55 Best Restaurants in New York City, New York

Ready to take a bite out of New York? Hope you've come hungry. In a city where creativity is expressed in innumerable ways, the food scene takes center stage, with literally thousands of chances to taste what Gotham is all about. Whether lining up at street stands, gobbling down legendary deli and diner grub, or chasing a coveted reservation at the latest celebrity-chef venue, New Yorkers are a demanding yet appreciative audience.

Every neighborhood offers temptations high, low, and in between, meaning there's truly something for every taste, whim, and budget. No matter how you approach dining out here, it's hard to go wrong. Planning a day of shopping among the glittering flagship boutiques along 5th and Madison Avenues? Stop into one of the Upper East Side's storied restaurants for a repast among the "ladies who lunch." Clubbing in the Meatpacking District? Tuck into a meal at eateries as trendy as their patrons. Craving authentic ethnic? From food trucks to hidden joints, there are almost more choices than there are appetites. Recent years have also seen entire food categories, from ramen to meatballs to mac 'n' cheese, riffed upon and fetishized, and at many restaurants you find an almost religious reverence for seasonal, locally sourced cuisine.

And don't forget—New York is still home to more celebrity chefs than any other city. Your chances of running into your favorite cookbook author, Food Network celeb, or paparazzi-friendly chef are high, adding even more star wattage to a restaurant scene with an already through-the-roof glamour quotient. Newfound economic realities, however, have revived appreciation for value, meaning you can tap into wallet-friendly choices at every level of the food chain. Rest assured, this city does its part to satisfy your appetite. Ready, set, eat.

The Chocolate Room

$ | Park Slope

Chocolate from Belgium and France fills the molten, moist, frosty, frothy, and gooey desserts made at this cozy, sit-down dessert café founded by a Park Slope couple in 2005. The main event is dessert—warm chocolate chip almond cake, flourless chocolate cake with raspberry framboise, a black chocolate stout float, or any of the seasonal or weekend-only specials. You can also buy house-made bonbons and artisanal bars from Brooklyn chocolatiers.

Choice Market

If you're planning a picnic at the Pratt Institute Sculpture Park or looking for a low-key meal, this take-out counter and café will do you right. Prepared salads, sandwiches, and excellent pastries are pricier than your average corner deli, but then again, most bodegas don't have farro salad, salmon burgers, or pear brûlée cheesecake on the menu. Service can be slow.

Coffee Mob

Attentive baristas expertly prepare luscious lattes and single-origin cold-brewed coffee in this stylistically minimal corner coffee shop. Owner Buck Berk personally travels to farms around the world to find Coffee Mob's beans, which are roasted at Brooklyn's Pulley Collective. Enjoy your coffee with pastries or a bagel and feel revived with both caffeine and the shop's abundant natural light.

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Court Street Pastry Shop

$ | Cobble Hill

A celebrated remnant of Cobble Hill's Italian-American past, this family-owned bakery delivers classics to savor: cannoli, pies, spumoni, custard ices, exquisitely layered Neapolitan-style sfogliatelle,and rainbow cookies by the pound. The vintage sign alone may be reason to visit, but even better is the intoxicatingly delicious interior, where you can discover everything from seasonal pastries to sugar-free cookies.

Dragon Bay Bakery

One of several traditional Chinese bakeries along 8th Avenue, this busy café is a good stop for a morning or afternoon pastry and a sweet milk tea. Savory and sweet Chinese classics like the flaky egg tarts, steamed buns, and airy slices of green-tea sponge cake are all between $1 or $2 apiece, so try as many as your appetite allows. Get your snack to go, or grab one of the few small tables.

Du Jour Bakery

$ | Park Slope

This unpretentious café is owned by TJ and Vera Obias, husband-and-wife pastry chefs who make everything on premises "du jour"---some of the delectable classic French and American baked goods are even made fresh twice a day. Breakfast, brunch, and lunch menus include frittatas, melts, and salads. Coffee drinks, cocktails, beer and wine, and an interesting selection of iced and hot teas round out your options.

Dun-Well Doughnuts

Doughnuts have become a national obsession, and dedicated shops have opened up all over New York City and Brooklyn. This retro-cool shop has an extra edge: all the doughnuts are vegan, and they also come in more than 200 flavors. Staples include traditional glazed, chocolate, and jelly-filled, but depending on the day you might find inventive creations like espresso mocha, strawberry kiwi, tangerine basil, and peach cobbler.

Fortunato Brothers Café & Pasticceria

Of the few old-school Italian pastry shops remaining in Williamsburg, this family-run café and bakery is by far the best. The three Fortunato brothers emigrated from Naples in 1971 and opened this Italian bakery in 1976; the fact that they may not have updated the decor since then only makes the place feel more authentic. Glass cases are lined with trays of cannoli, tiramisù, rum baba, sfogliatella, cream puffs, and cookies, all made in-house. The gelato is homemade, too.

Hungry Ghost

$ | Prospect Heights

One of Brooklyn's minichains, Hungry Ghost fuels the borough with coffee, teas, and snacks in sleek, mid-century-modern environs. The beans are from Oregon's cult label Stumptown, and the sandwiches and many baked goods are made in-house. This location gets busy, but you can usually find a seat among the communal tables and comfy leather chairs.

Iris Café

$$$ | Brooklyn Heights

Run by two Brooklyn-raised brothers, this bar, restaurant, and café sits on a quiet, cobblestone stretch of Columbia Place in Brooklyn's "Willowtown," a historic neighborhood dating to the 1810s. Sun streaming through large storefront windows illuminates daytime fare that includes baked goods, daily soups, well-made sandwiches, and excellent coffee. Dinner is a more sophisticated affair, with New American dishes and craft cocktails in a romantic bistro setting.

