The 25 Best Places to Eat in New York, Ranked

New York does not do subtle, and neither does this list. These are the top 25 places you must eat when you visit New York, in our order, with the unmissable first-visit experiences up top and the deep cuts that reward a second or third trip further down. A Williamsburg pizza counter sits at #1, because the burrata slice at L’Industrie is the single most exciting thing happening in New York pizza right now. A three-star dining room sits at #2, because Le Bernardin’s $135 weekday lunch is the best value in fine dining in America. And an appetizing counter open since 1914 sits at #3, because nothing says New York like a proper bagel and lox from Russ & Daughters.

Two NYC institutions get their own features: Katz’s and Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side, plus Carnegie Deli’s Midtown return and our NYC taco debate.

We ate this city the way a chef does, dish first and everything else second. The rooms that made the list are the ones New Yorkers actually eat at, the ones we would cross the city for at rush hour, the ones where the food lands and the table goes quiet. Some are famous. Some you will have to work to find. All twenty-five are worth the trip.

25. Laghman Express

Hand-pulled Uyghur noodles in Bensonhurst

Official site · walk-in only · (718) 232-0525 · 6201 20th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11204

The Guyurou Laghman is the order: noodles pulled by hand that morning, chewy and springy in a way machine noodles never manage, buried under a wok-fired lamb topping with peppers and wood ear mushrooms. Cumin runs through everything, the lamb is properly caramelized, and the whole bowl eats like it costs three times the price. The Dry Fried Noodles get fired over open flame until the edges catch, all smoke and bite, and the hand-pleated Central Asian Manty are the sleeper starter.

This is the Bensonhurst flagship of a room that has landed on the NYT 100 Best three years running, and it still operates like a neighborhood counter: fast, casual, the full menu halal, no reservation needed. Lunch or an early dinner, in and out happy, with a bag of noodles’ worth of leftovers.

Order: Guyurou Laghman, Dry Fried Noodles, Central Asian Manty, Cumin Lamb, Dapanji (big plate chicken).

When to go: Daily 11am to 9pm. Lunch or an early dinner. It is a fast, casual counter room, so there is no need to plan around reservations.

Price: $$, full menu halal. Counter prices for cooking this serious.

Pro tip: the Guyurou Laghman is the must-order, and spoon the chili oil on with abandon. Start with a samsa while you wait.

24. Keepers

Jersey bar pies, a dozen Negronis, and the loudest 40 seats in the West Village.

Official site · Walk-ins only · 34 8th Ave, New York, NY 10014

The pies are Jersey-style bar pizza, thin and blistered with the toppings run edge to edge, and they land on metal trays lined with paper stamped with the Keepers name. The Bargherita, with stracciatella, red sauce, and basil, is the one to beat. The Chicagoland piles on sausage and giardiniera. The Shore Thing goes crab. The Vodka Chicky Parm does exactly what the name promises. The Pineapple Express runs sweet and spicy. Around the pies there is real tavern food done right: homemade kettle chips with caramelized onion dip, a black garlic Caesar, oven-charred wings in brown butter buffalo or charred lemon pepper, and dessert pies that play the same game as the savory ones, cinnamon bun and peaches and cream. The bar holds its own with about a dozen Negronis, from the classic to a white Negroni with chamomile and a strawberry rendition, plus a watermelon daiquiri and a Biscotti Old Fashioned.

Keepers opened in July 2026 in the old Arthur & Sons space, and the name is a nod to the barkeepers and tavern keepers of old New York, the ones who kept the city going long after dark. The team behind it has the receipts: Eytan Sugarman of White Horse Tavern, Will Makris of Zero Bond, and Dandelion creative directors Emily Pires and Elena Hristu. Executive chef Louis Tomczak came from Paulie Gee’s, and Ricky Dolinsky runs the drink program. The room is a 70s corner tavern with burnt orange banquettes, exposed brick, and vinyl on the speakers, loud and packed from the minute the doors open, with the food served on paper plates like it should be.

Order: Bargherita, Chicagoland, Shore Thing, Vodka Chicky Parm, and the Pineapple Express.

When to go: Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 11 PM, and Friday and Saturday, 5 PM to midnight. Closed Sunday and Monday. Officially walk-ins only, so show up at 5 PM or plan on a wait.

Price: Medium price point. A drink and a pie here costs what a drink and a pie should cost downtown, which is part of the pitch.

Pro tip: Only two tables fit parties over four, so come early with a crowd, and save room for the cinnamon bun dessert pie even if you swore you were done.

23. The Modern

Danny Meyer’s museum dining room, still the smartest lunch in Midtown

Official site · OpenTable (dining room) · (212) 333-1220 · 9 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019

Eggs on eggs on eggs is the signature: caviar and egg yolk on toasted brioche, rich on rich, and it earns every bit of its reputation. The dry aged duck with artichokes and kumquat is the savory anchor, the white truffle risotto with aged parmesan is the luxury play, and the Bar Room runs the casual canon: the caviar hot dog and the wagyu steak tartare with crispy potatoes, eaten on the terrace overlooking the MoMA sculpture garden.

You do not need a MoMA ticket. The restaurant has its own West 53rd Street entrance, and the Bar Room accepts walk-ins, which makes the terrace the great casual afternoon play in Midtown. Lunch is the move for the dining room: a three-course prix fixe at $115, with the eggs on eggs on eggs carrying a $75 supplement.

