Top 10 restaurants in Times Square, New York’s hot new dining spot

A glamorous new steakhouse and restaurateur Danny Meyer’s latest location are supercharging the maligned neighbourhood

NEW York’s Times Square is renowned for its tourists, its theatre, its neon. What it’s rarely known for — Guy Fieri’s infamous Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar notwithstanding — is food.

Yet now, the razzle-dazzle food swamp is in the midst of a dining revolution. Exhibit A is GUI, the swanky two-storey steakhouse which opened on Eighth Avenue on Feb 22 that’s repurposed a former Staples store. The gilded space will feature haute cuts of wagyu beef, roving trolleys of caviar and pristine seafood, and a deluxe cocktail programme.

“We saw an opportunity to bring something different to this high-energy neighbourhood: A refined-yet-approachable American steakhouse experience,” said Chef Sungchul Shim, who also operates the Michelin-starred dining rooms Mari and Kochi.

Another hospitality expert who sees opportunity in Times Square is Danny Meyer. The famed restaurateur and his Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) have just reopened the View, transforming the tired, rotating tourist-filled bar into a David Rockwell-designed masterpiece complete with seafood towers and bone-in chops.

“It’s impossible to imagine Times Square without thinking of two eminently powerful business drivers in that neighbourhood: Broadway theatre and tourism. All by themselves, those two engines can fill a restaurant,” said the USHG founder.

“In creating what we hope will become a dining destination for New Yorkers, our aim is that the energy of the surrounding area will flow through our doors, keeping our seats full.” He added that the restaurant on the 47th and 48th floors above Times Square will allow both New Yorkers and visitors “to experience Times Square in a fresh light.”

“Dining out is an extension of the kind of connection, discovery and ritual that Broadway delivers, and it makes sense that hospitality is rising up to meet this renewed engagement,” added Rockwell.

Meyer’s new Times Square neighbours include the chef-driven See No Evil Pizza and the dumpling darling Din Tai Fung. It’s also a block away from the new US$2.5 billion (RM11.05 billion) entertainment and hotel project, TSX Broadway.

“Restaurateurs are investing dollars in this market, because people from all over the world come to Times Square and want a unique dining experience,” said Times Square Alliance president Tom Harris.

He credits investment in car-free pedestrian zones as well as increased policing and improved sanitation with helping to lure more restaurateurs to the area. “A rising tide lifts all ships,” he said. “We are working to promote public safety, sanitation and pedestrian-friendly plazas. The businesses have followed.”

The enhancements have led to an uptick in both pedestrian traffic and restaurant dining spending, according to the Times Square Alliance. In December 2024, pedestrian traffic was up 17.5% from the same period the previous year, and January saw a rise of 7.2% from the January before, despite colder weather in 2025.

Likewise, diners are shelling out more. In 2024 domestic visitors spent US$135 million in neighbourhood dining rooms, a 12% increase from 2023. Tristate residents spent US$64 million, up 6% from the previous year. Even New York City residents, who tend to avoid Times Square, forked over US$125 million, an 8% increase from 2023.

Here then is your handy dining guide to Times Square, starring the six latest notable additions, plus four places not to forget about.

NEWCOMERS

GUI Steakhouse

A martini laced with steak-dripping-infused vermouth served with a side of homemade beef jerky is one way to start a night at GUI (pronounced “GOO-ee”). The American-vibed steakhouse will serve dry-aged domestic prime beef and Japanese A5 wagyu (US$23-US$32 per oz depending on the cut) seared on Josper grills and binchotan, as a Fisherman’s Cart stocked with options like oysters, razor clams, live scallops and uni makes the rounds.

While there will be some nods to Chef Shim’s home province of Jeolla, a region in South Korea known for its rich culinary heritage (such as the sundubu jjigae, a fermented soybean stew with clams, US$20), the heart of the concept is classic steakhouse with refined Korean influences. There’s double-cooked thick-cut bacon with chunjang glaze (US$32) and a galbi-style flatiron steak with barley risotto (US$45).

The 120-seat restaurant, outfitted with polished wood tables, deep-green velvet seating, intricately carved shoji screens and golden glass backdrop, is located up the stairs or via a renovated Staples-era elevator. On the ground floor, Bar 92 is a speakeasy with a dark-wood and custom-crafted mother-of-pearl back bar. Here you can snack on a wagyu katsu sandwich along with other snacks like a shrimp burger — and sip on that steak-infused Gui-tini. 776 Eighth Ave.

Din Tai Fung

It’s rare for a dumpling to generate the sort of frenzy reserved for Taylor Swift, but the arrival of Din Tai Fung has turned Times Square into an epicentre for xiao long bao (XLB) fans. The restaurant, roughly the size of an airport hangar at 25,000 sq ft, seats 450, yet it’s still not big enough to contain the masses. The menu highlights wonderful dim sum — pillowy steamed buns, crispy-bottomed potstickers — and pork chops smothering fried rice, but the XLB, hand-pinched with 18 pleats, stuffed with marinated Kurobuta pork, IS what everyone is there for. 1633 Broadway.

