9 Best Restaurants in New York City, New York

Famous for their southern-style comfort food, Amy Ruth’s is all about “cooking with love” with heaping portions. The original owner (Carl Redding) learned to cook at his grandmother’s side during the summer months in Alabama, and he opened the Harlem restaurant on Mother’s Day in 1999. Chef Jannette Robinson, a South Carolina native but longtime New Yorker, has been serving up their famous chicken and waffles and various other dishes, all of which are named after prominent Black figures.

This cavernous restaurant-speakeasy behind a storefront selling old vinyl records from the '70s and '80s is barely a secret since you'll likely hear the merriment coming from just behind the velvet curtain in the back. Proudly representing the Bronx, this lively restaurant celebrates Black and Nuyorican old school hip-hop culture through its graffiti-inspired murals, its music, and above all, its menu, with offerings ranging from churrasco to chicken and waffles.

Chef Carlos Swepson, a Mississippi native, puts a contemporary spin on classic American soul food, with down-home dishes like biscuits and sausage gravy, jumbo shrimp and grits, turkey meat loaf, seven-cheese macaroni with bacon, and fried-chicken sliders. Owned and operated by Swepson and his wife, Markisha, the casual yet smart eatery serves brunch all day, every day in a comfy space directly above the entrance to the B and C trains at 116th Street. There's also a DJ spinning R&B, techno, and soul on the weekends during brunch and dinner. 

"Born, bred and buttered in Harlem" is how founder Melba Wilson describes herself. After working at New York City mainstays like Rosa Mexicano and the legendary Sylvia's, she decided to venture out on her own, opening Melba's in 2005. Here, she doesn't serve appetizers, but rather "comfortizers," like spring rolls stuffed with rice, black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cheddar cheese. The portions tend to be large enough to almost spill over the edge of the plate, so feel free to go straight for entrées like barbecue turkey meat loaf, country-fried catfish, or the food-coma-inducing fried chicken and eggnog waffles with strawberry butter and maple syrup.

From uptown church ladies to former president Bill Clinton, Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too attracts a diverse clientele with a common goal—to enjoy a hearty helping of comforting soul food. The uncluttered interior is mostly beige, with family portraits hanging on the walls, and former model and best-selling cookbook author Norma Jean Darden uses passed-down recipes to create mouthwatering dishes like fried or smothered chicken, fried or baked catfish, barbecue ribs, collard greens, and baked macaroni and cheese. Save room for dessert like sweet potato pie.

This acclaimed corner restaurant takes its name seriously, specializing in sweet dessert pies—apple, pumpkin, and banana cream, to name a few—and the fried chicken thighs to eat before them. Amid vintage decor, diners enjoy Southern-style meals that include catfish, burgers, pulled pork, and, of course, fried chicken (the other parts, too). Sides and breakfast items also abide by the Southern-inspired fare, including biscuits and grits.

A Harlem mainstay, Sylvia's has been serving soul-food favorites like smothered chicken, barbecue ribs, collard greens, and mashed potatoes to a dedicated crowd of locals, tourists, and college students since 1962. Owner Sylvia Woods may have passed on in 2012, but her restaurant and signature sauces, jarred and sold online and in the restaurant, are more popular than ever. Some say it's overly touristy—as the busloads attest—but it's still worth a visit. For the best bang for your buck, come during the week for lunch special, where you can get one main and one side for only $14.