The 32 Best Restaurants in New York City
Ask a New Yorker, “So, what’s your favorite restaurant,” and be prepared for a long answer. In a city with some 25,000 places to get a meal, everyone has at least five front-runners to accommodate their various moods, neighborhoods, and price points—and three of those top picks may change the following week. It’s not indecisiveness so much as ambition. New York’s extraordinary restaurant culture spans everything from hushed fine dining temples, to raucous burger joints, to family-style noodle shops and much, much more. You can dine out every night of every week or month and still barely scratch the surface.
That’s why we created this collection of some of the most interesting and exciting restaurants in New York City. These are places we recommend to locals and out of towners alike, and for which we refresh our reservations apps to secure our own tables. By no means an exhaustive list of everywhere worth eating in New York, it’s a delicious roadmap to start plotting your course. Here, 32 of the best restaurants in New York City.
Read our complete New York City travel guide here.
This gallery has been updated with new information since its original publish date.
Will EllisrestaurantDhamaka
$$Restaurateur Roni Mazumdar and chef/partner Chintan Pandya have taken the city’s dining scene by storm with an array of restaurants that celebrate India’s diverse cuisines. Their Michelin-starred West Village spot, Semma, is often rightfully in the spotlight, but Dhamaka is the cool older sibling that has their own thing going on. Pandya and his team’s cooking looks deep into regional Indian culinary traditions to share dishes like the restaurant’s acclaimed rabbit dish from Rajasthan, which is marinated in spiced yogurt, slow-cooked for hours, and must be ordered 48 hours in advance. There’s also garlicky Goan crab cooked with Amul butter and crushed black pepper, and garam masala-spiced Kashmiri lamb loin. Some dishes, like the exceptional goat neck dum biryani, which is served in a pot that’s sealed with a thin flatbread, are larger, so check in with your server about the number of items to order.
Evan SungrestaurantDame
$$$What started as a pop-up is now a hit English-leaning seafood restaurant for golden-brown fish and chips plus broiled oysters with green chartreuse hollandaise, elegant squid and scallion skewers, blowfish tails with chili butter, and a creative wine list and cocktail menu. Patricia Howard and Ed Szymanski's tight menu looks to his U.K. roots for inspiration with dishes like kedgeree rice with grilled monkfish, “proper English chips,” as the team calls them, and desserts like sticky toffee pudding, but the theme isn’t so overt that you feel you’re dining in the British countryside. There are also elegant raw scallops with preserved lemon and nardello peppers, and tuna tartare on toast that’s topped with bottarga. Tables at Dame are coveted, so while the restaurant can seat parties as large as six, if you can't snag a reservation then it’s best to plan an evening with just one dining companion, or dine by yourself at the bar that looks into the kitchen.
Ben HonrestaurantRaku
$$Duck down Macdougal Street on the western edge of SoHo and look for a small white square sign with artfully drawn Japanese characters and Raku spelled out in small Roman letters below. If you elect to dine inside, you’ll be greeted by a calming and transportive dining room and some of the city’s best udon. The lengthy menu at Raku can be a touch overwhelming for a first-time visitor, so first decide if you want your udon warm or cold, then concentrate your efforts on that section. Raku is one of those rare New York restaurants that’s impressive, transportive, consistently excellent—and (most importantly and surprisingly) easy to get a reservation at.
Courtesy TerangarestaurantTeranga
$$Teranga is run by the acclaimed Senegal-born chef and cookbook author Pierre Thiam. Offering a culinary lens into Africa through African-grown ingredients and flavors that date to pre-colonization, the restaurant is as much a place to dine as it is an integral part of The Africa Center, a cultural hub that hosts art exhibitions and lectures and screens independent films. In addition to build-your-own bowls featuring Jollof rice, spiced chicken, and ginger-moringa dressings, the casual spot serves black-eyed pea stews and salads, roasted Moroccan salmon, and bottled bissap, limeade, and ginger juice. The name Teranga translates to "good hospitality" in Senegalese, and although this is a fast-casual spot, the team here is indeed warm and welcoming.
