What Happened to Il Vagabondo After Best Thing I Ever Ate? (New York, NY)

Current status

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Il Vagabondo has closed — confirmed via Yelp, September 2026.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Il Vagabondo, updated September 2026, marks the address CLOSED; a 2016 Jeremiah's Vanishing New York post cites critic Gael Greene reporting the building housing the restaurant had been sold.

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What happened after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

An episode on old-school dining classics featured Il Vagabondo, an Italian restaurant on East 62nd Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side that opened in 1965 and became known for its indoor bocce court, a rarity among New York restaurants. The restaurant served traditional Italian dishes in a clubby, wood-paneled dining room, with the bocce court doubling as an after-dinner draw for regulars. According to the blog Jeremiah's Vanishing New York (2016-02), restaurant critic Gael Greene reported that Il Vagabondo would be forced to close because the townhouse containing it, which the restaurant did not own, had been sold. A public Yelp listing updated 2026-09 marks the restaurant permanently closed at 351 East 62nd Street, New York. No indication of a relocated or reopened Il Vagabondo location was found in available records.

Featured on Best Thing I Ever Ate

Season / episode
Season 2, Episode 9
Original air date
Not confirmed
Episode title
The Classics
What was featured
Italian trattoria fare served alongside an indoor bocce court
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Il Vagabondo

Frequently asked questions

Is Il Vagabondo still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Il Vagabondo has closed — confirmed via Yelp, September 2026.

What happened to Il Vagabondo after Best Thing I Ever Ate?

An episode on old-school dining classics featured Il Vagabondo, an Italian restaurant on East 62nd Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side that opened in 1965 and became known for its indoor bocce court, a rarity among New York restaurants. As of September 2026, Il Vagabondo has closed — confirmed via Yelp, September 2026.

Is Il Vagabondo permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Il Vagabondo has closed — confirmed via Yelp, September 2026. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Il Vagabondo located?

351 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate featured Il Vagabondo?

Season 2, Episode 9 of Best Thing I Ever Ate. The episode is titled “The Classics”.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
351 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

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Record btiea-0160 · last verified .