clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
A spread of sandwiches, burgers, burnt broccoli, and beer cans on a diner counter.
Superiority Burger, back open in the East Village, serves food on Mondays.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

15 Restaurants Open on Monday in New York City

Rotisserie chicken, late-night dim sum, and the city’s hottest vegetarian burger

View as Map
Superiority Burger, back open in the East Village, serves food on Mondays.
| Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

Monday is one of the best nights of the week for dining out. The chaotic Thursday-through-Sunday crowds have died down and grabbing a walk-in seat at popular restaurants is usually easier to swing, even at peak dining times. It’s an off day for a lot of restaurants — especially with industry-wide staffing shortages — but plenty of places keep their doors open for peers in the hospitality industry, who might have the day off, and regulars in the neighborhood looking for a bite to eat. Here are 15 of our favorites right now.

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.

Read More
If you buy something or book a reservation from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.

Cafe Luxembourg

Copy Link

There are no shortages of French brasseries in the city, but few restaurants can boast Cafe Luxembourg’s scene. On any given night, the dining room and bar are a gathering spot for longtime Upper West Side residents, New York Philharmonic performers, Broadway actors, and all sorts of creative types, from poets to architects. The menu offers reliable standards like strip steaks and pan-roasted salmon, but it’s the buzzy downtown energy (and dim lighting) in a room full of regulars that makes hanging out here feel like a night out.

Ruta Oaxaca

Copy Link

When a meal on Monday calls for mole, as it should, Ruta Oaxaca checks that box and then some. The brightly colored Mexican restaurant in Astoria serves multiple varieties of mole blanketed over chicken and slow-cooked short ribs, as well as crispy fish tacos, chipotle-marinated shrimp with pineapple salsa, and baby-back ribs coated in a guava chipotle glaze. Eater critic Robert Sietsema found the restaurant to be excellent in an early review.

A bowl of bright green ceviche packed with half-cut tomatoes and what appears to be pieces of shrimp and other seafood
Ceviche at Ruta Oaxaca.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Ci Siamo

Copy Link

Chef Hillary Sterling, on the James Beard long list for best chef in New York, has turned this restaurant opposite Hudson Yards into a destination, one of those places that get better month over month. Get the onion torta, any of the wood-fired vegetables (smashed potatoes, smoked carrots, Brussels sprouts) and braised beans, followed by rapini agnolotti. And if meat is in your meal plan, consider the whole trout, braised lamb, or bistecca.

The interior of the restaurant with tangerine bar seats, wood finishes, and light blue walls.
The interior of Ci Siamo.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Little Mad

Copy Link

If you’re looking to start the week off with a bang, Koreatown’s Little Mad is a more energetic option for early weeknight dining. For an extra fee, caviar, uni, and truffles can be added to anything on the $75 set menu, which is overseen by Le Coucou alum Sol Han. One of the restaurant’s early hits, a beef tartare dotted with smoked tofu puree, arrives at the table with a large, light green maesangi chip and a wooden hammer for diners to smash it into tartare-scooping bits.

Shot from the end of a dining room, a photograph of a series of tables set for service with napkins and cups.
Inside Little Mad.
Hand Hospitality

Çka Ka Qëllu

Copy Link

Critically praised Çka Ka Qëllu is an impressive display of Albanian food and culture that keeps expanding at a steady clip. The menu at the rustic, relatively new Murray Hill outpost, like its siblings in the Bronx and Connecticut, features platters of smoky grilled sausages, ground veal-stuffed dumplings, and slices of dense, crepe-like fli paired with a block of tangy feta.

A step down restaurant with a bright lit sign in red Albanian script.
Çka Ka Qëllu’s Murray Hill location.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Chama Mama

Copy Link

Georgian stalwart Chama Mama can get slammed on the weekends, but Monday diners are rewarded with shorter wait times and faster access to tangy pickled vegetables, plates of hefty, broth-filled khinkali, and the fan-favorite blistered cheese vessels known as adjaruli khachapuri.

