New York is one of the oldest dining cities in the country, and though it can feel like we’re always mourning the loss of another neighborhood stalwart, the city is still brimming with countless iconic establishments. Here is a collection of some of the most vibrant New York classic restaurants, all of them decades-old and some dating back more than a century. They range from legendary steakhouses to gritty taverns and coal-fired pizzerias, but they’re all quintessentially New York.
Read More22 Classic Restaurants Every New Yorker Must Try
Whether it’s a Midtown steakhouse or a Chinatown mainstay, these places deserve a spot on your bucket list
188 Bakery Cuchifritos
Open since 1982, 188 Bakery Cuchifritos is a Caribbean neighborhood staple for orders of chicharrones, pernil, cuajito (meaty pig stomach), as well as morcilla. Of the latter, critic Ryan Sutton says, “the sausage...serves as a reminder that if you’re not considering Puerto Rican pork within the scope of the city’s grand meat and charcuterie traditions, you’re not doing it right.”
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Mario’s Restaurant
Now over a century old, Marios on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is as old school as it gets. The Migliucci family still owns this restaurant that started as a pizzeria, serving dishes like linguine with red clam sauce and veal marsala. The interior looks untouched, full of oil paintings, Michelangelo statuettes, and white columns. Don’t miss the dessert trolley, and be sure to finish off with an espresso paired with a shot of complimentary anisette.
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Sylvia's Restaurant
Dubbed “the Queen of Soul Food,” Sylvia Woods opened the doors on Sylvia’s Restaurant in 1962, bringing generous servings of Southern comfort food to Harlem. The neighborhood restaurant is world-famous for its timeless cooking and Southern charm, which still endures decades after opening. While Woods died in 2012, her family continues to run the restaurant.
Joe Allen
New York lost the restaurateur Joe Allen in 2021, yet after nearly 60 years, his namesake restaurant lives on; this Theater District staple remains a haunt for theatergoers and actors alike. Get the La Scala salad with iceberg, salami, and provolone; the Joe Allen burger or steak frites; and save room for the epic banana cream pie.
P.J. Clarke's
Though it’s now expanded into a chain of pubs, the original P.J. Clarke’s has stood on Third Avenue since 1884. This is the one with the ancient mahogany bar, the old jukebox, and the taxidermied dog at the bar. Over the years it has attracted regulars like Jackie Kennedy and Frank Sinatra, and the bacon cheeseburger is called the “Cadillac” because that’s how Nat King Cole once described it.
Grand Central Oyster Bar
Grand Central Oyster Bar has occupied the subterranean space in Grand Central Station since 1913. The award-winning room, with its vaulted, tiled ceilings is one of the main attractions here, and one of the best seats for slurping more than a dozen kinds of oysters is at the bar. The only update in its storied history is that the restaurant is now closed on Saturday and Sunday.
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Keens Steakhouse
Keens is packed with history, and not just because it opened in 1885. This Midtown steakhouse used to be home to a famous theatre and literary group, and after that, a pipe club. Dozens of pipes still line the restaurant, giving it a warm, unique vibe not like any other restaurant in the city. The signature order here is the mutton chop. The restaurant also sells a smaller portion as a $29 as special.
Old Town Bar
Old Town Bar is one of a handful to survive Prohibition. The space itself, with its tiled floor, wooden booths, and mahogany bar, is one of the main attractions, but Old Town also serves a superb burger and wings. Dine downstairs, and your food might just be delivered to the bar via dumbwaiter from the kitchen upstairs.
John's of Bleecker Street
John’s — a coal-oven pizzeria founded by a veteran of Lombardi’s — opened in 1929 and today serves a pie that Eater critic Robert Sietsema found to be “lusher” than its coal-oven peers. That means a little bit more cheese and a top-notch crust. Prepare to wait in line to enter.
McSorley’s Old Ale House
Open since 1854, McSorley’s is one of the city’s oldest bars, and it’s still packed most nights of the week. The only choice here is between light or dark beer; it comes to mugs to an order for $7. A short food menu with burgers, hot dogs, and ham and cheese sandwiches is written on a chalkboard that hangs behind the bar.
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Raoul's
Raoul’s, the decades-old Soho bistro regularly hosts high-rollers and famous folks alike (and is the subject of a soon-to-run documentary on what makes it so special). In addition to a great place to people watch, the restaurant has one-of-a-kind ambiance and is known for its legendary burgers and steak au poivre.
