973 Best Restaurants in New York, USA

Large picture windows look out to expansive views of Central Park South at this elegant, seafood-focused Italian eatery. No expense is spared in importing the very best of the ocean's bounty, beginning with the restaurant's signature crudo dishes. Along with the homemade pastas that helped make Marea famous, whole fish, risotto, and antipasti are fresh and delightful. The international wine cellar here is spectacular, and the daily afternoon apertivo menu offers smaller tasting options.

In the center of town, with outdoor seating out front, this casual restaurant attracts visitors and locals of all ages, lured by the aroma of sizzing fajitas wafting in the air and the sight of diners enjoying colorful pint-sized cocktails with fresh fruit (which are more expensive than most of the mains). While you may have to wait a bit for the server to take your order—the place gets pretty packed—you can munch on the complimentary chips with fresh salsa, and know that once your order is placed, the food will likely be out quickly. It's not gourmet dining, but the carnitas are quite tasty, the guacamole delicious, and with lots of affordable options, your wallet won't take a hit.

Gianni Scappin, who's been serving excellent contemporary Italian cuisine at Cucina across the river in Woodstock since 2007, recently opened a laid-back yet elegant trattoria serving Italian-American specialties in the center of Rhinebeck. Go for the Neopolitan-style pizzas cooked in the wood-burning brick oven, housemade pastas, and excellent meats including a local rib eye topped with a spicy aioli.

Five beers—two lagers, and a red, pale, and dark ale—are brewed on-site throughout the year. Each season brings one or two specialty brews. The kitchen incorporates Thai, Southwestern, Mexican, Caribbean, and Italian influences, among others, in dishes such as pork osso buco, Jamaican jerk chicken, a salmon fillet glazed with the brewery's D'Artagnan ale, coconut-battered shrimp appetizer. Sandwiches and burgers are also available. Beer suggestions accompany entrée descriptions.

From the team that brought the West Village the Little Owl comes this all-day spot, offering a menu that combines culinary elements of Japan, California, and the Mediterranean. Think hamachi crudo with Tokyo turnips and charred avocado, braised chicken cacciatore ravioli, and roasted tilefish served with forbidden rice. The bar program has a similar philosophy, shaking up classic and signature cocktails using liquor and other ingredients from Japan and the Mediterranean. 

This place combines the comfort and fun of a small-town tavern with a broad, ever-changing menu. If you're in the mood for meat, you can't go wrong with the Big Mama Burger, laden with ham, caramelized onions, and cheese on a toasted bun, and a basket of chef Matthew Lanes's hand-sliced potato chips. For a lighter meal, try a cheesy quesadilla and a cup of chunky gazpacho. Service on the deck gives you an eagle's-eye view of the hamlet.

A hickory smoke oven was imported from Louisiana to give authentic flavor to the Southern-style cooking found here. Slow cooking takes on a new meaning when meats are smoked for 4–15 hours. Hearty dishes of pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and crab cakes are served with your choice of two sides; the cheese grits and collard greens are popular.

The upscale-hacienda appearance of this justifiably popular restaurant showcases some of the best Mexican food in the city, courtesy of Mexican chef Richard Sandoval. Begin with a fresh mango margarita, then tuck into lobster corn empanadas, or the unusual octopus chicharron appetizer. Next, indulge in adobo birria (stew) made with adobo braised, tender roasted pork short rib. The daily happy hour, only at the bar and lounge, gets busy with specials on house margaritas, wines, and Mexican beers, along with tacos, nachos and other small plates. The dessert menu features its own roster of drinks, including Mexican coffee and a 1942 tequila. The bottomless brunch on weekends can get loud, but with unlimited cocktails and dishes you can see why.

Whether you're looking for drinks or an interesting meal, this always-crowded spot is the place to see and be seen in Albany. The innovative chef has put together a menu that ranges from Kobe steaks to Peking duck breast to tandoori pork tenderloin. Appetizers include yellowfin tuna and fig salad.

New York's first full-service meatball restaurant has a pedigreed chef, a professional waitstaff, a wine list, and a hip crowd. And the meatballs, oh, the meatballs: choose beef, pork, chicken, veggie, or "special" ball options that range from chili cheese to Greek lamb to Buffalo chicken; then decide if you want them served in sliders or a hero, as a salad, or as a platter.

\"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 the Jamaican oxtail, country-fried catfish, or the food-coma-inducing fried chicken and eggnog waffles with strawberry butter and maple syrup.

At the base of the Shops at Hudson Yards is this sprawling love letter to Spanish gastronomy, helmed by chef José Andrés and team. You can eat at self-serve tables; dine in full-service restaurants, Mar, Spanish Diner, or Leña; or pull up a stool at La Barra to sample delectable tapas (with vegetarian and seafood selections) and terrific wine and cocktails. The venue features fresh market (mercado) stands of produce, cheese, jamón (ham), pasteles (pastries), and more, as well as dedicated seafood and paella outposts.

