The best restaurants in Upper West Side, New York City — 15 ranked picks with ratings, must-try dishes and live table availability.
15 picksUpper West Side has 15 restaurants worth the trip, and this is the ranked list. Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi leads it at 4.8 stars, with Mama's Too close behind. Prices run the whole way from $ counters to $$$$ rooms, and the strongest showings are Pizza, Italian and Afro-Caribbean. If you only order one thing, make it the bodega special (the dessert) at Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. 1 of the 15 take online reservations, and the live availability badge on each card shows what is actually open tonight.
The Upper West Side is built for regulars — Columbus and Amsterdam run on neighborhood restaurants that have kept the same tables full for decades.
The #1 restaurant in NYC two years running — Kwame Onwuachi's Afro-Caribbean kitchen at Lincoln Center is the most important American restaurant of the decade
Must-try: Bodega special (the dessert), Oxtail croquettes, Curried king crab
📍 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023
A Broadway slice shop doing the best square upper-crust slice on the Upper West Side
Must-try: Upside-Down Sicilian square, Plain slice, Vodka square
📍 2750 Broadway, New York, NY 10025
Carbone's casual sibling, serving the cult pasta at a fraction of the ticket
Must-try: Spicy rigatoni, Chicken parmesan, Buffalo cucumber
📍 235 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10023
A big, handsome Greek room doing coastal Mediterranean with upscale polish
Must-try: Beef moussaka, Lamb chops, Whole grilled fish
📍 217 W 85th St, New York, NY 10024
A smooth operation and the right pre-Lincoln Center table for upscale seafood
Must-try: Lobster aguachile, Tuna tostadas, Grilled oysters
📍 155 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10023
Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng's inventive dim sum on the Upper West Side — Pac-Man dumplings and serious Cantonese technique
Must-try: Pac-Man shrimp dumplings, Katz's pastrami egg roll, Crispy beef
📍 2170 Broadway, New York, NY 10024
Traditional omakase with noticeably thicker cuts than the high-end standard
Must-try: 17-course omakase, Tempura fried hake, Smoked goldeneye snapper collar
📍 244 W 72nd St, New York, NY 10023
The Sturgeon King on Amsterdam since 1908 — smoked fish, scrambled eggs and onions, and formica that has earned its patina
Must-try: Scrambled eggs with Nova and onions, Sturgeon platter, Chopped liver
📍 541 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024
a family-run room whose service is personal and whose menu actually changes
Must-try: Birria bone marrow, Masa pancake, Fresh tortillas
📍 224 W 104th St, New York, NY 10025
a pastel, foliage-draped room doing a beachy take on the Mediterranean
Must-try: Kubaneh with feta, Crispy roasted lamb, Chicken schnitzel
📍 2454 Broadway, New York, NY 10024
Amsterdam Avenue comfort food and house pickles — biscuits the size of a fist, and one of the neighborhood's default brunches
Must-try: Fried chicken and biscuits, Pickle plate, Mac and cheese
📍 509 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024
a slice shop serving large, crispy, classic New York slices since 1959
Must-try: Cheese slice, Sicilian square, White pizza
📍 2671 Broadway, New York, NY 10025
a red-leather-booth institution and a reliable place to spot notable Upper West Siders
Must-try: French onion soup, Steak frites, Martini
📍 200 W 70th St, New York, NY 10023
a counter with a huge menu and banh mi built at a slightly absurd scale
Must-try: Banh mi, Pho, Laksa
📍 935 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10025
A hyper-seasonal Sicilian kitchen that rewrites the menu around whatever peaked
Must-try: Housemade pastas, Porchetta, Seasonal vegetables
📍 164 W 75th St, New York, NY 10023
Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi — 4.8 stars across 598 reviews, the highest on this list. The #1 restaurant in NYC two years running — Kwame Onwuachi's Afro-Caribbean kitchen at Lincoln Center is the most important American restaurant of the decade.
Mama's Too at $ — 4.6 stars without the $$$$ bill. 7 of the 15 restaurants on this page are $$ or under.
1 of the 15 book online — Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. The rest are walk-in or phone-only. Each card here shows live availability for tonight where the restaurant publishes it.
The bodega special (the dessert) at Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi, the upside-down sicilian square at Mama's Too and the spicy rigatoni at Parm. Those are the dishes regulars point to first.
Ratings and review volume decide the order, but the list itself is drawn from restaurants people actually post about — 13 of the 15 here have a TikTok attached to their card. Every entry is checked as open before it ships.