The best restaurants in Manhattan, from fine dining to cheap eats

Its official: the buzziest restaurant in New York City actually lives up to the hype. Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi keys in on the chef's Afro-Caribbean roots via rich curried goat patties, crispy okra and melt off the bone braised oxtails. But be mindful, reservations are hard to come by. So set those Resy alerts ASAP.  

Sometimes, when you really love a piece of music, it stings a little to hear it in a convenience store or from a passing car. The song was your thing. Its easy for Kochi to feel like your thing, but you’ll want to tell everyone you know to go. “Go to Kochi,” you will shout, “it has a marvelous menu of skewers like doenjang-marinated grilled halibut, slow cooked pork tenderloin and crispy shrimp with charred eggplant sauce, all inspired by Korean royal court cuisine,” you will command, and then everyone will clap. Go to Kochi.  

Click and clack through the regal lobby leading to Crown Shy and know that you’ve made it. This is our top special occasion spot when reservations are available, ideally at a table in view of the elegant open kitchen. Our favorite order is still the reverently presented braised short rib that’s been on the menu since Crown Shy’s opening, a few Crown cocktails topped with all manner of lush botanicals, followed by the sticky toffee pudding for two. On no-occasion nights, we like to sit at the bar and start to feel like something good is bound to happen. Once we order the gruyère fritters, it usually does.

The last reservation we made here was for five doggone forty-five in the afternoon, because it’s too tough a ticket at primetime. And we snapped that early hour right up, as any opportunity to taste Rezdôra’s strozzapreti, tagliolini, cappelletti and other exquisite handmade pastas familiar to Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region is a golden one. We usually order à la carte, but Rezdôra also has one of the most memorable tasting menus in the city.

Sushi Nakazawa is at the top of its class without the prices to match. You can book its exquisitely sourced twenty-course tasting for $160 in the dining room or $190 at the counter. That is still a lot of money! But similar experiences at the best sushi restaurants in the city roll up into the hundreds. Nakazawa’s brilliant sake pairing is an additional $120, which is so worth it. 

The front door of this fine-dining Korean restaurant from the husband-and-wife team behind Atoboy is hidden in the foyer of a walk-up apartment building on the edge of Nomad. Beyond the bar, a flight of stairs brings you to the basement, where you can enjoy snacks on couches in the stone-floor lounge before taking a seat at one of the 14 chairs at the black-granite counter overlooking the kitchen.

Dhamaka was one of 2021's best new restaurants in NYC and in the world. Boasting recipes from “the other side of India,” you can find gurda kapoora (goat kidney, testicles, red onion and pao) and champaran meat (mutton, garlic, red chili), if you time it right. 

One of NYC's best steakhouses and finest Korean BBQ spots is tops for when it's time to impress. Smokeless grills at each table ensure each bit of beautiful meat is just the right doneness and create a little activity among parties. 

This NYC classic first opened in 1994, winning awards and fans over the intervening decades. It presently has two configurations. The bar-adjacent tavern is a little more casual, with à la carte items like roasted oysters, duck liver mousse, fish, chicken and pork mains. The dining room in the back is a confirmed splurge; $175 per person for a seasonal tasting menu that could include courses like marinated scallops, asparagus risotto, roasted duck breast and angel food cake. 

Executive chef Ayesha Nurdjaja’s follow-up to Shuka was impossibly popular as soon as it opened in 2021, and the crowds have not cooled since. The seasonal Middle Eastern menu includes the light and brightly garlicky toum, freshly baked breads, a great whole porgy and plenty of sensational red meat plates. 

Masa alums Kevin Chen and Jacky Ye brought their industry knowledge and expert knife skills to this two table sushi operation, soon securing a spot on our lists of the city’s best. Have a backup plan if the few available seats are occupied, but do not miss the fantastic sushi and sashimi they’re slicing on the spot here.

Chinese hot pot, customarily stewed with thinly sliced meats, vegetables and stock, gets a brothless showcase at this East Village eatery from owner Ning Amelie Kang and chef Qilong Zhao. Ma la means numbing and spicy, and the restaurant’s starring dish is a variation on Chongqing-hailing dry pot, a stir-fry-like spread built with a choice of 52 add-ins.

It is common to find a single steady line of people stretching the hallway of Chelsea Market, all waiting for a taste of Los Tacos No. 1. We don't have many tips on avoiding the crowd, other than going to another location, but once you get to the front, we do recommend an order of the adobaba and the carne asada.  

Enrique Olvera is the megawatt Mexico City talent behind Pujol, regularly ranked one of the 20 best restaurants in the world. His stateside debut Cosme, a bare-concrete Flatiron dining room, was similarly received upon opening and it remains popular today.

Frenchette and its confounding knives have been wildly popular since it first opened in 2018. An abundance of comforting French fare like duck frites smothered in a bearnaise sauce and baked gnocchi showered with ham and cheese is worth the reservation platform two-step. 

One of NYC's finest and most refined plant-based restaurants, Dirt Candy always innovates. Its five-course tasting changes with the seasons, and might include vegan "caviar," tomato tart with smoked feta and carrot gnocchi. 

