NYCGuide
The Best Restaurants In Chelsea
photo credit: Kate Previte
We hear the Google office at 14th and 9th has a nice cafeteria, and we’re pretty sure the people at the Hermes store on Greenwich Street will throw rotten fruit at you if you stand too close to the windows. But if you’d prefer an easier way to find food in Chelsea, use this list for tacos, ramen, and more. Looking for a quick lunch? There are also a few great food halls in the area, like Market 57, Olly Olly, and the single most worthwhile tourist trap in NYC, Chelsea Market.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Alex Staniloff
Café Chelsea provides everything you expect from a restaurant in the bottom of a historically sceney hotel. A French bistro with two dining rooms and a lively bar area featuring upholstered booths and plenty of mirrors, it’s the kind of place where you can grab a nice meal with out-of-towners, or a friend who invests in art. The steak frites and shrimp cocktail will get the job done while you eavesdrop on locals discussing their rent-stabilized apartments, and you can also stop by for lunch, or in the morning for some boozy brioche french toast.
You could have a great meal consisting solely of Shukette’s breads, but the entrees here are worth prioritizing, especially if you come with a few other people. The next time you're planning a group dinner, book a table at this spot from the people behind Shuka, and order the “Fish In A Cage” and joojeh chicken for the table. The narrow dining room is always packed with people going to town on various Levantine dishes, so be sure to make a reservation a few weeks in advance.
Hav & Mar is a seafood restaurant in Chelsea from Marcus Samuelsson. The name reflects Samuelsson's Ethiopian and Swedish roots ("hav" means ocean in Swedish, while "mar" means honey in Amharic), and the menu pulls from both countries with a range of other influences. For a handy tutorial on what to expect, start your meal with the “Swediopian,” a a plate of berbere-cured salmon topped with sour buckthorn and a tangy mustard seed caviar. Bring a group, and enjoy an impressive meal in the industrial dining room with minimalist wood paneling and colorful patchwork mermaids on the walls.
Your server at Txikito will tell you about a suckling pig special. Available for over a decade now, it should probably just be on the regular menu—either way, you should order it. Tikito opened in 2008, closed for a few years during the pandemic, then returned in 2022 in the same strip mall-esque location on 9th Ave, outfitted with schoolhouse chairs. The Basque menu is as inventive as ever, with dishes like a Japanese sausage pintxo and boquerones accented with citrusy rau ram. Dinner here can get pricey fast, but this is a great place to bring a small group for Spanish wine and a few interesting bites.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
You've probably heard of Los Tacos No. 1. There are currently five locations around the city, but the original is in Chelsea Market, and it tends to stay busy—because this place serves some of the best tacos in the city. There are a few options to choose from (including a vegetarian one), and we tend to gravitate toward the adobada. No matter what you get, it'll come on a fresh, springy, housemade tortilla. There's no seating at this counter-service stand, but you can always hunt around for a table in the market.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
This Mexican seafood spot is from people behind Los Tacos No. 1., and it's just as good. Their crispy fish taco easily ranks in the city's top five, and the cold, tangy aguachiles are exactly what you need on a hot summer day. Unlike Los Tacos, Los Mariscos isn't actually inside of Chelsea Market (it's sort of tucked to the side), and it has a bar and some tables where you can hang out.
photo credit: Kate Previte
When you need to eat plant-based food beneath the sort of sparkly chandelier an ‘80s stockbroker would have placed in their foyer, grab a table at Anixi. A vegan Mediterranean restaurant from the team behind Coletta and Beyond Sushi, this is a glamorous place with white marble, green suede, and a menu that’s just as over-the-top as the decor. Try some caviar (made from seaweed), or grab a plate of faux-squid ink linguine with mushroom “scallops.” Keep in mind, everything here is also kosher and gluten-free.
If the thought of sitting through another predictable mid-range sushi omakase makes you feel bored, a visit to The Oval at La Devozione might be in order. This Chelsea Market pasta bar serves a pasta tasting menu that’s prepared inches away from where you sit. The experience—which costs between $125-$195, depending on which tasting menu you choose—is just as much entertainment as it is an exercise in consuming carbohydrates. If you don’t want to go all-in on a tasting, you can order à la carte in the more casual “A Tavola” section, or grab an order of spaghetti to go.
