Restaurant Recommendations

Here are suggestions from NYCWP teacher-consultants. We have listed restaurants by Manhattan neighborhood and have tried to vary the type of cuisine as well as recommend restaurants at a range of prices. As you can imagine, it’s an impossible task to list all the great places, but we hope this is helpful.

General Restaurant Resources Online

Menupages helps you find restaurants by neighborhood or cuisine, and provides generic restaurant information, online menus, and user reviews.

New York Magazine’s online restaurant section provides a restaurant finder by cuisine, neighborhood, price range, and special features, as well as online menus, user reviews, and their own reviews of current hotspots and restaurants that generate “buzz.”

Midtown Lunch is not a restaurant, but rather a food blog specializing in restaurants suitable for quick and inexpensive lunches and, in many cases, for dinner as well.

Amateur Gourmet lists restaurants by neighborhood along with reliable reviews.

Theatre District (West 40s and 50s)

There are many expensive restaurants in this area as well as chains. If your hotel is in this area, it might be best to walk one long block west to 9th Ave. where there is a broad variety of food at reasonably priced places. Be aware that most 9th Ave. restaurants are small and packed with pre-theatre crowds from 6 to 8 p.m.

Amarone: 9th Ave. btw 47th & 48th St. – Broad Italian menu.

Dervish: W. 47th St. btw Broadway & 6th Ave. – Excellent Turkish food w/ prix fixe theatre menu.

East: W. 55th St. btw 8th Ave. & Broadway – Solid Japanese and Sushi at affordable prices.

John’s Pizzeria: W. 44th St. btw 7th & 8th Ave. – Housed in a renovated church, this is the uptown branch of the Bleecker Street original (at Jones St., near 7th Ave. South). Noisy and crowded with fast turnover, but famous for their good brick-oven pizza. Best to go early.

Saigon 48: W. 48th St. btw 8th Ave. & Broadway – Inexpensive Vietnamese; broad menu & good food.

Siam Grill: 9th Ave. btw 42nd & 43rd St. – Reasonably priced Thai food; the first restaurant of its kind on 9th Ave.

Strada 57: W. 57th St. btw 8th & 9th Ave. – Delicious Italian food at very reasonable prices.

Topaz Thai Restaurant: 56th St. btw 6th & 7th Ave., near Carnegie Hall – Solid, moderately priced Thai food. Good for pre-theatre. Gets crowded.

Uncle Nick’s Greek Cuisine: 9th Ave. btw 50th & 51st St. – Bustling, very popular Greek restaurant. Lots of seafood. Best to go early!

Virgil’s Real Barbecue: W. 44th St. btw Broadway & 6th Ave. – Ribs and BBQ. Lively, noisy, popular. Good ribs!

Zen Palate: 9th Ave. & 46th St. – Vegetarian, health food, pan Asian, and Pacific Rim. There are other sites in Manhattan.

Zipper Factory Tavern: W. 37th St. btw 8th & 9th Ave. – Eclectic menu of traditional American and international food. Pleasant ambience.

Note: W. 46th St. between 8th & 9th Ave. – Commonly known as Restaurant Row. Both before and after the theatre, restaurants are packed. Restaurants include Italian, Spanish, Asian, and American food and can be very expensive (though many have pre-theatre deals).

East Village

A great neighborhood to explore, with unusual and inexpensive dining options.

Angelica Kitchen: E. 12th St. btw 1st & 2nd Ave. – Organic vegan and vegetarian. Popular restaurant.

Café Mogador: 101 St. Marks Place btw 1st Ave. & Avenue A – Moroccan food, good and inexpensive. Good for a group, but call for reservations—it gets crowded.

St. Dymphna’s: Also on famed St. Marks Place (118) near Avenue A, an Irish hotspot that attracts a fun crowd including lots of Irish and English ex-pats. Relatively authentic and inexpensive Irish food and lots of good choices on draft.

Indochine: Lafayette St. btw 4th St. & Astor Place, opposite the Public theatre – Lovely ambience; fine French, Vietnamese food. Pricier than the rest of this group.

Moustache: E. 10th St. btw 1st Ave. & Avenue A – Great Middle Eastern spot with a lovely back garden. There is another one in the West Village at 90 Bedford St. between Barrow & Grove St.

Sea Thai Bistro: 2nd Ave. on 4th & 5th St. – Thai, pan Asian, and Pacific Rim; Excellent food; noisy ambience.

Souen: E. 13th St. btw 5th Ave. & University Place, near Union Square – Organic, Japanese macrobiotic.

Veselka: 144 2nd Ave. at 9th St. – Another 24-hour East Village tradition. Soulful, inexpensive Eastern European fare—blintzes, pierogis, potato pancakes, soups, and challah bread.

