As the global cohort of bartenders and industry enthusiasts gears up for this year’s announcement of the World’s 50 Best Bars tomorrow, last year’s victor Bar Leone in Hong Kong is soaking in its time at the top spot. And as it awaits this year’s ranking, the team at Bar Leone faces a less-expected obstacle: a new bar with the same name and near-identical branding that opened last month in New York City.
Rome native Lorenzo Antinori opened the sleek Italian aperitivo bar in Hong Kong in 2023, and expanded the concept to Shanghai in 2025. The Hong Kong outpost gained worldwide recognition when it was named No. 1 bar in the world last year by hospitality rankings site The 50, formerly known as 50 Best.
NYC’s Bar Leone — a two-storied bar doubling as a Martini lounge and Italian disco room — opened on Sept. 10 under the direction of Andres Diaz, who opened La Rubia and the now-closed Her Name Was Carmen.
When news of a stateside opening under the same name emerged in May, industry pros raised an eyebrow at the suspicious number of similarities. In response, the original Bar Leone issued a statement to make clear there was no association between the Hong Kong establishment and the NYC opening.
“We are not affiliated, associated, or in any way connected with the New York venue now trading under the Bar Leone name, and we have not authorized, licensed, endorsed, or sponsored it in any way,” reads the Important Announcement page on its website, which it added after learning of the NYC opening.
What remains unclear is whether or not NYC’s Bar Leone is an outright copycat.
The similarities are hard to ignore and go well beyond the name. The two share matching color palettes, comparable website designs, and near-identical logos of a sideways-facing lion holding a tray of Martinis.
Some industry insiders took to social media to critique Diaz’s bar for directly reprinting the name and aesthetic of the Hong Kong Bar. Bartenders of the 50 Best ilk are also suspicious of the NYC bar’s copycat name and branding.
“If they just called it Bar Leone, then okay, that would’ve been reasonable, but they’re completely ripping off someone else’s creativity, their branding, everything,” says NYC-based bartender Jonathan Adler, previously of Shinji’s and co-founder of soon-to-open Chiqui.
A spokesperson for the Bar Leone in NYC declined to comment other than stating “there is no correlation between the two venues.” VinePair also reached out to Bar Leone in Hong Kong, and the team reiterated the statement in its Important Announcement page.
The two bars differ the most in their respective concepts. The world-renowned Bar Leone offers a menu centered around classic Italian aperitivo drinks. Its motto is “Cocktail popolari,” which translates to “Cocktails for the people.” In NYC, Bar Leone is accessible “by invitation and reservation only” and brands itself as a “Martini lounge” that also serves “caviar, Champagne, and bites.”
“It’s like literally the polar opposite of what Bar Leone is all about, which is somewhere that everyone can go,” Adler says. “At this new place, the drinks range anywhere from $30 to $45. It’s the opposite of what people are asking for in New York right now.”
The new Bar Leone’s opening comes as bars that near the top of The 50’s annual list make the pitch to NYC. In 2025, Moe Aljaff and Juliette Larrouy opened the acclaimed cocktail bar schmuck. in NYC after working at the 50 Best-recognized Two Schmucks in Barcelona. Hong Kong’s Bar Leone admitted it is actively scoping out international expansion, including to the U.S., in its “Important Announcement” page — a venture with which the new Bar Leone could interfere.
Though there has been no direct indication of legal action between the two bars, Hong Kong-based Bar Leone’s announcement refers to the situation as an “active matter.”
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but it seems NYC’s Bar Leone has sparked more anger than it has excitement.
“I’ve never seen anything this blatant,” Adler says. “They’re blatantly ripping it off.”