Order: eggs on eggs on eggs, dry aged duck with artichokes and kumquat, white truffle risotto with aged parmesan, caviar hot dog (Bar Room), wagyu steak tartare with crispy potatoes (Bar Room).

When to go: Dining room lunch daily 12pm to 2:30pm, dinner daily 5pm to 9:30pm; Bar Room lunch 11:30am to 2:30pm, dinner 5pm to 9:30pm. Lunch for the $115 three-course prix fixe value.

Price: $$$$; lunch three-course prix fixe $115, tasting menus $185 to $285. Eggs on eggs on eggs carries a $75 supplement at lunch.

Pro tip: you do not need a MoMA ticket, the restaurant has its own West 53rd Street entrance, and the Bar Room accepts walk-ins. The terrace is the casual afternoon play.

22. Red Hook Tavern

Our top burger in New York

Official site · OpenTable · (917) 966-6094 · 329 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

The burger is the best in New York, and we will not hedge it: equal parts 45-day dry-aged NY strip and hanger steak, ground and griddled, American cheese melted over the top, white onion, butter-toasted bun, cottage fries on the side. Order it medium-rare. The dry-aging gives it a funk and depth no standard grind touches, and the whole thing eats like the burger every tavern in America is trying to make. This is our top-burger-in-NYC pick, full stop.

The rest of the menu backs it up: cavatelli with oxtail ragu and garlic breadcrumbs, French onion soup, country ham croquettes, shrimp cocktail with Old Bay. Take the ferry from Pier 11/Wall Street to the Red Hook terminal and walk over; the ride is quick and the tavern is the reward. Reservations open two weeks out on OpenTable and prime times go immediately, so line up by 4:30pm if you are chancing the walk-in bar.

Order: the dry-aged Red Hook Tavern burger, cavatelli with oxtail ragu, romaine wedge salad, French onion soup, and the rainbow cookies for dessert.

When to go: Dinner daily 5pm to 9:30pm; lunch Thu to Sun 12pm to 2:45pm. Reservations for up to eight open two weeks out on OpenTable. The long bar, five window counter seats, and about 12 outdoor tables are held for walk-ins.

Price: $31 to $50 per person per OpenTable. Serious value for the quality of the cooking.

Pro tip: take the ferry from Pier 11/Wall Street to the Red Hook terminal. Order the burger medium-rare.

21. Penny

Claud’s upstairs little sister is the coldest, sharpest room in the East Village.

Official site · Resy · 90 E 10th St, New York, NY 10003

Start with the ice box, because it is the whole argument. Penny’s take on the seafood tower arrives in custom dark blue powder-coated boxes: oysters, clams, shrimp, mussels in escabeche, and crab salad in the standard box, while the Ice Box Plus adds a seasonal crudo, periwinkles, vichyssoise topped with caviar, and a raw live scallop. Everything is pristine and cold, dressed with intent: cocktail sauce, celery mignonette, and garlic aioli on the side, never drowning the product. The shrimp cocktail runs on ruby red shrimp and a ketchup sauce that Pinsky spent years refining. The tuna carpaccio is cut from big-eye Atlantic tuna with the deep red heft of raw beef, leaning Sicilian with olives and sweet onions. When the market cooperates, the whole Maine lobster gets boiled in court-bouillon and served in a bowl of brown butter vinegar, herbs, and lemon, and you will want the sesame brioche to chase every drop of the sauce at the bottom.

This is Chase Sinzer and Joshua Pinsky’s second act in the same building as Claud, the East Village wine bar that made them famous. The name honors Pinsky’s grandfather Benny, nicknamed Penny, and the sesame brioche starter is a nod to the challah of his family table. Up a flight of stairs with a lavender neon P marking the way, the room is 31 seats along a long white marble counter with plush navy stools, wall-mounted bins holding the day’s catch, and floor-to-ceiling windows that keep it bright and buzzing. The wine list runs to some 250 bottles with glasses starting at $12, because a seafood counter this serious was never going to phone in the pairings.

Order: Ice Box Plus, tuna carpaccio, confit oysters with spiced Club crackers, Maine lobster with brown butter and herbs, and the ice cream sandwich on sesame brioche.

When to go: Nightly, 5 to 10:30 PM. Reservations drop 14 days out at 9 AM and vanish fast, but the majority of the 31 seats are held for walk-ins on a first come, first served basis, so line up near the 5 PM opening.

Price: $$$. Glasses start at $12 and bottles climb past $90, while the ice boxes and market-price lobster are the splurge.

Pro tip: Check in with the hosts at both Penny and Claud if you want the double, dinner downstairs then drinks and dessert upstairs, and grab the standing rail over 10th Street for a glass and a dozen oysters when the counter is full.

20. Chinese Tuxedo

Chinatown’s two-story party room

Official site · Resy · (877) 357-1964 · 5 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

The signature crispy eggplant is the order: Sichuan peppercorn, peanut, and sesame over crackling eggplant, numbing and nutty and gone fast. The braised black pepper oxtail buns with pickled chili relish are the other anchor, and the Maine lobster noodles with garlic butter and housemade egg noodles are the splurge. The squid ink noodles and the lattice pork and chive dumplings fill out the table.

