The Best Places in East Williamsburg

The natural wine list here won a James Beard Award, and the Michelin star belongs to the kitchen, which tells you this Williamsburg bar is doing two things at once and doing neither halfway. The room is famously small and the wait is famously brutal, but Nick Curtola's seasonal menu follows its own logic, landing somewhere between a great wine bar snack and something you'll think about for weeks. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem is a co-owner, which explains the playlist.

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Winner · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
3. Michelin Guide 1 Star

The line out the door on South 2nd is the most honest review you'll find. This Williamsburg slice shop has a counter, a few standing ledges, and pizza makers working in plain sight from dough to oven. The crust is thin, crisp, and taken seriously. 50 Top Pizza ranked it the top slice shop in the country, and the New York Times put it on their short list too. Order, pay, wait for your name, eat standing up. That's the whole deal.

1. 50 Top Pizza #74 · 50 Top Pizza World
2. 50 Top Pizza #1 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
3. The Infatuation #19 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC

Missy Robbins runs an open kitchen inside a former car body shop in East Williamsburg, which tells you something about the bones of the room before a single plate arrives. Lilia is the kind of Italian pasta restaurant where everything is handmade and the mafaldini with pink peppercorns has turned regulars into a kind of informal cult. The New York Times gave it three stars, and a James Beard semifinalist nod followed.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. The New York Times 2016 · 3 stars · Restaurant Review
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Missy Robbins

Calvin Eng's Cantonese restaurant and bar sits on a nondescript east Williamsburg corner, close enough to the BQE that you'll feel the trucks. Inside, it reads like a retro Hong Kong diner, but the kitchen runs modern interpretations of regional Cantonese food, and the MSG Martini earned a spot on Esquire's national list. The Michelin Guide gives it a Bib Gourmand, and the James Beard Foundation named Eng an Emerging Chef nominee.

1. Esquire MSG Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · Calvin Eng
3. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

1. Time Out The best Chinese restaurants in America

Nick Curtola's trattoria across from sibling bar The Four Horsemen handles regional Italian with the kind of restraint that makes everything taste more intentional. Braised beef tendon shaved thin over acidic onions is the opening move, and it tells you exactly what kind of kitchen this is. Handmade pasta and rustic mains follow that same logic. The tiramisu is feather-light and enormous. Reservations go fast, but the bar at opening is a fine consolation.

1. The New York Times 2025 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. The Infatuation #11 · NYC’s Best New Restaurants

A disco ball spins over the dining room at this Graham Avenue pizzeria, where the thin-crust pies share the bill with house pasta and focaccia made in the open kitchen. The Italian wine list runs to two pages of sparkling alone, which tells you something about the ambitions here. The Calabrian soppressata and hot honey on the Diavola have a following. Michelin has it in the guide.

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in Brooklyn Right Now
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Erik Ramirez
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Erik Ramirez

1. The New York Times #38 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Bryan Chunton and Pei Shan Wei

1. BagelUp #14 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
2. The New York Times The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now

Birds of a Feather is a Sichuan restaurant in Williamsburg from the couple behind Café China, and the owner designed the dining room herself, which explains why it feels like someone's taste instead of a mood board. The menu runs from numbing heat to sweet-and-sour, so you'll want a few friends and a willingness to over-order. It's on the Chinese Restaurant Awards' Elite 12 list for 2026.

1. Chinese Restaurant Awards Elite 12 United States
2. The New York Times 2019 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

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3. The New York Times 2024 · Passion Fruit Tajín Icebox Pie · Hungry for the Best? Here Are Our Top New York Dishes of 2024.

Matzoh ball ramen is the menu's thesis statement, and it holds up. This creative South Williamsburg restaurant earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand by stitching Ashkenazi Jewish and Japanese cooking together without the seams showing, toro tartare landing on sake kasu challah, Wagyu pastrami pressed into milk bread. The room is small and the vibe is neighborhood-casual, which makes it easier to order the chocolate challah bread pudding without feeling self-conscious about it.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The New York Times 2013 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

Exposed brick and poured cement set a sleek, airy backdrop for traditional Thai cooking that has been quietly reworked for the contemporary table. The restaurant in Williamsburg came out swinging as a James Beard Best New Restaurant Semifinalist, and the menu earns the attention, moving through braises, curries, and fermented heat with real conviction. Dress sharp, expect to spend.

1. Esquire #37 · The Best New Restaurants in America
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant

The rooftop of the Hoxton Hotel in Williamsburg, with the Manhattan skyline doing its thing at sunset, is a solid place to eat skewers. This is Michael Solomonov's skewer house, and the format is pleasantly fixed: a spread of salatim to start, then meat and vegetable skewers over the coals, then soft-serve. Reservations are famously hard to land, which tells you something about how the room fills on a Tuesday.

1. The New York Times 2022 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. East

Roman trattoria cooking in a room that manages to feel elegant without making you feel underdressed. Antica Pesa is the Brooklyn outpost of a Rome institution, and it takes the classics seriously enough to go well past the obvious ones. The wine list is long, the hospitality is warm in that old-country way, and a spot on the 50 Top Italy list for the world's best Italian restaurants suggests the room is doing something right across the river.

1. 50 Top Italy #46 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World

A sleek omakase counter in Williamsburg where the chef runs an edomae-style sushi progression that moves from composed small bites through a focused nigiri course. The fish comes from specific Japanese sources, cured and aged with enough care that the sourcing actually shows on the palate. À la carte is available at the bar and garden if you're not committing to the full ride, which is at least a refreshingly honest policy.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Luis Herrera

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1. Time Out #2 · NYC’s 11 best barbecue spots

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1. Time Out #8 · NYC’s 11 best barbecue spots

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The curved ceiling and wood fixtures make this narrow coffee shop look a little like a vintage railway car, which is more than most cafes can say. The original location of what's now a multiborough roaster and chain, it pulls shots from seasonally rotating single origins and house blends alongside pastries from Colson. Warmer and more lived-in than the sterile white-box aesthetic that swept the neighborhood, with sidewalk seats for anyone who enjoys watching Williamsburg go by.

1. Sprudge The Sprudge Guide to Coffee in North Brooklyn

1. The New York Times 2020 · 3 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Roadbook The Best Restaurants and Bars in Williamsburg

1. The New York Times 2020 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

1. The New York Times 2013 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review