The Best Places in New York

Tucked inside ABC Carpet & Home, this vegetarian restaurant runs on the kind of clean-lined, chandelier-scattered energy that makes a green juice feel entirely appropriate in a wine glass. The menu moves through breakfast, brunch, and lunch with pressed juices and kombuchas alongside clever plant-based plates. The New York Times named it among the 100 best restaurants in the city, which the business crowd and the ladies-who-lunch set have known for a while.

1. The New York Times 2017 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. The New York Times #48 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in NYC
2. Eater The Best Croissants in NYC
3. The Infatuation The Best Croissants In NYC

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The room is minimal to the point of industrial, which keeps the focus where it belongs: Korean cooking that doesn't explain itself to anyone. This Gramercy fine dining spot runs a prix-fixe-style menu where the combinations are adventurous but never alienating, the sort of place where kimchi beurre blanc makes complete sense by the second bite. Regulars book well ahead, and the team's warmth closes the gap between the spare room and a very full table.

1. The New York Times 2017 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Time Out The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now

The coconut cake, four layers tall and with its own devoted following, tells you a lot about what Cafe Commerce is going for. This is a neighborhood restaurant on the Upper East Side, warm and a little glamorous, where Harold Moore runs a contemporary American menu with French and Italian pulls. Steak Diane shares space with sweet potato tortellini carried over from the beloved original. The kind of place you book for a Tuesday because you deserve a Tuesday like this.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in New York City

The line out front in Long Island City is your landmark. Casa Enrique is a buzzy Mexican restaurant where family recipes share the menu with tacos and guacamole, but the kitchen finds its footing with the bigger plates: braised lamb shank, branzino marinated al pastor, and a mole that appears in several forms and never disappoints. Frozen watermelon margaritas keep arriving whether you asked or not, which is not a complaint.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. The New York Times 2013 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Time Out #2 · The 21 very best coffee shops in NYC
2. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In NYC

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A former automotive welding shop in East Williamsburg now houses this multi-roaster coffee boutique, where the menu leans into distilled coffee, blue algae, and clarified matcha alongside a hand-brew selection from roasters around the world. The back of the space runs a small craft brewery called Niteglow, so the afternoon espresso can pivot to a draft pour. It reads like a coffee shop that got very ambitious and kept going.

1. Eater The Best Coffee Shops in New York City
2. Sprudge The Sprudge Guide to Coffee in North Brooklyn

1. The New York Times 2025 · 1 star, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
3. Eater The Best Places to Eat in Bed-Stuy Right Now

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Whitewashed brick, weathered wood beams, and soft lighting give this Upper West Side Greek restaurant the kind of room that makes a Tuesday feel like a reasonable night out. The cooking leans rustic, with spreads and pita giving way to whole grilled fish in lemon and caper sauce. The menu reads like someone's Greek grandmother got hold of a very good pantry, which is more or less the point.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. The Infatuation #1 · The 19 Best Bagels In NYC, Ranked
2. BagelUp #3 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
3. Eater The Best Bagels in New York City

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Eater Where to Eat Brunch in New York City
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. Eater The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. Time Out #16 · The 21 very best coffee shops in NYC
2. The Infatuation 9 Great Shaved Ice Spots In NYC
3. The Infatuation The Best Asian Dessert Spots In NYC

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A small mug of grated parm arrives alongside the lasagna alla Bolognese for table-side sprinkling, which tells you everything about this cozy Italian neighborhood restaurant in Ridgewood. The menu is short and unfussy, running from cured meats and fried calamari through cacio e pepe and branzino, with daily specials filling the gaps. Exactly the kind of place you start bringing your kids, and then keep going back to long after they've moved out.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Ivan Orkin, a New Yorker who built his reputation running ramen shops in Tokyo, brought the whole project back home to the Lower East Side. The ramen shop is compact and casual, counter seats facing the kitchen, with a menu that mixes Japanese technique and New York personality without making a big fuss about either. The tsukemen, where you dip thick fresh noodles into rich pork broth and season to taste, rewards the curious. Grub Street named it one of the city's best restaurants for kids.

1. The New York Times 2014 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

Jean-Georges Vongerichten started here before the global empire, and the cozy two-story townhouse still feeds the Upper East Side's moneyed regulars like it has been around forever. The menu reads like a confident neighborhood restaurant that doesn't need to impress anyone: roast chicken, seared salmon, rack of lamb. Seasonal, polished, and utterly unbothered by trends. The molten chocolate cake has outlasted several food movements and shows no signs of leaving.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. AAA Four Diamonds

A bar anchors the narrow room at this buzzy south Indian restaurant named for the city at the tip of the subcontinent, which tells you where the kitchen's loyalties lie: seafood, regional spice, and coastal flavors that don't pull punches. The slow-cooked beef short rib, draped in Madras onion rings and crispy curry leaves, has become something people keep coming back to mention. The Michelin Guide has it selected.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Grub Street The 43 Best Restaurants in New York
3. Eater Sleeper Hit

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. The Infatuation The 21 Best New Restaurants In NYC
2. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. BagelUp #8 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
2. The Infatuation #2 · The 19 Best Bagels In NYC, Ranked
3. The New York Times The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now

Gregory Gourdet runs this prix-fixe inside the Printemps department store on Wall Street, pulling Caribbean, French, and Asian threads into a tight, composed menu. The tilework and green patterned booths are very much meant to be photographed, and the crowd obliges. The duck glazed in cane syrup with tamarind jus is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the meal feel like buildup. The New York Times named the rice and beans among its favorite dishes of the year.

1. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. The New York Times #75 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City

1. Eater The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The omakase option is how regulars talk about this place, and the downtown room backs it up with a charged, buzzy atmosphere that makes sitting still feel like a missed opportunity. Nobu Downtown is fine-dining Japanese in a sleek, energetic space on Broadway, where the menu leans into small plates built for sharing. The celebrity-chef brand is global at this point, but the kitchen keeps the standards high.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. The New York Times 2018 · 1 star · Restaurant Review

1. AAA Four Diamonds

A converted townhouse in Tribeca that runs its own upstate farm, so the vegetables on your plate were probably pulled from the ground by someone who also designed the menu. One White Street is a contemporary restaurant with both à la carte and tasting menu options, housed in a wood-paneled room with marble and tilework that makes "intimate" feel earned rather than euphemistic. The kitchen leans into bold, produce-forward cooking with a Michelin Guide selection to its name.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in NYC
2. Eater The Best Croissants in NYC
3. The Infatuation The Best Croissants In NYC

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Hong Kong cinema posters line the walls and a glowing marquee floats above the chef's counter at this high-energy Cantonese American restaurant on Chrystie. The cooking is generous and unfussy, built on good ingredients without making a big speech about it. The XO fried rice and salt and pepper fried chicken pull regulars back repeatedly. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and priced like they mean it.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The New York Times 2023 · 1 star · Restaurant Review

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. Roadbook The Best Restaurants in New York City
2. The New York Times #53 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. BagelUp #4 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City
2. Time Out The 18 best bagels in NYC
3. The New York Times The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now

Gold busts line the walls of this cavernous Upper West Side Italian restaurant, which reads as a deliberate joke at the expense of every shoebox apartment in the neighborhood. The menu runs the familiar Italian playbook, calamari to tiramisu, but the kitchen adds enough texture and brightness to keep it from feeling rote. Generous tables, a big room, and a wine list that rewards lingering make it a natural anchor for the block.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. Eater The Best Breakfasts in New York
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. The Infatuation The Best Bakeries in NYC
2. Eater The Best Croissants in NYC
3. The Infatuation The Best Croissants In NYC

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

A seasonal rooftop pool a few blocks from Columbia University is not something you expect from a hotel on 126th Street, which is part of the point. The George sits in a former industrial stretch of Harlem that's been pulled into the present without losing its bones. Rooms run compact and modern, the outdoor lounge leans chic without trying too hard, and the Broadway line is close enough to make Midtown feel like a minor inconvenience.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Black walls, scarlet booths, polished chrome, and a limestone fireplace that anchors the whole room: the Lambs Club is a Midtown steakhouse that knows exactly what it is and leans into it without apology. Dry-aged steaks with a full spread of sauces are the main event, and the pre-theater prix-fixe keeps the curtain-time crowd moving. Inside the Chatwal Hotel, steps from Broadway, it draws the kind of clientele that orders a second cocktail on purpose.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. Eater The Best Restaurants Around Times Square

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The neon sign out front has been pulling in Tribeca's night owls since the neighborhood was mostly parking lots. This brasserie wears its '80s bones proudly, all red banquettes and buzz, and Vanity Fair once called it "a movie set that doubles as a restaurant," which tracks. The French-ish menu runs burgers to croque monsieur, comfortingly unchanged. The New York Times gave it a star in 2016.

1. AAA Approved
2. The New York Times 2016 · 1 star · Restaurant Review
3. Eater The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

The buss up shut here is the size of a shirt and flaky as a biscuit, which the name, Trinidadian slang for "busted up shirt," promises and the kitchen delivers. This is a roti shop in South Ozone Park, cash and carry, no fuss. The New York Times put it on their 100 Best list, and the A train ride plus the half-mile walk from the station is apparently just part of the ritual now.

1. The Infatuation #13 · The 25 Best Restaurants In NYC
2. The New York Times #88 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
3. The New York Times 2024 · Bake and Shark · Hungry for the Best? Here Are Our Top New York Dishes of 2024.

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Eater The Best Coffee Shops in New York City
2. The Infatuation The Best Coffee Shops In NYC

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. The New York Times 2021 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

Stainless steel baskets lined with egg everything and pumpernickel everything tell you all you need to know before you've even ordered. This Crown Heights bagel shop turns out chewy, substantial rounds that hold up to the ambitious sandwich menu, where chipotle-bacon cream cheese and asparagus on a breakfast sandwich feel less weird than they should. The weekend line goes out the door, which at a bagel shop is either a warning or a recommendation, depending on how much you've had to eat.

1. The Infatuation #10 · The 19 Best Bagels In NYC, Ranked
2. Eater The Best Bagels in New York City
3. BagelUp #6 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City

José Andrés runs this steakhouse inside the Ritz-Carlton NoMad like a controlled burn, with an open charcoal and wood-fired kitchen that fills the room with smoke and a sense of occasion that most restaurants wouldn't dare attempt. The cuts run American and Japanese, aged both ways, cooked over fire that does real work rather than just looking good. It landed on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which tracks.

1. World's 101 Best #71 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
2. AAA Three Diamonds

1. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)
2. Vogue The 25 Best Restaurants in Brooklyn, According to Vogue Staff

Some of the bagels here are so large they've lost their holes entirely, which feels like a metaphor for Midtown but is actually just breakfast. This no-frills bagel shop near Penn Station runs like a commuter train that actually shows up: the line moves, the bagels come out hot, and the chewy, twisty exterior is what you came for. The New York Times named it among the city's best, and the 8 a.m. crowd would agree without looking up.

1. The New York Times The 17 Best Bagels in New York City Right Now
2. The Infatuation #11 · The 19 Best Bagels In NYC, Ranked
3. BagelUp #29 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. AAA Four Diamonds