At Dil-e Punjab Deli, a tiny Indian counter-service spot on 9th Ave, your options are presented on a steam table in six metal trays. For about $10, you can get three items scooped into a box, or you can go for a smaller order for $6. All of the food here is vegetarian and mostly vegan, and, while the dishes rotate daily, you can expect things like mildly sweet aloo gobi and rich, moss green sarson ka saag that pairs perfectly with rice and roti. Take your food to go, or eat at the little counter under the shelves stacked with cans of beans and bags of lentils.
photo credit: Skirt Steak
Skirt Steak’s concept is pretty simple: Make people wait in line, and then reward them with steak, peppercorn béarnaise, and unlimited fries. This place has had its moment on TikTok, so, unsurprisingly, the line to get in can get pretty long. (You might have to wait an hour on Sixth Avenue.) But if you’re at least a little bit curious about an unabashedly-gimmicky restaurant with a $45 prix-fixe deal, you’ll love it here. The food is not only edible, it’s pretty freakin’ good, and the room looks like a big barn where you could throw a nice wedding.
If you’re in Chelsea and find yourself in need of dim sum, Hey Yuet is a great option. There aren’t any carts here, but the casual dining room, which is decorated with antique clocks and other vintage trinkets, is a nice place to sit with a small group and enjoy some quality Cantonese food. Try the deep-fried har gow, fluffy pork buns, and crispy walnut shrimp with just the right amount of mayo (i.e., a lot).
photo credit: Qanoon Restaurant
At Qanoon, you’ll eat beautifully plated mounds of makloubeh and mahshi in a cozy townhouse with a rotating playlist of Middle Eastern artists. This is one of the few Palestinian restaurants in Manhattan, and it should be your go-to spot on the island for Palestinian home cooking with generous amounts of olive oil. We especially like the musakhan, also known as sumac chicken, which sits on top of a pita and transforms it into an unforgettable piece of bread soaked in the chicken’s juices.
Life is a popularity contest, and this place wins. Cookshop is a neighborhood staple that’s good for a lot of situations: dinner with parents, lunch with your boss, brunch with friends, etc. Service is friendly, the space is bright and lined with plants, and there’s a patio for those two weeks in May and September when being outside isn’t the worst. When you can't decide where to go in the neighborhood, just come here and eat a little gem salad, a plate of roast chicken, or a pizza topped with some kind of seasonal vegetable.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Motel Morris is a great-looking restaurant with dark blue walls and velvet banquettes, and their menu is exactly what you'd expect to find at a New American-inspired place that worked with an interior designer. They serve stuff like roasted chicken, heirloom carrots, and salmon with charred broccolini, and you can pretty much always get a reservation. Stop by whenever you need a nice last-minute spot that isn't too stuffy. The cocktails are great, and the bathroom has a fun pink color scheme.
Chelsea Market has better lunch options than most food halls, and Miznon is one of the best spots here. It’s a small chain that originated in Tel Aviv and now has locations in cities like Paris and Vienna, and they specialize in pitas filled with steak, lamb, and mushrooms. You can also get other things like a whole roasted head of cauliflower, which comes out slightly charred and covered in olive oil. This spot is counter-service, but there are a few tables and bar seats where you can hang out and eat.
There used to be a lot of tapas places in Chelsea, but Tia Pol is one of the few good options remaining. This place is long, dark, and casual, and it's perfect for a date night when you want to pick at some fried chickpeas and gambas al ajillo while you attempt to make small talk. On weekdays from 3-6pm, there's a Happy Hour with discounted wine, cocktails, and snacks.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
At Jun-Men, you can get some traditional ramen, or you can eat a dish that amounts to an uni carbonara. It’s a brothless bowl of noodles with sea urchin, pancetta, parmesan, and truffle oil—and it’s for people who would put uni in their cereal if the world would let them. We’re partial to the pork-bone ramen, and we wouldn’t not eat their fried chicken or BBQ pork buns. For a quick, casual meal in Chelsea, this is an excellent option.