Two stories on Doyers Street, the blue TUXEDO neon out front, a cocktail lounge called Peachy’s downstairs for the nightcap. Order family-style for the table. Saturday and Sunday lunch runs 12 to 3 and is the easiest way in; book weekend dinners ahead.

Order: signature crispy eggplant with Sichuan peppercorn, braised black pepper oxtail buns with pickled chili relish, squid ink noodles, lattice pork and chive dumplings, Maine lobster noodles with garlic butter.

When to go: Sun 12pm to 11pm; Mon to Thu 5pm to 11pm; Fri 5pm to 12am; Sat 12pm to 12am. Book weekend dinners ahead; Saturday and Sunday lunch, 12pm to 3pm, is the easiest way in.

Price: $$$; upscale, dinner mains in the $30s and $40s.

Pro tip: order family-style for the table, and start or end the night at Peachy’s, the cocktail lounge downstairs. Doyers Street is easy to miss, so look for the blue TUXEDO neon sign.

19. Gramercy Tavern

The room that wrote the American hospitality playbook

Official site · OpenTable (dining room) · (212) 477-0777 · 42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003

The Tavern Burger is the move: served with potato chips and smoked onion aioli, in the tavern room, at lunch or off-peak, no reservation needed. In the dining room, the hay-smoked gnocchi with wax beans, chicken, and mushrooms is the signature, and the citrus-cured arctic char with cucumbers, tomatoes, and yuzu and the brick pressed chicken with peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes show the kitchen’s range. The sweet corn agnolotti with sungolds, brown butter, and miso is the summer plate to hope for.

Danny Meyer’s room has been open since 1994 and it still sets the standard: hospitality included, no tipping, the room humming from the first seating. The seasonal dining room menu runs $178 a person; the tavern mains run $32 to $39. Walk into the tavern at lunch or off-peak; book the dining room the moment the 28-day window opens at 10am.

Order: the Tavern Burger with potato chips and smoked onion aioli, hay-smoked gnocchi, citrus-cured arctic char, brick pressed chicken, sweet corn agnolotti.

When to go: Daily 11:30am to 10:30pm. Walk into the tavern room at lunch or off-peak; book the dining room the moment the 28-day window opens at 10am.

Price: seasonal dining room menu $178 per person; tavern mains $32 to $39; hospitality included, non-tipping.

Pro tip: finish with the $9 chocolate chunk cookie and malted chocolate milk, or the apple cider doughnuts.

18. Wah Fung No. 1

Chinatown’s six-dollar roast pork over rice

Official site · walk-in only, cash only · (212) 925-5175 · 79 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002

The roast pork over rice is about $6.25 for a small and $9 for a large, and it is one of the great cheap meals in America: lacquered roast pork, glistening char siu, white rice catching all the drippings. The roast duck over rice and the char siu over rice are the other pillars, the wonton noodle soup is the move when it is cold, and the beef chow fun holds its own. No seating inside, no delivery, no reservations, cash only.

The line can wrap around the block at peak, though it moves fast. Go mid-afternoon between the lunch and dinner rushes, take the box across the street, and eat it on a bench in the park. Tuesday through Sunday, 9 to 7, closed Monday. This is the deep cut that belongs on every visitor’s list.

Order: roast pork over rice, char siu over rice, roast duck over rice, roast chicken over rice, wonton noodle soup.

When to go: Tue to Sun 9am to 7pm; closed Monday. Go mid-afternoon between the lunch and dinner rushes. Takeout only, with no seating inside.

Price: small roast meat over rice about $6.25, large about $9. Cash only.

Pro tip: bring cash, it is cash only. Ask for slightly fatty pieces of char siu for the best flavor, then eat it on a bench in the park across the street.

17. Cervo’s

The little yellow-tiled room on Canal where the prawns never miss

Official site · Resy · (212) 226-2545 · 43 Canal St, New York, NY 10002

The Louisiana white prawns hit the plancha whole, heads on, and come to the table glistening in paprika-spiced oil, sweet and briny and just charred enough at the edges. You eat them with your hands, you make a mess, and you do not care. Then the crispy shrimp heads, which eat like the best bar snack in the city, all crunch and concentrated shrimp flavor. Then the spicy mussels escabeche, bright with vinegar and heat. This is Iberian coastal cooking with the volume turned up, from the Hart’s and The Fly team, and it never once reaches for fussiness when a hot grill and good oil will do the job.

The room is half the reason to come: yellow tile, hanging globe lights, a Vermouth Service built on Lustau and sherry that pairs with everything on the menu. The seabream a la plancha is the move when you want the whole-fish moment, Manila clams arrive swimming in vinho verde, and the grassfed lamb burger with watercress is the land option that the Hart’s loyalists never skip. Natural wine, a proper martini, a fried skate wing with leeks and anchovy. It is a neighborhood restaurant that happens to cook at a level most destination rooms cannot touch.

Order: Louisiana white prawns a la plancha, crispy shrimp heads, spicy mussels escabeche, seabream a la plancha, and the grassfed lamb burger with watercress.

When to go: open every night, 5:30 to 11 PM. Reservations open 14 days out at noon on Resy and the good times move quickly. Outdoor tables run 5:30 to 10 PM and are walk-in only, first come, first served.

