Brunch in Gramercy: Where the Italian Kitchens Are Open

Brunch in Gramercy is thinner than the neighborhood’s dinner scene suggests — several of the area’s best-known Italian rooms don’t run it at all. Two do, each on a different schedule, and one well-regarded trattoria on East 22nd Street is worth knowing about specifically because it doesn’t serve brunch, so you don’t walk over expecting a table.

Quick answer

Isabelle’s Osteria, on Park Avenue South, runs the fullest Italian brunch menu in the neighborhood on weekends. Tarallucci e Vino’s Union Square location, a short walk from Gramercy Park, is open for brunch every day of the week, not just weekends.

At a glance

• Best full Italian brunch menu: Isabelle’s Osteria — 245 Park Avenue South
• Most reliable, every day: Tarallucci e Vino — 15 East 18th Street, Union Square edge
• Skip for brunch: Novità — 102 East 22nd Street, lunch and dinner only

Isabelle’s Osteria — Park Avenue South

Isabelle’s Osteria sits at 245 Park Avenue South, between 19th and 20th, close enough to Gramercy Park to walk in under five minutes. Weekend brunch runs starters, egg dishes, pasta, and cocktails, including a chicken-and-waffle plate finished with Calabrian chili syrup — a menu built for a sit-down morning rather than a quick coffee stop. Saturday hours run from 10am and Sunday from 10am as well, both extending straight through to dinner service, so there’s no hard cutoff pushing you out before noon.

It’s the pick when brunch is the actual plan for the morning, not a stop on the way somewhere else.

Tarallucci e Vino — Union Square edge

Tarallucci e Vino’s Union Square location, at 15 East 18th Street, is a block or two outside Gramercy proper but close enough to count for a short walk, and it’s the one restaurant on this list serving brunch-style food every day, not just Saturday and Sunday. Weekday hours run from 8am, Saturday from 9am, and Sunday from 11am, unchanged as of October 2026, with a menu built around eggs benedict and brioche French toast alongside the Italian dinner menu.

It’s the fallback when a Tuesday craving hits — Isabelle’s doesn’t run a weekday brunch service.

Where Gramercy brunch runs thin

Novità, a 60-seat trattoria tucked a few steps below street level on East 22nd Street, is one of the neighborhood’s better-regarded Italian kitchens for dinner, but its published hours don’t include brunch. As of October 2026 its own site lists lunch on weekdays only, from noon to 3:30pm, and dinner from 5pm to 10pm every day, so a weekend visit there means dinner. Maialino is not on this list: its own site now says only that it “has closed its doors at The Redbury Hotel,” with no current location or hours. For a Sunday specifically, when the Union Square Greenmarket is also closed and several bars run no happy hour at all, Where to Eat in Gramercy on a Sunday covers what actually opens.

If you’re weighing brunch against a Gramercy happy hour later the same day, the two don’t overlap much — see Gramercy Happy Hour: Seven Verified Windows for the afternoon side of the day.

Before you go

Neither of these two publishes a strict last-seating time for brunch, so book weekend tables ahead. Call ahead for a party of four or more, and confirm current hours directly — Sunday schedules shift more often than weekday ones across this stretch of Gramercy.

Two real options, one clear skip, and a neighborhood where brunch takes more homework than dinner does. Start with Isabelle’s for the full sit-down version, and keep Tarallucci e Vino in your pocket for the days the calendar doesn’t cooperate.

Frequently asked questions

Does Gramercy Park itself have any restaurants right on the park?

No restaurants sit directly on Gramercy Park — the park is a private, gated square open only to keyholders, mostly residents of the surrounding buildings. The Italian restaurants covered here are all a short walk from the park’s fence rather than facing it, which is typical for the neighborhood; nearly everything worth eating is one or two blocks off the square itself.

Where can I get brunch in Gramercy on a weekday?

Tarallucci e Vino at 15 East 18th Street is the one restaurant on this list serving brunch-style food every day, opening at 8am on weekdays, 9am on Saturday and 11am on Sunday. The other kitchen here serves brunch on weekends only.

Editor’s note: Isabelle’s Osteria is affiliated with this publication. Restaurants were selected using the criteria described above.