Upper West Side Eatery Openings: Playa Bowls And Neapolitan Pizza Spot

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A pair of new Upper West Side eateries welcomed their first customers in recent days.

Playa Bowls, which is best known for serving up fruit bowls and smoothies, opened this weekend on Broadway and West 110th Street. While, the pizzeria Song'E Napule, had its soft opening Monday at 464 Amsterdam Ave., near West 82nd Street.

The new 2841 Broadway location will be Playa Bowls second outpost on the Upper West Side, as it opened last February on Broadway between West 84th and 85th streets.

Outside of its fruit bowls and smoothies, it also serves up coffees, cold-press juices, and poke bowls. The chain originated in New Jersey, and now has more than 100 locations across the country.

"Another PERFECT weekend in NYC 😍 @playabowlsfultonstreet & @playabowlscolumbia are OFFICIALLY open for business!!! 🎉 These stores are a MUST visit if you are in the area," Playa Bowls wrote on its Instagram on Sunday.

Its new Upper West Side location is just six blocks from Columbia's main campus, and joins an area already littered with quick dining options, including Chipotle, Five Guys, SweetGreen, and Panda Express.

In the other neighborhood opening, Song'E Napule is a popular Neapolitan style-pizzeria that already has two successful locations in the West Village and Rutherford, New Jersey.

The pizzeria is headed by Circo Iovine, who first started working in a pizzeria in Napoli when he 13 years old, and has won multiple awards in recent years for his pie making abilities.

The menu includes smoked buffalo mozzarella, eggplant parmigiana, buratta, meatballs, salads, pastas, chicken breast, tomato-based pizzas, cheese-based pizza, and special pizzas.

The new location was first expected to open in the fall of 2021, but got pushed back to the spring of 2023.

Gabero Rosso, an Italian food and wine magazine, named Song'E Napule's West Village locations as one of the five best pizza places in New York City in 2019.

While the new location's soft opening took place Monday, it is unclear when it will open full-time.