The View

Meyer and his longtime design partner David Rockwell have reenergised the tourist staple the View. The bar, spinning slowly against Manhattan’s skyline on the 48th floor of the Marriott Marquis hotel, now feels like a Mad Men set, with its moody haze of amber lighting, brass and blue accents, and clubby mid-century modern furniture. Old-fashioned, served in heavy cut-glass tumblers, are properly made; they go for US$22, as do most of the cocktails. Downstairs on the 47th floor, there’s a jazz piano player in the sumptuous glass-walled dining room. Executive Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley offers an Americana menu with crabcakes, roasted chicken with warm green bean and bread salad (US$36) and black bass en papillote served tableside in a parchment poof, as well as layer cakes, sundaes and classic New York cheesecake. With the choreography of the city spinning by, it’s dinner and a show. 1535 Broadway.

See No Evil Pizza

This sensational pie joint from a Gramercy Tavern alum is secreted in the Downtown 1 train station at 50th Street and Broadway. Executive Chef-partner Edward Carew’s pizza has a three-day fermented crust, so it’s airy and chewy. It’s then topped and fired in a state-of-the-art Marra Forni pizza oven. Selections change seasonally: In cold weather you might find the Funghi, with roasted garlic, fontina and lemon accenting the foraged mushrooms. The Hell Pie — smothered in hot soppressata, pepperoni and Calabrian chili — is a staple.

Post-pizza, stop by Nothing Really Matters, the restaurant’s super-cool speakeasy, accessible through a discreet door. Head mixologist Cyllan Hicks (Double Happiness; Grand Banks) mixes innovative cocktails grouped by spirit. Try the Cloak & Dagger, a winter warm-up for two (US$36) that mixes whiskey, rye and tawny port with the warmth of clove, maple and smoke, along with a roster of solid classics. 210 W 50th Street, Concourse 1.

Dear Irving

When it opened in October, this fifth-floor cocktail lounge swept a world of civility and sophistication into Times Square. The space is glossy and glam, with an oversize bar in the shape of the letter “O” and deep crushed-velvet couch seating. Carefully mixed cocktails (US$20) served in elegant glassware include an entire section devoted to the Gibson and a list focused on New York state spirits, such as an Autumn Smash, made with New York Distilling Co rye. The menu also has the option of excellent cocktail fare: Caviar rolls, au poivre sliders and sesame-crusted tuna tataki. It’s a great place for preshow bites or after-work drinks. 1717C Broadway.

All’Antico Vinaio

Even after two-plus years, the sandwiches as destination food feel fresh and create lines down the block. The greatness of the Florentine import starts with the bread: Airy, freshly baked schiacciata, a marriage between focaccia and pizza bianca. Then there’s everything stuffed inside, from Salame toscana, with pecorino cream, artichoke cream and spicy eggplant in La Favolosa (US$20) to rare roast beef, paired with onion porcini cream, tomato and arugula for The New Yorker (US$19). The menu is long, but there are no wrong choices. 1450 Broadway.

THE CLASSICS

Aldo Sohm Wine Bar

If one long-standing place makes Times Square worth the tourist crush, it’s this bar and lounge from Aldo Sohm, who’s also the wine director of three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin across the street. Sohm treats the bar as he might his own living room, hosting Tuesday trivia nights and the #9PMPour, where he picks a favourite bottle and pours it for everyone at the bar each night at nine o’clock.

The wine makes the place notable enough — selections come from small, natural makers as well as from lauded Old World producers. But the menu, overseen by Le Bernardin’s culinary team, goes far beyond the usual wine-friendly cheese and charcuterie, with an haute popcorn section, a roster of assorted tartes flambee and warm sandwiches like a lamb merguez pita with herbed yogurt. 151 West 51st Street.

Gallaghers

Since 1927, Gallaghers has been Times Square’s top spot for carnivores, a legendary speakeasy-turned-steakhouse specialising in Manhattans, clams casino, steak tartare and a slew of dry-aged steaks and chops fired over its signature hickory coals. Not only is it a great place for aged beef in Times Square — a civilised refuge from the city’s panicked pace — it’s also one of New York’s top steakhouses. 228 W 52nd Street.

Sky Pavilion

One of the city’s top Sichuan restaurants is located on a rundown 42nd Street block, a stone’s throw from Port Authority. Chef Zhong Qing Wang trained under several Sichuan master chefs; his first Manhattan restaurant, La Vie en Szechuan, closed during the pandemic. His new home is Sky Pavilion, which has earned raves reviews. In a bland, exposed-brick banquet room, you’ll find a menu that’s breathtaking in both breadth and quality. Highlights among the vividly flavoured dishes include braised whole fish with ground pork; freshly made tofu pudding in a stone pot with chili oil, scallions and pickled chiles; and the famous stir-fried Zigong-style rabbit, singing with multiple chilis and (naturally) mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. 325 W 42nd Street.

Carmine’s

Carmine’s is the Disney of New York Italian food — oversize, boisterous, full of fun and nearly exhausting in its boundless energy and Titanic portion sizes. Waiters in crisp white shirts dash around the 13,000 sq ft dining room ferrying family-style platters of very good chicken parm blanketed in bubbly mozzarella, big bowls of meatballs, creamy penne alla vodka, rafts of toasty garlic bread and generously seasoned Caesar salad. There’s a captivating, nearly dizzying buzz to the restaurant that matches the city’s. 200 W 44th Street. — Bloomberg