An oblong bread with handles has a gooey fried egg in a lake of molten cheese.
Khachapuri from Chama Mama.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Buvette New York

Copy Link

The all-day cafe from Jody Williams and Rita Sodi doesn’t disappoint, whether you’re there early for a piping hot croissant for breakfast or in the evening for an old-school order like coq au vin or cassoulet.

The exterior of Buvette NYC, with a bike parked outside and warm light in the windows
Buvette is open seven days a week.
Buvette

Lord’s

Copy Link

Look for gutsy British fare inspired by London’s power duo, Rochelle Canteen (of the acclaimed Margot restaurant) and Fergus Henderson (St. John). A nod to Patricia Howard and chef Ed Szymanski, the duo behind Dame, for cooking the type of food that coursed its way through New York’s gastronomic zeitgeist more than a decade years ago — hay-smoked trout, pig head terrine, monkfish, sweetbreads — and keeping New Yorkers coming back for more.

A wide plate layered with black lentils, an orange egg yolk, and a skewer of mushrooms laid over top.
Lentils with egg and mushrooms at Lord’s.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Superiority Burger

Copy Link

Industry folks with Mondays off can hit up vegetarian Superiority Burger, with its namesake dish and terrific desserts, provided they’re willing to wait in the crushing lines or give it a go later at night. Waits are hitting up to two hours on the weekends but notably shorter on this off day. Head to the back bar as you wait for generically named cocktails and homemade salty snacks that reside in an old-school gumball-style 25-cent machine with a stack of paper cones on the side.

A hand holds a sandwich made from a slice of focaccia overflowing with collard greens.
The collard green sandwich at Superiority Burger.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

Foul Witch

Copy Link

The Roberta’s team debuted this Italian restaurant and wine bar in the East Village with a menu of small plates of beans and tripe with pasta mains like veal tortellini or the garganelli with braised goat. While Roberta’s fine dining restaurant Blanca remains closed, this is a more casual a la carte sibling.

Two plates, one with pasta the other with meat.
Goat garganelli and pork neck at Foul Witch.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Dim Sum Palace

Copy Link

This chain restaurant with seven locations across Manhattan opened the Division Street restaurant after another location of Dim Sum Palace closed due to a fire last spring. Particularly noteworthy is that this location is open late. The dining room, and the menu, are vast.

A large plate of lobster sits dim sum and smaller plates of meats and seafood.
Dim Sum Palace stays open until 3 a.m. in Chinatown.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

Rolo’s

Copy Link

This Ridgewood restaurant is a favorite with industry workers — and actors who play them. The restaurant takes reservations, but in our experience, it’s always been possible to walk in here with a wait on a Monday night. The restaurant is popular for its straightforward menu anchored by a wood-fired oven, which turns out polenta breads, charred head-on shrimp, and one of the borough’s best burgers.

The exterior of the new Ridgewood, Queens restaurant Rolo’s
Rolo’s in Ridgewood stays open on Mondays.
Adam Friedlander/Eater NY

Place des Fêtes

Copy Link

This French-sounding bar specializes in Spanish wines and seafood in a cozy subterranean Clinton Hill dining room from the Michelin-starred Oxalis team in Prospect Heights. Look for small plates from sardine toasts to fancy ham or a Castelfranco salad with hazelnuts. Wines by the glass start at around $15.

An overhead photograph of a fried skate wing and other dishes at Place des Fêtes, a wine bar in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Fried skate wing and other dishes from Place des Fetes.
Chris Coe/Place des Fêtes

The Fly

Copy Link

The Fly comes from the folks behind neighborhood restaurants Hart’s, around the corner, and Cervo’s, on the edge of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, both of which are also open for dinner on Monday. The specialty at this corner spot, the youngest of the trio, is rotisserie chicken and sexy vibes. Reservations are accepted, but the large dining room and curved bar make it possible to walk in here at peak hours.