Village Mingala: E. 7th St. btw 2nd & 3rd Ave. – One of NY’s few Burmese restaurants. The cuisine is something like a cross between Thai and Indian—unusual, inexpensive, and very good.

Yaffa Cafe: 97 St. Marks Place, near 1st Ave. – A well-known, highly original 24-hour spot for “goths,” “freaks,” and all kinds of “village characters.” Located in the heart of NYC’s beatnik/hippie haven of yore. Lots of sprouts and tahini, but still good for all that. The carrot-ginger salad dressing is an East Village tradition. Nice back garden for dining if the weather is good.

Note: E. 6th St. btw 1st & 2nd Ave. – This entire street is populated by inexpensive Indian restaurants. We recommend Haveli on 2nd Ave. between 5th & 6th St.

Greenwich Village/West Village

Gobo: 6th Ave. btw Waverly Place & 8th St. – Vegan food from a pan Asian palette, served in a casually attractive space.

White Horse Tavern: Hudson St. at Bank St., just south of where 8th Ave. becomes Hudson – Classic burgers, fries, and other predictable bar food. Dylan Thomas' favorite hangout. Affordable, with lots of atmosphere and literary history.

Li-Lac Chocolates: 8th Ave. at Jane St. – Okay, not a restaurant, but after you have some homemade chocolates from the Li-Lac, it will be hard to go back to Godiva. A Greenwich Village legend since 1923.

Caffe Reggio: Macdougal St., just south of W. 3rd St. – The quintessential Greenwich Village coffee house. Teeny tiny tables in a teeny tiny storefront, with just enough room for your cappucchinos and Italian pastries.

More West Village options can be found in the “Fine Dining” section below.

Chinatown

Most people just pick any spot; there are hundreds of restaurants.

Joe’s Shanghai: 9 Pell St. – Home of the soup dumpling.

We also recommend the Vegetarian Dim Sum place opposite Joe’s Shanghai on Pell St.

Chelsea

La Belle Vie: 8th Ave. btw 19th & 20th St. – Lovely French Bistro at affordable prices.

Intermezzo: 8th Ave. btw 20th & 21st St. – Good Italian pasta with Chelsea atmosphere. Affordable prices.

Mare: 8th Ave. & 20th St. – Good seafood, fresh oysters and clams. (Oyster Happy Hour from 4 – 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday when you sit at the bar!) A little pricey, but the service and decor are great.

Note: 8th Ave. from 14th to 21st St. is wall-to-wall restaurants.

Flatiron District

Chat ‘n’ Chew: E. 16th St. btw Union Square & 5th Ave. – Down-home American cooking with extremely reasonable prices. Great for brunch.

More Flatiron options can be found in the “Fine Dining” section below.

West/Central Harlem

Sylvia’s: 328 Lenox Ave. btw 127th & 126th St. – Arguably Harlem’s most famous soul food stop. The restaurant is a common stop for tour buses; media, pop and sports stars are often spotted there.

M & G Diner: 383 W. 125th St., near St. Nicholas Ave. – Old-school soul food diner, with Otis Redding on the ancient jukebox, layer cakes on the counter under plastic bells, and counter ladies in hairnets who will chastise you if you don’t finish your collard greens. Inexpensive, and touted as the “real” soul food stop for those in the know.

Amy Ruth’s: 113 W. 116th St., near Lenox Ave. – Another well-known soul food spot.

Dinosaur Bar B Que: 646 W. 131st St. – Great barbecue, but be prepared to wrestle with crowds. Across the street from the Harlem branch of Fairway, the giant gourmet food market.

Sokhna Restaurant: 225 W. 116th St. btw 7th & 8th Ave. – Splendid and inexpensive Senegalese/West African food. One of a number of African specialty restaurants on 116th St. between 5th and 8th Ave.—try some of the others as well.

Strictly Roots: Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. & 123rd St. – A vegan’s paradise that serves nothing that “crawls, walks, swims, or flies.” Delectable organic cuisine; free poetry nights.

Other West Harlem African restaurants

East Harlem

La Fonda Boricua: 169 E. 106th St. btw Lexington & 3rd Ave. – Destination dining, Puerto Rican style: pernil (roast pork), chicharrones de pollo (fried chicken tidbits), plaintains, and more. Excellent and inexpensive food; live music on Thursday nights.

La Hacienda: 219 E. 116th St. btw 2nd & 3rd Ave. – Mexican food East Harlem style, in a fun atmosphere.

Patsy’s Pizza: 2287 1st Ave. on 118th St. – NYC’s original coal-oven pizzeria. It doesn’t get much better than a pie under the full-length portrait of Ol’ Blue Eyes. There are other Manhattan locations.

