The Best Restaurants In The West Village

Via Carota is always busy, and there are several reasons why. First, the Italian food is exceptional—especially the pasta, fried rabbit, and svizzerina. This restaurant also has an attractive space decorated like an Italian farmhouse, and you might see someone who’s due for their first (or next) Oscar win. Limited reservations are available 30 days out, but if you don’t snag one, you might be told to come back in several hours, so put your name on the list and get some drinks at one of the many bars within walking distance.

The Dhamaka team is behind Semma, which serves South Indian regional specialties typically made in rural home settings. With colorful designs on its white brick walls, and a woven bamboo ceiling, it's a pleasant place for some of the best food in the city. That is, if you can manage to get a table. Once you do, order some chili-flecked Mangalore-style cauliflower, and the gunpowder dosa. We'd also recommend calling ahead to reserve the whole Dungeness crab. Only a handful are available each night.

L’Industrie’s original Williamsburg location has been a fixture on our best pizza list since it opened, and this second location serves the same, long-fermented sourdough pies we know and love. Each pie is topped with giant basil leaves and grated parmesan, and toppings like velvety burrata, pepperoni, or soppressata, which are all imported from Italy. Despite having more seating and donning the West Village uniform of dark wood, tin ceilings, and exposed brick walls, L’Industrie is still a casual slice shop, where orange grease drips down your wrist as you fold a piece lengthwise.

The West Village has so much good pizza, it’s unfair to other neighborhoods. Your first stop should always be L’Industrie, but after that, head to Mama’s Too. This slice shop, which started on the Upper West Side, specializes in light, crunchy square pies heavily layered with toppings like vodka sauce, whipped ricotta, and calabrian chili oil. The pepperoni and cacio e pepe are essential, and you should also try to get your hands on one of the sandwich specials, usually available on Sundays and Wednesdays. Past options have included an overstuffed cheesesteak and an eggplant parm with burrata spilling out the sides.

Like a lot of spots on this list, 4 Charles Prime Rib is tough to get into. If you manage to score a table, prepare yourself to eat meat and drink something strong in a small dark space filled with diners who look like they talk about market caps and liquidity all day. Order a few big hunks of prime rib, and be sure to dip your fries in creamed spinach. For dessert, have a sundae, a burger (one of the best in the city), or both. If you’re looking to have dinner in a space that feels like a rich relative’s private drinking den, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Faicco’s is a legendary Italian deli that you should scream about to everyone you eat lunch with regularly. It’s been around since 1900 (and has been operated by the same family throughout its entire existence), and it’s where you’ll find what we’re fairly certain is NYC’s best chicken cutlet sandwich. (It’s about the size of The Rock’s forearm.) They also have every kind of high-quality meat to stuff into a long roll. This place is more like a little grocery store than a restaurant, so grab some jarred pesto on your way out.

I Sodi is known for two things: incredible Tuscan food that’s so simple it seems effortless, and being impossible to get into—partly because the original location was tiny. Now that the restaurant is in a larger space on Bleecker, getting a table is a bit easier, but not by much. If you're lucky enough to get a reservation, you’ll get to enjoy your choice of their house Negronis and some perfect pappardelle al limone in a faux farmhouse space with weathered floorboards. Keep in mind, the bar is saved for walk-ins, and you can get a seat there without much of a wait if you stop by early in the night.

Every inch the polished West Village restaurant with its smooth, wide bar overlooking an open kitchen, and its Murano glass chandelier suspended over a corner table, Justine’s also has one of the more interesting menus in the area. You’ll find small plates and French techniques at this elegant wine bar, but you’ll also find sauces from the Philippines and punchy ingredients from around the world enlivening everything from fluke ceviche to pork chops. The wine is pretty much all European, and the menu changes often to reflect what’s in season at the owners’ family farm.

The Noortwyck manages to get us excited about a menu that calls itself New American. Even their most basic dishes get unexpected accents, like raw oysters with seasonal garnishes like cherry and raspberry or pickled shimeji mushrooms. And despite the fact that this isn’t an Italian restaurant, their pasta is some of the best in the West Village. (That’s saying something.) The space is casual enough for after-work drinks, yet special enough for a birthday dinner. Be sure to save room for dessert.

Really great fondue isn’t easy to find in NYC, but The Lavaux is good enough to make up for that fact. This traditional Swiss restaurant in the West Village has an array of cozy things, like a window table that’s inside of an enclosed ski lift car, a weathered wooden table with a built-in bread slicer, and enough copper bowls to make Julia Child jealous. You’ll want to get fondue here, obviously, but there are also some salads, cheese and charcuterie boards, and things like beef tartare. There’s also an impressive selection of Swiss wines.

Instead of cacio e pepe and carbonara, Don Angie does a giant platter of rolled lasagna for two and a plate of gnocchi with provolone. Both dishes are very much worth your time, and there are some other creative pastas and little plates that belong on your table too, like a stuffed garlic flatbread and a parmesan-covered chrysanthemum salad. Eat all of those things, and you’ll realize why this is one of the top Italian restaurants in NYC. The restaurant is filled with leather and shiny things, so it’s a sleek destination for a date night.

