NYCGuide
Where To Eat Outside Past 11pm In NYC
After months of eating meal after meal on the same wine-stained cushion, going out to dinner right now can feel like a pretty big deal. And as with most big deals, excluding childhood dance recitals and the Yahoo-Tumblr merger, you might not want it to end. While that’s complicated by the 11pm deadline for places operating under the Open Restaurants Program, some spots, including the 16 on this guide, are staying open later by utilizing their own private outdoor spaces.
If you’re just looking for a midnight slice of pizza or platter of fried chicken, and would rather not leave your apartment, check out our Late-Night Delivery Guide. And if you know any places staying open late that we’ve missed here, please let us know at nyc@theinfatuation.com.
The Spots
The Commodore isn’t exactly as you remember it. There are no last-call lights to “boo” at, and there’s no dancefloor to slide across as your friends pretend not to know you. But considering this Williamsburg spot still has frozen pina coladas and tequila banderas, those are sacrifices you should be more than happy to make. Stop by any day until midnight, and make sure to order a fried chicken sandwich.
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
There’s a difference between late-night on a weekday versus a weekend. While a beer and fried chicken sandwich might suffice on Tuesday, Saturday may require a burger topped with jerk fries and jerk mayo followed by milkshakes and frosé. Harlem Shake understands this, and offers all of it until 11pm during the week and 2am on weekends.
Berry Park is a rooftop for people who don’t like rooftops. It’s spacious with lots of seating, it’s never hard to get a drink, and for every person wearing Christian Dior, there tend to be just as many wearing Christian Pulisic jerseys who watched a match downstairs or played in one across the street in McCarren Park. And as it’s table-service-only right now, it’s even more low-key, which you can take advantage of by drinking frozen cocktails overlooking the Manhattan skyline until midnight or later Thursday through Saturday.
With a huge outdoor space filled with trees, dogs, and picnic tables, Nowadays feels a bit like a park. But instead of cold cuts, water bottles of pinot grigio, and aggressive rollerbladers, you’ll find fried chicken sandwiches and spicy margaritas. And rather than a “park closes at dark” sign, this Ridgewood spot has illuminated signs and hanging lights that stay on until midnight during the week and 2am on weekends.
Whether there are a ton of separation anxiety-riddled dog parents out there, or everyone just uses the same excuse to end dates early, The Springs is here to help the former and embarrass the latter. This Greenpoint bar, which has a massive, dog-friendly outdoor space, serves boilermakers and boozy slushy pitchers until 11pm during the week and 1am on weekends.
Asking if “swanimal fries” covered in melted cheese and caramelized onions would taste great when you’re sober is like asking what it’s like beyond the event horizon of a black hole. There’s just no way to know. Prove us wrong, or don’t, and pair those fries with some of the 20+ draft beers available at this English pub in Bed-Stuy, which offers outdoor seating until midnight every day.
Asking people their name and the date is one way to get a baseline for a lie detector test. Another is to ask if they’re a fan of great pasta and Italian wine. Anything besides a “yes” and a flat line would show that they’re clearly hiding something, and anything besides those results when asked specifically about Frank would be as good as a confession of guilt. Not only does this East Village spot serve fantastic orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage, but they also have a wine program that allows you to choose any bottle on the list, and only pay for what you drink, whether it’s a half-glass or 90% of the bottle.
When you find yourself in Coney Island after dark, you could reenact scenes from Adventureland or Zombieland, or ponder the fact that Jesse Eisenberg starred in both. Or you could head to Footprints Cafe. This Caribbean spot, which also has locations in Flatbush and East Flatbush, serves dishes like codfish cakes and curried goat, as well as colorful cocktails topped with slices of pineapple until midnight during the week and 2am on weekends.
We could start listing reasons you may feel like hovering your face over a steaming bowl of soup at 11pm, but to keep us from asking our engineers to build an infinite scroll function, we’ll just say “2020.” Whatever the reason, head to Up Thai on the Upper East Side, and order the kao soy or any of the rich, spicy curries until 10:30pm during the week or 11:30pm on weekends.
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The good news is Patricia’s has most of the key late-night food groups - from pizza and chicken parm to rigatoni alla vodka and cannolis - available until 11pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends. The bad news is the menu at this classic Italian-American spot in Morris Park is very long, and without some impressive willpower, you’re going to end up eating leftover fettuccine alfredo and four-cheese pizza for days, which actually doesn’t sound too bad at all.
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With string lights hanging over umbrella-covered picnic tables and turf floors, Freehold’s big backyard is so nice that we’d happily hang out there even if they only served blue drinks. Fortunately, that’s not a decision you’ll be faced with, as the drink menu at this Williamsburg bar ranges from excellent cocktails to large-format margaritas to 11-ounce pours of malbec for $12.
The burritos at Maya Taqueria are approximately the size of 1980s car phones. You certainly won’t need to order anything else, but you won’t complain about having a few churros afterwards, or finding some chicken mole tamales in your fridge tomorrow. Their locations in Prospect Heights and Park Slope are open until midnight every day.
The rooftop patio at this cocktail bar is always one of the best outdoor drinking options in Williamsburg, and Wednesday through Sunday until midnight, it still is. They’ve also put some tables on the sidewalk out front in case the roof is full or you have a fear of not very high heights.
A beer garden isn’t a place where beers are grown. If that statement is obvious to you, then this Hoboken spot’s name alone should paint a fairly complete picture of what it’s like. Get a picnic table with some friends, order sausage platters and giant pretzels, and drink any of their 70+ beers until 11pm on Thursdays or midnight on weekends.
Between boozy brunch with 3-for-1 cocktails, salads and sandwiches at lunch, and spaghetti pomodoro or a pizza topped with meatball ragu at dinner, Lil’ Frankies is the MacGyver of East Village restaurants. They even offer their full menu until midnight during the week and 2am on weekends.
