The best restaurants near Penn Station

The ceiling and walls are hung with pipes, some from such long-ago Keens regulars as Babe Ruth, J.P. Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt. Even in these nonsmoking days, you can catch a whiff of the restaurant’s nearly 140-plus years of history. Beveled-glass doors, two working fireplaces and a forest’s worth of dark wood.

What to order: A mouthwatering steak or a three-inch-thick mutton chop.

Chef Hilary Sterling’s Italian restaurant in Manhattan West is a tough reservation to secure, but a worthwhile one for lunch or dinner. Feast on cast iron focaccia and seasonal salads (think escarole with walnuts and goat cheese), before indulging in homemade pastas. 

What to order: The signature rigatoni alla gricia slick with guanciale grease and crisp black pepper.

After opening his two-Michelin-star restaurant Jungsik, chef Jungsik Yim traveled extensively through Southeast Asia and explored the region’s signature blend of pungent, salty, sweet and spicy flavors. Years later, he brings those influences to midtown with SEA, offering raw bar items, small plates and shareable options along with a smart bev program. Recent dishes include prawn-and-pork rolls with mung beans; zabb-spiced fried chicken with som tum salad; and a coconut sundae with Vietnamese coffee and hazelnut.

What to order: Sriracha-soaked ribs with lime leaf and lemongrass

This super speedy Mexican favorite that opened in Chelsea Market got a conveniently located fourth sibling in this Penn 1 outpost. Go for the tacos (duh) with fresh corn tortillas—be prepared to pick your toppings at the open kitchen and chow down on a high-top counter. 

What to order: Adobada, carne asada or nopal (catcus), if you're meat-free.

With L’Amico, Laurent Tourondel's Italian-inflected American restaurant in the right wing of the Eventi Hotel lobby, the French-born chef taps into one of the most democratic yet dissentious of eats: pizza. Pulled from one of two copper wood-burning ovens—the second is dedicated to firing tendrils of octopus and charring broccoli rabe—the small-scale rounds sport the blister and blackening of much mightier pies. 

What to order: The salsiccia pizza with fennel, fontina and sage

Kihyun Lee named the sister restaurant to Take 31 after his mother, and the inspiration at this Korean soul food spot is home cooking. Small plates include an innovative take on dukbokki, tossed with kabocha squash and yuzu gochujang sauce, and fried cod with maesaengi tartar sauce. Larger dishes include beef hot pot with simmered galbi and lotus root.

What to order: Sweet potato japchae noodles with spicy grilled pork 

Roberta's three-story midtown space greatly outpaces its Bushwick location, with 200 seats, a full-service restaurant and a second outpost of their slice shop, R Slice (more on that below). Brooklyn pies that we have come to know and love are on the menu, like the honey-drizzled Bee Sting (tomato, mozzarella, soppressata, basil, chili and honey), but to pair with rooftop views, the second story also features dry-aged steaks, antipasti boards and bowls of pasta.

What to order: Lumache with braised veal and celery leaf

Sushi 35 West is primarily a takeaway. It just so happens that two of its owners worked at NYC’s very top sushi restaurants before the pandemic, before finding this sparse space. When you’re good, you're going to shine in any setting, and these two are great. They’re serving their beautiful, meticulously sourced fish, sliced à la minute, to people ordering mostly take out and delivery.

What to order: The Spanish mackerel seems to dissolve into a smoke that perfumes the space between your tongue and your palate, and the striped Jack’s peak-form texture, achieved by feathery knife work, is evidence of an expert kitchen. And it’s all served on plastic trays.

This lively and stylish Eastern Mediterranean spot from the Don Angie team doles out a $74 per person chef's menu from its open kitchen. Kicking off with the resto's signature five-dip tower (served with crudité and bazlama, or Turkish flatbread), it's a medley of mezze and mains: options include spiced beef manti with garlicky labneh; fattoush with honeycrisp applies and candied pecans; and grilled branzino with chermoula and shiso. 

What to order: A shareable duck borek with orange and pistachios.

Find excellent gougères and schnitzel Viennoise at chef Markus Glocker’s Ace Hotel-adjacent latest where “Parisian creativity” meets “Viennese tradition. The talented Glocker—who previously led Bâtard to 50 Best, Beard and Michelin recognition—aims to bridge "turn of the century European cafe culture with the energy of today’s New York" with plates like celery root tartare with pommery mustard; blood sausage with kraut and caramelized sweetbreads; and salmon en croûte with scallop mousseline and sunchokes.