Price: $$, and honest about it. Most of the menu sits between $12 and $36, and the set menu for groups of 7 to 12 runs $85 a person.

Pro tip: set an alarm for noon, 14 days out, if you want a weekend table. Or go early, take your chances as a walk-in, and start with the shrimp heads and a glass of Lustau manzanilla while you wait.

16. Tatiana

Kwame Onwuachi’s Afro-Caribbean homecoming at Lincoln Center

Official site & reservations · (212) 875-5222 · 10 Lincoln Center Plaza (inside David Geffen Hall), New York, NY 10023

The short rib pastrami suya is the thesis: wagyu short rib cured like pastrami, dusted with suya spice, served with coco bread, pickled red cabbage, and mustard sauce. Three food cultures in one bite, and it works completely, the suya heat and the pastrami cure and the soft coco bread doing the cleanup. The curried goat patties come flaky and crimped with mango chutney and Caribbean green seasoning aioli, the braised oxtail is days in the making in a collagen-rich broth, and the egusi dumplings, crab-laced crushed melon seeds in a thick spicy tomato and palm oil sauce, are the sleeper hit of the menu.

Kwame Onwuachi put Afro-Caribbean cooking at the center of a New York fine-dining conversation, inside David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center no less, and the room runs with it. Come dressed to impress, because everyone else does. Reservations drop 28 days out at noon and vanish fast; if the online release beats you, call or email and ask for help, they will try.

Order: short rib pastrami suya, curried goat patties, braised oxtail, egusi dumplings, honeynut piri piri salad, and the Bodega Special cosmic brownie for dessert.

When to go: Tue to Sat 5pm to 10pm; closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations drop 28 days out at noon. Best odds are a late dinner or a same-day morning check; walk-ins can try the six-seat bar and the outdoor area, showing up right at 5pm.

Price: $$$$; small plates in the 20s, large plates up to about $70.

Pro tip: come dressed to impress. If the online release beats you, call (212) 875-5222 or email [email protected] for help with a reservation.

15. The Four Horsemen

The Williamsburg wine bar that cooks like a restaurant

Official site · Resy · (718) 599-4900 · 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211

The sticky toffee pudding is the dish the regulars beg them never to drop: warm, dark, and soaked through, the kind of dessert that silences a table. Before it, the fried chicken with black maitake mushrooms and cipollini onions, the braised leek toast with whipped ricotta and Cantabrian anchovies, the veal sweetbread skewers with soy-cured egg yolk, the fried skate wing. The menu changes constantly, so treat these as the shape of the night, not a promise.

This is a natural wine bar that happens to cook at a serious level, and the move is to let the staff steer you through the list. Parties of six take a family-style prix fixe at $150 a person. Resy opens 30 days out at 7am sharp, so set an alarm; the bar and window seats are walk-in only, and guests routinely line up before the doors open.

Order: sticky toffee pudding, fried chicken with black maitake mushrooms and cipollini onions, braised leek toast with whipped ricotta and Cantabrian anchovies, veal sweetbread skewers with soy-cured egg yolk, fried skate wing.

When to go: Dinner daily 5:30pm to 11pm; lunch Fri to Sun 11am to 3:30pm. Resy opens 30 days out at 7am sharp. Bar and window seats are walk-in only, first come, first served.

Price: $$$$, though the small-plates format keeps a night approachable. Parties of six take a family-style prix fixe at $150 per person plus 20 percent gratuity, before beverages.

Pro tip: let the staff steer you through the natural wine list, and save room for dessert.

14. Keens Steakhouse

The mutton chop and 140 years of steakhouse theater

Official site · Resy · (212) 947-3636 · 72 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018

The mutton chop is the legend: a 26-ounce saddle of lamb, broiled at a thousand degrees, thick and burnished and built for two appetites. It is the most famous chop in America and it earns it on the plate, all char and lamb funk. The prime porterhouse for two (or three) is the classic steakhouse move, the thick smoked bacon is the starter that ruins other bacon, and the creamed spinach and lobster bisque are the sides that built the room’s reputation.

Keens has been at it since 1885, the churchwarden pipes of a century of members lining the ceiling, the room clubby and dark and exactly what a steakhouse should feel like. Lunch is the easier reservation. The bar is first come, first served with the full pub menu, and the hard-boiled eggs at the bar are free, which tells you everything about the place.

Order: the legendary mutton chop, prime porterhouse for two, thick smoked bacon, creamed spinach, lobster bisque.

When to go: Mon to Fri 11:45am to 10:30pm; Sat 5pm to 10:30pm; Sun 5pm to 9:30pm. Lunch is the easier reservation; the bar is first come, first served with the full pub menu.

Price: expensive. OpenTable lists $31 to $50 per person; the Infatuation lists $100-plus.

Pro tip: if the 26-ounce chop is too much, order the appetizer-sized Taste of Mutton. The pub menu’s prime rib hash is a sleeper hit, and the hard-boiled eggs at the bar are free.

