The Top 100 Restaurants Near Kingston Tropical
-
Rank 1. Kingston Tropical
Jamaican, Caribbean
For more than fifty years, Kingston Tropical has supplied Wakefield with Jamaican patties that hold their shape without sacrificing flake, each one marigold-bright and thyme-scented. The chicken filling justifies the pilgrimage alone, best consumed on a concrete bench while the No. 2 train announces itself overhead.
-
Rank 2. Tobalá
Oaxacan Mexican
A dimly lit room in Riverdale lined with Oaxacan pottery and clay masks sets the stage for cooking that respects tradition without performing it. House-made corn tortillas arrive with salsa verde and chile de árbol; the barbacoa tacos showcase lamb in its plainest form, while duck enmoladas swim in a dark mole negro layered with fruit and chiles. A focused mezcal program anchors the drinks.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Grub Street 2026 · The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)
-
Rank 3. Mario's Restaurant
Historic Italian
- Eater 2026 · The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
- Grub Street 2026 · The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)
-
Rank 4. Çka Ka Qëllue
Albanian
Ramiz Kukaj's rustic Albanian dining room, decorated with folk photographs and traditional garb, serves fortifying meat and dairy dishes in the spirit of village hospitality. Burek and sarma arrive simple and comforting, built on bread, cheese, and the promise implied by the restaurant's name: whatever we have, we share.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times 2026 · #96 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 5. Pizzeria La Rosa
NY-Style
-
Rank 6. Trattoria Tra Di Noi
Italian
Crimson walls and red-checked cloth create the intimacy of a confidence shared; Chef Marco Coletta runs this Arthur Avenue trattoria with operatic precision, consulting the nightly blackboard for handmade spaghetti alla chitarra crowned with meatballs and pomodoro, ricotta cheesecake to close. A place that makes you feel like the secret is yours alone.
-
Rank 7. Patricia's
Italian
Exposed brick and high ceilings frame Patricia's spare take on Italian cooking, where a brick oven yields pizzas with properly charred crusts and the wine list surprises with obscure varietals. The seafood risotto arrives creamy and studded with mussels, clams, and squid—a dish that suggests ambition beyond the neighborhood trattoria.
-
Rank 8. Casa Della Mozzarella
Old-School Italian
-
Rank 9. Ajo y Oregano
Dominican, Caribbean
A dining room of pink shutters and palm-green walls dishes up Puerto Rican stews in metal pots, their richness settling into your bones with each spoonful. The cuerito crackles audibly, and mofongo arrives as a sculptural pile of plantains crowned with shrimp, garlic sauce pooling at its base.
-
Rank 10. Dubrovnik
Croatian
A Michelin-selected Croatian restaurant where custom woodwork matches the kitchen's precision—branzino from the wood-fired grill arrives with smoky vegetables and broccoli rabe risotto. Live music some nights adds to the appeal of this New Rochelle find.
-
Rank 11. Louie & Ernie's Pizza
NY-Style Pizza
-
Rank 12. Lechonera La Piraña
Puerto Rican Caribbean
- The Infatuation #23 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC
- Eater 2026 · The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
- Time Out 2026 · The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
-
Rank 13. Maria Restaurant
Italian
The dining room at Maria balances midnight-blue leather and exposed brick with the easy chatter of regulars and visitors at the bar. The kitchen moves between Italian tradition—meatballs braised in marinara, served with ricotta and grilled bread—and contemporary interpretations, each dish calibrated to comfort without nostalgia.
-
Rank 14. Burrata
Wood-fired Pizza
Chef Chas Anderson's wood-fired pizzeria hums with the energy of a place that executes without strain, its open room and abundant light a counterpoint to the serious work happening in back. The signature burrata pizza arrives fragrant and forgiving, while housemade pastas—veal polpettine, duck ragù rigatoni—propose a modern reckoning with red-sauce tradition.
-
Rank 15. Seis Vecinos
Central American Mexican
A corner room in a classic Bronx building fills with afternoon light and the smell of charred corn. The kitchen moves between Central American traditions—papusas, baleadas, enchiladas topped with smoky red sauce—while guacamole is mashed tableside in a molcajete. The welcome is genuine, the cooking straightforward, the sense of place unforced.