Ear Inn
A venerated bar that used to mark the water’s edge before the landfill expansion, the Ear Inn is many things: a music venue, a haunted house, an Irish pub, and a piece of history. Go here for the better than it needs to be bar food, an eclectic collection of regulars, terrific people watching, and stuff on the walls chronicling the bar’s history since it opened in 1817.
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Balthazar
Whether or not you’re following owner Keith McNally’s provocative Instagram account, opened in 1997, Balthazar is one of those classic restaurants that feels of-of-the-moment: from its roster of high-profile regulars to its French brasserie menu or the dining room with attention to design detail like few others. Visit solo for a VIP glass of Champagne to kick off a meal or go with a crew and start the night with a seafood tower.
Katz's Delicatessen
Katz’s has stood on the corner of East Houston and Ludlow streets since 1888, and the pastrami alone is a New York icon. The expansive, cafeteria-style dining room is almost always bustling, and diners have to know how to navigate the system. Get in line, remember to tip the slicer (they might give you an extra piece to snack on), and no matter what, don’t lose that ticket.
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Lombardi's Coal Oven Pizza
Lombardi’s is the first pizzeria in New York City and, supposedly, the country. It relocated a few decades ago — from the home it had occupied since 1905 to a storefront down the block — but it’s still one of the city’s few coal-oven pizzerias. Go early or late to avoid the onslaught of tourists, and get a basic red or white pie.
Russ & Daughters Cafe
This spinoff from Russ & Daughters offers deli classics like chopped liver, matzo ball soup, and potato knishes. The emphasis is on preserved fish, but the pastrami smoked salmon on a pretzel roll more than makes up for the the lack of actual pastrami. The serpentine space, cheerily decorated in white and powder blue, extends from Orchard to Allen streets, and seems as old as its original location.
The Odeon
Opened in the ’80s, the comely neon-lit Odeon “is a movie set that doubles as a restaurant,” according to a decades-old piece in Vanity Fair. Opened by Lynn Wagenknecht, her then-husband restauranteur Keith McNally, and his brother Brian, it’s still run by Wagenknecht (while Keith has gone on to open a restaurant empire). In spite of the many lives New York has lived since it opened in what was then remote Tribeca, the Odeon feels both of the ’80s and of the moment. And your Odeon burger, three-egg omelet, or croque monsieur will be as satisfying as you would hope.
Bamonte's
A red-sauce stalwart of Brooklyn, Bamonte's has been open since 1902 and hasn’t been renovated since the 1950s. It’s said to have been a mobster hangout and still attracts plenty of Williamsburg old-timers. Don’t miss the baked clams or the pork chop topped with peppers, which Eater critic Robert Sietsema deems “the city's most perfect evocation of that dish.”
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Wo Hop
Wo Hop, founded in 1938, takes the distinction of the city’s second oldest Chinese restaurant. (Only Nom Wah Tea Parlor, started in 1920 and also on this list, is older.) Its longevity is due to both the reliability of its Chinese-American fare and the small, subterranean nature of the real estate it occupies. Try the massive platters of chicken chow mein, sweet-and-sour pork, subgum egg foo young, and beef chow fun. While the address listed here is considered the original Wo Hop, the street-level part of the restaurant is dubbed Wo Hop Next Door.
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Gottscheer Hall
Founded in 1924 when Ridgewood was a German immigrant enclave, Gottscheer represents a group of ethnic Germans who had previously lived under the Habsburg Monarchy in what is now Slovenia. This sturdy beer hall, which looks every year of its age, has a barroom open to the public where German and American beers are dispensed, and an agreeable but limited menu of sausages, goulash, pretzels, and cutlets is served. Don’t miss the potato pancakes.
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Brennan & Carr
Founded at the end of Gravesend Neck Road in 1938 when this part of Brooklyn was mainly farms, Brennan & Carr looks like a stockade from the Civil War crossed with an English Tudor cottage, and boasts two darkish dining rooms inside. Order at the outside window, or traipse through the open kitchen and sit down for an oversized roast beef sandwich served on a kaiser roll. Both sides of the bun are first dipped in beef broth, and the beef here is as much steamed as roasted, but that’s not a bad thing, since it develops a bouncy texture.
Nathan's Famous
Even if it’s since grown into a wide-reaching franchise, Nathan’s Famous remains a true New York institution. The Coney Island original opened in 1916, selling hot dogs for five cents. They cost more now, of course, and come in vegan varieties, but otherwise not much has changed about the experience of eating a cheap, greasy dog on the boardwalk.