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s first meat-free venture looks like Gwyneth Paltrow’s sketchbook: The spacious room is a Goop-y stretch of white furniture, with pops of color courtesy of artisanal ceramic plateware, and rosy wall panels. Each menu arrives with a chart that details the health benefits of various vegetables, and each dish is delicious. 

If you aren't already an amateur food photographer, Kopitaim's beautifully plated dishes will inspire the new hobby. And there are more than enough items to capture. Order a lovely pandan chicken, nasi lemak or belachan wings and don't forget to enjoy 'em while you're racking up the likes. 

This bright cafeteria is an NYC timecapsule—glossies of celebs spanning the past century line the walls, and the classic Jewish deli offerings are nonpareil. Start with a legendary sandwich. The brisket sings with horseradish, and the thick-cut pastrami stacked high between slices of rye is peak form. Everything tastes better with a glass of the hoppy house lager; if you’re on the wagon, make it a Dr. Brown’s.

Quick, convenient and satisfying, Mamoun's Falafel has been a MacDougal Street staple from morning until late since 1971. Its classic falafel sandwich in a soft pita with hot sauce and tahineh is a favorite, and shawarma plates, dips and pastries are available too.

Canal Street is bursting with activity, including in its namesake food-hall. Canal Street Market's clear standout vendor is Joe's Steam Rice Roll, the first New York expansion of the Queens favorite. 

For New Yorkers, lining up at Russ & Daughters is a time-honored morning tradition. Pull a ticket, wait for your number to be called, then sidle up to the glass cases to gawk at the stunning sable and sturgeon. The routine hasn’t changed much since the smoked-fish emporium opened more than a century ago.

With buzzy neon lighting and a flaming cocktail dubbed "The Bad Idea Challenge," this LES Taiwanese restaurant is quite the party. But that's not to say they don't take their offering seriously. Pull up a stool and chow down on poppable Honey Glazed Popcorn Chicken and Beef Noodle Soup with springy noodles.

Globally-inspired soul food takes center stage at Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem bistro. The former Aquavit chef-turned culinary celebrity's present menu includes chicken and waffles, pan-fried catfish and shrimp and grits. 

Minetta Tavern was one of the toughest reservations in town when Keith McNally gave it his inimitable treatment and reopened the erstwhile writer hangout in 2009. Today, you can still slip into the bar when dinner service begins at 5pm to witness a whirlwind of fast-filling tables, or book a reservation of your own for bone marrow, escargots, steaks, pasta and the much-discussed $38 Black Label burger. 

The lunch counter is tiny and cramped, but it’s also one of our favorite places in the whole city. Here, you'll meet people from all walks of life: Your neighbor, the mailman, the person you know you know from somewhere. It's one of the last remaining old New York spots in the neighborhood.

There are plenty of solid slice shops in the city, Scarr's Pizza is one of the finest. Owner Scarr Pimentel mills his grains in the basement for a featherweight pie that holds up regardless of whatever toppings you prefer. You can commandeer a spot in the 1960s-inspired seating area or do as the locals do and grab a few slices on the go. 

Teranga serves West African–inspired dishes in a fast-casual café at The Africa Center, which is a cultural hub that’s “committed to an integrated approach for understanding all aspects of the African continent, including transforming narratives.” Chef Pierre Thiam’s menus help tell the story.

Sylvia's, a soul food restaurant in Harlem, has been a neighborhood staple since 1962. Today, its operated by "The Queen of Soul Food" Sylvia Woods' family, who carry her legacy on with bar-b-que ribs, fried chicken and traditional collard greens. 

Party-sized with the personality to match, Congee Village is an easy choice for celebratory groups. Its novella of a menu includes plenty of congee varieties, of course, appointing the porridge with ingredients like chicken, lobster, beef and frog, plus pages and pages of wide-ranging, primarily Cantonese preparations to please every palate in your party.

New York City's classic steakhouse, Keens is full of history and trinkets from guests of yore like Babe Ruth, J.P. Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt. It is the obvious destination for a filet, porterhouse or sirloin, but the mutton chop is popular too. 

This spot sports a fashionably cookie-cutter decor—exposed brick, globe lights, hulking marble bar, you know the drill—but the true draw to the space is the talented Ignacio Mattos, the imaginative Uruguayan-born chef cooking in this Mediterranean-tinged spot. 

Crowds started gathering at Via Carota, the first joint effort from chef power couple Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, when it opened in 2014, and interest in the trattoria only seems to keep growing year after year. Try your luck for a spot to see why people keep coming back for pasta, steak, fish dishes and one of Manhattan’s most famous salads. 

Wildair, the 45-seat sister restaurant to chef Jeremiah Stone and pastry chef Fabian von Hauske’s avant-garde tasting-menu den, Contra, is two doors from the original. Wildair is set with sardine-packed bar tables, a fuzzy midaughts soundtrack and neighborhood affability. And though its snacky, à la carte menu has less sharp-edged experimentation than Contra’s, you will catch the occasional low-key innovation.

Steaming rice-noodle bowls of the Yunnan province and tear-springing orders of spicy Szechuan dry pot are a celebration of regional Chinese cuisine at artist and Hunan native Chao Wang's slurp shop.