Nizza

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Hell's Kitchen's Italian Riviera, Since 2007

Named for the French seaside city of Nice, Nizza has been drawing locals, Broadway theatergoers, and curious visitors to its corner of Ninth Avenue since 2007. The restaurant's focus is Ligurian cuisine — the cooking of Italy's northwestern coastline, where the flavors of the Mediterranean are honest, herb-forward, and deeply satisfying. It's a specific culinary point of view, and one the kitchen has stayed true to for nearly two decades.

The People Behind the Food

The team at Nizza reflects the kind of depth that only comes with time and genuine investment. Culinary Managing Partner Andy D'Amico is a Culinary Institute of America graduate whose career stretches back to the kitchens of The Berkshire Place in New York and the celebrated Sign of the Dove, where he earned two three-star New York Times reviews. His guiding philosophy has always been the same: "to maintain the integrity of the food and offer patrons an honest dining experience." He traces his love of Northern Italian and Southern French flavors to years of Mediterranean travel, and that sensibility runs through everything on the menu.

Executive Chef Juan Juarez brings his own layered story to the kitchen. Originally from Puebla, Mexico, he built his craft over a decade at Nick & Toni's Café in East Hampton before returning to New York City in 2023. His focus at Nizza is on building a team that makes people happy to come to work — and that energy reaches the table.

Overseeing the dining room is General Manager Sy Rahman, a 20-year veteran of New York hospitality who has led Nizza as part of the Chef Driven Hospitality Group since 2008. The wine program is in the hands of Beverage Director Aviram Turgeman, whose commitment to thoughtful pairings earned Nizza a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence — a recognition that speaks to the seriousness with which the list is assembled.

What to Eat

The menu is a confident expression of Ligurian Italian cooking, built around ingredients and techniques that don't need embellishment. All pastas are made fresh in house — from a classic Spaghetti Pomodoro with San Marzano tomatoes to a Ricotta Ravioli with fava beans and wild ramp butter. The brick oven does double duty, turning out pizzas like the Bianca (fonduta, ricotta, Calabrian chili, arugula) and the San Remo with salt-cured anchovies and olives, while also roasting mussels and finishing the gnocchi.

A standout starter is the Socca — a crispy chickpea pancake with sage, onions, and pecorino that nods directly to the Ligurian-Niçoise border country. Desserts are straightforward and well-made: tiramisu, a hazelnut affogato, and a ricotta cheesecake on a gluten-free biscotti crust.

With over 30 gluten-free dishes across the menu, Nizza takes dietary accessibility seriously without making it the whole story. Weekend bottomless brunch and a $12 lunch menu round out a restaurant that genuinely works at every hour of the day.