13. COQODAQ

Korean fried chicken and Champagne, in the Flatiron

Official site · Resy · (646) 490-5099 · 12 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010

The Bucket List feast is the whole argument in one tray: original and glazed Korean fried chicken, shattering crust, juicy all the way through, with consomme, banchan, scallion salad, perilla oil noodles, and a frozen-yogurt soft serve to close. The glaze is the one people talk about, sticky and peppery, but the original, plain and crackling, is the purist’s play. Then there is the Golden Nugget, a fried chicken nugget wrapped in 24k gold with caviar, which should be silly and is, and is also delicious.

The room is built around a 400-plus bottle Champagne program, one of the largest in the country, and fried chicken plus grower Champagne turns out to be one of the great pairings in New York. Book well ahead. It is one of the toughest reservations in the city, and lunch slots are the easier way in.

Order: the Bucket List fried chicken feast, the Golden Nugget with caviar, the Tartare Trio with sourdough toast, a Boricha cocktail, and a glass of grower Champagne.

When to go: Mon to Fri 12pm to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm; Sat and Sun 11:30am to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm. Book well ahead; lunch slots are easier to land than dinner.

Price: $$$; roughly $50 to $100 per person. The Bucket List feast runs about $42 per person.

Pro tip: order the Bucket List feast to taste both chicken styles, and pair it with a glass of grower Champagne. That pairing is what the whole room is built around.

12. Balthazar

The SoHo brasserie that never left

Official site · OpenTable · (212) 965-1414 · 80 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

The steak frites is the order: with maître d’ butter or béarnaise, the fries properly crisp, the steak exactly as ordered. The onion soup gratinée arrives bubbling under its cheese cap, the frisée aux lardons comes with a warm bacon shallot vinaigrette and a soft-poached egg, and the escargots in garlic butter need no introduction. The profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce close it the classic way.

Keith McNally’s SoHo brasserie has been the room since 1997, and it has not lost a step: breakfast through late-night supper, weekend brunch, the raw bar doing plateaux de fruits de mer for the power tables. The best value is at the bar with a carafe of wine. Breakfast and lunch are the easiest walk-ins; reserve ahead for dinner, or come for late-night supper.

Order: steak frites with maître d’ butter or béarnaise, onion soup gratinée, frisée aux lardons, escargots in garlic butter, profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce.

When to go: Mon to Fri 8am to 12am; Sat and Sun 9am to 12am. Breakfast and lunch are the easiest walk-ins; reserve ahead for dinner, or come for late-night supper.

Price: expensive; dinner mains roughly $39 to $57. The best value is at the bar with a carafe of wine.

Pro tip: the raw bar plateaux de fruits de mer is the classic power move. Stop at Balthazar Bakery next door for bread and pastries to take home.

11. La Dong

The wagyu pho arrives bare, and the broth gets poured tableside

Official site · (917) 289-0019 · 11 E 17th St, New York, NY 10003

The bowl lands in front of you naked, noodles and herbs and thin slices of two kinds of wagyu, Miyazaki A5 and American, laid on top like they are showing off. Then the server pours the broth tableside and the whole thing comes alive, the fat blooming into the hot liquid, the steam carrying star anise and charred ginger straight into your face. Garlic pickle, chili, and lime sit alongside so you can tune the acidity and heat yourself. This is the dish that earned the Michelin Bib Gourmand, and it is the single most exciting bowl of pho in Manhattan right now.

The room matches the ambition: wooden arches, lotus-shaped lanterns, a colonial-era stage from the team behind Pranakhon, done without a hint of stuffiness. Work the chef’s specialties menu the way the servers tell you to. The cá chiên nước mắm is a whole branzino, de-boned, fried to a shattering crunch, and cut into bite-size pieces under a sticky sweet fish glaze. The cà ri sườn bò is braised short rib in yellow curry with baby potato, star fruit, and coconut milk, mopped up with toasted baguette. Sugarcane shrimp, steamed rice cakes, a proper bánh mì. Nobody is phoning anything in here.

Order: the wagyu pho, cá chiên nước mắm (whole fried branzino with sweet fish glaze), cà ri sườn bò (yellow curry braised short ribs), sugarcane shrimp, and the bánh mì.

When to go: lunch runs daily, 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM, and it is the calm move. Dinner runs 4:30 to 10:15 PM Sunday through Thursday and to 10:45 PM on Friday and Saturday, and the room fills fast on weekends. Walk-ins are welcome, but they seat complete parties only.

Price: moderate by Manhattan standards. Plan roughly $40 to $50 a person before drinks. The bún bò Huế runs nearly $30 and the wagyu pho sits above the rest of the menu.

Pro tip: order from the chef’s specialties menu, not the classics section. That is where the kitchen’s energy is, and it is where the servers will steer you anyway. Get the Mắm Tôm margarita too, the one with chili-shrimp paste-washed mezcal, if you want to understand what this place is really doing.

10. Rolo’s

Ridgewood’s wood-fired neighborhood star

Official site · Resy · (718) 417-6567 · 853 Onderdonk Ave, Ridgewood, NY 11385

The double cheeseburger is limited daily and sells out early most days: wood-fired, properly smashed, the kind of burger that makes you understand why a serious restaurant bothers with one. The two sheet lasagna verde is the other signature, green pasta sheets layered rich, and the wood fired polenta bread and wood fired half chicken keep the hearth cooking coming. The passion fruit sundae closes it bright.