Courtesy BuvetterestaurantBuvette
$$$You're back in that one Paris café you particularly loved, right down to the tiny tables and soft lighting. Your most important move is to order the anchovies on warm toast slicked with cold butter. After that go for hearty mains like cassoulet or one of the croque monsieurs, and maybe skip the buzzed-about chocolate mousse—we found it not worth the hype—in favor of a sweet, flaky tarte tatin. Also, while there is a full bar serving classic cocktails, most people come here for the wine, in part because chef-owner Jody Williams takes a lot of pride in her list. Go for rosé with friends over brunch or open a well-priced bottle of something from the Loire Valley to sip with charcuterie in the evening.
Gary HerestaurantCote
$$$Head 10 blocks south of New York’s Koreatown (see an itinerary of the neighborhood here), and you'll find Cote, a Korean steakhouse and one of the city’s best and buzziest restaurants. There’s no shortage of a la carte options, but the prix-fixe Butcher’s Feast is where diners should start. For $74 a person, you're treated to seasonal ban-chan, savory egg soufflé, two stews (including spicy kimchi stew), and the house selection of beef, including USDA Prime and Wagyu, cooked on the table with smokeless grills. The restaurant’s award-winning wine list features an impressive Champagne selection, and all by-the-glass pours come from Magnums, the large-format bottles that sommeliers say keeps wines younger and fresher.
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Cervo'srestaurantCervo's
$$Cervo’s has been around since long before Dimes Square's new dining buzz, and it continues to be one of the area's best restaurants. The kitchen looks toward the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula—but the vivacious, tightly-packed space and the seasonal outdoor seating on Canal Street feels distinctly New York. The regularly changing menu always leans heavily into seafood and vegetables with lots of bright and briny touches like spicy mussels escabeche, butterhead lettuce salads tossed with anchovies and Roquefort, and little Manila clams cooked in vinho verde. While there are larger plate options like a fried skate wing and a lamb burger, the best meals at Cervo’s are the ones made up of many small plates you can leisurely work your way through. Like the food menu, the wine offerings are inspired by Spain and Portugal, with a number of orange bottles and other natural options. There’s also a vermouth service with seven vermouths on offer, and an excellent spritz.
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Albert CheungrestaurantWildair
$$Peer into this narrow space, with tall stools, high tables and be forgiven for thinking, “All this excitement…for a wine bar?” It is, in a sense, but before visions of big bills and dreadful food dance in your head, know that Wildair’s menu is one of the best in a city with some of the best food in the world. Like a chart-topping album, several singles on this menu have their fans. There’s one man eating the little gem–pistachio salad and raving about it. A few stools down, a woman goes wild for clams with XO in an almond broth. And they'll bar the doors if you try to leave without trying the tartare.
AtoboyrestaurantAtoboy
$$Inspired by banchan, but far more voluptuous and filling, the refined food at this Korean eatery (not to be confused with LES food-free cocktail temple Attaboy) is made by a hotshot, Michelin-starred chef. Think: Korean pear with calamansi,shrimp with white kimchi and buerre blanc, pork belly and cauliflower, or fried chicken with addictive peanut sauce. Desserts tend to be bright, floral eye-openers for the night ahead. Wine is the focus of the drink menu here, with a tightly curated list that leaves room for experimentation alongside the classic Californian and French numbers.
restaurantChe Li
$$With its elegant thatched-roof dining room, twinkling waterfalls, and sophisticated menu of dishes from China’s Jiangnan region, CheLi feels worlds away from the St. Marks madness teeming just beyond its front door. The atmosphere is festive—especially when larger groups of stylish locals or nostalgic expats fill the sleek, lantern-lit booths—but never too loud to not hear your dining companions. The expansive menu spans crowd-pleasers like pillowy, porky soup dumplings and stir-fried rice cakes as well as specialities like tender chicken or chilled crab cooked in Shaoxing wine. Plan to share everything you order with your dining companions, and don't be afraid to ask the polished servers for recommendations on portions, how to course your meal, or drinks pairings advice—the bar serves a short but thoughtfully curated list of beer and wine, plus sake, Chinese rice wine, teas, and non-alcoholic drinks.
