The 14 best restaurants and bars in the Bronx

This Boogie Down saloon isn’t just the best beer bar in the Bronx—for our money, it’s unrivaled anywhere north of midtown. Uptowners have the bar’s co-owner Chris Giudice to thank: In less than two years, the brick-walled joint has become a bona fide craft headquarters, hosting boisterous guest-brewer events, doling out growlers and attracting loyalists who attempt to sample and rate 100 different quaffs for the bar’s Beer Club (members get 50% off beers for life). And thanks to a lineup of 16 domestic-leaning taps, a rotating cask and more than 30 interchanging bottles, hitting the hundred mark isn’t all that difficult.

Located deep in the Bronx’s historic Little Italy, the beer bar, whose on-trend offerings (cider, half-pints, canned craft beers) and handsome, modern digs (salvaged-wood counters, white-tile walls) have provided a jolt of youthful energy to this uptown fixture. Five taps pour a rotating selection of all-local brews (of course), including two from nearby Jonas Bronck’s Beer Co. Alongside the drafts, David Greco—also owner of fellow neighborhood favorite Mike’s Deli, where he worked as a boy under his father—oversees an extensive menu stocked with vendor goods.

Great for groups, Charlie’s offers weekly live music brunches (both weekend days, with no cover) featuring bottomless mimosas. Menu selections are simple and straightforward – think pancakes, omelettes, steak & eggs – but are rich with flavor and soul.

Dominick’s would like you to know that the real Little Italy is in the Bronx. At Charlie DiPaolo’s pinewood dining room—the most popular on Arthur Avenue—neighborhood folks, out-of-towners and tracksuited wise guys feast at long, crowded tables on massive platters of veal parmigiana, steaming bowls of mussels marinara and linguine with white clam sauce. There’s no written menu, but you can trust your waiter’s advice.

Since Rheingold closed shop in the late '60s, beer has been produced outside of the borough—City Island brews upstate, and Bronx Brewery trucks in kegs from Connecticut. At this 5,000-square-foot draft operation, Chris Sheehan (Chelsea Brewing Co.) makes all beer on-site, turning out a 30-barrel lineup of German-style ales, hearty stouts and Frosted Hop ale, made with frozen upstate wet hops. The dark-wood taproom functions as a 25-seat bar and retail shop—a perk of a farm brewery license, which also requires Sheehan use local ingredients—that sells pints, flights and to-go growlers.

An homage to the birthplace of hip hop, Beatstro is a celebration of the culture and history of the South Bronx. The menu is influenced by cuisines native to the neighborhood’s longstanding Puerto Rican and Black populations, with dishes like rum cake French toast, low country shrimp & grits, pernil, and chicken & waffles served alongside “dranks that would make Big Pun proud.”

Go for the sausage pie, filled juicy, fennel-spiked chunks of sausage from the S&D Pork Store a few blocks down are held in place—well, just barely—by a bunch of salty melted cheese. It's a hot, creamy mess of pizza-and-pork deliciousness. Yes, you will need a napkin—and a nap afterward.

At this small Bengali outlet, the chef greets us with a warm “What can I get for you, brother?” We settle on the lamb curry, loaded with large hunks of yielding meat in a thick, rich sauce and soft spears of okra tossed with shrimp. One customer recommends the goat biryani, calling it a perfect example of Bangladeshi food. He’s right: The grains of rice are perfumed with a heady mix of cardamom and mixed with cubes of gamey meat.

This already-beloved South Bronx newcomer is a “4th generation, family-owned, Caribbean, bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturing company.” But their offerings aren’t limited to just chocolate – Chocobar has a full savory menu, including the aptly-titled “huge breakfast” (three eggs, pancakes, ham or bacon, fresh fruit, and mallorca bread).

This Morris Park beacon is famous among chowhounds for its brick-oven pizza, and that’s not all Patricia’s does right. Antipasti options include buttery stuffed artichoke, crispy octopus, and creamy buttermilk ricotta. You can’t go wrong with the Spaghetti Frank Sinatra, which is chock full of shrimp, clams, black olives, capers and fresh tomatoes. As for dessert, watch out: The chocolate-polenta cake might cause you, quite involuntarily, to turn to the next table and blurt, “What are rents like around here?” Don’t forget to order espresso—it comes with a self-serve bottle of anisette.

Put your hungry self in the capable hands of Roberto Paciullo, a Salerno native who runs a no-frills eatery in the Bronx’s venerable Italian enclave. Grab a seat at one of the wooden tables, and let Paciullo create a proper four-course feast from the blackboard specials. Tasty, tentacle-heavy grilled calamari has the meaty consistency of steak; tinfoil-baked radiatore come bathed in a vibrant red sauce or olive oil; and short ribs shine in a rich chili-pepper-and-beer sauce. It’s all blissfully simple.

If a vibe were a place, Rosa’s would be it. From the Insta-ready backdrop at the entrance to the picture-perfect dishes on offer, you’ll leave this Wingate Hotel outpost feeling fly – and full. While the bottomless mimosas max out after 90 minutes, brunch is available all day (until 6 P.M.). The sweet potato waffle sliders are especially divine.

While there are a plethora of beer makers and purveyors in the neighborhood, there’s something really special about the Bronx Brewery. Known for their regularly updated special releases and meticulously curated onsite events, you are sure to have a good time no matter the day of week or time of year that you visit. 

This colorful taqueria is named for the Nahuatl (an Aztecan language) word meaning “tortilla.” Sip a creamy, cinnamon-dusted horchata while a cook in the open kitchen works to the sound of Mexican rock & roll, stuffing flatbread rounds with plump shrimp, garnishing them with diced onions, cilantro and lime juice. Not a fan of shrimp? A long list of additional fillings—funky, crackling tripe; subtly gamey goat —seriously ups the authenticity quotient.