NYCGuide

The Most Fun Dinner Spots In NYC

A night out at one of these restaurants will never be boring.
A table at Sappe.

photo credit: Sappe

Those seeking a polite meal, click away now. This guide is reserved for anyone who’s wondering, “Where’s the place to be?” and might have a penchant for mid-dinner photoshoots and post-dinner bar hopping. Chairs aren’t just for sitting in some of these restaurants and, while food is important, a good time takes priority. 

These spots aren’t necessarily servers belting Broadway tunes kind of fun (although we will be checking out Ellen’s Stardust Diner soon, so stay tuned). No, they range from old-school spots having Y2K-related moments, to hot and viral new spots where you can pretend you have a lot of money, and spend it very liberally. They’re the “it” dinner places in NYC. And if you happen to be looking for some fun bars, we have a guide to those too.

THE SPOTS

photo credit: Pratya Jankong

Thai

West Village

$$$$Perfect For:Big GroupsDrinking Good CocktailsCorporate Cards
RESERVE A TABLE

POWERED BY

SevenRooms logo
Earn 3x points with your sapphire card

Sappe, a Thai restaurant from the Soothr team, makes a regular evening feel like a movie premiere. You’ll pass under a bright yellow theater marquee, and, once you take your seat and see the mirror on the ceiling above you, realize it’s not Nicole Kidman up on that giant silver expanse: it’s you and your besties crushing some cocktails. The neon writing on the walls is perfect lighting for your glam shot, and the drinks are not only potent, they’re also inspired by famous women from Thai films and novels. The food at this West Village spot is excellent too: eat some skewers and a spicy fruit salad, and don’t skip the lek klua pla ra: stir-fried noodles served hot with pork rinds.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

RESERVE A TABLE

POWERED BY

SevenRooms logo

Jean’s has clubstaurant coursing through its veins. There's one big difference, though—the food at this palatial, two-floor restaurant in Noho is actually good. Upstairs, they serve produce from their very own farm, and downstairs, there’s a disco ball in a dark red room that once hosted Snoop Dogg and regularly hosts amateur East Village-based DJs. Eat a juicy burger next to someone who has 129k followers and wears sunglasses indoors. Take a shot of lobster bisque and ask yourself whether that's Gigi Hadid across the room. It’s sceney. It’s mysterious. It's a one-stop-shop for the sexiest night of your life.

If you show up to Bernie’s at 5:30pm on a weeknight (when it usually doesn’t have a line, by the way), you’ll probably see at least one Williamsburg-born five-year-old celebrating their birthday with an ice cream sundae. And even at 8pm, when that kid is almost certainly asleep and dreaming of ice cream, there are still sundaes on every checkered tablecloth at this spot on the edge of McCarren Park. Slide into one of the leather booths with friends who also want to eat transcendent mozzarella sticks at the fancified TGI Fridays, and pair your fried cheese with an extra cold martini. Sing someone happy birthday. Ask for crayons, if they’re not on your table already.

In the short but extremely well-documented evolution of Dimes Square, there are the newcomers (Casino, Le Dive) and the classics (Dimes, Kiki’s). And long after people have moved on to create a new “microneighborhood” elsewhere, Kiki’s will still be here: the perfect fried cheese and tzatziki-eating destination before a night out on the Lower East Side. This Greek spot is cavernous, just the right level of loud, and it upholds the age-old tradition of serving house wine. On a weekend night, there’s going to be a line out the door, and an hour wait at the very least. Put your name down and go grab a $15 glass of skin contact wine at Le Dive first—it’ll make the $26 liter of house red at Kiki’s taste even better.

photo credit: David A. Lee

Tatiana at Lincoln Center is an Afro-Caribbean love letter to New York City, and one of our top-rated restaurants. It’s almost impossible to get a table, but once you do, you’ll feel like you’ve gained access to the city’s hottest club, circa 1999. Chain-link curtains and tiles that look like asphalt oil slicks echo the throwback hip hop and R&B playlist, and you’ll have fun trying to talk over the music to dissect all the menu’s references too. Everything is exceptional, but get the short rib pastrami suya, braised oxtails, or both—and definitely ask them about the off-menu jello shots.