Upper West Side

Arte Café: W. 73rd btw Columbus & Amsterdam Ave. – Good pasta and Italian dishes; early bird specials.

Artie’s Delicatessen: Broadway & 83rd St. – For casual, traditional Jewish deli-style eating. As good as both the Carnegie and Stage Delis at half the price.

Dock’s Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill: Broadway btw 89th & 90th St. – Excellent seafood, but can be pricey. Reservations necessary.

Josie’s West: Amsterdam Ave. & 74th St. – Organic and healthy food. Good options for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Can be pricey.

Peter’s: Columbus Ave. at W. 68th St. – Eclectic American and Italian. Casual and moderately priced. Near Lincoln Center.

P.J. Clarke’s: W. 63rd St., directly across the street from Lincoln Center – A New York institution for over 50 years at its new location. Known for burgers, steak, salads, and great drinks.

Rain: W. 82nd St. btw Columbus & Amsterdam Ave., near Museum of Natural History – Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, pan Asian, and Pacific Rim dining in attractive setting.

Rosa Mexicano: Columbus Ave. at 62nd St., across from Lincoln Center – Authentic, excellent Mexican food. Expensive and reservations necessary.

Fine Dining Options

There are so many stellar restaurants in NYC. This is just a sampling of a few favorites. Most of these restaurants are pricey, and will require reservations—and for some of them, if you really want to go, you should reserve well in advance.

David Burke and Donatella: 133 E. 61st St. btw Park & Lexington Ave. – This might be some of NYC’s most innovative cuisine. It’s virtually impossible to dine here without “plate-watching”; you just have to know what the people at the next table are having before you place your order. A good choice for shoppers; this is near Bloomingdale’s.

Prune: 54 E. 1st St. btw 1st & 2nd Ave. – Tiny, iconoclastic, very pure yet unusual food. Many claim it’s one of those “best meals I’ve ever had” experiences, although it comes at a slightly eyebrow-raising price.

Blue Hill: 75 Washington Place btw 6th Ave. & Washington Square Park West – Renowned for their delicate cuisine highlighting local produce, much of which comes from their own upstate farm and surrounding producers.

Babbo: 110 Waverly Place btw 6th Ave. & Washington Square Park West – Mario Batali’s most popular NYC restaurant. Considered by many a premiere dining experience—so popular that it must be reserved several weeks in advance.

Lupa: 170 Thompson St. btw Bleecker & Houston St. – Mario Batali’s Roman-style trattoria.

Union Square Hospitality Group: These are all restaurants started by restaurateur Danny Meyer. Although each restaurant is different, they are all distinguished by fresh local farm products, creative menus, and impeccable yet friendly service. Most diners agree that they are an excellent value, if a bit of a financial “splurge.”

Union Square Café: 21 E. 16th St. btw Union Square West & 5th Ave. – The flagship restaurant in this group and always rated among NYC’s top restaurants. New American/Mediterranean cuisine; reserve well in advance.

Gramercy Tavern: 42 E. 20th St. btw Park Ave. South & Broadway – A contemporary take on Old New York. Reserve in advance; the bar/café takes no reservations but is usually something of a wait for a table.

Eleven Madison Park: 11 Madison Ave., corner of 24th St. – Elegant, beautiful, delicious, popular—reserve well in advance. A special occasion favorite.

Tabla/Bread Bar: 11 Madison Ave., corner of 25th St. – A favorite hip spot for outstanding Indian-fusion food. The upstairs dining room serves more formal meals; downstairs the Bread Bar is great for a party of four or six to “graze,” trying delicious and unusual cocktails while sharing lots of delectable small plates.

Blue Smoke/Jazz Standard: 116 E. 27th btw Park & Lexington Ave. – Upstairs, an excellent mid-priced barbecue menu with many great choices and specials. Downstairs, a renowned NYC jazz club.

The Modern: 9 W. 53rd St. btw 5th & 6th Ave. – Right next to the Museum of Modern Art, this is a gorgeous contemporary space, perfect for the lover of modern art and modern food. Again, two choices: a more formal dining room and dining menu, and a bar/café offering a range of small/medium plates. Spend time at the museum, followed by dining at the Modern.

A Word about Tipping

In New York City, a 15-20% tip is standard. Many diners leave 20%, particularly if they liked the service and the meal. Since the NYC sales tax is 8.5%, you can simply double the tax to determine a decent tip. Some restaurants will tack a service charge onto the bill for large groups (six or more)—this constitutes your tip. Otherwise, the diner is responsible for deciding on the tip. NYC waiters do depend on them. A 15% tip is standard for taxi drivers, and many people will round up to the nearest dollar when they add the tip to the fare.