The 24 best restaurants in NYC’s Midtown Manhattan

When it first opened in the last days of 2019, it was too late for Kochi to make it to any of that year’s major ‘best of’ lists. Still, it was terrific then and remains one of the best restaurants in NYC today. Its $135 seasonal tasting menu includes nine skewers fashioned after traditional Korean cuisine. 

This tiny sushi spot amid a row of nondescript addresses and up a narrow staircase is one of NYC’s most exciting new restaurants. Its fish is fastidiously sourced, expertly prepared and approachably priced. It's also a fun place to bring those who aren’t yet in-the-know. 

Indian Accent’s chic, streamlined space has a stylish bar, a few cozy nooks for date night and long banquettes to accommodate larger parties. Dinner is served in three or four courses (for $80 or $95) with items like potato sphere chaat, tofu masala and ghee roast lamb.

Despite its address, Quality Meats is a hip, modern steakhouse with a downtown feel. The warm tones, exposed brick and Edison bulbs lend it this style, while the thick cuts of premium beef, seared to juicy perfection, keep loyal patrons coming back for more. Whether you’re there for date night or a lunch meeting, Quality Meats is a solid choice.

Lovely Hutong sparkles all around its gleaming, cavernous space, including down its unique, dramatically lit wine hallway. Some of the Northern Chinese restaurant’s many highlights include the mapo tofu, a dumpling quartet, wok-tossed lobster and a new flaming Peking duck that’s only available by advance order four nights a week. 

Good looks aren’t everything, but they’re serious business here, where tables overlook the MoMA’s sculpture garden and diners carve their meat with Porsche steak knives. The pre-fixe menus are as carefully curated as any museum show, so get an early reservation to look out at the garden while the sun’s still out.

This small space recently repoened in its semi-hidden spot at the Thompson Central Park hotel—formerly the Parker Meridien. It’s a perfectly re-created burger emporium circa 1972, down to the “wood” paneling, vinyl booths and ingredients like Heinz ketchup and Arnold’s buns. The burgers are picture-perfect, too—juicy and flavorful with the perfect degree of char. 

Empellón's 8,000-square-foot, 150-seat space features a ground-level dining room with bold, wall-spanning murals and a large balcony above. Must-try tacos are filled with pastrami, maitake mushrooms and lobster. Salads, fajitas and larger plates are also available. 

Often imitated but never replicated, Halal Guys have become a critical component of any midtown bar night. If you happen to find yourself stumbling to the train after a long session at Jimmy’s Corner, its chicken over rice (with plenty of white and hot sauces) and gyros are well worth the detour—the blend of booze-absorbing starch and perfectly seasoned poultry makes for the perfect nightcap. A late-night visit might also help you avoid the lines that form at lunch time. 

New to the outskirts of Times Square, this is an offshoot of Sushi Lab located several floors above on the Sanctuary Hotel’s rooftop, and it serves a 13-course omakase for $125. The chef’s selection, which recently included a tuna flight, sensational scallop preparation and silken slice of Wagyu beef rivals that of many much higher-priced options in Manhattan. 

Midtown’s Boucherie has transformed its plot on semi-obscure “Sixth-and-a-half Avenue” into a veritable indoor/outdoor paradise replete with large, leafy flora and soaring ceilings. The space aims to evoke a Parisian square with French-forward menus to match. 

Home to one of NYC’s most Instagrammable and delicious new dishes,  a kaleidoscopic beef tartare, Little Mad incorporates Korean recipes and French techniques in a fun environment where flames flicker from the open kitchen and you crack open that previously mentioned appetizer with a little wooden hammer. 

Keens is a New York City institution for a reason. The dark wood paneling, lush carpeting and impressive collection of clay pipes dating back to the 1800s makes you feel as if you’ve snuck into a Gatsby-era dinner club. The menu also boasts a bygone relic: the classic mutton chop, once a steakhouse staple but a tougher find today. 

The Grill has the kind of showy, hyper-personalized service and keen eye for detail that has come to define Major Food Group, the restaurant label also behind this, Carbone, Dirty French and Sadelle’s. Its branded blend of modern touches and nostalgic reverence has brought new light to the iconic former Four Seasons restaurant inside the Seagram Building. 

Michelin-starred chef Gabriel Kreuther is behind this palatial ode to French cuisine overlooking Bryant Park. As romantic as it is chic, Gabriel Kreuther restaurant is a dining experience. Every dish is expertly prepared and exquisitely presented. You can also swing by to his artisan chocolate shop, right next door.

It’s all about the octopus at chef Michael White’s Michelin-starred Columbus Circle eatery. White’s gift for coming up with endless, mouthwatering Italian seafood dishes—Marea is Italian for “tide”—is most evident in his light, fresh fusilli, tossed with red wine braised octopus and rich, buttery bone marrow. 

One of NYC's best sushi restaurants, Sushi Yasuda’s ever-changing menu has à la carte options and omakase offerings that might include excellently executed amberjack, yellowtail and unagi.

Still one of NYC's premier fine dining sestinations, Le Bernardin's seafood-focused menu is impressive to say the least. Its ambiance is also pure elegance, the wine list stretches for miles and the bartenders mix a mean classic cocktail.

Quietly tucked away on West 52nd Street, this innovative Korean hotspot shines like a true gem against a backdrop of chain restaurants. The menu is refined yet approachable, full of vegetarian options and lovingly prepared mainstays like scallion covered pork belly sliders and spicy chicken wings. 

Just a hop, skip and jump down from Grand Central Station, Karuma Zushi has been delighting midtowners with classic, flavorful, fresh sushi and sashimi for nearly 40 years. The à la carte menu is loaded with freshwater eel, fatty tuna and Japanese sea urchin.

Gilded decor with the warm light to match, a crowd-pleasing variety of food and drinks and a prime central location make Valerie an easy choice for after-work drinks, business dinners and, more recently, weekend brunch. 

More than two years after the beloved West Village location closed at the start of the pandemic, Hakata TonTon officially reopened earlier this summer in a new Midtown South space complete with an expanded menu of izakaya-style small plates. Longtime fans will be comforted to know that the restaurant's succulent signature dishes remain, like the mentai gnocchi and the foie gras inari. 

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This midtown newcomer’s takes on rural Tuscan cooking is named for a staple of the region’s cuisine, rosemary. The menu celebrates Tuscan offerings prepared simply: quality olive oil, prime meats and fish, seasonal vegetables, housemade pastas, and of course its namesake herb.