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A dragon dances a patrons take cell phone pictures.
It’s a party at Uncle Lou.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

13 Crowd-Pleasing Restaurants for a Group Dinner in New York City

Whether it’s a tray of fatty brisket or a spicy Sichuan feast, there are plenty of options when hosting a group dinner

by Eater Staff Updated
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It’s a party at Uncle Lou.
| Robert Sietsema/Eater NY
by Eater Staff Updated

Finding a place that appeals to everyone in a party, whether it’s a table of six or 10, can be tricky. There’s the non-drinker, the non-meat-eater, the spice averse, the sort of lactose intolerant, the maybe-faking-it gluten-free, and the person who insists it’s still warm enough to dine outdoors. The hunt for the perfect restaurant isn’t always easy when checking off these boxes and more, but it helps when good food is a given. The 13 restaurants below can suit various tastes, restrictions, and budgets.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Cucina 8 1/2

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Cucina 81/2 features a lavish red-carpet staircase that’s the centerpiece of the dining room (and yes, it’s been in Sex and the City). With dim lighting, a buzzy dining room that’s not too loud, Cucina features an Italian American menu in a spot that’s more elegant than your everyday red sauce restaurant. Sure, you can book one of four private dining rooms, but if your group is small enough, book the group table near the kitchen and order the tableside dishes: Caesar salad, spaghetti al limone, and chicken parmesan.

9 W 57th St #5000, New York, NY 10019
(212) 829-0812
(212) 829-0812

Szechuan Mountain House

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One of the more handsome Flushing Sichuan restaurants, full of dark wood and exposed brick, Szechuan Mountain House serves up huge portions that are ideal for sharing. Order dishes like mapo tofu, spicy mung bean jelly salad, stewed fish filet with pickled cabbage and chili, and fried lotus roots with celery. Be sure to get at least one of the artfully presented sliced pork belly with chile-garlic sauce. Call to reserve.

3916 Prince St G03, Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 888-7893
(718) 888-7893
A selection of Sichuan dishes, including thinly sliced cucumber, mapo tofu, and lotus root
Szechuan Mountain House has another location in the East Village.
Jean Schwarzwalder/Eater NY

Also featured in:

MáLà Project

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Dry pot is seemingly infinitely customizable, and Málà Project near Bryant Park allows each diner to make their own version or a few that the group can share. Throw in ingredients such as chicken thigh, pork belly, prawn, tofu skin, frog legs, Spam, or mushrooms, and choose a spice level that everyone can handle. Groups of six or more can reserve online (parties of 10+ must order prix fixe). There’s also an East Village location.

41 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036
(917) 261-7520
(917) 261-7520
An overhead photograph of dry pot at MaLa Project.
Dry pot is group-friendly.
Anthony Bui/Eater NY

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Jackson Diner

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More than four decades after opening, this Jackson Heights staple is still serving up dishes like gobi Manchurian, samosas, and tandoori chicken in a casual dining room that looks like a diner. There are plenty of tables that will fit groups, particularly a helpful option when looking for spots that you won’t need reservations for. Also, Jackson Diner is conveniently just a block from the 7 train, as well as is on the same block as supermarket Patel Brothers.

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372
(718) 672-1232
(718) 672-1232
Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises
Inside Jackson Diner.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Also featured in:

Baekjeong

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If your idea of a good time involves cheese corn pulls and sweating over a tabletop grill, Baekjeong might be your place. The meats at this Korean barbecue spot are more expensive than Let’s Meat around the corner, which still offers an improbable all-you-can-eat special for around $50, but the quality holds up and makes for easy sharing. Bottles of soju and pitchers of beer are par for the course at this restaurant that stays open until 1 a.m. on weekends, and the vibe only gets rowdier upstairs.

1 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016
(212) 966-9839
(212) 966-9839
A table at a Korean barbecue restaurant is busy with cheese corn, meats, and banchan.
No such thing as too much cheese corn.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Also featured in:

Kokomo

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When Kokomo opened during the pandemic, the New York Times exalted it as the party restaurant to meet the moment. Some two years later, this spot is still serving up vibrant Caribbean cooking and keeping things just as lively. Reservations for groups of up to nine people are available to book on Resy. Parties of 10 and up can inquire on the Kokomo website for private dining pricing. 

