NYCGuide
14 Trendy Restaurants You Can Get Into
If you’re looking for an impressive place to get a table when you didn’t plan weeks in advance, here are some great options.
There are only a few ways to get into a trendy NYC restaurant. You can stay up all night waiting for a reservation, open your own place and hope it becomes cool, or show up to a trendy spot, put your name in, then slowly adjust to your new life in walk-in purgatory. If none of those strategies sound appealing, here’s a fourth: Go to a place on this list.
These restaurants are all trendy in the sense that they have great food and fun atmospheres—and some of them also happen to be new. They’re perfect for dates you forgot to plan or dinners with friends you need to impress, and they all seem like they’re hard to get into. But they aren’t. And that’s why they’re on this guide.
THE SPOTS
Soho isn’t really known for its dining. Balthazar and Pinch are both solid options, and you can always eat a burger and eavesdrop on some venture capitalists at Lure Fishbar—but for something more exciting, try Principe. In a bi-level space with concrete floors and an abundance of chandeliers, this place serves inventive, Italian-inspired dishes like pillowy ndunderi and scallop crudo with pistachio and sorrel. Is the food pricey? Yes, of course. You’re in Soho, where $30 tortellini is not unusual. But you’ll get some free bread with your meal, and that free bread is delicious.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
From the team behind 886, Wenwen serves inventive homestyle Taiwanese food in Greenpoint. It used to be impossible to get a table here, but thanks to our city’s abundance of openings and short attention span, reservations are now doable as long as you book a few days in advance. The setup is casual, the bathroom has a disco ball, and the portion sizes are intimidating for solo diners, so remember to invite some friends. Order the thick 886 noodles with beef shank, the pork belly and cuttlefish, and, if it’s available, the whole fried chicken.
On Saturday nights, Hav & Mar is loud with chatter, and the music has you looking for the non-existent dance floor. Marcus Samuelsson’s Chelsea restaurant is definitely buzzy, but it’s also big, occupying a large enough space that there’s always an empty table hidden in the crowd. You should definitely book in advance for a prime-time weekend table, but you can walk in on a weeknight with no problem. Even if you come when it's quieter, you’ll have a memorable meal of Ethiopian and Swedish fusion dishes like berbere-cured salmon and dawa dawa seared bass.
photo credit: Kate Previte
Steak Frites is doing French bistro classics in Hell’s Kitchen, and they're doing them very well. The room gets packed, and it stays that way until closing time, but you won’t have to wait for a table. The space here is like a movie set designed to look like a neighborhood spot in Paris, with black and white tiles, distressed gold-framed mirrors, and vintage cartoon postcards on the wall. Appropriately, the hanger steak and thin, crispy fries are great, as are the gnocchi à la parisienne and panzanella-like escargots served with baguette soaked in parsley-garlic butter sauce.
photo credit: Kate Previte
Is the food at Fanelli mind-blowing? Of course not. We wouldn’t even say it’s great. But if you need a last-minute table for a dinner with a friend who requires a scene and you’d rather not have to pay more than $30 for your dinner, swing by. This century-old tavern where Bob Dylan used to hang out has become a mingling ground for people who like to pair cowboy boots with Chanel, and there’s always a crowd loitering outside. Put your name in for a table, then eat a plate of chicken fingers.
photo credit: Emily Schindler
K’Far is an all-day Israeli cafe, bar, and full-service dinner spot from the team behind Laser Wolf, a trendy place you probably won’t get into anytime soon. Like that rooftop restaurant, K’Far is in Williamsburg’s Hoxton Hotel, so if you’re not able to get a walk-in spot at Laser Wolf, come back down to the lobby and grab a table in K’Far’s green, leafy dining room. By the time you finish the lamb tartare and grouper chraime, you’ll have completely forgotten about that other place upstairs.
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Cafe Spaghetti in Carroll Gardens is known for two things: simple, rustic Italian food and one of the best backyards in Brooklyn. If it’s warm outside, you should be sitting out there under a bright yellow umbrella, drinking a spritz while you enjoy some perfect spaghetti pomodoro. It can be tough to snag a backyard table on weekends, but weekday reservations are typically available, and you can always use the street-side dining setup as a backup plan.
Zaab Zaab is one of the best Thai restaurants in NYC, and reservations are always available. Take advantage of this, and come by any night of the week for a casual meal with a ridiculous amount of flavor. The Isan Thai food at this Elmhurst spot is packed with chilies, lemongrass, and various fresh herbs, and the whole fish stuffed with pandan is a necessary order. Get a hot pot with baby back ribs and tamarind broth to enjoy on the side.
POWERED BY
When you walk into Rebel on the corner of Stanton and Clinton, you’ll either turn around immediately because you're not sure if you're in a restaurant, or start looking for someone to charge you a cover. On any given night, there's either a live band or a DJ with rainbow globe lights going every which way. It feels like a party, but that isn't the only reason why you come here. The Haitian food—like the tender griot and Barbancourt mussels—is worth seeking out.
The Noortwyck is one of several thousand downtown spots serving agnolotti and fluke crudo, and it’s also one of the best. Bring a few folks who appreciate earth-toned banquettes and wine labels that say “Grand Cru,” then eat some precisely cooked food that’ll remind you why you still bother with seasonal American restaurants. It isn’t hard to get a reservation here, and there are a bunch of tables saved for walk-ins, so keep this place in mind for important dinners you forgot to plan.
photo credit: Kate Previte
It seems like a flashy new Korean restaurant opens every week (usually from Hand Hospitality). But don’t forget about Osamil. If you want to have a fun night out in K-Town, this gastropub on 31st Street is a great place to start. The room is dark and lively, with hanging light bulbs and big shelves stocked with books and bottles of booze. Get something from the extensive cocktail list, then order some bulgogi and Korean fried chicken for the table. Once you finish, check out the bar above the restaurant, Osamil Upstairs.
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
At Contento, the whole dining room—both staff and diners—feels connected in a way most championship-winning sports teams do. This place is known for its attentive service in addition to its Peruvian-leaning menu full of standouts. You can easily book a reservation or get a walk-in table at this East Harlem restaurant, which was built with wheelchair accessibility and the disability community in mind.
photo credit: Alex Staniloff
Let’s say you need to plan an impromptu dinner with a few out-of-towners who expect every NYC restaurant to be as majestic as the Chrysler Building. Try 53. It’s big and flashy, and it’s in Midtown, so your tourist friends can easily jet off to the Neil Diamond musical once you’re done eating. The food is “contemporary Asian,” and, with its great Hainanese chicken and sambal-covered skate, the menu covers a lot of ground. Be sure to eat some truffle soup dumplings while you take in the three-story space with rotating art installations.
The menu at Oxalis is just a sheet of white paper with lists of ingredients like roasted duck, sweet potato, fig, and yogurt. If that makes this place sound like a modernist hellscape where every plate of food consists of exactly half a bite, you should know that it isn't. The food at this Crown Heights spot is consistently excellent, and at $150, the tasting menu is less expensive than most other top-tier options in NYC. The space has an open kitchen and the plain white walls of a furniture showroom, and it’s surprisingly casual for a place serving local snails and nixtamalized bamboo.