Joyce Bakeshop

$ | Prospect Heights

The neighborhood’s friendliest place for a cuppa joe (locally roasted Gorilla coffee) is known for its exceptional pastries—from French macarons to scones to whoopie pies—baked fresh on the premises. Table seating is available in the bright, airy room.

Kava

$ | Meatpacking District

The word for "coffee" in many Slavic languages, Kava has a very European vibe about it. The comfortable atmosphere is great for taking a break from Meatpacking District shopping. In addition to the usual espresso drinks, Kava also offers a menu of better-than-average breakfast-y treats, such as avocado toast and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

Kinfolk 90

Multitasking is taken to a high level at this fabulous space that includes a coffee shop, a men's boutique, and a nightclub, all of which ascribe to the same überhip lifestyle. At Kinfolk 90, creative types meet for locally roasted coffee in a former garage decorated with custom artwork. Next door, the Kinfolk store sells street-style clothes and accessories for the urban sophisticate—it's one of two New York shops that stock threads by Japanese designers Bedwin and the Heartbreakers. And then there's Kinfolk 94, where the in-crowd parties in a custom-built wooden geode outfitted with low benches and a full bar; there are DJs on weekends, the occasional live performance, and rotating art shows.

Maman

$ | Little Italy

If you've ever imagined that you lived in the French countryside, your dream home would probably look like this rustic counter-serve spot, and if you were lucky, your French maman would turn out baked goods as delicious as what you'll find here. Croissants, cookies, and moist loaf cakes share the display case and there's a short menu of salads, sandwiches, and quiches.

Milk & Roses

$$ | Greenpoint

With hundreds of books lining the built-in wood shelves, candlelit marble tables, red leather booths, and a piano, it doesn’t get much cozier than this. The Italian food is good, but the relaxed atmosphere and old-world ambience make this a true haven. The back garden is magical in spring and summer.

Milk Bar

$ | Prospect Heights

The veggie-friendly menu at this snug, Australian-accented corner café includes avocado toast, egg dishes, sandwiches, and salads, plus coffee and tea. There's table seating inside and outdoor chairs when the weather's warm.

Paneantico

This seemingly always busy corner bakery and café has been serving Bay Ridgers since 2000, with menu offerings that include hearty salads, sandwiches, fresh breads, and prepared foods to go. Its long glass cases are filled with tempting traditional Italian and American desserts; the cannoli are delicious. The hero with hot soppressata, Bel Paese cheese, and green olive tapenade is a lunch favorite, as is the one with broccoli rabe, mozzarella, and fried eggplant. Grab an espresso or cappuccino from the coffee bar in the back and linger outside at a table.

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop

$ | Greenpoint

This doughnut shop looks like a 1950s lunch counter because it was one, and the current owners preserved the original decor—the servers even wear 1950s-style uniforms. Old-fashioned doughnuts, bagels, and egg sandwiches are made fresh daily. You'll find all the classics, from glazed and cake doughnuts to coconut cream and red velvet. You can order your doughnuts to go, or grab a seat for counter service. Everything is inexpensive and delicious.

Pilar Cuban Eatery

Though the Cuban community hasn’t yet found Bed-Stuy, a stellar Cuban restaurant will be waiting when it does. White walls with splashes of bright turquoise have a definitively retro art deco vibe of Havana, matched by Caribbean staples like the pressed roast pork and ham Cuban sandwich, house-cured chorizo, garlic-sautéed shrimp, and tender pernil (slow-roasted pork shoulder), or modern riffs like Cuban nachos with plantain chips. There's Spanish sidra (cider), Malbec, and beer on tap. Cap the night with a Bustelo café con leche.

Qathra

This homey café brews daily-changing coffee roasts (also sold by the bag) and serves a variety of tasty teas, but the real treats are the breakfast pastries and Mediterranean-influenced menu—especially the Egyptian poached eggs with house-made hummus, arugula, and za’atar spices. The expansive patio is lovely in summer.

Root Hill Cafe

This beloved neighborhood café keeps 'em coming with inexpensive and tasty breakfast and lunch, baked goods, and Nobletree Brazilian coffee roasted in Red Hook. Large windows let in lots of light, which is one of the reasons that customers tend to linger.

Runner & Stone

Day or night, bread—everything from brioche to baguettes to ciabatta and more—and house-made pasta are the main draws at this farm-to-table restaurant, café, and bakery owned by baker Peter Endriss and chef Chris Pizzulli. Mornings mean fresh croissants and breakfast pastries, lunch focuses on sandwiches with choice of side, and dinner features seasonally inspired entrées. Homemade ingredients, down to the butter and ketchup, enrich the dinner menu.

Smith Canteen

$ | Carroll Gardens

Expertly pulled cappuccinos and a roster of baked goods including salted chocolate cookies and the ingenious "everything" croissant make Smith Canteen (from the owners of Wilma Jean and Nightingale 9) an excellent stop. But the tempting menu of breakfast and lunch fare like the quinoa bowl with fresh vegetables and fried eggs may entice you to linger.

Steeplechase Coffee

Serving coffee made from Brooklyn Roasting Company beans, and pastries and bagels from the best Brooklyn bakeries, this is the perfect place to start the day or to perk up in the afternoon. Locals love to hang out with their laptops, but ample seating and a computer-free area mean you can almost always find space.

Toby's Estate

With five cafés in New York City, Toby's Estate is expanding quickly, a mini coffee empire that started in Brooklyn. The coffee drinks are outstanding, as are the made-to-order sandwiches (think egg on a roll with espresso-lacquered bacon) and salads. The spacious location on North 6th Street is perennially packed, so you might have to wait for a seat to open up—but it's worth it, especially for a prime spot on the long, comfy couch. Light streaming in through large windows gives the place a bright, airy feel.

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