NYCGuide
The Top "RHONY" Restaurants For Housewife-Worthy Hangs, Ranked
photo credit: Gabe Bergado
You might think The Real Housewives of New York is a show about women starting drama with their friends just so Bravo-heads have something to watch on Sunday nights. But in a city like New York, where getting the group to hang out face-to-face usually involves making a dinner reservation, the rebooted RHONY is really a show about restaurants.
Some of this cast's most entertaining conflicts have revolved around the fear of being seen at a certain Meatpacking spot, whether or not Tribeca is “up and coming,” and, in a throwback to 2018, avocado toast. While we’ve steered clear of catered caviar controversies and date-night spots, these are our top picks for restaurants featured on RHONY this season, ranked in order of how suitable they are for gossiping, plotting, and Housewife-worthy group hangs.
THE SPOTS
Swingers in Nomad is perfect for adult children who want to spend an evening drinking good cocktails and playing a little putt-putt. It’s also where tensions between fashion publicist Jessel and full-time influencer Sai came to a head—resulting in a blow-up in the birdcage-like booth. Swingers has plenty of private nooks for side conversations about a “friend’s” marriage and the like, and if you’re fuming after a few reckless accusations get thrown your way, focus your anger by trying to land a hole-in-one past a revolving windmill. Order up a spritz, waffle fries, and some beef with your group, before teeing off in true RHONY fashion.
photo credit: Gabe Bergado
#2
With its perfectly seasoned keftedes and highly sippable Greek vermouth, this restaurant on the northwestern edge of Tribeca would be ideal for a power-meeting about launching your own line of fake eyelashes or Bravolebrity booze. Instead, it became the backdrop for the season’s best NYC moment: when Jessel called Tribeca an up-and-coming neighborhood, deeply offending Erin, the real estate agent who lives there. In Jessel’s defense, Greca is on a quieter street. Being a little out-of-the-way makes this spot perfect for sharing some tzatziki while talking smack about the quality of the wine at a friend’s party, or bickering about NYC neighborhoods while sitting in one of its most expensive zip codes.
#3
It’s unclear why Manhattan-based Jessel showed up more than 40 minutes late to a lunch she planned with Sai. After all, this corner spot in Nolita is within walking distance of about twelve subway lines. OK, we know the answer. Jessel definitely doesn’t take the subway. The champagne flights and two dozen bubblies by the bottle at Champers make it a good choice for any Housewife hang that might devolve into a classic drink-throwing session. If the champagne-fuelled drama gets to that point, your splash zone will include tourists in a post-shopping daze who are just trying to enjoy the excellent bread pudding french toast. (But we absolutely do not condone projectile beverages, even if out-of-towners wearing their special occasion crocs might appreciate the excitement.)
This restaurant launched a thousand bleeps in the RHONY premiere, when Sai and comms consultant Brynn ditched a group reservation because they refused to be seen at this Meatpacking seafood spot that moonlights as a club. Nowadays this early ’10s watering hole for models is more likely to be full of business meetings, tourists, and even some strollers during dinner hours. But, as Erin pointed out, there are always reservations available. And drinks like the Jalepeño Tequila-Yuzu Kali make it easy to start dropping other people’s secrets. Still, if a classic Housewives-style verbal altercation goes down at Catch, we’re pretty sure the next table would just think they’re trying to be be louder than MGMT’s “Kids” blasting over the speakers—which kind of takes the fun out of it.
There’s a quick scene at Pastrami Queen in which model/hot sauce entrepreneur Ubah enjoys, not pastrami, but a pickle and a hot dog. Nothing about this classic uptown deli (with multiple locations) screams Housewives, and a group of women fighting over being called “cackling hags” would feel quite out of place in one of its deep booths. We suspect this is Ubah’s sanctuary to steer clear of dramas—like the big to-do over Erin’s charcuterie board. The only gossip you'll run into here is the neighborhood curmudgeon reading the Times. Like Ubah, keep this spot, with its juicy, Bourdain-endorsed “real deal pastrami sandwich” to yourself, and off the group-hang calendar.
photo credit: Alex Staniloff
With burlesque dancers and a high concentration of Feeld users, Henrietta Hudson is one of the best queer bars in the city, which means there’s already lots of gossiping and fooling around happening here on the reg. But the Housewives kept their drama to a minimum here, and we appreciate that RHONY showcased the popular lesbian bar while keeping things light and fun. Watching Brynn wingwomaning for former J.Crew exec Jenna by flirting with everyone within a two-foot radius was some of the least Housewife-like behavior this season. (But it’s exactly the kind of thing we’d like to see more of in the next one.)
Brynn and Sai ditched Catch to go to Casa Cipriani, and at the end of the season, this establishment also hosted a “circle of trust” gossip session about Ubah’s mysterious boyfriend. But the private members hotel in Fidi is far more tight-lipped than the Housewives who go there. Our emails asking if we could stop by for a martini at the bar went unanswered, and when we showed up, fully suited, we were allowed only as far as the lobby. When one woman walked past the front desk without checking in, a staffer ran after her quicker than you can say “Casa Cipriani membership is $3,900 a year with a $2,000 activation fee.” So while we can’t say for sure how appropriate this spot is for peak Housewivery, we’d extrapolate that it’s not that great—the only people who’d be here are exactly the ones you don’t want to overhear your conversation.