Noah FecksrestaurantAdda Indian Canteen
$$New York’s neighborhoods are dotted with Indian takeout spots that serve a rotation of standards like chicken tikka masala and saag paneer. Adda, in Long Island City, Queens is not part of this club. Run by Roni Mazumdar of Rahi and executive chef Chintan Pandya, Adda offers, as they say, “‘unapologetically’ authentic Indian food.” That includes the housemade paneer. There’s also junglee maas, or goat curry, and snacks that come with a fair warning on the menu: “highly addictive.”
Courtesy Raoul'srestaurantRaoul's
$$$At this old-school SoHo institution, the white tablecloths, pressed tin ceilings, and $58 steak au poivre belie a long history of button-pushing and rule-flouting. The top item? The burger au poivre, available only on the brunch menu. Burger hounds obsess over it and its drippy, creamy St.-André cheese topping. For desserts, the banana coconut bread pudding has its devotees. Come here when you’re curious about old, hard-living New York—when the SNL cast would roll out for dinner at 1 a.m., and people might end up dancing on the tables—and to see a slightly more sedate version today.
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Courtesy Don AngierestaurantDon Angie
$$$Italian-American food may seem a dime a dozen in New York City, but this is the sort of place you'll need to return to at least four or five times to eat everything on the menu you want to order. The husband-and-wife chefs, Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito, have been cooking together for nearly a decade—before this they were at Quality Italian in midtown—and whip up an inventive menu of next-level Italian-American: Think a stuffed garlic flatbread starter, with cheese oozing out of every tear; a take on Chrysanthemum salad generous with grated Parmesan; and a garganelli giganti pasta, cooked in a salty, delicious guanciale and pecorino ragù that's basically the spaghetti and meatballs of your dreams. Drinks stand up, too: a Nonna's Little Nip, a blend of grapefruit, Campari, and prosecco, or a Pinky Ring, a swirl of rye, Carpano Antica, Galliano, and Campari, are just what you need to take the edge off.
Evan Sung/TatianarestaurantTatiana
$$$Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s ode to New York City’s Black Caribbean cultures occupies a glass-walled space in Lincoln Center—diners dress up for the opportunity to share elegantly plated dishes in the mod, bustling dining room. It's one of Manhattan's most challenging reservations to secure, which, depending on your personal worldview, may in fact make tucking into the extraordinarily creative menu all the more satisfying. Portion sizes are large and there are too many good dishes to choose just one or two, so the best way to tackle the menu is to come with a group and share. Start the meal with crispy okra, Egusi dumplings, or elegant curried goat patties with mango chutney, then move onto mains like braised oxtails with rice and peas. If you have the appetite (and the bank account), it’s worth investing in the short rib pastrami suya, a glamorous reimagining of the delicatessen favorite made with Wagyu beef and served with velvety red cabbage.
Courtesy Gage & Tollner/Lizzie MunrorestaurantGage & Tollner
$$$Gage & Tollner is more than 100 years old, but somehow manages to feel exactly like a Brooklyn restaurant of today should: inviting, thoughtful, and bustling—with a dose of history mixed in for good measure. It’s the type of restaurant that reminds guests why New York is a great city to dine in. The landmarked interior at Gage & Tollner is lined with mirrors and cherry wood arches and lit by brass chandeliers. It’s precisely the type of place to order a classic cocktail, like one of the seven martinis on offer or a Manhattan. The menu leans into steakhouse classics like New York strip steak and shrimp cocktail, but there are more modern touches here too like clams kimsino, made with bacon-kimchi butter, and crispy hen of the woods mushrooms with black garlic aioli and house Sriracha. No matter your dinner order, make sure you save room for the baked Alaska created by former pastry chef Caroline Schiff, who was named a Best New Chef by Food & Wine in 2022. Under a large singed meringue coat sits layers of fresh mint, dark chocolate, and amarena cherry ice cream and chocolate cookie crunch.