A curved bar with dark-colored stools, hanging wine glasses, and bottles of liquor atop a wooden frame
The Fly stays open until 11 p.m. on Mondays.
Casey Kelbaugh/Eater NY

Red Hook Tavern

Copy Link

Remember Red Hook Tavern? The restaurant, open since 2019 and hiding in Red Hook ever since, still draws a crowd for its popular burger, now served with cottage fries instead of wedges. It stays open on Mondays with a portion of its dining room set aside for walk-ins.

Dry-aged burger with American cheese, onions, and wedge fries at Red Hook Tavern
Red Hook’s most famous burger is served on Mondays.
Jean Schwarzwalder/Eater NY

Cafe Luxembourg

There are no shortages of French brasseries in the city, but few restaurants can boast Cafe Luxembourg’s scene. On any given night, the dining room and bar are a gathering spot for longtime Upper West Side residents, New York Philharmonic performers, Broadway actors, and all sorts of creative types, from poets to architects. The menu offers reliable standards like strip steaks and pan-roasted salmon, but it’s the buzzy downtown energy (and dim lighting) in a room full of regulars that makes hanging out here feel like a night out.

Ruta Oaxaca

When a meal on Monday calls for mole, as it should, Ruta Oaxaca checks that box and then some. The brightly colored Mexican restaurant in Astoria serves multiple varieties of mole blanketed over chicken and slow-cooked short ribs, as well as crispy fish tacos, chipotle-marinated shrimp with pineapple salsa, and baby-back ribs coated in a guava chipotle glaze. Eater critic Robert Sietsema found the restaurant to be excellent in an early review.

A bowl of bright green ceviche packed with half-cut tomatoes and what appears to be pieces of shrimp and other seafood
Ceviche at Ruta Oaxaca.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Ci Siamo

Chef Hillary Sterling, on the James Beard long list for best chef in New York, has turned this restaurant opposite Hudson Yards into a destination, one of those places that get better month over month. Get the onion torta, any of the wood-fired vegetables (smashed potatoes, smoked carrots, Brussels sprouts) and braised beans, followed by rapini agnolotti. And if meat is in your meal plan, consider the whole trout, braised lamb, or bistecca.

The interior of the restaurant with tangerine bar seats, wood finishes, and light blue walls.
The interior of Ci Siamo.
Alex Staniloff/Eater NY

Little Mad

If you’re looking to start the week off with a bang, Koreatown’s Little Mad is a more energetic option for early weeknight dining. For an extra fee, caviar, uni, and truffles can be added to anything on the $75 set menu, which is overseen by Le Coucou alum Sol Han. One of the restaurant’s early hits, a beef tartare dotted with smoked tofu puree, arrives at the table with a large, light green maesangi chip and a wooden hammer for diners to smash it into tartare-scooping bits.

Shot from the end of a dining room, a photograph of a series of tables set for service with napkins and cups.
Inside Little Mad.
Hand Hospitality

Çka Ka Qëllu

Critically praised Çka Ka Qëllu is an impressive display of Albanian food and culture that keeps expanding at a steady clip. The menu at the rustic, relatively new Murray Hill outpost, like its siblings in the Bronx and Connecticut, features platters of smoky grilled sausages, ground veal-stuffed dumplings, and slices of dense, crepe-like fli paired with a block of tangy feta.

A step down restaurant with a bright lit sign in red Albanian script.
Çka Ka Qëllu’s Murray Hill location.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Chama Mama

Georgian stalwart Chama Mama can get slammed on the weekends, but Monday diners are rewarded with shorter wait times and faster access to tangy pickled vegetables, plates of hefty, broth-filled khinkali, and the fan-favorite blistered cheese vessels known as adjaruli khachapuri.

An oblong bread with handles has a gooey fried egg in a lake of molten cheese.
Khachapuri from Chama Mama.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Buvette New York

The all-day cafe from Jody Williams and Rita Sodi doesn’t disappoint, whether you’re there early for a piping hot croissant for breakfast or in the evening for an old-school order like coq au vin or cassoulet.

