NYCGuide
Where To Get A Thanksgiving Dinner In NYC
Where to grab some food on Thanksgiving if you aren’t doing the cooking thing this year.
Have you suddenly found yourself planning to stay in NYC for Thanksgiving? Are you unskilled in the kitchen and/or lacking anyone willing or able to host you? Is your family coming into town and expecting you to plan the entire meal?
Things could be worse. You live in the greatest food city in the world, and a lot of great restaurants will be open on Thanksgiving. Whether you’re looking for the perfect spot for you and one other person or trying to find a place to go with a group of eight, follow this guide (just updated for Thanksgiving 2022) and you’ll end up with a memorable, not-sad dinner.
THE SPOTS
Zaytinya looks more like a seaside resort than an autumnal postcard, but if you need your holiday to feel more like a relaxing getaway than a chaotic homecoming, get a table at this José Andrés restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton. Make your reservations here for a three-course meal complete with turkey, butternut squash gnocchi, bacon cheddar cornbread, and a ton of sides for $125 per person.
Koloman already does an amazing, dry-aged whole roasted chicken that makes every dinner here feel like a special occasion, so we’re pretty sure their slow-roasted turkey with croissant stuffing is going to put many of the home-cooked turkeys in the tristate area to shame. Come for the turkey, and leave singing songs from The Sound of Music with your entire family after you have the Viennese apple strudel for dessert. The three-course meal costs $145 per person, and reservations can be made on OpenTable.
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From November 21st to 27th, both locations of Quality Eats are hosting “Franksgiving.” That might sound like something Danny DeVito’s character would invent in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but it actually involves turkey hot dogs with cranberry sauce and turkey gravy disco fries. If the special Franksgiving offerings at Quality Eats don’t appeal to you, you can still get any of the great steaks from the regular menu (or pop over to Quality Italian instead to try the Thanksgiving Parm).
The Thanksgiving dinner menu at Korean-French restaurant Soogil reads like it was made for the character in every holiday movie who comes back to their small town with big city taste. It’s a mashup of Korean, French, and traditional American Thanksgiving food, and your entree options include both a turkey roulade with foie gras and an uni bowl. The menu is $145 per person with an optional wine pairing for $94. Thanksgiving reservations are available 12pm–4pm and 5pm-11pm.
We don’t know that any Venetians will be sitting around a turkey saying "Thanks" this month, but we do know they do fabulous things with duck, so we fully support Ci Siamo’s Venetian-inspired Thanksgiving plans. Duck will make an appearance, as will prosciutto wrapped turkey and some of Ci Siamo’s signature dishes. The three-course menu costs $138 per person.
Considering how warm November has been, Thanksgiving by the sea is looking pretty appealing. Whether it actually stays warm or you end up having the sort of broody, overcast seaside family holiday you see in Noah Baumbach films, spend your Thanksgiving at Margie’s at the Rockaway Hotel. This restaurant has a big, bright kid-friendly dining room with nautical tones and a beautiful bar. They’re doing Thanksgiving dinner all day with a prix-fixe menu that costs $55 per person and $25 for children (12 and under).
Miss Lily’s is fun for the whole family, especially if your family is made up entirely of Instagram-obsessed urban skateboarders. And if you’re staying in the city for the holiday, that may very well be an accurate description of your Friendsgiving crew. Bring a group and enjoy slow-roasted jerk turkey and all the fixings for $54 per person at Miss Lily’s East Village location.
If there’s one spot on this list that’s totally in tune with harvest season, it’s Olmstead. They take their seasonal produce seriously enough to host a Thanksgiving feast “inspired by the Farmer’s Market.” Have some turkey, duck, pumpkin, and vegetables in the homey space covered in leafy plants and you’ll feel like you’re having Thanksgiving at someone’s family farm. A prix-fixe dinner costs $145 per person (not including the optional wine pairing), and kids are welcome for $45 each.
Consuming turkey isn’t just an American pastime. The bird makes an appearance on tables in Isan too, and you can try two Isan-inspired takes on turkey at Zaab Zaab’s Northeastern Thai Style Thanksgiving. They're serving up roast turkey stuffed with Thai herbs and a special version of larb ped U-don made with turkey instead of duck. Both will be available as à la carte items on Thanksgiving.
If you require a big, fancy space for your celebration this year, head to Legacy Records in Hudson Yards. The restaurant is huge, with leathered-topped tables and a horseshoe bar that looks like it belongs on a 100-foot yacht. For $110 per person, you'll get roasted turkey, black bass, sides, and pies. Seatings are 12pm-6pm.
Glasserie is doing their 10th annual Thanksgiving feast from 2-9pm. This upscale Mediterranean spot is a Greenpoint staple that’s been quietly serving some of the best food in the neighborhood for years. Come by the attractive industrial space for roast turkey (or the vegetarian maitaki mushroom option), crispy yams with duqqa, vegetable sides, and a bunch of dessert options. It’ll cost you $98 per person.
Sure, you always made a hand turkey in school and never a hand capon, but the whole roasted capon on Le Crocodile’s Thanksgiving menu sounds pretty good. Their $135 prix-fixe menu also includes things like halibut with chestnuts and butternut squash soup with lentils and truffle. Seatings start at 1pm.
Daniel is your best choice for a more formal white-tablecloth Thanksgiving dinner. You’ll pay fine-dining prices—the three-course prix-fixe starts at $295 per person—but you’ll also eat somewhere with old school New York vibes and food that lives up to the classic establishment’s reputation. There won't be any turkey, but they will have king salmon, wood-smoked hamachi, and pork ribeye for mains.
This cozy Italian restaurant has all the wood panels and picture frames you’ll need to feel like you’re in someone’s home, not to mention a piano in one corner decked out with colorful wine bottles on top. It’s a great spot for a Thanksgiving dinner with visiting parents or a few friends. Your four-course family-style meal will start with a squash pinsa, followed by antipasti, pasta, meat, and desserts for $99 per person.
Le Gratin’s menu for the holiday can be accurately described as “Thanksgiving, kind of,” with roasted turkey and pumpkin custard alongside the Lyonnais specialties this restaurant is known for. The mirrored room feels more like a Parisian bistro than an All-American establishment anyway, so plan a dinner here if you want to eat escargots and potato gratin instead of cranberry sauce and cornbread stuffing. The three course prix-fixe menu starts at $115 per person.
If you choose to plant yourself in one of the leather booths at the Noortwyck this Thanksgiving, you can expect an à la carte menu with traditional turkey-centric options interspersed with small plates featuring foie gras, caviar, and truffle. But this isn't a stuffy fine-dining situation—it's just a nice, cool place to eat an elevated Thanksgiving meal with pies from One White Street’s former pastry chef.
The Smith is simultaneously one of the city's most useful and forgettable restaurant chains, but if you find yourself in sudden need of somewhere to gather a group for Thanksgiving, they’ve got you covered. Every location of the Smith will be serving a three-course prix-fixe meal that should be satisfactory for all involved. For those who want turkey, there are three different options. Turkey not your thing? There’s also rigatoni, salmon, and short-rib. The cost is $75 per person, and snacks and raw bar are available à la carte.
