Conga Lines And Pot Banging Keep Soho Eatery's Neighbors Awake

SOHO, MANHATTAN — An Italian restaurant that was banging on pots and pans and starting conga lines to celebrate as many as 10 birthdays a night has to stop disturbing neighbors in order to get a new liquor license, community board members said Thursday.

Piccola Cucina Enoteca on Prince Street, one of three locations of the Sicilian eatery in the neighborhood, was told in a unanimous vote by Community Board 2 that it won't be allowed to have TVs, boozy brunches, conga lines or pot-and-pan banging celebrations if it wants a liquor license with longer weekend hours.

The vote comes after months of back-and-forth between the restaurant owners, the board's Licensing Committee and neighbors who said the loud partying could be heard in nearby homes throughout the night.

"Many times a night they would have birthday celebrations, they would sing happy birthday and then they would all bang on pots and pans — literally," committee member Susan Kent told the board. "Noise was the number one complaint."

Neighbors told board members that the 184 Prince St. eatery was acting more like a lounge than a restaurant, hosting as many as 10 parties in one night and blasting music while patrons dance on tables and chairs and start conga lines with the windows kept wide open, minutes show.

Customers often spilled out onto the street, drinks still in hand, to table and chairs the restaurant set up on the sidewalk, even though they weren't approved for a "sidewalk cafe," neighbors said.

Owners, who told the board the complaints were exaggerated, would threaten neighbors if they approached them with these problems, the residents said.

Piccola did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The board recommended denying the liquor license unless the owners added a list of 13 conditions to their application, including stopping the pot-and-pan banging, dancing, sidewalk drinking and only playing "quiet ambient recorded background music."

The eatery had requested renewing its liquor license with an extra hour open each weekend night. Should the liquor license be approved, Piccola would be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Kent said the committee hoped adding in conditions for approval rather than outright denying the license would mean owners would be better neighbors at all three of Piccola's locations in the area.

The Italian restaurant has outposts on Spring Street and Thompson Street, as well as a spot on the Upper East Side.

"The thought was that we would try to make them better operators — this same operator has two other licenses — the goal was to bring them in line and make them accountable," she said. "We let them know we'd be paying attention."