Redfern has a new dinner destination, and Vitelli’s Upstairs is already making a name for itself with a menu that wears its New York-Italian heart on its sleeve. The restaurant has opened at the corner of Cleveland and Baptist Streets — the same space that previously housed the short-lived Baptist Street Rec. Club — and it comes from the team behind Sydney venues Apollonia, Grana and Island Radio.
The food program is led by culinary director Stephen Seckold and executive chef Elliott Pinn. Their menu leans into Italian-American comfort with some crowd-pleasing combinations: think fried lasagne bites with lemon, spaghetti tossed with house-made pork and fennel meatballs finished with pecorino, and a veal milanese dressed with blush tomatoes, pickled red onion, wild rocket and pecorino. The pasta is made fresh daily at Grana, the group’s CBD restaurant, and brought across for service.
The dish drawing the most attention so far is a pasta in a creamy vodka tomato sauce, served beneath a piece of chicken parmigiana — a combination that sounds indulgent because it is. Diners can take it even further by adding burrata.
For those who like to start simple, there’s a garlic and herb butter bread roll, cut into quarters and topped with melted cheese, priced at five dollars per person. An optional add-on — a plate of olive oil-laced tomato sauce with stracciatella for dipping — brings it to seven dollars and is being strongly recommended by early visitors.
The drinks list covers classic Italian cocktails and wines, and the venue shifts into a livelier mode on Friday and Saturday nights when DJs play. A set menu is available at $75 per person, and bar snacks are served through to 1am for those settling in for the night.
Vitelli’s Upstairs is located at the corner of Cleveland and Baptist Streets, Redfern NSW 2016.
Published 21-April-2026
