The Best Places to Eat in New York

A menu item called "What the Hell" fried rice comes with twelve chili symbols and delivers on that promise, but this Thai restaurant in Cobble Hill is running a more interesting game than heat. The chef takes familiar flavors and bends them, with a soupless khao soi and a light-bodied green curry paired with grilled chicken and purple rice berry doing the quiet convincing. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of neighborhood spot that's easy to walk past once.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

The chef makes the ceramic bowls himself, which tells you a lot about the pace of a meal here. This Greenpoint soba shop occupies a warehouse with factory windows and skylights, and the hand-cut buckwheat noodles, served cold or hot with dashi, are the point. Pricing runs steep for a noodle lunch, but the room is genuinely industrial and the gluten-free menu surprisingly complete. Soba-making classes also run here, if you'd like homework.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Roadbook The best restaurants in Greenpoint, New York

The New Haven-style pies here are cooked to a serious crunch, with dough pressed thinner than the Connecticut purists would sanction and a tangy, oregano-heavy tomato sauce that makes a decent argument for staying in Brooklyn. Wheated is a Ditmas Park pizzeria with a full bar that also does bagels, so the menu has range. The New York Times put it on their best pizza in New York list, which is the kind of thing that fills a neighborhood spot fast.

1. The New York Times 2021 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now
3. BagelUp #30 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City

The facade is done up like a corner bodega, but step inside and it's all blonde wood, exposed brick, and a little bar where solo diners settle in without apology. Win Son is a bright, casual Taiwanese spot in Williamsburg that holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the menu takes Taiwan's culinary landscape somewhere fresher than the usual shorthand suggests. Scallion pancakes show up alongside so many dishes that ordering them as a starter is quietly redundant.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Flour tortillas made in-house daily are the quiet backbone of this Tex-Mex taco spot in the East Village, where weathered wood and stained-glass chandeliers give the room a vintage roadhouse feel that has no business being this charming on Third Avenue. The menu leans into tacos and quesadillas, the cocktails are serious, and the Texas sheet cake with candied pecans is the kind of dessert that ends arguments. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Ali's is a counter-service roti shop on Fulton where the menu runs from conch to liver to curry goat, all folded into dhalpuri, the soft split-pea flatbread that does the heavy lifting. It closed for a renovation with almost no warning, which rattled the regulars, and it came back with picture windows full of pepper sauce and bush tea. Halal, cash only, so stop at the ATM before you start deliberating over kingfish.

1. The Infatuation Doubles · 25 Iconic Dishes That Define New York
2. Eater The Best Places to Eat in Bed-Stuy Right Now

The clam pie, made with fresh Little Neck Bay clams shucked to order, has to be requested in advance, which tells you something about the kind of pizza shop this is. Thin, foldable New York slices and airy Grandma squares handle the walk-in crowd on 30th Avenue in Astoria. Named for its late founder, the place has kept its footing under new stewardship. It landed on 50 Top Pizza USA and the Times's best-in-New York list.

1. 50 Top Pizza #36 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. 50 Top Pizza 2026 · New Entry of the Year · 50 Top Pizza USA Special Awards
3. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
2. The New York Times 2013 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review

1. The New York Times 2019 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. NJ.com #43 · New Jersey’s 99 greatest restaurants, ranked

The pressed-tin ceiling and apothecary cases are original to the old drugstore this soda fountain has been around forever inside. It's the kind of Carroll Gardens spot that puts potato chips on a sundae and makes it feel obvious in retrospect. Ice cream floats run on housemade soda, and the sundaes come loaded with toppings, most made in-house. Order at the counter and find a stool; nobody here is in a hurry.

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

This is a fried-chicken counter on West 72nd with no seating, so the plan is to order, take a bag, and eat on a bench like a person with nothing to prove. The chicken goes into bubbling skillets to order, which is why the wait exists and why nobody is allowed to rush it. Ribs, turkey wings, and smothered chicken are on offer too, along with lima beans that are a quiet scene-stealer. The chef was a James Beard Best Chef: New York State semifinalist in 2024.

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Charles Gabriel
3. Eater The Best Upper West Side Restaurants

1. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America
2. The Infatuation The Best Croissants In NYC
3. Eater The Best Restaurants in Soho

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · JJ Johnson

1. The New York Times 2023 · 3 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

Green lacquered chairs and upholstered nooks fill this Italian restaurant tucked into Rockefeller Center, brought uptown by the team behind SoHo's King. The open kitchen and bar counter keep it lively without tipping into noisy. The menu is short and focused, leaning into good pasta and a cocktail list that includes a negroni sbagliato bianco, which sounds made up but isn't.