-
Rank 16. Cocina Consuelo
Mexican
In a snug dining room that feels like a well-kept secret, Karina Garcia and her husband Eduardo Rodriguez serve food with the intimacy of their original Harlem supper club. The coarse corn tortillas and birria built around a prehistoric marrow bone suggest a kitchen comfortable with bold, unpretentious gestures.
- The Infatuation #9 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC
- Eater 2026 · Where to Eat Brunch in New York City
- Eater The Best Breakfasts in New York
-
Rank 17. Sylvia’s
Southern
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · America's Classics: New York State
- Eater 2026 · The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
- Time Out 2026 · The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
-
Rank 18. Oso
Mexican
A brick storefront near City College turns out Mexico City street food with real conviction—al pastor tacos with proper char, enchiladas verde blanketed in Oaxaca cheese, tortillas pressed fresh and tender behind an open kitchen. The menu is short and focused; the churros with chocolate and cinnamon caramel are reason enough to return.
-
-
Rank 20. MAMA'S TOO!
Sicilian Pizza
- Time Out The Cacio e Pepe · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #4 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
- Time Out 2026 · The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
-
-
Rank 22. Charles Pan-Fried Chicken
Southern
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
-
Rank 23. Melba's
Southern
Melba Wilson's Harlem dining room glows with the ease of a neighborhood gathering place, where Southern cooking feels both rooted and inventive. The fried chicken arrives darkly bronzed alongside eggnog waffles; mini-burgers swim in smoky-sweet sauce; spring rolls cradle black-eyed peas and collards. A fruit cobbler closes the meal with unironic comfort.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outsdanding Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
-
Rank 24. Charles Pan-Fried Chicken
Southern
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
- Eater 2026 · The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 25. Augustine's Salumeria
Modern Italian
Marc Taxiera's restaurant trades in the immediate bounty of Westchester—grass-fed beef stewed into mafalda, a grilled pork chop dusted with pecan ash—in a comfortable, unfussy space that doubles as a charcuterie counter. The Italian-leaning menu pivots on what's fresh, though the kitchen's nightly specials are where real choice becomes a problem.
-
Rank 26. Accra Express Restaurant
West African, Ghanaian
A modest steam-table spot on 125th Street celebrates jollof rice with uncompromising fervor, the grains smoking and insistent alongside iron-red stew that refuses restraint. The portions suggest abundance over refinement, a philosophy that feels honest in its directness.
-
Rank 27. Lechonera La Isla
Caribbean
-
Rank 28. Café Alaia
Italian
At Café Alaia in Scarsdale, exposed beams and a double-height ceiling frame two long, narrow rooms that hum with easy conversation. House-made tortellini float in silken chicken broth; salmon arrives pan-seared with mustard sauce and market vegetables. It's the kind of Italian cooking that trades novelty for the comfort of things done well.
-
Rank 29. Xi'an Famous Foods
Xi'an-Style
-
Rank 30. Café Boulud
Contemporary French
A corner room on the Upper East Side with Art Deco polish hosts classical French cooking refined through seasonal technique and global inflection. Black sea bass wrapped in potato, vegetables in delicate balance, a tarte Tatin that knows its purpose—Paumier's kitchen executes the fundamentals with quiet confidence.
-
Rank 31. Essential By Christophe
Contemporary French
Heavy iron doors open onto a sleek townhouse dining room where chef Christophe Bellanca marries French technique with Asian inflection—white asparagus with bergamot crème and herb vinaigrette, blue prawns with genmaicha tuille, black sea bass gilded in turmeric. The space hums with quiet confidence.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Christophe Bellanca
-
Rank 32. Angel
New American
-
Rank 33. Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi
Pan-African
At Lincoln Center, Tatiana commands a room of dark wood and deliberate glamour where the pre-theater crowd mingles with the curious; Chef Kwame Onwuachi's West African-inflected menu—egusi dumplings, a towering pot of braised oxtail—reads like an edible autobiography, grounded and generous.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant
- The Infatuation Infatuation’s Highest-Rated Restaurants In America
-
Rank 34. Taco Mix
Mexican
At Taco Mix, a narrow Harlem counter serves meat-forward tacos that spill past their tortillas—cecina, suadero, barbacoa with caramelized edges, and al pastor carved from the spit with pineapple. You eat standing at a ledge, shedding cilantro, in a space that has refined nothing but the fundamentals.