An interactive dinner situation like hot pot tends to be a shoe-in for a good time with a group. But what if your sauce bar was also next to an old timey water mill, or you ate your spicy tripe in a grass hut? Decked out like a rural Chinese village, Chong Qing Lao Zao is the Disneyland of Flushing’s hot pot restaurants, with hidden alleyways, mock Maoist propaganda, and even fake chickens. Despite being three-stories, this place stays packed, and there’s always a wait. For the full experience, wait the extra few minutes for a private hut or tatami seating.

At Enzo’s, nobody will give you a dirty look if you drunk-laugh too loudly. This old school Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue is for big groups who want to consume a boatload of wine and argue over which pasta shapes to order. (The answer is bucatini alla carbonara and cavatelli with broccoli rabe.) With four big dining rooms, the place always feels packed but always has room, and you can still hear uptempo Sinatra numbers over the noise. Go ahead, get another bottle. These servers have seen everything.

photo credit: Kate Previte

$$$$Perfect For:Big Groups

Port Sa’id feels like a party, but not the kind that you want to leave after five minutes. The Hudson Square restaurant is big enough to house a private jet, and it’s filled with tables covered in brown butcher paper, with a DJ in the back flanked by speakers the size of industrial refrigerators. On the menu, you’ll find a bunch of vegetable-forward Israeli dishes like beet carpaccio, schug-topped hummus, and a salad with olive oil-soaked chunks of bread, most of which cost less than $20. Bring a group, and split a bunch of things.

In the world of East Village restaurants, Superiority Burger is what we’d call a “chaotic good” character. The walls are covered in photos of everything from Taki 183’s graffiti to Dock Ellis' acid-fueled no-hitter. In the bathroom, audio clips switch every 15 seconds from old commercials to episodes of The Dating Game. There is a real soda fountain. They also make vegan burgers and space-age desserts, and have a fan club that borders on cultish. They also do a late night menu from 11pm to 2am Thursday through Saturday.

If you want dinner to feel like an activity but you don’t want to go to one of those places where you paint while you eat because you’re afraid that your art won’t be appreciated in your lifetime, go to Astoria Seafood. Part fish market, part restaurant, this place is an interactive experience where you choose your food from a seafood display then tell the kitchen how you’d like it cooked. Want exactly eight grilled shrimp, three squid, and one fried snapper? Not a problem. Don’t forget to BYOB, and be sure to show up early to avoid waiting for a table.

Sometimes, you go to a pricey restaurant, spend a bunch of money, then wonder if you should have just hidden all that cash in a sock underneath your bed instead. That won’t happen at Torrisi. From the folks behind Carbone, this Nolita restaurant serves inventive Italian-ish food in a cavernous space populated by servers in dinner jackets and, occasionally, Grammy nominees. It’ll take some strategizing, but try to snag a big booth in the back for your big night out. Order the rotisserie lamb, drink a martini, and get the affogato sundae for dessert.

There’s a good chance you’ll end up on the dance floor at some point during your night at Miss Lily’s 7A. You might be sitting at a booth in the colorful East Village Caribbean spot eating jerk chicken and fish tacos, or standing next to your table drinking piña coladas when the dancehall and rockers blasting through the speakers finally inspire you to join everyone under the disco ball. Before fully committing, we recommend getting one more order of cod fish fritters. They’ll help soak up the sneaky amount of rum in the cocktails.

photo credit: Kate Previte

$$$$Perfect For:VegansVegetarians

Even though we regularly put fish eggs on bagels now (cough, Russ & Daughters), caviar is still kinda supposed to make you feel fancy. Even if it's vegan caviar, like the version made of black seaweed at Anixi, a completely plant-based Mediterranean restaurant in Chelsea. White marble, green suede, and a blinding amount of crystal set the tone for a fantastic meal consisting of huge chick’n skewers, “tuna” tartare, and “lamb” cigars. Show up to the chandelier-studded dining room in your best faux fur, ready for a big night out.