The exterior of Buvette NYC, with a bike parked outside and warm light in the windows
Buvette is open seven days a week.
Buvette

Lord’s

Look for gutsy British fare inspired by London’s power duo, Rochelle Canteen (of the acclaimed Margot restaurant) and Fergus Henderson (St. John). A nod to Patricia Howard and chef Ed Szymanski, the duo behind Dame, for cooking the type of food that coursed its way through New York’s gastronomic zeitgeist more than a decade years ago — hay-smoked trout, pig head terrine, monkfish, sweetbreads — and keeping New Yorkers coming back for more.

A wide plate layered with black lentils, an orange egg yolk, and a skewer of mushrooms laid over top.
Lentils with egg and mushrooms at Lord’s.
Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Superiority Burger

Industry folks with Mondays off can hit up vegetarian Superiority Burger, with its namesake dish and terrific desserts, provided they’re willing to wait in the crushing lines or give it a go later at night. Waits are hitting up to two hours on the weekends but notably shorter on this off day. Head to the back bar as you wait for generically named cocktails and homemade salty snacks that reside in an old-school gumball-style 25-cent machine with a stack of paper cones on the side.

A hand holds a sandwich made from a slice of focaccia overflowing with collard greens.
The collard green sandwich at Superiority Burger.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

Foul Witch

The Roberta’s team debuted this Italian restaurant and wine bar in the East Village with a menu of small plates of beans and tripe with pasta mains like veal tortellini or the garganelli with braised goat. While Roberta’s fine dining restaurant Blanca remains closed, this is a more casual a la carte sibling.

Two plates, one with pasta the other with meat.
Goat garganelli and pork neck at Foul Witch.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Dim Sum Palace

This chain restaurant with seven locations across Manhattan opened the Division Street restaurant after another location of Dim Sum Palace closed due to a fire last spring. Particularly noteworthy is that this location is open late. The dining room, and the menu, are vast.

A large plate of lobster sits dim sum and smaller plates of meats and seafood.
Dim Sum Palace stays open until 3 a.m. in Chinatown.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet/Eater NY

Rolo’s

This Ridgewood restaurant is a favorite with industry workers — and actors who play them. The restaurant takes reservations, but in our experience, it’s always been possible to walk in here with a wait on a Monday night. The restaurant is popular for its straightforward menu anchored by a wood-fired oven, which turns out polenta breads, charred head-on shrimp, and one of the borough’s best burgers.

The exterior of the new Ridgewood, Queens restaurant Rolo’s
Rolo’s in Ridgewood stays open on Mondays.
Adam Friedlander/Eater NY

Place des Fêtes

This French-sounding bar specializes in Spanish wines and seafood in a cozy subterranean Clinton Hill dining room from the Michelin-starred Oxalis team in Prospect Heights. Look for small plates from sardine toasts to fancy ham or a Castelfranco salad with hazelnuts. Wines by the glass start at around $15.

An overhead photograph of a fried skate wing and other dishes at Place des Fêtes, a wine bar in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Fried skate wing and other dishes from Place des Fetes.
Chris Coe/Place des Fêtes

The Fly

The Fly comes from the folks behind neighborhood restaurants Hart’s, around the corner, and Cervo’s, on the edge of Chinatown and the Lower East Side, both of which are also open for dinner on Monday. The specialty at this corner spot, the youngest of the trio, is rotisserie chicken and sexy vibes. Reservations are accepted, but the large dining room and curved bar make it possible to walk in here at peak hours.

A curved bar with dark-colored stools, hanging wine glasses, and bottles of liquor atop a wooden frame
The Fly stays open until 11 p.m. on Mondays.
Casey Kelbaugh/Eater NY

Red Hook Tavern

Remember Red Hook Tavern? The restaurant, open since 2019 and hiding in Red Hook ever since, still draws a crowd for its popular burger, now served with cottage fries instead of wedges. It stays open on Mondays with a portion of its dining room set aside for walk-ins.

Dry-aged burger with American cheese, onions, and wedge fries at Red Hook Tavern
Red Hook’s most famous burger is served on Mondays.
Jean Schwarzwalder/Eater NY

Related Maps