-
Rank 35. Gramercy Tavern
Contemporary New American
A mahogany-lined institution where the bar seats are fought over at lunch and the dining room glows at night. The seasonal American cooking—pappardelle, impeccable proteins—speaks plainly but with confidence, matched to wood-paneled surroundings and service that knows when to hover and when to recede. A place equally at home with a first date or a closed business deal.
-
-
Rank 37. Bamboo Grill
Filipino
-
Rank 38. COTE
Korean
Simon Kim's steakhouse fuses Korean beef reverence with American steakhouse grandeur, its dark, moody dining room anchored by a visible aging room downstairs. Meats arrive raw for inspection before tableside grilling, their umami deepened by kimchi and ssamjang in a ritual that feels both ceremonial and convivial.
- World's 101 Best #21 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
-
The open kitchen at this Astoria taverna crackles with the rhythm of a neighborhood institution. Spinach pie arrives in flaky, sesame-studded sheets; whole branzino glistens under olive oil and herbs. It's the kind of place where servers slip into Greek if you seem to belong, where the food tastes like it knows exactly what it's doing and nothing more.
-
Rank 40. Ai Fiori
Italian
Fifth Avenue views and a marble bar set the stage for polished Italian cooking—Hiramasa crudo with sunflower cream, handmade pasta with braised rabbit. Service and linens match the formal room's marble and leather restraint.
-
Rank 41. Via Carota
Italian
A West Village trattoria where rustic Italian cooking—charred vegetables, silken pasta, snow of Parmigiano—arrives with such seeming ease that you simply sit back and savor the meal. The wait stretches hours, the tables fill nightly, yet the food's unpretentious grace justifies the hunger.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- 50 Best 2025 · #18 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
-
Rank 42. Marea
Seafood Italian
Central Park South's power crowd gathers in an airy rosewood dining room where the scene matches the ambition. Marea's seafood-focused Italian menu builds from raw fish—branzino scattered with pistachio and crispy garlic—through handmade pastas and delicate desserts that justify the elegance around you.
-
Rank 43. Hamido Seafood
Egyptian Seafood
-
Rank 44. La Tête d'Or by Daniel
French Steakhouse
A glamorous Flatiron temple where French technique meets steakhouse tradition under Daniel Boulud's direction. Leather-lined bar, soaring ceilings, and tableside Caesar salads precede dry-aged beef and roving trolleys of prime rib—the kind of room where the architecture itself suggests money changing hands.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World's 101 Best #34 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
Rank 45. AbuQir
Egyptian Seafood
At this Astoria seafood counter, fish arrive so fresh they stare back before the griddle claims them in smoke and wheat bran crust. The tagine swells with shrimp the size of blossoms, the pita exhales steam, and even the rice glows with seafood stock.
- The New York Times 2026 · #17 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- Eater 2026 · The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City
- Grub Street 2026 · The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)
-
Rank 46. Cosme
Modern Mexican
Cosme's moody dining room and polished bar serve seasonally inventive Mexican cooking, from uni tostadas with bone marrow to duck carnitas. The corn husk meringue alone justifies the price.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · United States' Best Restaurant
-
Rank 47. Rezdôra
Emilia-Romagna Italian
A Flatiron dining room devoted to the pasta traditions of Emilia-Romagna, where handmade anolini and gramigna arrive in their plainest, most persuasive forms. The cooking here trusts simplicity—fried gnocco with cured pork, ragù finished with Parmigiano—and asks nothing more of you than appetite and respect for the region's canon.
- 50 Top Italy 2025 · #5 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Stefano Secchi
-
Rank 48. Tamales Lupita
Mexican
The narrow storefront on East 112th operates on the principle of arrival and luck: come early or settle for what remains of the day's tamales. Mole-streaked masa and lard-rich Oaxaqueño varieties emerge from their wrappings with the texture of custard, each one a small argument for restraint in seasoning.
-
Rank 49. Cocotazo
Puerto Rican
-
Rank 50. Keens Steakhouse
Steakhouse
Dark paneled rooms and bow-tied waiters define this 1905 steakhouse where the mutton chop and porterhouse arrive with the weight of old New York still clinging to them. The wedge salad alone—blue cheese funk meeting fresh crunch and lardons—suggests a kitchen that understands restraint and satisfaction in equal measure.