Photo by William Hereford/Courtesy Le BernardinrestaurantLe Bernardin
$$$Long known as one of the best restaurants in New York City and the world, Le Bernardin has graced New Yorkers with its presence for decades. What you want to do here is go all in for superstar Eric Ripert's tasting menu. The fish that dominates his prix fixe is largely untouched, save for the best flourishes, so you put yourself in the very capable hands of his sauciers. And don’t skip dessert—not at a restaurant the New York Times has awarded four-stars consistently since it opened in 1986. The service is also what you'd expect from a restaurant of this reputation: Everyone is so attentive it can almost be daunting (in a good way, in a good way).
Photo by Evan SungrestaurantLilia
$$$This Williamsburg paean to pasta is in a former garage with exposed-beam wooden ceilings. Chef-owner Missy Robbins is one of New York’s finest pasta chefs. People come here for all sorts of carby stuff: rigatoni diavola, gnocchi, and ravioli. Start, though, with some cacio e pepe fritelle, gorgeous fried balls decked out with salty cheese and pepper, and move on to seafood, another Robbins strong suit. Maybe today’s the day for grilled clams flecked with Calabrian chilies? Cured sardines with capers? It’s all good. But, the absolute must-order dish is the mafaldini, a rippled noodle spiked with pink peppercorns. Reservations are hard to come by (you may need to book a month in advance) but snagging one is well worth the constant refreshes of Resy.
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Cafe Kashkar
$At the end of the B and Q subway lines sits Brighton Beach, one of the city’s most overlooked dining neighbors (its position at the very edge of the city is responsible for this unfortunate reality). When visitors do make it down here though, they can find their way to plates of perfect sour cherry vareniki at Varenichnaya, baklava shipped from Istanbul at Brighton Güllüoglu Baklava Cafe, and an endless array of prepared foods, including rich blintzes, at Brighton Bazaar. The first stop though should be Kashkar Café, serving Uzbeki-Uyghur food rich in cumin, lamb, beef, and noodles.
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Courtesy Los Tacos No. 1restaurantLos Tacos No. 1
$A reality check: New York City doesn't have the same taco culture as a city like Los Angeles or San Diego. That said, it's not without its standouts. The menu at Los Tacos No. 1 in Chelsea Market is short, but hits all the high points with a tight selection of tacos made on corn or flour tortillas laced with lard. There are also quesadillas and mulas filled with proteins like pollo asada and adobada, or marinated pork topped with a pineapple. Fresh chips, salsa, and guacamole round out a meal. The lack of seating makes Los Tacos No. 1 ideal for a snack or light meal while you’re exploring the area.
Photo by Daniel Krieger/Courtesy Sushi NakazawarestaurantSushi Nakazawa
$$$Daisuke Nakazawa—the apprentice from Jiro Dreams of Sushi—created the menu here, and in an ideal world, you’re sitting right at his counter. The man must daydream in texture and temperature, because whether mackerel, smoked skipjack, or shrimp are on his menu, they are seasoned lightly, brought to a very precise warmth, and served to transcendent effect. Reservations open two weeks prior to seatings, so book in advance: People who have heard the four-star raves are here, whether they have sushi cravings and have their saved their pennies or just have money to burn.
Melanie DunearestaurantFrenchette
$$$Frenchette, from Keith McNally veterans Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, isn’t quite a mirror of France; rather, it’s their take on what a French restaurant in New York City should be. Diners well acquainted with the French culinary canon will find many familiar friends on the menu here, including foie gras, poulet roti, and cote de boeuf, but the menu isn’t limited to these items. Nasr and Hanson have also worked in their own interpretive dishes such as smoked trout beignets with ranch’ette, apples, and spaetzle. There’s also an expansive natural wine list full of cult producers from France, Italy, and Spain, as well as Austria and Slovenia.