Sushi Katsuei started in Park Slope, and it became so popular that it expanded to Manhattan. This is one of the best places in the West Village to eat incredible, creative sushi for under $100. Sit at the long wooden bar, and after a couple pieces of nigiri, you’ll wonder why there aren’t more places that serve raw fish this good for this price. Omakase options start at $65 for nine pieces and a handroll, and they often include unusual options like firefly squid or barracuda.

Located in the former Holiday Bar space, Crevette is a bright seafood restaurant from the team behind Lord’s and Dame. Instead of English food though, a meal at Crevette is a vacation on the French Riviera—with a day trip to the Spanish coastline. Shoot oysters with coriander mignonette, snack on tuna belly on crunchy potato rosti, and finish your meal with a glorious half chicken and frites. Crevette also has a wonderful bar, so it works well for a walk-in solo dinner.

Buvette is very small and consistently packed. That might not sound like a place where you want to eat a meal, but this French bistro (with locations in other cities like Paris and Tokyo) will win you over with its charm as soon as you sit down. There's a long marble bar and a big chalkboard map of France, and the homey space is filled with vintage knickknacks. Bring a date to this romantic spot for some classic French dishes like coq au vin, duck cassoulet, and tartines that you’ll definitely want to try to make at home.

Quique Crudo serves exceedingly fresh and simple Mexican seafood in a space so tiny you may accidentally eat off your neighbor’s plate. With only around 20 stools, this walk-in-only spot seems like it would be a pain to get into, but early in the night, there’s often no wait. Don’t bring a group, but do bring a date who appreciates crab tostadas and impeccable margaritas.

There’s a correct way to do L’Artusi, and this is it: You come with one other person, and you sit at the bar. You order a crudo and the roasted mushrooms with pancetta and a fried egg, and then you share two pastas. You drink wine. You go home happy. Unlike a lot of rustic downtown Italian spots, the decor is modern with upholstered seating and gray tile floors, and a dinner here is about as good a date night as they come. You can’t go wrong with any of the pastas, and the wagyu carpaccio alone is worth coming back for.

When you first moved to New York, you probably imagined yourself eating at a restaurant like Libertine, in a neighborhood like the West Village. With butter flown in from Normandy and a Serge Gainsbourg poster on the wall, it’s obvious this restaurant was opened by some real Francophiles, but it's also exactly the type of pristine bistro that New Yorkers are always yearning for. The prices are closer to what you’d spend on a special date night than on a casual lunch, but the French countryside cooking is worth the occasional splurge.

San Sabino excels at Italian-influenced seafood small plates. The limoncello-washed restaurant from the team behind Don Angie loses the red sauce in favor of lemon agrumato oil, bright and spritzy cocktails, and lots of wonderfully prepared sea creatures. Go big on small plates like stuffed mussels with ‘nduja and a swipe of lemon aioli, or a rich crab and mortadella dip served with Ritz crackers and pepper jelly. It still has that patented Don Angie tough table, but you can walk in and sit at the bar and let the surf rock soundtrack wash over you.

This sequel to the East Village Thai spot Soothr feels like the glam afterparty of a 1970s movie premier. If you need a place that immediately sets the tone for a lively night out, stop by and eat skewers beneath a mirrored ceiling while you listen to a Thai pop soundtrack. The food—like the spicy duck laab, and a seasonal fruit salad with fish sauce—doesn’t hold back, and the elaborate cocktails keep the mood festive. Try the frozen Somsri, made with tequila, lime zest, and guava puree.

There are sushi spots in the city that seem like a party, but Kosaka lives at the opposite end of the spectrum. The tranquil dining room makes you feel like somebody is about to place cucumber slices over your eyes and give you a massage. Only one omakase is offered ($250 or $225 depending on where you sit), and it consists of an amuse, sashimi, 12 sushi courses, soup, and a dessert with tea. Service here is faultless—if a drop of soy sauce somehow lands anywhere other than your plate, someone will wipe it up within seconds.

Stepping into this snug southern French bistro feels like entering grand-mère’s country house. The food is just as old-world homey as the sepia-lit dining room, while still refined, like artichoke soup with a chunk of foie gras. The simple yet extraordinarily flavorful pissaladière—a Niçoise tart with caramelized onions, anchovies, and black olives—is a must.

Cozied up inside a landmark townhouse, the Waverly Inn is a modern NYC classic, known for celebrity clientele and a no-photographs policy. The American food here is solid (nothing tops the complimentary basket of biscuits), but the candlelit atmosphere is unbeatable, especially if you ensconce yourself in a red leather banquette with a view of the famous Edward Sorel mural.

If you’ve been disappointed with your sushi outings lately and need a sure thing, book a table at Sushi Nakazawa. You might have heard about this West Village spot because the head chef was featured in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. The mostly black-and-white space feels modern, and if you sit at one of the counters, you’ll get around 20 courses of flawlessly prepared sushi for $190. (You can get the same omakase in the dining room for $30 less.) This place is pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Have you ever found yourself wandering through the West Village thinking: “Is there a place that’s charming and casual I can just pop into for some carbs and a nice salad without a two-hour wait?” That place exists, and it’s Malaparte. This dark little spot on Washington Street with exposed brick everywhere and wood floors that might be 100 (or more) years old is good for either a date night or a meal with a handful of friends. Order some rigatoni, a pizza with prosciutto, and the simple grilled whole branzino.