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

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

1. Vogue The 25 Best Restaurants in Brooklyn, According to Vogue Staff
2. Eater The Best Places to Eat in Bed-Stuy Right Now

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

A long-ferment dough is the whole argument at this Ridgewood slice shop, producing a thin, crispy-bottomed slice that holds its toppings without going limp on the walk to the counter. The menu runs classics alongside richer, more creative options, and the room is small, informal, and quick. The New York Times named it one of the city's 25 best pizza places, and 50 Top Pizza put it at number eleven on its national slice list.

1. 50 Top Pizza #11 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA
2. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now

1. Chinese Restaurant Awards Top 20 Honourees · Elite 12 United States

Bagels arrive stacked on wooden dowels here, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe. This is Major Food Group's theatrical, not-quite-kosher take on a Jewish appetizing shop in Soho, where seed-crusted bagels anchor spreads of lox, sable, and sturgeon, and there's a full caviar section for when a schmear feels insufficiently dramatic. Budget accordingly; this crowd did not come to save money.

1. The New York Times 2016 · 1 star · Restaurant Review
2. Time Out The 18 best bagels in NYC
3. Eater The Best Restaurants in Soho

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

A few steps from Madison Square Park, this pizza shop has made a name for itself with a well-fermented dough that stays light enough to eat without regret. The round NY-style pies lean into garlic, while the square pepperoni comes out properly leavened and crisp underneath. The XXL mozzarella stick, served with marinara, is the kind of starter that settles the question of whether to order it immediately. 50 Top Pizza USA ranked it thirteenth in the country.

1. 50 Top Pizza #13 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. 50 Top Pizza 2026 · One to Watch · 50 Top Pizza USA Special Awards
3. The New York Times 2023 · 1 star · Restaurant Review

1. The Infatuation The Best Ice Cream In NYC
2. Eater Essential Ice Cream Shops in New York City

Suma katsuo, a buttery fish rarely seen outside Japan, gets cold-smoked over cherry wood and finished with onion sauce, sesame, and nori at this intimate omakase counter on Prince Street. The New York Times named that sashimi course one of the top dishes of 2024. Chef Ben Chen's approach is precise without being fussy, and the room rewards the kind of guest who came to pay attention rather than to be seen.

1. Vogue A Definitive Guide to the Best Omakase in New York City
2. The New York Times 2024 · Suma Katsuo Sashimi · Hungry for the Best? Here Are Our Top New York Dishes of 2024.

The servers might greet you in Greek if you look like you belong, and on Ditmars Boulevard, plenty of people do. This no-frills Astoria taverna has been feeding the neighborhood long enough to qualify as local infrastructure, with a bustling open kitchen and a menu built around simply prepared whole fish, classic dips, and flaky spinach pie. The Michelin Guide has it listed, but the crowd at the tables wouldn't need to be told.

1. The New York Times 2019 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Grub Street The 43 Best Restaurants in New York

The carts find you before you find your seat, which is how it works at this Flushing dim sum hall. Oversized round tables, ornate chandeliers, bamboo plants, and enough shumai to reconsider your weekend plans. No menu required; most regulars never open one. Weekends get loud and frenetic in a very satisfying way, so an early arrival is less a suggestion than a survival strategy. The Michelin Guide has it listed among their selected restaurants.

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

1. The New York Times 2020 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

The chicken bastilla arrives dusted with powdered sugar and rose petals, which sounds precious until you taste it and understand why the New York Times critic put it on her favorites list. This is a modest, neighborhood Moroccan cafe in Astoria where the cooking is traditional and the prices are gentle. The pastry crackles, the filling runs sweet then savory, and the two never quite separate. A $12 dish that requires a hundred paper-thin layers to pull off.

1. The New York Times #78 · The 100 Best Restaurants in New York City
2. The New York Times 2025 · Chicken Bastilla · Our New York Restaurant Critic Names Her Favorite Dishes This Year
3. The Infatuation #12 · NYC’s Best New Restaurants

Dale Talde's Hong Kong-style restaurant sits inside a carriage house on a sprawling Hudson Valley estate, where the dining rooms look like someone inherited very good furniture and actually kept it. The menu runs kung pao wings alongside bao stuffed with crispy shrimp and daikon, the kind of cooking that's both nostalgic and quietly restless. Dressy-casual crowd, unhurried pace, and a setting that makes Tarrytown feel like a reasonable destination.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Dale Talde

A reservation here is the kind of thing West Village regulars treat as a competitive sport, so walk-ins at odd hours are the move. Rita Sodi's cozy Italian neighborhood restaurant on Bleecker changes its daily specials with the seasons while holding certain signatures hostage in the best way. The bar handles a Negroni with conviction, and the room hums all night with the particular energy of a place where nobody looks like they're having a bad time.