Rolo’s is a corner storefront on Onderdonk Avenue in Ridgewood, and it cooks like a neighborhood place with a chef’s ambition. Reservations open 28 days out at 10am; the 13-seat bar is held for walk-ins. Early dinner between 5 and 6, or weekend brunch before 1, is the best shot at the burger.

Order: two sheet lasagna verde, wood fired polenta bread, double cheeseburger, wood fired half chicken, passion fruit sundae.

When to go: Mon to Thu 5pm to 10pm, Fri 5pm to 11pm, Sat 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm, Sun 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm. Early dinner between 5pm and 6pm, or weekend brunch before 1pm, for the best shot at the limited double cheeseburger.

Price: $$, moderate. Neighborhood friendly pricing for the quality.

Pro tip: the burger sells out early most days. Reservations open 28 days out at 10am, and the 13-seat bar is held for walk-ins.

9. Xi’an Famous Foods

Hand-ripped noodles, cumin lamb, citywide

Official site · walk-in only · (212) 786-2068 · 45 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

The spicy cumin lamb hand-ripped noodles are the legend: biang-biang noodles, wide and chewy, torn by hand, coated in cumin lamb with real heat. The lamb burger on housemade flatbread is the other pillar, and the liang pi cold skin noodles are the cold-weather-agnostic move. Set your spice level at the counter; they recommend at least mild, and they are right.

Jason Wang’s chain started in Flushing and now runs across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, but the Bayard Street Chinatown room is the flagship address. Eat it in the room, not delivered, because the hand-ripped noodles lose their chew in transit. Ten to twenty dollars a person, tax included, no tipping at the counter: the best cheap lunch in the city, and it is not close.

Order: spicy cumin lamb hand-ripped noodles, spicy cumin lamb burger on housemade flatbread, liang pi cold skin noodles, spicy and tingly beef muscle hand-ripped noodles, spicy cucumber salad.

When to go: Daily 11am to 9pm. Lunch or early dinner to beat the line; mid-afternoon is calmest.

Price: inexpensive; $10 to $20 per person, tax included, no tipping at the counter.

Pro tip: eat it in the room, not delivered, because the hand-ripped noodles lose their chew in transit. Set your spice level at the counter, and they recommend at least mild.

8. Semma

The tiny West Village room that made New York take South Indian food personally

Official site · Reservations · (212) 373-8900 · 60 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10011

The gunpowder dosa shatters. That is the word for it, shatters, a rice-and-lentil crepe with edges like stained glass giving way to potato masala that tastes of mustard seed, curry leaf, and heat applied with real confidence. Chef Vijay Kumar cooks the food he grew up on in Tamil Nadu, and he refuses to blunt it for anyone, so the sambar lands bright and sour and the coconut chutneys carry a slow-burn smokiness that creeps up your throat. The lobster tail arrives in a turmeric-coconut moilee so rich you will mop it with parotta and resent the plate for not being bigger. The tiger prawns in the Eral Thokku are punchy with green chili and fenugreek. Every plate tastes like somebody’s grandmother arguing with somebody’s genius, and both of them winning.

Semma earned a Michelin star, took the top spot on the Times’ city ranking, and turned a 40-seat room on Greenwich Avenue into the hardest reservation in town. The room itself is simple, dark wood and warm light, because nothing here needs to distract from what is on the plate. This is the India that never shows up in the takeout menus, the regional, coastal, unapologetic South, and it cooks like it has something to prove.

Order: the Gunpowder Dosa, Valiya Chemmeen Moilee (lobster tail, coconut milk, turmeric), Ghee Roast Lamb Chops, Eral Thokku (tiger prawn, green chili, fenugreek), and the Kanyakumari Nandu Masala, the whole Dungeness crab for two.

When to go: dinner only, Monday through Saturday, 5:00 to 10:00 PM, closed Sundays. Reservations release 15 days ahead at 9:00 AM ET and the prime times are gone within the hour, so set the alarm.

Price: $$$. Small plates run $12 to $27, larges $36 to $54, and the Dungeness crab for two is $145 and worth every cent of it.

Pro tip: the crab for two needs to be pre-ordered, so request it when you book, not when you sit down. Tables for two are capped at 90 minutes, so order like you mean it and skip the second round of debating.

7. Daniel

Thirty years on, the old warhorse still plates the prettiest fish in Manhattan

Official site · Resy · (212) 288-0033 · 60 E 65th St, New York, NY 10065

The scallops arrive the color of pale gold, seared like someone lit them from the inside, and for a second the whole neoclassical room goes quiet around them. This is what Daniel does, the thing no one in this city does better: fish treated with the reverence of a man who grew up in Lyon and never once confused elegance with timidity. The Manchester quail, foie gras worked into a galantine of absurd delicacy, tastes like the reason the phrase “classic French” still means something. The Dover sole lands flaky, lemony, and completely sure of itself. Then comes the cheese cart, rolling through the dining room like a parade float of dairy, and you understand why a cart is a statement: we have everything, and we dare you to pick.

Boulud opened this room in 1993, and it has outlasted every trend cycle that came to kill it. The chandeliers, the hushed choreography of the service, the white-coated captain who remembers your name from a dinner three years back. Snobs call it old-fashioned. They are wrong. It is the finished article, the restaurant every other fine-dining room in New York is secretly measuring itself against, still.

