay away from any unknown spreads!

I went to Louro on the day BEFORE Valentine’s Day only to find out they had a $ 55 pre-​fix menu consisting of 5 entrée, three of which had a $ 10-​$ 15 surcharge. Then the dessert part of the prefix menu was essentially ice cream and cookies.
Also, when the place is COMPLETELY empty, don’t give me this garbage of having to wait for the last member of our party before being seated.

When every single bar/​lounge in the Village has a line and it’s neck to neck, we almost catch a cab to leave the area and then we saw Louro. At around 10pm on Saturday, they were not too busy, great vibe and to top off, a friendly bartender. Drinks menu was nice, serving very good cocktail at $ 13 a pop. The place wasn’t crowded therefore, was not too loud. We sat for a couple hours, enjoyed 3 drinks each, and enjoyed a night of long chat. Definitely would come back for another date night, maybe will order food as well.

Booked a dinner for a large party (12 ppl) here and the service & food was great. I was a bit worried as I had never been here before, but reviews were positive and menu was pretty easy. It makes you wonder how many other great restaurants are being overlooked just bc there are other ones just like it.
In any case, do stop by here. It’s really easy to get to off the subway. Ask for a table inthe back aka away from the bar. Trust me. By the time we left, it was a nightmare to squeeze past everyone.
We ordered pretty much 2x of everything which was just enough food. The restaurant excelled in the meats — truffle chicken, steak, and venison were really tasty.

My awesome friends took me here for a birthday dinner. I loved the atmosphere and food! Definitely a cute date spot.
We ordered the venison, calf liver pâté, and pari pari shrimp. The shrimp didn’t taste any special or unique but it was still good. That was prob the only thing we didn’t fall in love with. The liver pâté melts in your mouth and the venison was cooked perfectly. And omg, the fresh baked bread with pork butter. delicious! We kept asking for more bread.
Overall, great experience. Can’t wait to go back for uni night!

Three girls out for a birthday dinner and we had four bread baskets. Yes, four and none of us regretted it. The bread was crispy and soft with hints of pork which you have to slather on some of the pork fat pumpkin butter.
I didn’t like being seated at the communal table, because the other group was pretty loud. So i don’t suggest this area if you want to hear your dinner mates.
The appetizers we ordered the Thai soup, piri piri shrimp and the calf’s liver toast. Since i didn’t try the soup, i can’t comment on it. The piri piri shrimp was prepared well, as in cooked perfectly, but it lacked any kind of special seasoning, so i wouldn’t order this again.
The calf’s liver pâté on toast was incredible though. The pâté was really more like an airy mousse with matchstick apple slices on this heavenly toast. I always dread sharing a toast and having to cut it, but this bread was easy to cut and share. The toast was crunchy but light and airy as well. I would definitely suggest ordering this!
I had the venison loin that had a few pieces of cavatelli in onion au jus and roasted peppers. The venison was prepared medium rare and it was tender and juicy. You’d expect it to be gamey, but it was surprisingly not. The au jus was so good, i used my spoon to drink some of it (don’t judge me… Fine maybe a little).

If you should try anything on this menu, it should be the Octopus Bolognese.
If you should try another anything on this menu, it should be the Roasted Bone Marrow.
If you should try another another anything on the menu, it should be all three of the desserts at any time of the year. There are three cooks in the kitchen, and they have a competition to see whose dessert is the most popular. I’m a huge fan of this idea. It makes it fun, and I usually end up getting all three desserts because they are so damn good.
I’ve been a fan of the food at Luoro for quite some time. The drinks are crafted quite beautifully, and I am just smitten with the décor.
Executive Chef Dave Santos pickles many items and presents them to the public by arranging them in a library setup– as the décor suggests. I find this very clever and interactive with the restaurant, as it is a chef driven concept.
The food comes out with an amuse bouche– which is bread and pork butter. As a Portuguese influenced restaurant, the anecdote goes as follows:
Way back when, the aristocracy used to hold pig roast feasts. In order to display their copious amounts of power and wealth, the aristocracy would throw whole black pepper on the pig in order to season the pig, but really show to their guests how fucking rich they were. Black pepper was more expensive than gold at the time. In order for the peasants who were the «help» at the time to get a hold of this aromatic and luxurious spice, they would dip their bread in the pork fat drippings that was marinated with the black pepper.
This is part of the reason I love Luoro and always recommend it to my friends who are looking for a new restaurant to try out. It’s these narratives that show up in the food as ways for people to connect to one another without feeling like they have to be diehard foodies to enjoy a nice restaurant.
As the décor suggests, there are books and books of stories among us while we eat, but the most important one is the story that unfolds at the table. And– OH!- is it so fucking good.

What a nice surprise. Nice ambiance, great cocktails and sophisticated/​light meals. I tried «Necromancer» and «Arctic Cynar» cocktails and the former was extremely refreshing. We had uni with sweetbread and kabocha and piri piri shrimp to start with, followed by bass and pollack. I was pleasantly surprised by every one of the cocktail and dish. Perfect for every occasion. I’m definitely going back for after work happy hour.