65 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
(347) 799-1312
(347) 799-1312
Five meatballs in a yellow sauce arranged in a black dish with handles with a scoop of rice on a dish in the background. The plates are sitting on a bed of green leaves.
A dish from Kokomo.
Katrine Moite/Kokomo

Also featured in:

Potluck Club

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Potluck Club is a sexy new Cantonese American restaurant on the edge of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The restaurant is hot off a summer opening, and tables of six or more usually require some advance planning, but the portions of its salt-and-pepper chicken, jellyfish salad, and other dishes are perfect for groups. The open-air dining room, designed to look like a movie theater, makes for an upbeat vibe with spaceship-like bathrooms and lots of bar seating. 

133 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002
A plate of sliced eggplant in orangish oil.
Sliced eggplant at Potluck Club.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

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Bamonte's

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For a celebratory group outing, we often find comfort in red sauce. And no one spot in Brooklyn is more iconic for it than Bamonte’s, open for more than a century. Eater critic Robert Sietsema recommends family-style portions of eggplant rollatini, but there’s also penne with vodka sauce and chicken parm. Call the restaurant to make a reservation for groups.

32 Withers St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 384-8831
(718) 384-8831
A red frame house is the setting for Bamonte’s, and an old man sits on a bench in front.
The exterior of Bamonte’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Also featured in:

Uncle Lou

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Menus like the one at Uncle Lou in Chinatown are made for big group dining. There are over 200 dishes listed here, appearing in portions that will probably frustrate you if you come with any fewer than four people. The Cantonese restaurant specializes in an older-school style of countryside Chinese cooking, with dishes like pork belly with pickled mustard greens and chenpi duck. Larger tables here had a wait long before Bon Appétit named Uncle Lou one of its 50 best new restaurants, thanks to a loyal following of regulars, but these days it helps to call ahead.

73 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10013
(212) 966-5538
(212) 966-5538
A blue delft platter of sliced duck in a thick orange sauce.
The chenpi duck at Uncle Lou.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Also featured in:

Wu's Wonton King

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Wu’s Wonton King is peak group dining, a BYOB palace of glistening roast ducks and family-sized portions that’s perfect for a Lunar New Year gathering or a birthday with 14 friends (the maximum table size indoors). Everything is reasonably priced — even the legendary $600 king crab, a massive animal that’s priced by the pound, brought out to squirm on the table and then divided into three dishes capable of feeding a dozen or so people. The Cantonese favorite is a popular spot for celebrations, so expect to find at least one other group flashing disposable cameras. 

165 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-1112
(212) 477-1112
A corner restaurant has brightly lit, block font signs saying Wu’s Wonton King.
Wu’s, king of wontons and group dining.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Also featured in:

Insa

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Parties of up to nine can reserve a table at Insa, where large groups can stretch across one of the Korean barbecue restaurant’s long picnic-style tables, outfitted with grills on either end. Menu highlights include kimchi jjigae with pork belly, candied anchovies, galbi, and desserts like kabocha mochi cake (or, bring your own cake for a $20 fee). Stay afterward for karaoke, which can be booked up to 30 days in advance for parties of up to 10 on Resy. Larger parties must fill out an online form.

328 Douglass St, Gowanus, NY 11217
(718) 855-2620
(718) 855-2620
The long wooden communal tables at Insa.
The long communal tables at Insa.
Khushbu Shah/Eater NY

Hometown Bar-B-Que

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Sometimes there’s no planning ahead with large groups, and when that’s the case, Hometown is usually the move. This massive barbecue restaurant from the same team behind Red Hook Tavern, up the street, has ample seating to enjoy fatty brisket and Korean barbecue ribs, along with less conventional items, like a Frito pie with Texas chili and jerk rib tips, one of the best value items on the menu. Tables aren’t hard to find at peak dining times, but expect to find a line snaking up to the cash register; more time for mulling over a group order.

454 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
(347) 294-4644
(347) 294-4644
Diners queue up at in front of Hometown Bar-B-Que’s American flag mural.
Hometown Bar-B-Que is great for a last-minute group meal.
Eater NY

Also featured in:

Nargis Cafe

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Though its Park Slope sibling has since closed, Nargis Cafe is still going strong in Sheepshead Bay after all these years. Eater critic Robert Sietsema recommends the Uzbeki spot as a rare group-friendly option that’s actually affordable. Even if you don’t live in South Brooklyn, Sietsema says “it’s well worth the trek out there” for a menu of “fist-size steamed dumplings filled with lamb or pumpkin called manti, soups flavored with dill and cilantro filled with just-made noodles, and salads of shredded carrots or sliced tomatoes and onions.”