Order: the Manchester Quail-Foie Gras Galantine, Maine Sea Scallops, Dover Sole, “Blinis & Caviar” (poached quail eggs, crème fraîche, Ossetra caviar), and the cheese cart.

When to go: dinner only, Sunday and Tuesday through Saturday, 5:00 to 9:30 PM. The room is closed Mondays. Reservations open 60 days out on Resy and the good slots move; walk-ins are welcome in the bar and lounge.

Price: this is a $$$$ room, no apologies. The main dining room runs a three-course prix fixe, a five-course prix fixe, and a seven-course tasting menu, and the lounge serves all three plus an à la carte menu.

Pro tip: if the dining room is booked, take the lounge. It is the same kitchen cooking the same menus, minus the ceremony, and you can be in and out with a cocktail still warm in your memory.

6. Torrisi

Nolita’s Italian-American fever dream

Official site · Resy · (212) 254-3000 · 275 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

The tortellini pomodoro is the plate to know: perfect little rounds in a bright tomato sugo, the kind of pasta that makes the room go quiet. The Duck Alla Torrisi comes with mulberry mustard, a wink at the Mulberry Street address, and the cavatelli with Jamaican beef ragu is the dish that tells you this kitchen plays by its own rules. The cucumbers New Yorkese and the charred clam boule round out the opening volley.

Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone’s Nolita room is the hardest dinner reservation in the city: Resy tables drop 30 days out at 10am ET and sell out within seconds. Weekday lunch is the easier book. If you miss the release, walk in early for one of the 12 bar seats, which serve most of the menu.

Order: Duck Alla Torrisi with mulberry mustard, tortellini pomodoro, cavatelli with Jamaican beef ragu, cucumbers New Yorkese, charred clam boule.

When to go: Mon and Tue 5pm to 11pm; Wed to Sat 11:30am to 2pm and 5pm to 11pm. No verified Sunday hours; appears closed Sundays. Weekday lunch is the easier book; dinner prime time sells out within seconds of the Resy release.

Price: $$$$; expect $75 and up per person before drinks.

Pro tip: Resy tables drop 30 days out at 10am ET. If you miss, walk in early for one of the 12 bar seats, which serve most of the menu.

5. Katz’s Delicatessen

Our best sandwich in New York

Official site · walk-in only · (212) 254-2246 · 205 E Houston St (corner of Ludlow St), New York, NY 10002

The pastrami sandwich is the best sandwich in New York: house-cured, hand-carved, piled on rye with mustard, the meat peppery and steaming and stacked to the edge of structural failure. Order it juicy cut. The corned beef sandwich gets the same hand-carve treatment and is the other pillar. The matzo ball soup is the classic starter, the potato knish with mustard is the old-school side, and the half-sour pickles from the barrel sit on every table, crisp and briny.

Katz’s has been on the Lower East Side since 1888 and it runs on a ticket system: take a ticket the moment you walk in and do not lose it, because you pay on exit based on your tickets. The room is loud and chaotic at peak, which is half the point. Eat at the counter. This is our best-sandwich-in-NYC pick, and it was never close.

Order: pastrami sandwich (juicy cut, on rye, with mustard), corned beef sandwich, matzo ball soup, potato knish, half-sour pickles.

When to go: Mon to Thu 8am to 11pm, Fri 8am to 11:30pm, open 24 hours on weekends. Weekday late morning or mid-afternoon to miss the tourist rush.

Price: moderate. Pastrami sandwich about $28.95 in store; soups and sides roughly $5 to $17.

Pro tip: take a ticket the moment you walk in and do not lose it. Order the pastrami juicy cut on rye with mustard and eat at the counter.

4. Kabawa

Paul Carmichael’s Caribbean counter at the end of a dark alley

Official site · OpenTable · 8 Extra Place, New York, NY 10003

The pepper shrimp opens the meal: raw royal red shrimp with sorrel, scotch bonnet, and thyme, bright and hot and alive. The goat with spicy scallop creole is meltingly tender goat shoulder in a dried-scallop curry, deep and funky. The Chuleta Can Can is the showpiece, a Puerto Rican pork frill, bone-in, with recaito, a supplement that feeds two and leaves pork belly leftovers for days. The roti and bammy bread service lands as the table amuse bouche, and the coconut turnover with cream cheese frosting, built for two, closes it sweet.

Paul Carmichael, late of Momofuku and Seiobo in Sydney, opened Kabawa in March 2025 in a dark alley off East 1st Street with minimal signage, and the three-star NYT review landed fast. The venue sits so deep in the alley there is barely an exterior to photograph; the open kitchen counter with its custom mosaic is the room. Counter seats face the kitchen. Bar Kabawa next door takes walk-ins for daiquiris and patties.

Order: pepper shrimp, goat with spicy scallop creole, Chuleta Can Can (supplement, feeds two), roti and bammy bread service, coconut turnover with cream cheese frosting.

When to go: Dinner only, Tue to Sat 5:30pm to 10pm. Reservations open 14 days out on OpenTable and go fast; counter seats face the open kitchen. Bar Kabawa next door takes walk-ins.

Price: $150 prix fixe per person, three courses (starter, main, dessert), exclusive of beverage, tax, and gratuity.

Pro tip: the Chuleta Can Can supplement is the showpiece. Ask the sommelier for sub-$100 bottles from the inherited Momofuku Ko cellar.