If you need excessive amounts of fun but just have about an hour, book a counter spot for the $99 omakase at Sushi on Me in Jackson Heights. With a disco ball on the ceiling, a Radiohead poster, and a neon sign that says “Enjoy Your Fucking Dinner,” this speakeasy-ish spot leans into slacker cool. But it’s actually a highly choreographed performance, from the “Hooked on a Feeling” ooga chuggas that drop as you slurp your first oyster, to the “smoked” salmon that you’ll half-inhale as the staff sing along to “Because I Got High”. Your sake glass will never be empty, but if you need the party to go on a little longer, head to Upstairs Cocktail Bar next-door for a nightcap.

Unless you book a full month in advance, it’s hard to get a table at Raoul’s. But don’t worry about that. The bar at this classic Soho bistro is walk-in-only, and it’s a great place to mingle with people who probably shouldn’t have ordered that last martini. You might bump into someone who recently gave an interview to GQ, or you might just end up listening to a stranger’s life story while you enjoy some garlicky escargots. The peppercorn-crusted burger is the best thing here, but if it’s not available, the steak au poivre is another great choice.

As the big marquee inside Potluck Club proudly states, you're “here for a good time, not a long time.” From the moment you enter, you know there’s something different happening here. Is it a bar, a lounge, a restaurant, the concessions section of an imaginary movie theater? This place is large, pleasantly noisy, and serves food that’s a nostalgic love letter to Chinatown, like fried chicken with scallion biscuits and chili crisp jam. The one thing keeping it from turning into a true rager is that there’s no hard liquor, just wine and beer. But they do have dole whip for dessert. How fun is that?

The Southern food—like fried chicken and cornbread—at Red Rooster is good. But that’s not why you come here. You come to Red Rooster because few other NYC restaurants feel as alive as this one. The bar area is always mobbed, the DJ spins funk and soul tunes, and people generally appear to be having a blast. On a warm evening, try and get a seat outside. That stretch of Malcolm X Blvd. is basically a block party every weekend.

At most fun restaurants, it’s booze or music that amp up the party atmosphere. At Shukette in Chelsea, it’s bread. The star of the “Rip This” section of this Middle Eastern restaurant’s menu is the frena, coming in hot from the oven at the center of an open kitchen. But all the other breads are great too, and dipping them into a variety of tangy dips with a couple of friends is a guaranteed good time. Reserve a counter seat so you can watch the rapid production of pitas, kebabs, and other grilled meats in front of you, while basking in the direct heat of the fire. Cool down with some tahini soft serve—if you have any room left after all those glorious carbs.

Well, we’re just going to get really honest here for a moment: we went to Xi Yue Seafood Hot Pot for a team holiday dinner, we mixed tequila from a nearby liquor store with grape soda (you can BYOB for a fee of $30), we dunked every type of seafood, and meat, imaginable into bubbling spicy broth, and then we all sang a questionable rendition of JoJo’s “Too Little Too Late.” If this sounds fun to you—and we don’t blame you if it doesn’t—make a plan to come to this bi-level restaurant in Sunset Park. Bring a big group, and for $60 each, you can do all-you-can-eat seafood hot pot in a private room, and make memories you will never forget. For better or for worse.

Chase Sapphire Card Ad

Suggested Reading

The Hit List: New NYC Restaurants To Try Right Now image

The Hit List: New NYC Restaurants To Try Right Now

We checked out these new restaurants—and loved them.

A big spread of Italian dishes, including duck, fennel salad, pasta, and prosciutto.

Meet our 25 highest-rated restaurants.

Several people dancing in a disco-ball lit bar with a smoke machine

Call them what you want. Happening. Cool. Busy. Lit. These are the most fun bars in NYC right now.

Where To Go When You Want Dinner To Feel Like A Party image

When you want dinner to feel less like the pre-party and more like the party itself, check out one of these 11 spots.

Infatuation Logo

Company

2024 © The Infatuation Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FIND PLACES ON OUR APP

Get it on Google PlayDownload on the App Store