Evan SungrestaurantLucali
$Henry Street in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn is home to Italian families who have lived here for generations, the stroller set that moved in more recently, and Lucali, one of the city’s best pizzerias. Dining here takes patience and planning. Every afternoon a line forms outside of Lucali for “the list.” The restaurant starts taking names at 4p, after which you can head to nearby bars like Brooklyn Social or Bar Great Harry for a drink while you wait for them to call to say your table is ready.” It might be an hour, it might be three: Lucali is worth surrendering an evening for.
Photo by Damien LafarguerestaurantThe Four Horsemen
$$$A chirpy staff helps it feel cozy—as does the knowledge that James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) runs the joint. This is the sort of place, though, where you may consider inverting your drinking and dining budgets. Maybe you throw down 70 bucks for wine and 14 on butter beans in ham broth, deciding to listen to both sides of whatever album they're spinning, drink the whole bottle, and grab a slice of pizza later. The place is co-owned by four wine geeks and you see it all over the ludicrously long menu: There’s a whole page of orange wines, for example, and five pages devoted to Champagne. The list shifts pretty much day to day, and the staff will alert to you to what’s just in and what’s almost gone—a real oenophile’s dream.
Eduardo CerrutirestaurantVia Carota
$$Sparsely decorated yet warm and inviting, with plenty of wood and exposed brick, Via Carota is the kind of place where you might run into celebrities, but where you’ll feel totally comfortable sitting next to them in jeans and a T-shirt. But they don't take reservations here, so the flip side of all that cool is that waits at peak times can push three hours. The menu is full of supremely delicious creations from Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, who between them run Buvette in NYC and Paris, I Sodi a couple blocks away, and Bar Pisellino across the street. Even the relatively straightforward vegetable dishes, like the carrots with yogurt and pistachios, are remarkable in their fresh simplicity.
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Ayada
$When this 2008 institution from Elmhurst, Queens opened an outpost within Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, even more New Yorkers got access to its exceptional, home-style Thai cooking—while the locale isn't the most serene, the menu more than makes up for the always bustling, occasionally boisterous surroundings. By way of beverages, there's tart housemade lemonade in addition to frosty glasses of Thai iced coffees and teas. For food: papaya salad studded with savory dried shrimp, sticky rice, and Panang curry topped with crispy duck are among the most popular dishes, but the expansive menu also includes crunchy fried chive cakes, steaming plates of pad see ew, and helpings of crab meat fried rice.
ContentorestaurantContento
$$The five partners at Contento are deeply committed to hospitality for all: Contento was given Bon Appetit’s prestigious Heads of the Table Award—for those working to make the food space more inclusive—for its wheelchair-accessible bar seating, menu QR codes to a spoken version of the menu for diners with low-vision, and a Wines of Impact list of offerings from Indigenous-, Black-owned, and mission-minded wineries. Executive chef Asia Shabazz, who grew up in East Harlem, serves dishes like classic ceviche, Peruvian barley with roasted mushrooms and winter truffles, arroz con pato with pickled fennel and onion, and roasted scallops with pumpkin stew and Peruvian corn. Whether you come to Contento for its accessibility, a thoughtful wine list, or Peruvian-inspired cooking, you’ll enjoy your evening. There’s space for everyone here.
Photo by Molly YehrestaurantKatz's Delicatessen
$Tourist destinations in New York rarely make it into regular rotation with locals. Katz’s is an exception. What started as a deli called Iceland Brothers has been slicing exceptional pastrami, corned beef, and loaves of rye bread on the Lower East Side since 1888 (and made the famous “I'll have what she's having” cameo in When Harry Met Sally). While the menu offers tuna fish, burgers, and even a cheesesteak, stick to the deli classics like pastrami, corned beef, and beef tongue sandwiches. Round out your order with a knish, a bowl of matzo ball soup, or cheese blintzes.