- World's 101 Best #68 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Winner · Timeless U.S. Award
- Eater 2026 · The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
-
Rank 51. Café Carmellini
Italian
Andrew Carmellini's fine-dining return occupies the Fifth Avenue Hotel with sapphire velvet booths and an open kitchen turning out Mediterranean-leaning dishes. A crab mille-feuille of delicate wafers and sweet meat in Meyer lemon sauce, or scallops in coconut-turmeric broth, suggest a chef working in layers of restraint and indulgence at once.
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
- 50 Best 2025 · #39 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Esquire 2023 · The Best New Restaurants in America
-
Rank 52. The Leopard at des Artistes
Traditional Italian
-
Rank 53. Meju
Korean
Behind a fermented-foods shop in Long Island City, Chef Hooni Kim runs a counter where traditional Korean pantry staples—doenjang, gochujang, aged through his own decade-long practice—meet precise minimalism and Miyazaki beef. A final bowl of rice and kimchi, handmade ceramics throughout, and Kim's attentive presence transform an unassuming setting into something quietly unforgettable.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · Hooni Kim
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Hooni Kim
-
Rank 54. Majorelle
French
-
-
Rank 56. The Grill
American
The dining room gleams with the burnished confidence of old money and new ambition. Crab cakes arrive topped with pan-fried potatoes; duck skin crackles under the knife, yielding to silky fat beneath. This is American comfort as theater—tableside ceremony, lemon chiffon cake—for those accustomed to getting what they want.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater 2026 · The Best Steakhouses in New York City
-
Rank 57. Lilia Ristorante
Italian
At Lilia, pasta commands attention, but the opening moves—fried dough with cacio e pepe spice, blowfish in Sicilian lemon, charred focaccia with green garlic butter—arrive with equal ambition. These early dishes establish the restaurant's gift for marrying rustic Italian foundations with precise, burnished technique.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Missy Robbins
- The New York Times 2026 · #36 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 58. Penny
Seafood
Marble counters run the length of the space, stacked with Champagne and white wine on ice. The kitchen celebrates pristine seafood—razor clams with giardiniera, stuffed squid with harissa, Dover sole in bordelaise—each dish dressed with restraint and precision. Arrive early; most seats hold walk-ins.
- 50 Best 2025 · #40 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Food & Wine 2025 · The Top 15 US Restaurants
- Wine Enthusiast 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
-
Rank 59. Legend of Taste
Sichuan Chinese
A strip mall in Whitestone conceals a kitchen that trades in fermented heat and smoke. The smoked pork with garlic leaf tastes like bacon gone through tea smoke, while crispy eggplant arrives with a glass-like shell and creamy interior—the kind of specificity that separates real Sichuan cooking from its Americanized cousins.
-
Rank 60. Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread Too
Southern
A narrow storefront on 110th Street devoted to unapologetic Southern indulgence: baked turkey wings, Louisiana catfish, and fried chicken arrive alongside candied yams and collard greens, while house-made peach cobbler and sweet potato pie suggest the kitchen understands that dessert is not optional here.
-
Rank 61. Bar Madonna
Italian-American
- 50 Best 2026 · #36 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. East
-
Rank 62. Family Meal at Blue Hill
New American
An intimate dining room where Dan Barber lets vegetables—sourced from his Stone Barns farm upstate—speak for themselves with minimal intervention. The single seasonal menu arrives family-style, grains and occasional proteins orbiting the produce, each plate marked by restraint and confidence in its raw material. Eating here feels like witnessing a cook who trusts what he grows enough to step back.
-
Rank 63. Mama's Too
Sicilian Pizza
- Time Out The Cacio e Pepe · The 18 best pizzas in the world right now
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #4 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
- Time Out 2026 · The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now
-
Rank 64. Hutong
Chinese
-
Rank 65. Dar Lbahja
Moroccan
- The New York Times 2026 · #78 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
- The New York Times 2025 · Chicken Bastilla · Our New York Restaurant Critic Names Her Favorite Dishes This Year
- The Infatuation 2025 · #12 · NYC’s Best New Restaurants
-
Rank 66. COQODAQ
Korean
A buzzy Korean fried chicken den where reservations vanish fast, rewarded with a theatrical bucket feast that unfolds through crisp rounds and finishes with frozen yogurt. The gluten-free bird stays clean and light despite its indulgent choreography, paired with an ambitious champagne list.
- Condé Nast Traveler 2024 · The best new restaurants in the world
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Simon Kim - Gracious Hospitality Management
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Simon Kim - Gracious Hospitality
-
-
Rank 68. Gallaghers
Steakhouse
A Midtown steakhouse since the late 1920s, Gallaghers grilss USDA Prime beef over hickory while its wood-paneled room hums with the rhythms of New York theatre-goers and regulars. Bone-in ribeyes arrive tender and charred; the dry-aged meat locker gleams behind glass like an artifact of steakhouse faith.
- World's 101 Best #87 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater 2026 · The Best Steakhouses in New York City
-
Rank 69. Smithereens
New England Seafood
Down a flight of stairs in the East Village, Smithereens channels a New England seafood shack with a downtown edge. Chef Nick Tamburo works the grill—amberjack belly over binchotan, mackerel sharpened with seaweed and ginger—while sommelier Nikita Malhotra's mostly white list mirrors the cooking's brightness. The celery root float alone justifies the descent.
- The New York Times 2025 · The Restaurant List
- VinePair 2025 · Sommelier of the Year · The Next Wave Awards · Nikita Malhotra
- The Infatuation 2025 · #7 · The Top-Rated New Restaurants
-
Rank 70. Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant
Traditional Ethiopian
-
Rank 71. Oceana
Modern Seafood
-
Rank 72. Aretsky's Patroon
New American
-
Rank 73. Xi'an Famous Foods
Xi'an-Style
-
Rank 74. Sushi Yasuda
Sushi
At Sushi Yasuda, honey-toned wood and bamboo offer the only warmth in a deliberately austere room where punctuality is non-negotiable. The itamae controls your meal from behind the counter, assembling classical nigiri—bluefin, uni, sayori with shiso—with deliberate care that lets each piece's robust flavor speak. The place ignores fashion and rewards those willing to submit to its rhythms.
-
Rank 75. Asian Jewels
Dim Sum Chinese
A Flushing institution where carts of shumai, spareribs, and chicken yuba arrive before you sit, chandeliers glinting above round tables in controlled chaos. Weekends dissolve into a blur of lifted lids and overlapping orders; come early or risk standing.
-
Rank 76. The Mark Restaurant
French
-
Rank 77. hakubai
Japanese
-
Rank 78. Cafe Sabarsky
Austrian Bakery
A Vienna transplant tucked into a Beaux Arts mansion on Museum Mile, all dark wood paneling and Otto Wagner textiles. The wiener schnitzel and Hungarian beef goulash anchor the menu, but the pastries—Linzer torte, Sachertorte, a layered feuilletine—are what justify the pilgrimage.
-
Rank 79. Casa Tua
Italian
-
Rank 80. Le Rock
Brasserie French
Dim Art Deco glamour at street level in Rockefeller Center, where the Frenchette team serves a brasserie menu of seafood platters, duck confit with lentils, and profiteroles glossed in buckwheat honey fudge with genuine French technique and tableside theatricality. The bar moves at a clip; the crowds haven't stopped.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Outstanding Restaurateur · Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater 2026 · The Best Restaurants in Midtown
-
Rank 81. Elcielo
Colombian
Chef Juan Manuel Barrientos orchestrates a two-star tasting menu in the Virgin Hotel that channels tropical Colombia through dishes like shio koji duck with passion fruit sabayon. Floor-to-ceiling windows and theatrical touches—a bread tree, chocolate experience, coffee ceremony—transform the meal into something between fine dining and curated theater.