1. The New York Times 2016 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Grub Street The 43 Best Restaurants in New York

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. AAA Approved
2. Eater The Best Restaurants in Soho

1. The New York Times 2014 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Eater The Best Classic Restaurants in NYC

1. The New York Times 2018 · 3 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

The carved wooden panels and semi-private booths signal that this is not your average strip-mall Chinese restaurant, even if the exterior gives nothing away. A full-service Chinese dining room in Hartsdale drawing multigenerational families on weekend nights, it runs classics like garlic-pepper shrimp and slow-cooked Beijing duck with real kitchen discipline. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice too.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Eric Gao

A few steps from Union Square, Ribalta is a Neapolitan pizza spot that takes its dough seriously, the kind of light, well-leavened crust that makes the New York slice feel like a different food entirely. The room is spacious and lively without being loud, and the menu runs well beyond pizza into appetizers and mains. It landed at number eight on 50 Top Pizza USA, which the regulars packing the tables on a Tuesday probably already knew.

1. 50 Top Pizza #19 · 50 Top Pizza World
2. 50 Top Pizza #8 · 50 Top Pizza USA

Roman-style pizza by the slice is the draw here, baked in rectangular trays with a crust that's crispy on the bottom and genuinely airy inside. This is a counter-service slice shop near a hospital complex in Mineola, so the crowd skews commuters and med students who know what they're doing. Toppings lean contemporary, burrata and mortadella among them. It ranks on both 50 Top Pizza Slice USA and 50 Top Pizza World, which for a Long Island strip-mall counter is a fun fact to drop.

1. 50 Top Pizza #99 · 50 Top Pizza World
2. 50 Top Pizza #5 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA

The house-made tortillas holding together the tacos here tell you what kind of place this is: a casual, all-day Mexican eatery in NoHo where the cooking is straightforward and the room stays bright and airy from morning through dinner. Larger plates are built for sharing, and the churros at the end feel less optional than the menu lets on. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which tracks with the crowd that fills it without making a fuss about it.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. The New York Times 2013 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Time Out The 45 best restaurants in NYC right now

A tea bar up front handles quick orders while the real action unfolds at the long communal tables in back, which tells you everything about how Cha Kee operates. It's a Hong Kong bistro in the thick of Chinatown, with a menu that runs from wonton soup to beef chow fun to a dim sum list that could keep a table debating for twenty minutes. Portions are built for sharing, and the groups who pack those banquettes seem to know it.

1. The New York Times 2021 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Wolfgang Puck's steakhouse inside the Four Seasons Downtown plays against the Manhattan steakhouse template, swapping dark wood and power-broker gravity for modern art and a lounge soundtrack that makes the room feel closer to a dinner party than a boardroom. The menu runs USDA prime, Wagyu, and grass-fed Angus alongside Maine lobster and sashimi, which is either a refreshing detour or a distraction, depending on your theology.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. The New York Times 2016 · 1 star · Restaurant Review

The slices here are slender, which is a statement in a borough where bigger is considered better. F&F is a slice shop in Carroll Gardens running a quiet argument for restraint: a careful sauce-to-cheese ratio, toppings used sparingly and only when they add something. The New York Times put it on their short list of the city's best pizza places, and Grub Street agreed. Come hungry but not starving, because the line moves at its own pace.

1. Grub Street The 43 Best Restaurants in New York
2. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now

1. The New York Times 2015 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. The New York Times 2012 · 3 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

Freshly baked pita lands on the table almost before you've settled in, which is either a warning or a promise at this upmarket Lebanese restaurant in the Flatiron. The name means "tell me" in colloquial Arabic, and the format backs that up: sharing plates built around hot and cold meze, hummus in several moods, baba ghanoush, fattoush, falafel. Mains like seared lamb chops reward anyone who holds back.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. The New York Times 2016 · 2 stars · Restaurant Review
2. Grub Street The 40 Best Restaurants for Kids (and Parents!)

