13 Best Restaurants in Flatiron District, New York City

When Enrique Olvera, the chef at Pujol, which many agree is Mexico's best restaurant, announced he was coming north of the border, New York foodies went loco. Olvera's haute touch to his native cuisine is magic, and, coupled with the sleek design (soft lighting, minimalist decor), Cosme makes for a fine dining experience of sophisticated food, focused on small plates.

Cote has blown up the staid New York steak-house formula by infusing the experience with Korean twists: that shrimp cocktail might look classic, for instance, but just wait 'til the hot gochujang hits your palate. The steak omakase "tasting menu" is unique, allowing you to compare several cuts of meat, but you can go old-school and just focus on your favorite; everything is cooked tableside—by you or your server—at a smokeless grill.

Luxury, precision, and creativity are the driving forces at this internationally renowned prix-fixe restaurant in a refined high-ceilinged space. Swiss-born chef Daniel Humm oversees the kitchen, concocting unexpected, often whimsical, dishes that change often but have a solid grounding in locavore American tastes. This is one of the most fine-tuned dining experiences you can have in New York City.

The minimalist concrete space and Ikea-ish tables and chairs might lack gravitas, but the beautifully plated, delicious food shows where Atoboy is focusing its energy. The four-course ($75), small-dish tasting-menu concept lets you sample a range of the kitchen's creative Korean flavors.

Named for the bustling food market in Barcelona, Boqueria was part of the city's first wave of tapas restaurants when it opened back in 2006 and its popularity has never waned, thanks to the seasonal, creative, and delicious food. There are leather banquettes lining the main room and a few seats at the bar, but if you want to make friends, opt for the communal table running down the center of the dining room. This original spot in the Flatiron District is so popular it's spawned offshoots around New York City, as well as in Nashville, DC, and Chicago.

There’s a reason why these doughnuts in multilicious flavors have become a signature at so many cafés throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, and at this Manhattan outpost of the Bed-Stuy original, you can get them fresh out of the oven. The ever-popular (though odd-sounding) hibiscus doughnut looks gorgeous and has just the right amount of tart fruitiness to balance the sweetness of the dough; other favorites include passion fruit, salted chocolate, and cinnamon and sugar.

Both a bustling food hall and a marketplace where you can shop for produce, baked goods, prepared foods, and kitchen staples, Eataly is a temple to all things gourmet Italian. You can graze at individual stands, sit down for a meal at one of several restaurants that each specialize in different aspects of Italian cuisine, or head upstairs to Serra by Birreria, a covered rooftop space that's open year-round and serves Italian specialties and microbrews that change with the seasons.

Famed Washington, D.C., restaurateur and chef Philippe Massoud brings his culinary talents—emphasizing cuisine from his native Lebanon—to New York City at this bi-level, 400-seat eatery. The menu of innovative Middle Eastern fare includes a mouth-watering variety of shareable hot and cold meze, as well as mains that run the gamut from lamb chops with za'atar to chicken livers with pomegranate molasses to duck shawarma with fig jam. Waiters never fail to refresh the basket of hot, fluffy, house-baked pita bread. A glass of Lebanese or French wine is a nice accompaniment to the cuisine.

Some of the nation’s most highly regarded food has emerged from the kitchen at Odo, which serves elaborate multicourse Japanese meals known as kaiseki for lunch ($135) and dinner ($245). With just 14 counter seats around the small open kitchen, the experience is essentially a delicious kind of theater.

New York City has no shortage of Italian restaurants but Rezdôra stands out among the multitudes with its impeccable pastas with lineage from the under-represented Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. The meat and fish secondi (second courses) are wonderfully executed as well, but the pasta (handmade and hand-rolled) steals the show.

This classic luncheonette, formerly known as Eisenberg's, has been slinging eggs, frothing egg creams, and slicing white bread across from the Flatiron Building since 1928. Its latest incarnation, from Court Street Grocers, opened as S&P Lunch in 2022, with its retro atmosphere and menu intact. Seats at the long deli counter up front move quickly at breakfast and lunch; there's a smattering of tables at the back.

Although there are other locations of Danny Meyer's burger joint around town and around the world, Madison Square Park is where it all began (as a hot dog cart!); there's no indoor seating—just outdoor lines (go early or late to avoid a wait). The Angus beef burgers are ground daily, making them some of the freshest and tastiest in the city. For a couple more bucks you can order a double, a stack, or a vegetarian 'Shroom Burger—a melty, Muenster-and-cheddar-stuffed fried portobello. The menu also offers "beef and bird" (chicken) hot dogs, French fries, frozen custard, and—of course—shakes.

On the second floor of the New York EDITION Hotel, this refined all-day spot is helmed by British superchef Jason Atherton, who presides over a high-ceilinged, dark-hued dining room. Best described as elevated British tavern fare, the dinner menu offers choices like comforting oxtail-spiked mac 'n' cheese, a hearty pork chop, and butter-roasted Dover sole; morning can mean a full English breakfast or American standards like pancakes.