We are traveling to NYC the week before Christmas. Any suggestions for the best Sunday Brunch in NYC? Thanks for the suggestions!

Wanna spend money? If so, Atelier at the Ritz Carlton for a blow out brunch.

Town is very hot. Might not be able to reserve. I'm sure others will follow.

Many of the great hotels have great brunches. The restaurant at the Plaza Athenee on East 64th has a great brunch, as does the Waldorf Astoria.

If you don't want to spend tons of money, go down to Greenwich Village and go to Jane's. It's on West Houston Street.. Great food, including one mimosa, or champagne, and nice atmosphere... Great bang for the buck and with a real NY feel, not touristy..

For Sunday Brunch I would suggest:
Zoe-in Soho
Palm Court-Plaza
Cafe Atlas-Central Park South
FiftySeven FiftySeven-57th St.

SusieQQ

If you're looking for a huge "stuff yourself silly" type buffet, then ignore this suggestion, but I loved the brunch at Aquavit, in a wonderful setting and simply magnificent food -- particularly lots of types of salmon and seafood. It's more for quality than quantity.

Yeah, are you looking for a buffet brunch or a brunch where you order off the menu? That would help the suggestions.

We are looking for a magnificent buffet brunch -- complete with ice sculptures and champagne. Thanks for the input so far!

I'm not sure a buffet brunch with or without ice sculptures exists in NY, although maybe one of the hotels has one.

Try Royal Canadian Pancake House they have 3 locations 1 at 2nd ave at 53 st . Also try Serendipity3 3rd ave & 60-61 st. In the village try Calente Cab Company on the corner of 7th and Bleeker

Royal Canadien closed many years ago. As for buffets, most of the hotels have them. I mentioned in my earlier post the Plaza Athenee and Waldorf, 2 of the best upscale buffets in NYC.

By the way, don't go to Serendipity unless you want to wait 2 hours for mediocre food and good ice cream sundaes.

Buffet brunches are very rare in NYC - they are mainly found in hotels. That's why NYers are so skinny!

And oh boy - do I miss Royal Canadian Pancakes. But they closed almost 10 years ago!

My two favorites are The Cupping Room or Blue Ribbon Bakery.

I think the Plaza still does a Sunday Brunch Buffett don't they? It has been a while.

The Essex House has the "best brunch in NY", according to Zagat. It is wonderful.

Leona, I'm not sure what you're talking about. I'm not sure of the name of the restaurant you're referring to in the Essex House, but in the front of Zagat's where the top 6 Brunch places for food are listed it isn't even mentioned. In fact I can't find a listing for the Essex House at all. Are you sure you're not talking about the little Lower Eastside restaurant called "Essex" which has a $12 brunch, which one of the Zagat contributors called "the best"?

The two restaurants in The Essex House are Alain Ducasse, which I'm pretty sure doesn't serve brunch at all, and Cafe Botanica, which probably does have a brunch, but Zagat makes no mention of it.

Just to correct the prior post, Cafe Botanica does indeed have a brunch buffet and does get many comments as having one of the best brunches, including in Zagats. Also see the comments on citysearch.com. I've never been there, so I can't personally vouch for it.

OK, almesq, thanks for correcting me. My copy of Zagat's must have been a misprint, because the comments about brunch at Cafe Botanica were left out of my Zagat's. In fact my new Zagat's makes no mention of brunch at all at Cafe Botanica.

Isabella's is really good for Sunday Brunch. It's on the Upper West Side..

Patrick--Didn't mean to suggest you were wrong in any way--my Zagat's might be last years, don't have it with me right now. But, the one I had listed it in the back under best brunches (although not in the front under best brunches) and one of the comments for Cafe Botanica was that it was the best brunch.