1655 Sheepshead Bay Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 872-7888
(718) 872-7888
Dumplings in a bamboo container, with the lid half-off.
Manti at Nargis.
Gary He/Eater NY

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Cucina 8 1/2

9 W 57th St #5000, New York, NY 10019

Cucina 81/2 features a lavish red-carpet staircase that’s the centerpiece of the dining room (and yes, it’s been in Sex and the City). With dim lighting, a buzzy dining room that’s not too loud, Cucina features an Italian American menu in a spot that’s more elegant than your everyday red sauce restaurant. Sure, you can book one of four private dining rooms, but if your group is small enough, book the group table near the kitchen and order the tableside dishes: Caesar salad, spaghetti al limone, and chicken parmesan.

9 W 57th St #5000, New York, NY 10019
(212) 829-0812
(212) 829-0812

Szechuan Mountain House

3916 Prince St G03, Flushing, NY 11354

One of the more handsome Flushing Sichuan restaurants, full of dark wood and exposed brick, Szechuan Mountain House serves up huge portions that are ideal for sharing. Order dishes like mapo tofu, spicy mung bean jelly salad, stewed fish filet with pickled cabbage and chili, and fried lotus roots with celery. Be sure to get at least one of the artfully presented sliced pork belly with chile-garlic sauce. Call to reserve.

3916 Prince St G03, Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 888-7893
(718) 888-7893
A selection of Sichuan dishes, including thinly sliced cucumber, mapo tofu, and lotus root
Szechuan Mountain House has another location in the East Village.
Jean Schwarzwalder/Eater NY

MáLà Project

41 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036

Dry pot is seemingly infinitely customizable, and Málà Project near Bryant Park allows each diner to make their own version or a few that the group can share. Throw in ingredients such as chicken thigh, pork belly, prawn, tofu skin, frog legs, Spam, or mushrooms, and choose a spice level that everyone can handle. Groups of six or more can reserve online (parties of 10+ must order prix fixe). There’s also an East Village location.

41 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036
(917) 261-7520
(917) 261-7520
An overhead photograph of dry pot at MaLa Project.
Dry pot is group-friendly.
Anthony Bui/Eater NY

Jackson Diner

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372

More than four decades after opening, this Jackson Heights staple is still serving up dishes like gobi Manchurian, samosas, and tandoori chicken in a casual dining room that looks like a diner. There are plenty of tables that will fit groups, particularly a helpful option when looking for spots that you won’t need reservations for. Also, Jackson Diner is conveniently just a block from the 7 train, as well as is on the same block as supermarket Patel Brothers.

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372
(718) 672-1232
(718) 672-1232
Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises
Inside Jackson Diner.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Baekjeong

1 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016

If your idea of a good time involves cheese corn pulls and sweating over a tabletop grill, Baekjeong might be your place. The meats at this Korean barbecue spot are more expensive than Let’s Meat around the corner, which still offers an improbable all-you-can-eat special for around $50, but the quality holds up and makes for easy sharing. Bottles of soju and pitchers of beer are par for the course at this restaurant that stays open until 1 a.m. on weekends, and the vibe only gets rowdier upstairs.

1 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016
(212) 966-9839
(212) 966-9839
A table at a Korean barbecue restaurant is busy with cheese corn, meats, and banchan.
No such thing as too much cheese corn.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Kokomo

65 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249

When Kokomo opened during the pandemic, the New York Times exalted it as the party restaurant to meet the moment. Some two years later, this spot is still serving up vibrant Caribbean cooking and keeping things just as lively. Reservations for groups of up to nine people are available to book on Resy. Parties of 10 and up can inquire on the Kokomo website for private dining pricing. 

65 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
(347) 799-1312
(347) 799-1312
Five meatballs in a yellow sauce arranged in a black dish with handles with a scoop of rice on a dish in the background. The plates are sitting on a bed of green leaves.
A dish from Kokomo.
Katrine Moite/Kokomo

Potluck Club

133 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002

Potluck Club is a sexy new Cantonese American restaurant on the edge of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. The restaurant is hot off a summer opening, and tables of six or more usually require some advance planning, but the portions of its salt-and-pepper chicken, jellyfish salad, and other dishes are perfect for groups. The open-air dining room, designed to look like a movie theater, makes for an upbeat vibe with spaceship-like bathrooms and lots of bar seating. 