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
2. The Infatuation Mole Poblano · 25 Iconic Dishes That Define New York

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

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

1. The New York Times 2021 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Esquire #35 · The Best New Restaurants in America
3. BagelUp #15 · The Definitive 30 Best Bagel Shops in New York City

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

The cerulean counter is handmade, the seafood is sustainably sourced, and the menu wanders freely from hand-roll culture to XO grits without apology. Rosella is a sushi shop on Avenue A that treats local, responsibly harvested fish with restraint and a little mischief. The wine list leans domestic, pulling from the North Fork and the West Coast. The Michelin Guide has it selected, and Esquire put it on their best new restaurants list.

1. The New York Times 2021 · Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Esquire #25 · The Best New Restaurants in America
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. The New York Times 2022 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: New York State · Helen Nguyen
3. Eater The Best Lower East Side Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: New York State · Ayesha Nurdjaja

Hip-hop plays over a 20-seat sushi bar, which sets the tone before the fish even arrives. Shuko is an omakase spot where the team, veterans of Masa, runs two tasting menus: a straight sushi and sashimi course, or a fuller kaiseki route with composed dishes alongside the nigiri. Both come with optional wine and sake pairings. The meal ends with apple pie, a quiet signal that the reverence for Tokyo tradition only goes so far.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

Leather, iron, and glass fill the dining room at this upscale Japanese izakaya on Madison Avenue, where the sharing format means robata skewers and pristine sushi on shaved ice arrive at the table more or less continuously. The black cod wrapped in hoba leaf has become a signature across the brand's global outposts. Desserts, meanwhile, have their own Instagram following, which tells you something about the clientele and the lighting.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

A small, family-run Italian trattoria a short walk from Carnegie Hall, where regulars get greeted by name and the menu shifts daily around house-made pastas and fresh grilled fish. The room has the kind of unhurried, personal energy that midtown Manhattan mostly stopped producing a generation ago. Prices stay reasonable, the service is warm without being performative, and some of the clientele treat it as an annual pilgrimage.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Jean-Georges Vongerichten's farm-to-table restaurant sits inside the ABC Carpet & Home store in the Flatiron, which is either charming or a bit much depending on your tolerance for browsing reclaimed furniture before dinner. The menu is strictly seasonal and organic, rotating through whole wheat pizzas, house-made pastas, and whatever the market decided that week. Brunch draws a crowd that takes their doughnuts very seriously.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The brick oven sits in full view of the dining room, which at a Neapolitan-leaning pizza restaurant in Flatiron is either a statement or a dare. Audace is the kind of place where the dough does the talking: light, well-leavened, the sort that doesn't leave you horizontal by dessert. The room is calm and low-key, the service attentive without hovering. It landed on 50 Top Pizza USA and took their Best Cocktail List award, which is not a thing most pizza spots can say.

1. 50 Top Pizza #14 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. 50 Top Pizza 2026 · Best Cocktail List · 50 Top Pizza USA Special Awards

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A backyard in Park Slope and a margherita built on proper ingredients make Brooklyn DOP an easy neighborhood slice shop to fall into. The dough is treated with care, the format stays classic New York, and the beverage list is calibrated accordingly. The orange olive oil cake quietly outperforms every other decision you'll make that afternoon. It landed at number six on the 50 Top Pizza Slice USA list, which checks out.

1. 50 Top Pizza #6 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

A whole-pie-only pizza shop in Little Italy where forty-minute waits after ordering are a known feature, not a glitch. The room is dark wood and minimal, with long counter seating facing the oven, and it moves with the focused calm of a place that has decided exactly what it is. Thin, crispy NY-style pies, no topping customization, no half-measures. The New York Times named it among the city's best pizza right now.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza USA Excellent Pizzerias
2. The New York Times The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Dress code enforced, portions sized for sharing, and a dining room that leans into Old World Spanish formality with enough commitment to make Newark feel briefly far away. This is a long-running Spanish restaurant where seafood paella and shellfish casserole anchor a menu built around generous plates of fresh seafood and steak. The kind of place where the garlic shrimp arrives without irony and regulars know better than to show up in sneakers.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Inside Chelsea Market, Filaga runs a counter-service slice shop where the tray pizza arrives crispy, well-seasoned, and loaded with ingredients imported from Italy. The kitchen, oven, and prep are all in plain sight, and the whole setup is designed for the market's constant foot traffic rather than a leisurely lunch. Seating is shared and wherever you find a spot. It ranked eighth on the 50 Top Pizza Slice USA list, which is the kind of thing that draws a line.

1. 50 Top Pizza #8 · 50 Top Pizza Slice USA

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. The New York Times 2023 · 2 stars, Critic's Pick · Restaurant Review
2. Roadbook The best restaurants in Greenpoint, New York

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds