New York
City

I am absolutely in love with this city.  I don't know if it's something in the air, but I am always in a good mood and constantly eating double my appetite while visiting.  The food scene is unmatched from the incredible bagels and pizza to the Italian food that is comparable to Italy, everything is delicious and would easily go back to over 95% of restaurants I have tried in an instant.  Central Park is always a constant when I come on a sunny day to see awesome performers and people watch, as well as throw the frisbee on the great lawn.  To close, the going out scene here is always exciting and has never disappointed, especially any night spent at the Brooklyn Mirage, so get here instantly if you want an incredibly fun weekend paired with some amazing food and views.

• ​Things to Do and Reviews

  • Central Park

    • Great to walk around or run through, always busy on weekends and the sunset is incredible through the buildings on the Great Lawn

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• • Empire State Building

    • Obviously a must

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• • Walk around the East Village

    • Great area with lively bars and exceptional food options

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• • Walk around West Village

    • Fun area with some of the nicest and most highly regarded restaurants in the city along with unique clothing among other shops

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• Breakfast Places and Reviews

  • Tompkins Square Bagels

    • The onion bagel is the single best bagel I have ever had

    • Two locations both in the East Village

    • Expect long lines especially on the weekends that could take up to 45 minutes

    • My go to order is The Wheezer, switch the chorizo for avocado and on an onion bagel along with an onion bagel with lox spread

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• • Blackseed

    • A good alternative to Tompkins, less than one block away, that has a little bit cheaper sandwiches and much less of a line

    • The bagel sandwiches are good but I think Tompkins is exceptional

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• • Cask Bar and Kitchen​

    • Awesome brunch with bottomless mimosas in Murray Hill​

    • I got the breakfast flatbread and it was delicious

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• Lunch Places and Reviews

  • Chinatown

    • Mei Lai Wah

      • Incredible pork buns for $1.95

      • The pineapple roasted pork bun is great, but I prefer the original

      • CASH ONLY

    • Supertaste

      • Exceptional pork and chive dumplings

      • 10 dumplings for $4.95

    • Wah Fung No.1

      • Exceptional roasted pork over rice

      • Personally, I ask for no vegetables and extra sauce over the pork and rice

      • Expect a long wait as Tik Tok has made this spot very popular

      • CASH ONLY

      • Pork and rice lunchbox for $5

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• • Dim Sum Palace

    • Great place for lunch in the East Village with tons of options

    • We got a plethora of dumplings and different orders and all were great

    • Specific favorite was the spare ribs

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• • Los Tacos No.1

    • Some of the best tacos I have ever had located in NoHo

    • Highly recommend the chicken and al pastor tacos along with an horchata, but the steak is still good

    • Warning if you get a quesadilla, that just means they melt cheese inside the taco, not a normal quesadilla

    • Still extremely delicious but we were confused when it came out as a normal taco

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• • Katz’s Deli

    • Insane pastrami sandwich in the Lower East Side

    • Stays open 24 hours on the weekends

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• Dinner Places and Reviews

  • Au Za’atar

    • Awesome restaurant with incredible middle eastern food in the East Village

    • It’s not on the initial menu, but you can ask for the tableside shawarma stack which brings a hefty amount of meat that they shave at your table served with six pita and the most fries I have seen at one time

    • You can get chicken, lamb, or beef, and can easily feed three probably four people

    • Definitely recommend the tableside shawarma, the lamb hummus (absolutely amazing and a must get) as well as one other hummus, and an order of all side sauces and salads for a party of four

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• • Gyu Kaku

    • Great Korean BBQ in Cooper Square with very reasonable prices

    • Definitely recommend the spicy pork and the short rib, would not order the filet again

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• • Lucali

    • Wow wow WOW

    • This is probably the best pizza I have ever had, which explains why it is frequently visited by Steve Nash, Jay-Z and Beyonce, as well as many other celebrities

    • This is one of the hardest reservations to get in New York but here is how to get a table

    • Arrive at the restaurant around 2:30, and you will see a line start to form if it hasn’t already

    • If you really want a specific time, arrive around 2 to make sure you get your desired time

    • At 4, they open the doors to the restaurant as there is a hostess at the front who asks how many people in your party, and then tells you what time to come back to the restaurant

    • We got two completely different pizzas, but the easy favorite was the garlic, shallot, and pepperoni pizza

    • 1000% don’t sleep on the calzone as it is arguably better than the pizza, and for this we got just shallot and garlic

    • I cannot recommend this restaurant enough as the vibes, food, everything was immaculate, so if you have the time, this is a must stop!

    • CASH ONLY, expect each pizza to be around $40 once you have added the toppings

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• • Lillia

    • Once I ate here, this instantly became a top three restaurant for me in NYC

    • Tik Tok has hyped this place up, but for seriously good reason

    • This reservation is practically impossible as they release a month prior to the actual date of your dinner and are booked within seconds, so expect to keep notifications on for RESY and pray that someone cancels their reservation they made so you can snag it

    • When we walked in on February 6th, the party ahead of us was making a reservation for March 6th if that gives you any idea

    • As for the food, everything was incredible!  The leek focaccia is a must, these were probably the best and most decadent mussels I have ever had drowned in herb butter, the rigatoni diavola was great, the sheep’s milk agnolotti was absolutely amazing and so unique, and I loved the olive oil cake

    • We also ordered the baked clams, mozzarella on garlic bread, and lamb steak which were good, but not nearly on the level of the items mentioned above

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• • Rubirosa

    • This place in NoHo also 100% lived up to the hype, famous for their tie dye pizza which is a must order

    • However, this reservation is also practically impossible as they release a week prior to the actual date of your dinner and are booked within seconds, so pray for cancellations

    • I got the prosciutto filled jalapeño poppers which were good but not incredible, but this pizza is so crispy and thin and I did half tie dye and half supreme and it was absolutely delicious

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• • Dante

    • This West Village italian restaurant has gotten some mixed reviews from food influencers, but i thought this place was great

    • We ordered the burrata which was delicious as well as the spicy calamari, and I got the roasted chicken which was really good

    • Definitely not a must go to place, but still very good food if you’re in the area

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• • Soothr

    • Well this is easily the best thai food I have ever had

    • I recommend looking at reservations for a late lunch or early dinner as this place in the East Village is also extremely popular and fills up

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• • Don Angie

    • If we are really talking impossible reservations, this is the place

    • Like Rubirosa, reservations come out a week before and are filled in probably less than a second as everything we ate at this michelin star italian restaurant was phenomenal

    • I was just refreshing Resy and looking at different restaurants when I clicked on Don Angie, a reservation somehow appeared for 10, and it was an instant book

    • The pepperoni fried rice was incredible along with probably the best sweet potato dish I have ever tried, and you have to get the lasagna for two as it is one of my favorite dishes I have ever had

    • If you get in, put some lasagna on a piece of bread that comes with it and you will have a sensational bite

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• • L’Artusi

    • Hyped up on Tik Tok and very hard to get a reservation in the West Village, but I honestly did not think it was that incredible

    • We ordered the _____, but nothing made me think “wow, this is amazing

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• • Suki

    • Great place in the East Village with awesome katsu and udon

    • Has a michelin star and each dish is very reasonably priced around $16, no reservation necessary

    • Would not recommend the sushi

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• • Maison Pickle

    • Awesome restaurant on the Upper West Side

    • For sure have to get one of the house break breads, I got the feta and olive, but all are apparently amazing

    • Such a great and massive french dip sandwich, the deluxe was fantastic

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• • Morandi

    • Great italian restaurant in the West Village

    • I got the mafalde with sweet sausage, broccoli rabe, garlic, chili, and ricotta and it was fantastic

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  • Peter Luger’s Steakhouse

    • Great and famous steakhouse in Brooklyn

    • Super hyped up and reservations are impossible but I’ve had better steak from cheaper places

    • The best thing here was the thick cut bacon which is absolutely amazing and the creamed spinach

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• • 4 Charles Prime Rib

    • All I can say is wow

    • One of the hardest reservations to get in NYC for a reason

    • Our favorites were the sizzling shrimp scampi, of course the burger and french dip, the Chicago cut prime rib, and then the truffle mac and the elote corn