133 Chrystie St, New York, NY 10002
A plate of sliced eggplant in orangish oil.
Sliced eggplant at Potluck Club.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Bamonte's

32 Withers St, Brooklyn, NY 11211

For a celebratory group outing, we often find comfort in red sauce. And no one spot in Brooklyn is more iconic for it than Bamonte’s, open for more than a century. Eater critic Robert Sietsema recommends family-style portions of eggplant rollatini, but there’s also penne with vodka sauce and chicken parm. Call the restaurant to make a reservation for groups.

32 Withers St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 384-8831
(718) 384-8831
A red frame house is the setting for Bamonte’s, and an old man sits on a bench in front.
The exterior of Bamonte’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Uncle Lou

73 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10013

Menus like the one at Uncle Lou in Chinatown are made for big group dining. There are over 200 dishes listed here, appearing in portions that will probably frustrate you if you come with any fewer than four people. The Cantonese restaurant specializes in an older-school style of countryside Chinese cooking, with dishes like pork belly with pickled mustard greens and chenpi duck. Larger tables here had a wait long before Bon Appétit named Uncle Lou one of its 50 best new restaurants, thanks to a loyal following of regulars, but these days it helps to call ahead.

73 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10013
(212) 966-5538
(212) 966-5538
A blue delft platter of sliced duck in a thick orange sauce.
The chenpi duck at Uncle Lou.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Wu's Wonton King

165 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002

Wu’s Wonton King is peak group dining, a BYOB palace of glistening roast ducks and family-sized portions that’s perfect for a Lunar New Year gathering or a birthday with 14 friends (the maximum table size indoors). Everything is reasonably priced — even the legendary $600 king crab, a massive animal that’s priced by the pound, brought out to squirm on the table and then divided into three dishes capable of feeding a dozen or so people. The Cantonese favorite is a popular spot for celebrations, so expect to find at least one other group flashing disposable cameras. 

165 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-1112
(212) 477-1112
A corner restaurant has brightly lit, block font signs saying Wu’s Wonton King.
Wu’s, king of wontons and group dining.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Insa

328 Douglass St, Gowanus, NY 11217

Parties of up to nine can reserve a table at Insa, where large groups can stretch across one of the Korean barbecue restaurant’s long picnic-style tables, outfitted with grills on either end. Menu highlights include kimchi jjigae with pork belly, candied anchovies, galbi, and desserts like kabocha mochi cake (or, bring your own cake for a $20 fee). Stay afterward for karaoke, which can be booked up to 30 days in advance for parties of up to 10 on Resy. Larger parties must fill out an online form.

328 Douglass St, Gowanus, NY 11217
(718) 855-2620
(718) 855-2620
The long wooden communal tables at Insa.
The long communal tables at Insa.
Khushbu Shah/Eater NY

Hometown Bar-B-Que

454 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Sometimes there’s no planning ahead with large groups, and when that’s the case, Hometown is usually the move. This massive barbecue restaurant from the same team behind Red Hook Tavern, up the street, has ample seating to enjoy fatty brisket and Korean barbecue ribs, along with less conventional items, like a Frito pie with Texas chili and jerk rib tips, one of the best value items on the menu. Tables aren’t hard to find at peak dining times, but expect to find a line snaking up to the cash register; more time for mulling over a group order.

454 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
(347) 294-4644
(347) 294-4644
Diners queue up at in front of Hometown Bar-B-Que’s American flag mural.
Hometown Bar-B-Que is great for a last-minute group meal.
Eater NY

Nargis Cafe

1655 Sheepshead Bay Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11235

Though its Park Slope sibling has since closed, Nargis Cafe is still going strong in Sheepshead Bay after all these years. Eater critic Robert Sietsema recommends the Uzbeki spot as a rare group-friendly option that’s actually affordable. Even if you don’t live in South Brooklyn, Sietsema says “it’s well worth the trek out there” for a menu of “fist-size steamed dumplings filled with lamb or pumpkin called manti, soups flavored with dill and cilantro filled with just-made noodles, and salads of shredded carrots or sliced tomatoes and onions.”

1655 Sheepshead Bay Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 872-7888
(718) 872-7888
Dumplings in a bamboo container, with the lid half-off.
Manti at Nargis.
Gary He/Eater NY

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