A seventh-generation member of the legendary Buitoni pasta family, Franceso Buitoni serves rustic Italian cuisine that could easily be found in a country house outside Rome. The small list features house-made pasta, a savory risotto, and hearty entrées like bison braised with Super Tuscan red wine and grilled branzino served with crispy roasted potatoes. Buitoni is justly famous for his pillowy gnocchi. The bar menu features a small selection of Italian wines and beers.

Part of Alsatian superchef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's culinary empire, the celebrity-laden front room of this SoHo spot in the Mercer Hotel is as much about scene as cuisine, which isn't a bad thing since both are top of the line. Dishes here look toward Italy, using simple ingredients and pairings.

Adding to downtown’s destination-dining scene is this contemporary-American restaurant helmed by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, located on the lobby level of the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center. Its creative dinner menu reinvents, and in some cases, perfects, classic dishes with the freshest ingredients and touches from Italy, Mexico, Japan, and the Caribbean. Lunch features familiar and especially well-made dishes at good prices. Specialty cocktails read as unusual, but often are delightfully tasty, such as the toasted-sesame Manhattan. The space itself is reason enough to visit Metropolis, a serene escape with a small and comfortable bar, outdoor terrace, and spacious dining room adorned with original art, earth-tone furnishings, and undulating backlit wood ribbons across the ceiling. The restaurant also serves snacks and libations to Lobby Stage guests attending its always-free performances.

Come off Warren Street into this slice of contemporary Mexico—an outpost of Manhattan's Mexican Radio. High ceilings mean there's plenty of room for thematic art on the orange-hue walls, which are dominated by wrought-iron crucifixes and augmented by Mexican art. The cuisine is hearty, high-end Mexican; Cajun burritos filled with chorizo and shrimp and topped with jalapeno salsa, and steak and shrimp fajitas stand out. Some of the produce (like the tomatillos) is grown specially for the restaurant by local farmers.

The restaurant is part of the Beeches, an estate with a lovely manor house. The place serves top-quality Continental fare that's full of flavor and attractively presented. Rack of pork, rarely encountered on menus in these parts, is marinated and slow roasted so that it melts in your mouth. Salmon steaks are broiled and dressed with the restaurant's tasty dill sauce. The dining room, with a large fireplace and hand-painted ceiling panels, exudes 1920s style. The chandelier, crafted by Raulli Ironworks of Rome, is original.

Named after the Montréal neighborhood known for its bagels, Mile End serves takes on Jewish deli staples, the Montrealer way: with smoked meat. Hearty sandwiches include the Eli Reuben (smoked meat, corned beef) and the Lipitorminator (liver and onions with smoked meat). Diners come not just for sandwiches, but for their matzo ball soup, or the quintessential Quebecois dish, poutine.

The tiny East Village location of this combination bakery and ice-cream parlor is just steps away from the original, which began serving pastry whiz Christina Tosi's innovative treats back in 2008. Swing by for a slice of the famed "candy bar pie" (caramel, peanut-butter nougat, and pretzels atop a chocolate-cookie crust), a compost cookie (made with pretzels, potato chips, and chocolate chips), or some of the creatively flavored soft-serve ice cream (cereal milk, lemon verbena).

A hip, cozy place for pizza and small plates, this exposed brick eatery is filling the gap for wood-fired pizza in Astoria. Milkflower's origins hail from New Jersey, where owners Pete and Danny worked in their uncle's pizzeria for 10 years. They noticed there wasn't a pizza joint on their block in Astoria, and so they made the coolest one in town. Enjoy wood-fired, Neapolitan, 12-inch pies with charred crusts with playful names like “Marky Marc” and “Wu-Tang Clam.\" Pizza isn't the only thing wood-fired here; their wood-fired veggies, crab cake, and tiger prawns are ideal accompaniments.

With a hunter-green awning over the entrance, walls covered with framed hunting prints, and wood paneling that recalls a stable, this restaurant plays up the horse-country theme. The food is billed as "authentic 19th-century cooking." Everything is cooked in the wood-fired oven; the open-plan kitchen invites you to watch. The house's baked stuffed Spanish onion, a concoction of cheddar cheese and fresh vegetables, is well worth trying. Entrées are served on sizzling cast-iron platters straight from the oven.

Since 1929 a diner has sat on this spot, with the current edition, a stainless-steel boxcar version, dating from 1952. It's a great hangout for locals, who love how quickly that early-morning cup of coffee is served. Order hamburgers, french fries, BLTs, and other diner basics here.

By converting a moribund 80-year-old Italian restaurant into a cozy hot spot, restaurateur Keith McNally created yet another hit. Try early and often to score reservations, so that you can sample creations like truffle-spiked roasted chicken breast, bone marrow on toast, expertly aged steaks, and the celebrated Black Label burger, a gorgeous assembly of meat with caramelized onions and an added layer of cheese. The barroom, with its original details intact, is great for people-watching. Landing a table in the back room, with its original mural depicting West Village life and wall-to-wall photos of famous and infamous customers from eras gone by, makes sweet-talking the reservationist a worthy endeavor.