-
Rank 82. BONDST
Japanese-Inspired
-
-
Rank 84. Xi'an Famous Foods
Xi'an-Style
-
Rank 85. Zaab Zaab
Isan-style Thai
A candy-colored room in Elmhurst houses Isan cooking that doesn't soften its edges. Larb ped udon arrives blistered with fried duck skin and lime leaves; whole fish fry and seafood-driven curries follow the same uncompromising path, all fermented fish sauce and heat. Come hungry and with company.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Bryan Chunton and Pei Shan Wei
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- The New York Times 2026 · #38 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 86. The Gallery
Japanese
-
-
Rank 88. Caviar Russe
Contemporary French
A marble staircase ascends to this Madison Avenue perch where caviar—from modest Pacific Sturgeon to thousand-dollar Osetra tins—anchors a French-inflected menu of classical refinement. Agnolotti stuffed with chestnuts yields to truffle foam; Dover sole arrives delicately mousse-filled and dressed in curry cream. The experience traffics entirely in luxe.
-
Rank 89. Lungi
Sri Lankan Indian
At Lungi, chef Albin Vincent channels his grandmother's kitchen in Kanyakumari and Sri Lanka through dishes like pan-fried kingfish on banana leaf with fried makrut lime, and kothu roti—roti chopped and scrambled with meat and egg. The Upper East Side room hums with energy, and a carrot halwa spiked with warming spices closes the meal with grace.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Grub Street 2025 · The 43 Best Restaurants in New York
- The New York Times 2026 · #59 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 90. FIELDTRIP Harlem
NY Comfort Food
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
-
Rank 91. Le Jardinier
French
Chef Alain Verzeroli's dining room glows with olive velvet and trailing plants, a verdant setting that mirrors his vegetables-first approach to the plate. Grilled octopus arrives with green olives and romesco; salmon is coaxed with smoked chili and pak choi; the lemon tart carries a whisper of tarragon.
-
Rank 92. Semma
Indian
Vijay Kumar's south Indian cooking at Semma arrives without apology or accommodation: mulaikattiya thaniyam crackles with the intensity of childhood memory, gunpowder dosa achieves an almost austere perfection, and lamb curry unfolds in layers of warm spice. The heat here is architectural, never decorative, and the staff navigates you through unfamiliar terrain with genuine enthusiasm.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: New York State · Vijay Kumar
- The New York Times 2026 · #9 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
-
Rank 93. Che Li
Shanghainese Chinese
The narrow dining room at Che Li glows with red lanterns and imperial detail, perpetually crowded with diners working through a Shanghainese menu of chicken in Shaoxing wine and stir-fried rice cakes. The house fish stew—a Sichuan-inflected departure—arrives as a bracing, peppercorn-laden argument for asking your server what's worth eating.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Grub Street 2026 · The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)
-
Rank 94. The Cookery
Italian
A modest storefront in Dobbs Ferry where unconventional cooking draws steady crowds of couples and families. Duck liver cannoli arrives shatteringly crisp, its mousse luxuriant; house-made radiatore meets a slick lamb Bolognese. The kitchen elevates market vegetables and rotating specials with the care of a place that has already earned its regulars.
-
-
Rank 96. Tán
Mexican
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Brunch Venue
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Winner · North America's Best Brunch Venue
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · United States' Best Restaurant
-
-
Rank 98. Carnitas Ramirez
Mexican
At Carnitas Ramirez, a taqueria on East Third Street, you sit on buckets and confront the entire pig—snout to tail—in tacos that demand you reckon with what you're eating. Tongue, brain, skin, cartilage: each texture arrives in fried tortillas, a lesson in anatomy that never lets you forget the animal's former life.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · Giovanni Cervantes
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Giovanni Cervantes
- Eater Best Counter-Service Spot
-
Rank 99. Chalong
Southern Thai
A narrow Hell's Kitchen counter lined with dark wood and rattan fixtures draws the pre-show crowd for Southern Thai shared plates. The kitchen moves confidently through curries and noodles, but the real argument is between the coconut-crusted shrimp and the garlic-braised ribs—both best followed by mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream, a dessert that justifies skipping the appetizers.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Nate Limwong
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Eater 2026 · The Best Restaurants Around Times Square
-
Rank 100. Don Antonio
Neapolitan Pizza
A wood-fired outpost of a Neapolitan institution, Don Antonio channels four generations of pizza-making into dishes like the Montanara Starita—fried dough topped with house tomato sauce, smoked mozzarella, and basil—and frittatine, where fried spaghetti scraps meet ham and Buffalo mozzarella. The kitchen's lineage shows in every char and fold.
- 50 Top Pizza 2025 · #7 · 50 Top Pizza USA
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater 2026 · The Best Restaurants Around Times Square