Entering Louro you can feel the hip, trendy vibe. With a large bar at the front, table seating along the bar side, back and in a rear room, it’s fairly long and narrow like most West Village restaurants in pre-​war (and mostly likely that means Revolutionary) buildings. Very cool!
We were on time with our reservation. The hostess sat the three of us right behind her station. We didn’t think about it at the time, but this was really sitting in the bar area, not the dining room. Ultimately it this was just too loud almost to the point of uncomfortable. Why do people sitting at bars need to laugh and talk so loudly to each other? In retrospect it was partly our fault for not asking for a table further into the restaurant.
While beautifully plated, our salmon tartare with coconut yuzu broth and tempura shiso was disappointing. There was much more diced cucumber than tartare, and all I could taste was cucumber.
The intriguing Octopus Bolognese entrée sounded suitably exotic enough to order. For $ 27 we got mostly noodles and bits of ground octopus in a Bolognese sauce. If we didn’t know it was octopus, we would never have guessed, and could not taste or identity any octopus or octopi in the sauce.
My friend mentioned that his short rib entrée could’ve been more moist and the noodles seemed like instant ramen even though it probably wasn’t.
On the plus side, the wait staff was helpful, cheerful and attentive. The Xlerator hand dryer in the rest room was the strongest blast I’ve ever experienced! I just think a bit more attention should be focused on the food.

Louro is truly West Village’s best kept secret! I came here with a girlfriend and we both left extremely pleased.
I would recommend trying one of their cocktails to start. I had the Summer of ’75 because I love elderflower and was pleased.
I always judge a restaurant based on how good the bread is and if it has been heated up. Louro passed the test on this one. Instead of the bread being served with traditional butter, it came with a Portuguese butter that had duck fat and other things that I can’t remember. It was DELICIOUS!
My friend and I shared the Piri Piri Shrimp and House Made Ricotta to start. The shrimp were made with a Portuguese Piri Piri oil which had a kick! These shrimp were buttery and garlicy and delicious. My only complaint was that I wish there were more! There were only 4 small shrimp. The ricotta was some of the best ricotta that I have ever encountered. It was creamy and the smoked honey paired great with it.
Then we had the kimchi fried rice and the corn agnolotti. We were hoping that the restaurant would have coursed this out for us since we were sharing everything but they brought out the rice and pasta at the same time. Maybe we should have told them we would have like to enjoy them at separate times. The rice has amazing! It was crispy on the outside due to the pot it was served in and had a kick! The corn agnolotti was creamy on the inside and I loved the truffle foam. We waited for quite a bit for these dishes to come out after the appetizers which was slightly annoying.
When we got to the restaurant at 8 pm, it was not completely full but by the time we left it was all full. The branding of the restaurant was so sweet with the leaves that matched their website. I would definitely recommend this spot to my friends!

Thoroughly enjoyed my brunch experience at louro!
Started with the beignets which were definitely more doughy than fried, which was fine by me! They came our warm and oozing the glaze.
For savory, I definitely recommend the chili shrimp!
Great service and reasonable prices.

I love this space and vibe but be warned its noisy and not from music just chatter. So better with friends rather than a romantic evening.
The food is solid, not exceptional but definitely some interesting elements
We tried the following .
pickle oyster salad– crispy pork belly, cucumber, Thai chili vinaigrette, tempura watercress– everyone’s favorite
roasted carrots — my friends loved this dish, for me I think would be better warm.
seafood fritters — wah wah not worth the order.
spicy shrimp — spicy is the word
mahi mahi — solid, meaty and flavorful
venison — amazing and tender all though had a slight liver taste to it
I believe the menu is always switching up which is a good thing all though I was sad that bone marrow was off the menu now .
For drinks I ordered Eli Cash with tequila, rhubarb, honey, cucumber, lime
but this was too much of a muddle so exchanged for an old fashioned.perfect.
I am definitely going back for the supper club and I hear the happy hour is pretty good to .
TBC !

Uni with Pork Belly.
It takes a certain kind of mind to imagine and create this dish. The right combination of the rich flavors on a bed of tasty spicy cabbage.
I loved everything about Louro. It’s charm, simple décor, and friendly staff. Although we didn’t get the tasting menu tonight, we sampled many of the offerings, and every one of them were thoroughly enjoyable.
The night started off with a basket of warm bread, with a unique butter made of pork fat, smoked paprika, caramelized onions and scallions. It’s easy to serve warm bread at the table, and it always wins brownie points in my book. The bread was so good we asked for a second basket.
We had the uni and pork belly, the Peconic bay scallop curdo, the gnocchi, bottarga, duck, and trout. Chef Santos definitely knows how to please the palate. I’m typically not a fan of restaurants using truffle oil, but he uses it sparingly and allows the natural freshness of the ingredients to shine through the scallops and gnocchi dish. It’s quite a skill to cook the perfect duck, and it was exactly what we had tonight — juicy, tender, with crispy skin. The trout was smartly accompanied by tasty bacon pieces and grilled Brussels sprouts.
Chef Santos also makes his own desserts. We had the peanut butter pain perdu and coconut tapioca for dessert. They were on the light side and not overly sweet. A delightful treat to end the pleasant evening. Thanks to our server, James, for advising me to save room for dessert and have the rest of the duck entrée for a 1AM.
Let me not forget about the cocktails, as well as the selection of wines by the glass and bottle. Tonight I went with the Artic Cynar and the Necromancer. I’d suggest getting to the restaurant early to unwind and indulge on a drink before dinner or even just stopping for drinks and food at the bar if you find yourself in the neighborhood.
Louro is a great choice for dinner for every occasion. Get in here now before reservations become scarce and hard to come by. The menu looks like it changes often, I am looking forward to my next meal here. Bön appetite!