3. Russ & Daughters

The appetizing counter that defines New York

Official site · walk-in only · (212) 475-4880 · 179 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002

The classic bagel and lox is the single most New York meal in the city: Gaspe Nova Scotia salmon, cream cheese, the works, tomato, red onion, capers, on a bagel that is still a bagel. The Super Heebster stacks whitefish and baked salmon salad with horseradish-dill cream cheese and wasabi flying fish roe. The Meshugge goes sturgeon, sable, and smoked salmon with cream cheese on a bagel or bialy. The whitefish salad is the purist’s order, and the chocolate babka, baked in-house at their Brooklyn bakery, is what you take home.

Russ & Daughters has been an appetizing shop on East Houston since 1914, four generations of the Russ family, and it runs the way it always has: take a number the second you walk in, wait your turn, eat like royalty. Weekday mornings beat the line; on weekends it spills down Houston. Note the 4pm close: this is a morning and lunch play only, and it is the #1 must-eat in New York.

Order: classic bagel and lox, Super Heebster, Meshugge, whitefish salad on a bagel, chocolate babka.

When to go: Daily 8am to 4pm. Weekday mornings to beat the line; on weekends it spills down Houston. Note the 4pm close: morning and lunch only.

Price: moderate. Bagel sandwiches roughly $10 to $22; smoked fish $42 to $72 per pound.

Pro tip: take a number the second you walk in. The insider order is Gaspe Nova with scallion schmear on an everything bagel; grab a chocolate babka for later.

That is the twenty-five, in our order. Eat your way down it, argue with us about the order, and tell us what we missed. We will be at the counter.

2. Le Bernardin

Three Michelin stars for $135 at lunch

Official site & reservations · (212) 554-1515 · 155 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019

The yellowfin tuna carpaccio opens the meal: thinly pounded, chive oil, the fish so fresh it barely needs the knife. The barely cooked organic salmon comes with baby peas and favas in a mint-tarragon emulsion, the scallop carpaccio is barely touched with olive oil and citrus, and the poached lobster lands in a silky butter sauce with herbs. Say yes to the Dover sole supplement when offered, sauteed with almond-pistachio, barberry, and chardonnay-shallot butter. This is Eric Ripert’s kitchen, three stars since anyone can remember, cooking seafood with a precision no one in America matches.

Here is the thing that puts it at #2 on a must-eat list: the weekday lunch prix fixe is $135 a person, three courses, appetizer, entree, and dessert, in the dining room. Three Michelin stars for $135 at lunch. Build the meal across the Almost Raw, Barely Touched, and Lightly Cooked sections and you will eat as well as anyone in New York for the money. Dinner runs four courses in the low two hundreds; the chef’s tasting is $350, $530 with the wine pairing. Reservations run through Resy via the official site; December tables release November 1 at 7am ET online, November 2 by phone. Business casual, jacket recommended.

Order: yellowfin tuna carpaccio, barely cooked organic salmon, scallop carpaccio, poached lobster, sauteed Dover sole (supplement).

When to go: Lunch Mon to Fri 12pm to 2:30pm; dinner Mon to Thu 5pm to 10:30pm, Fri and Sat 5pm to 11pm. Lunch is the move: three Michelin stars at the sanest price in the building. Book well ahead.

Price: lunch prix fixe $135 per person, three courses, weekdays only, excludes beverages, tax, and gratuity. Dinner prix fixe four courses in the low two hundreds; chef’s tasting $350 ($530 with wine pairing).

Pro tip: build the meal across the Almost Raw, Barely Touched, and Lightly Cooked sections, and say yes to the Dover sole supplement when offered. Business casual, jacket recommended.

1. L’Industrie Pizzeria

The slice that built the line in Williamsburg

Official site · walk-in only · (718) 599-0002 · 254 S 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11211

The burrata slice is the one that built the line: tomato sauce, mozzarella, and a whole burrata melting over the top, the slice that made Williamsburg cross the river for pizza. The fig jam and bacon white pie runs mozzarella, fig jam, crisp bacon, and ricotta, sweet and salty and gone in minutes. The pepperoni slice goes pork-forward with cup pepperoni and basil on a chewy, airy crust, and the margherita, bright tomato sauce and extra virgin olive oil and parmigiano, is the purist’s test. The soft serve gelato with olive oil and flaky sea salt closes it; flavors rotate weekly.

Massimo Lomonaco’s Williamsburg flagship is counter service, walk-in only, and the queue moves fast, usually 15 to 30 minutes at peak. Order ahead online for takeout to skip the line entirely. The Wednesday-only sandwich special rotates, chicken cutlet, chicken vodka, or chicken caesar on ciabatta, and sells out, so go early in the day.

Order: burrata slice, fig jam and bacon slice, pepperoni slice, margherita slice, soft serve gelato with olive oil and flaky sea salt.

When to go: Daily 12pm to 10pm. Weekday lunch to dodge the worst of the line; the queue moves fast. Wednesdays for the sandwich special.

Price: inexpensive. Slices $3.50 to $6.50; whole 18-inch pies roughly $20 to $35.

Pro tip: order ahead online for takeout to skip the line entirely. The Wednesday-only sandwich special sells out, so go early in the day.