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Sylvia's Restaurant
Framed photos of decades of notable diners including Barack Obama and Muhammed Ali line the deep red and exposed brick walls of this Harlem soul food institution. Opened by Sylvia Woods, a South Carolina-born cook and culinary entrepreneur, in 1962, the restaurant remains a family affair, owned and operated by generations of Woodses. The skilled kitchen turns out extraordinary takes on soul food classics. Try the expertly fried chicken, whose crackling skin encases achingly tender meat, plus a side of tangy collard greens and mac and cheese so velvety it hardly seems real. The pace and tenor of the service varies based on how thronged the dining room is on any given day—and it can get awfully busy—but the warm, knowledgeable staff handles it all with aplomb.
Sunny Shokrae/Superiority BurgerrestaurantSuperiority Burger
$Housed in a vinyl-boothed former Ukranian diner, this cutting-edge vegetarian and occasionally vegan restaurant is a cult favorite for good reason. Brooks Headley, the former pastry chef at fine dining temple Del Posto, has created a fun, free-wheeling menu and quirky-cool atmosphere that brings everyone to the party. In addition to the rightfully famous signature veggie burger, which is topped with confit tomatoes and melted muenster, there’s an excellent collard greens sandwich and a comforting Sloppy Joe’s riff called Sloppy Dave, which features tender tofu and crispy frizzled onions. All are served unaccompanied, so round out your meal with sides like a twice-baked potato, burnt broccoli salad, or sweet-and-sour pink beets on a jalapeno cream cheese schmear. Desserts are similarly inventive. Try the griddled banana bread with coconut gelato or a malted date shake made with Bautista Family fruit from California’s Coachella Valley.
Gentl & Hyers/Le RockbarLe Rock
In 2022, when the owners of downtown’s perennially packed Frenchette restaurant opened Le Rock, it brought a much-needed jolt of energy to Midtown’s Rockefeller Center. Tables in Le Rock’s dining room remain among one of the hottest tickets in town, but the Art Deco-style bar posseses a buzzy scene all its own. The glittering space has the flattering sort of lighting that makes everyone look like they just got back from a week on St. Barths (many of the patrons likely did),and a 200-bottle wine list that skews French and natural. Creative cocktails like the strawberry-scented, sparkling rosé topped Chambery Spritz and a riff on the often overlooked Martini variation L'Alaska (dry gin, yellow Chartreuse) are perfect for happy hour people-watching (is that a Vogue editor, or just someone who looks like one?).
Courtesy Keens SteakhouserestaurantKeens Steakhouse
$$$ |
Gold List 2021The only difficult choice to make when entering Keens is where to look first. Is it up, at the 90,000 pipes lining the ceiling? To the glass cases, where the most famous churchwardens—15-inch pipes—smoked by the likes of Babe Ruth and General MacArthur are stored? In the bar, are you mesmerized by the Miss Keen painting (a nude, lounging on her bear rug) right away, or are you too distracted by the New-York-ad-men-in-the-'50s vibe? This steakhouse, open since 1883, delivers something new to look at every time you go. Keens was originally called a chop house, in recognition of its famous mutton chop, and although that is good and musty and intense, most people are ordering steak. There’s the porterhouse for two or three, the chateaubriand, and the filet mignon—which is actually fabulous here. You want the béarnaise or au poivre sauce on the side, and the creamed spinach, which is less a vegetable than it is dessert.
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Win Son
$$There’s a lot on the menu at Taiwanese Win Son, and little of it disappoints. Start with garlicky marinated cucumbers plus the clams and basil served with a scallion pancake. Then move onto fried eggplant with black vinegar; pan-griddled pork buns; tofu stir-fried with garlic chives and yunlin black beans; and sesame noodles made with black sesame, mushrooms, snow pea leaves, and peanuts. For dessert, there’s just one option: tian miantuan, a fried doughnut with vanilla ice cream and condensed milk.
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