NYCGuide
The Restaurants & Bars Featured On "Succession," Ranked
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
If you aren’t fully caught up on Succession, first off, congratulations. It must be nice to not need to watch amoral people do unconscionable things in order to assure yourself that you’re a relatively decent person. Just keep in mind that there are spoilers ahead.
Season 4 is underway, and the stakes are higher than ever. Will all of these rich people get even richer? Or will they have to settle for extraordinary wealth? Will Roman’s hair continue to flop around in Nordic breezes? Will Alexander Skarsgård keep using Scooby Doo as a verb? Most importantly, where will everyone eat? If you want to put together a New York City Succession itinerary, here are the restaurants and bars that have been featured on the show thus far, ranked from best to merely-useful-for-clandestine-lunch-meetings.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
In the lead-up to their wedding, Connor and Willa have their rehearsal dinner at The Grill. And kudos to them. Should you have the trust fund, Major Food Group’s 1950s-inspired extravaganza is a wonderful choice for wedding festivities. The expansive Midtown space is officially landmarked, and the food is fancy, retro, and pristine. A perfect meal here would consist of the crab cake, a slice of prime rib, and a martini. (That’ll be roughly $200, please.) When the other siblings arrive, Connor mentions that Willa spent 40 minutes in the bathroom. But that’s not as absurd as it sounds. The bathrooms at The Grill are extremely nice.
After the whole debacle at The Grill, when Willa tries to convince herself and everyone else that weddings aren’t necessarily joyous occasions, Connor asks the family to go for a drink. But he doesn’t want anything fancy. He requests “somewhere fun and real,” where there are guys who have “blood in their hair.” The Roy siblings wind up at Peter McManus in Chelsea, which is an appropriate choice, although it’s less of a blood-in-the-hair type of place and more of an old-school pub where you can drink beer and watch sports. Their burger is more than decent, the tater tots are crispy, and there’s a golf arcade game in the corner for anyone who needs stimulation.
This one tracks. In Episode 1 of Season 2, a stammering, post-vehicular manslaughter Kendall meets up with Stewy and Sandi at Del Posto—which, like Le Coucou, is a downtown fine-dining establishment, not to be confused with stuffy places like Daniel or Per Se. Or, rather, was. Del Posto doesn’t exist anymore, but its, um, successor, Al Coro, is doing pretty much the same thing. Dinner at this upscale Italian restaurant in Chelsea costs between $135-$265, depending on which tasting menu you choose. The food is decadent and satisfying, and the live music is a nice (and also somewhat odd) touch.
photo credit: Le Coucou
Once again, on brand. In Season 1, Kendall has dinner with his ex at Le Coucou, which feels like a very Kendall thing to do. Le Coucou is a fine-dining spot that thinks it’s cooler than all the old French places serving prix-fixe dinners in Midtown (which it is). In that sense, it’s similar to Kendall, who wears $600 Loro Piana baseball caps in order to appear more relatable. We are, however, fans of Le Coucou. The service is some of the best in the city, the lobster au poivre is fantastic, and all the candles and chandeliers make the Soho dining room feel special and grand. You don’t have to wear a blazer here, but you should at least put on some Loro Piana.
The Mark isn’t a very stylish restaurant. It’s located in an Upper East Side hotel, it has a generic name, and it’s easy to forget that this place exists. In other words, it’s perfect for Tom, who’s seen wrapping up a solo lunch here at the beginning of Season 4. You don’t need to run to The Mark right this instant, but if you wind up at this Jean-Georges restaurant, you’ll eat some solid food that lies somewhere between New American and vaguely European, and you’ll probably see someone talking in a worried tone to their soon-to-be ex-wife on the phone.
During a breakfast meeting at Chelsea Square Restaurant, Roman makes a joke in which he suggests that the diner couldn’t possibly make an almond milk cortado. But Chelsea Square Restaurant does have almond milk, and they’d probably make you a cortado. The service at this longstanding Chelsea establishment is prompt and friendly, and there’s free wifi in case you need to do work or watch YouTube while you eat your eggs or turkey burger. There isn’t much going on here on weekday afternoons, so by all means stop by for a meeting. Near the entrance, you’ll see a bunch of headshots of esteemed celebrities, such as Erik Estrada from CHiPs, and someone who once played an uncredited factory worker on Veep.
Why is everything nicer in Tribeca? The subway station at Franklin Street has fancy terrazzo floors, and the Think Coffee location at Broadway and Leonard features banquettes, long tufted benches, and high ceilings with suspended globe lights. There are also at least five fiddle-leaf fig trees here, one of which isn’t doing so hot, but still—nice place. We can see why Stewy and Kendall had a little rendezvous at this coffee shop in Season 1. It’s no Dunkin’.
In Episode 1 of Season 4, Logan bails on his own birthday party to enjoy some downtime at what appears to be a very normal diner. But it isn’t just any normal diner. It’s Nectar, an objectively pricey UES institution that’s exactly the sort of place a billionaire would go to cosplay as a normal human. Open since 1988, Nectar is only a block from the Met, and that prime location partially explains why a plate of their chicken tenders will run you $35. Despite the prices, we like Nectar. It would be disingenuous of us to say that the food here is flavorful, but the aging dining room, with its fading upholstery and cake stands of shrink-wrapped pastries, is infinitely charming.
Here at The Infatuation, we provide restaurant suggestions for any type of scenario. Need to grab dinner with a third-tier friend? Want to break up with someone outside of your apartment? We have you covered. But so do the location scouts for Succession. In the third episode of the second season, cousin Greg meets with a writer who’s working on a biography of Logan. According to Greg, this isn’t technically a meeting, and the meeting (which isn’t a meeting) is all very hush hush. The two conduct their business at a Tribeca Italian spot called Petrarca, which is an inspired choice—not because Petrarca is an especially good restaurant, but because it’s perfect for this kind of secretive scenario. During lunch, you can easily eat here without having to sit within 10 feet of another party.