    • The creamed spinach and mashed potatoes are also awesome

    • The ice cream sundae is an absolute must and I don’t like chocolate but the chocolate pie with oreo crust was insane

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• Slice Pizza Places and Reviews

  • Prince Street Pizza

    • My personal favorite slice in the city, sicilian style, located in NoHo

    • Highly recommend the pepperoni slice, but the vodka is also a favorite among others but I haven’t tried it

    • Expect a long line that could be around 45 minutes during peak hours

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• • Village Square Pizza

    • A sicilian slice that is a favorite by many, but I personally think it is just good

    • The pepperoni slice with hot honey is definitely the best thing slice here, along with the vodka and the white slice

    • Open till 4am on the weekends, located East Village

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• • Joe’s Pizza

    • Solid slice of pizza that you can find at many different locations, traditional cheese slice is my favorite

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• Dessert/Late Night Eats

  • Magnolia Bakery

    • Incredible banana pudding in the West Village

    • My favorite cake is red velvet and they have a red velvet banana pudding, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as the original

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• • Levain Bakery

    • I think these are the best cookies I have ever had, super thick, located in NoHo

    • Highly recommend the two chip chocolate chip with dark and semi-sweet chips, or the dark chocolate peanut butter, but the walnut chocolate chip is also very good

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• • Baonanas

    • Great banana pudding in the East Village

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• • 7th St. Burger

    • I placed this under the late night eats as it stays open till 4 on the weekends and is a pretty small, but delicious burger in the East Village

    • Expect a long line but if a burger is on your mind, this will hit the spot

    • Like I mentioned, very small burgers so my personal order if you are starving would be a burger with loaded fries

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• • Stromboli Pizza

    • Good late night pizza in the East Village open until 4, but you should probably take an extra 5 minutes to just walk to Village Square

  • Ray's

    • Delicious shop in the East Village selling everything from soft serve to fried oreos to banana splits​

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• Best Bars/Clubs

  • Brooklyn Mirage

    • Absurd club that hosts the biggest DJ names in this incredible outdoor venue

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• • Bounce

    • A combination of a club and sports bar all in one, absolutely love this place

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• • Down the Hatch

    • Fun bar in the West Village but pretty expensive

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• • Carroll’s Place

    • Fun bar in the West Village that is known as being the most expensive, but has a room for more hanging out and talking, while if you go to the back room it is extremely warm with high energy dancing

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• • Red Lion

    • Probably my favorite bar I’ve been to in NYC, in the West Village and always has great live music

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• • The Penny Farthing

    • Don’t remember much from this bar in the East Village but massive space with a fun dj, and cool rooms for drinks and dancing if you head downstairs

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• • Gray Lady

    • Great bar in the Lower East Side with multiple rooms with different bars and a small area for dancing

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  • Middle Branch

    • Awesome, intimate cocktail bar in Murray hill with delicious drinks

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• Still Have toTry Pizza Places

  • Marinara

  • Scarr’s Pizza

  • Krispy Pizza

  • L’Industrie

  • John’s of Bleecker St.

  • Bleecker St. Pizza

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• Still Have toTry Restaurants

  • I’ll list the basic concept of each place/why I want to try/any necessary information

    • Tonchin

      • Japanese and ramen that has limited reservations for each day

    • Minetta Tavern

      • Known as one of the best burgers in the city with hard to get reservations

    • Au Cheval

      • Known as one of the best burgers in the city

      • Apparently the move is to add bacon and a fried egg

    • Lazer Wolf Brooklyn

      • Awesome Israeli food with hard to get reservations for a normal dinner time

    • 19 Cleveland

      • Recommended for great israeli food

    • 12 Chairs

      • Recommended for great israeli food

    • Misi

      • Italian food hyped up by Tik Tok that apparently lives up to the hype

    • COTE

      • Japanese BBQ that is impossible to get a reservation unless you are ok with eating at 10:45/11, those usually open up

    • Win Son

      • Popular Taiwanese restaurant in Brooklyn

    • Wayla

      • Popular thai restaurant featured on Tik Tok

    • Thai Diner

      • Popular thai restaurant featured on Tik Tok

    • DomoDomo

      • Japanese food with a chefs menu omakase