The Honey Well has established itself as one of the premiere date spots in West Harlem with its craft cocktails and kitschy, neon-lit, ’70s-inspired decor. The bar’s backyard garden is currently daily and is accepting reservations via its website. Along with its cocktails, expect items like Beyond Meat tacos, mini shrimp rolls, and Maryland crabcakes.

Each quadrant of the ROKC name — ramen, oysters, kitchen, and cocktails — is worth exploring. The West Harlem restaurant carries an extensive cocktail menu of over 40 drinks, many of which come in novel containers like tea saucers, light bulbs, and Día de los Muertos skulls. The restaurant offers limited outdoor seating, but there’s delivery and takeout to choose from as well. ROKC is open Sunday to Thursday from 5 to 10:30 p.m. and Friday to Saturday 5 to 11 p.m.

With its selection of French food with an African flair, Ponty’s is a tribute to Harlem’s West African influence. Open for breakfast through dinner, dishes vary from luncheonette fare (omelets and burgers) to those with more global influence (Sengalese fish or chicken yassa and lamb merguez couscous). The bright interior — with sun streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto marble-top tables — is especially inviting.

Harlem Hops made an instant name in the neighborhood for its large selection of craft beer accompanied by spicy meat pies in an industrial space. The Black-owned business is deeply rooted in the neighborhood — it also runs a non-profit called Harlem Hopes, which raises money to give college scholarships to Harlem natives.

Two locations strong, Manna’s serves up a plentiful buffet of soul food such as crispy fried chicken, baked ziti, collard greens, smothered pork chops, and oxtails, just for starters. It’s pay by the pound, so scoop accordingly.

What was once a jazz club is now a small, stylish bistro with dishes such as grass-fed steak tartare and short rib ragu. It’s an ambitious neighborhood restaurant, one that takes extra care in sourcing, from its meats to its mainly natural wines.

A wood-burning brick oven is the calling card at this Italian restaurant with Neapolitan-style pizza, whole roasted fish, and pasta. Brick walls, dark wood furniture, warm service, and a full bar make it an ideal date spot in the neighborhood.

Sylvia’s, open since 1962, is a Harlem tradition. Celebrities, politicians, and even monarchs have visited the establishment to sample the iconic Southern soul food. Fried catfish, barbecue baby back ribs, and corn bread are standouts. Sunday brings gospel brunch, a rowdy experience that’s the ideal time to try chicken and waffles alongside unlimited mimosas.

With over 1,000 pieces of rugelach sold per weekend, Lee Lee’s has been lauded as making the city’s best of the form. The Jewish baked good — buttery, flaky pastry filled with ingredients like chocolate or apricot jam and walnuts — is not a part of owner Alvin “Lee Lee” Smalls’ heritage, but after falling in love with the baked good, he settled on his own recipe that uses sour cream in place of the traditional cream cheese and has people flocking.

Lolo’s brings the full experience of Caribbean seasonings: Choose a fish — snow crab, shrimp, crawfish — and flavorful sauce — garlic butter, Old Bay, coconut curry, etc. — to go on seafood boils and in steam pots. Eater critic Ryan Sutton especially recommends the snow crab legs in spicy sauce, best eaten in the backyard. Don’t miss the jerk chicken, either.

The 40-seat Archer and Goat has equal ambitions as a restaurant and a bar, serving up cuisine inspired by Puerto Rican, Ecuadorian, and Bengali traditions alongside a broad beer selection and cocktails like a tamarind whiskey sour. Food runs to a burger slathered in queso blanco and sofrito ketchup, chicken vindaloo arepas, and carne asada with tostones.

Chef Melba Wilson practically comes from Harlem royalty; her aunt, Sylvia Woods, is the namesake of the neighborhood’s most iconic soul food restaurant. Melba’s serves American comfort food, and no trip is complete with an order of the chicken and eggnog waffles served with strawberry butter and maple syrup, which Wilson used to defeat Bobby Flay on his TV show Throwdown! in 2008.

JJ Johnson gave rice a stage in Harlem when he opened FieldTrip, whose menu is centered on bowls made with different strains of the grain. It’s a fast-casual spot that has paired ingredients such as braised beef with Texas brown rice and spicy black beans; salmon with Chinese black rice, pineapple, and piri piri sauce; and crispy barbecue chicken with Carolina gold rice. All the rice is non-enriched, non-bleached, and sourced directly from farmers who mill the grain themselves.

The coffee here is stellar, particularly drinks specials like the caramelized brown sugar and dulce de leche lattes, but do yourself a favor and get one of many baked goods and desserts here. Menu items are constantly changing, but regular top-notch options include the cinnamon rolls, almond croissant, guava-cheese danish, and sandwiches. For an impromptu picnic, Marcus Garvey Park is nearby.

Expanded from Tribeca, Maxwell’s brings some of the downtown aesthetic — Edison bulbs, subway tiling, and dark wood — to 111th Street. The tavern offers standard saloon fare, from burgers and fish and chips to spinach and artichoke dip and caesar salad. Don’t miss the cocktails, especially the spicy jalapeño margaritas that are $7 during happy hour.

A massive pork al pastor beckons from the window of Taco Mix, and it’s a mistake to miss it. The al pastor tacos are among the best in town, Eater critic Robert Sietsema says. They’re so good that the restaurant, which started as a food cart, opened another location on the Lower East Side.

This wine lover’s destination has opened to rave reviews early on. Wine industry veteran Yannick Benjamin partnered with George Gallego, Oscar Lorenzzi, Mara Rudzinski, and Lorenz Skeeter to open a welcoming wine bar with a Peruvian-rooted food menu and an eye toward inclusive hospitality and space accessibility. Contento boasts an ambitious range of wines — at varying price points — paired with a menu led by Lorenzzi that includes dishes like octopus with black chimichurri and chilled cauliflower gazpacho.