Gramercy Tavern has been on my list for many years already, and it’s a classic New York City restaurant with Michelin popularity. This is one of Danny Meyer’s well known restaurant, so you can expect the flavors to be very similar to his other restaurants. Getting reservations is normally very easy, but when it comes to restaurant week, it’s quite difficult because it’s one of the few Michelin Star restaurants in the city that serves options from its normal menus.
Motek might be a familiar restaurant to those that have been to Miami. When we traveled to Miami a few weeks ago, there were a slew of this chain all around the hot areas in Miami. The menu appeared to us as being very Mediterranean, and it is probably a haven for brunch since it has shakshuka and kebabs. They are slated to open 5 total locations in New York, so we decided to check out the recently opened location in Flatiron. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:45 PM on a Friday a few days in advance fairly easily.
Chef Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef who is most well known for the restaurant Eleven Madison Park. I had visited this restaurant in the mid 2010s, when it served proteins such as duck, clams, and fish on their tasting menus. In 2021, the restaurant converted from an omnivore tasting into a plant-based restaurant, a first of its kind to also receive 3 Michelin Stars for it as well. This was extremely controversial because they were charging high prices for a sole plant-based meal. In October 2025, the restaurant pivoted from a plant-based only menu and offered seafood and animal protein choices for a few of its courses. This shift encouraged me to try this restaurant again to see how it’s evolved. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Monday evening without any issues in advance.
Coqodaq is the second restaurant from owners of Cote Korean steakhouse. This restaurant like Cote is difficult and annoying to snag reservations for a reasonable time. I checked out their Thanksgiving menu, and it seemed close enough to their regular menu. I ended up making a reservation for 1:30 PM on a Thursday fairly easily a few days prior.
This restaurant also was featured in an episode of “Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars”, and it was interesting to learn about the attention they provided to something as straight forward as Korean fried chicken.
In a scramble to look for a restaurant in the Union Square area, I stumbled onto this one, which is about 3 streets north of Union Square. The menu itself looked pretty normal, and when I arrived, the weather was very nice and calm. They had patio seating, and they opened the windows to let the fall breeze seep into the area. I made a reservation for 2 for 6 PM easily.
La Dong was on my list for a while because I wanted to try some different Vietnamese flavors. The menu was quite appealing because there were things on there that I wanted to try since there is a sparseness of Vietnamese flavors in Manhattan. Even though there typically is a crowd outside, it’s quite easy to make reservations. I made a 5:30 PM for 2 reservation on a Friday without issue.
Located near Union Square and Flatiron is this recently opened Thai restaurant that specializes in modern take on Northeastern Thai cuisines. I was able to book a reservation for 2 quite easily just a few days prior for 5:15 PM. Since the restaurant space is quite large, this wasn’t that much of a problem. When we walked in, the vibe had a very familiar dark Asian restaurant vibe that a lot of new Korean, Chinese, and Thai restaurants are trying to do.
The Gallery by odo is a fusion of a restaurant and art space in the Flatiron area. It’s actually right next door to the odo restaurant and bar. I was easily able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:15 PM a few days in advance. When we walked in, I didn’t really think much of it as an art space. It does have some paintings of outdoor forests hung up on walls and also what appears to be a for-sale dinnerware selection on a table. We didn’t really look extensively as we were here for the food because my partner wanted to try out this place.
Odo is a Michelin 2-star restaurant located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. It comes from Chef Hiroki Odo, who moved to New York in 2012 and won a Michelin Star as the head chef at Kajitsu. We looked on the Michelin guide, and we saw this was a 2-star restaurant that we haven’t been to yet. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 6 PM on a Sunday night without issues.
Time and Tide comes from the Kent Hospitality Group, which owns restaurants such as Saga and Crown Shy. The head chef, Top Chef winner Danny Garcia, overhauled the menu recently, and we got a chance to experience it. The restaurant was inspired to be a steakhouse modeled fish restaurant. I was easily able to make a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night because the restaurant snipers have moved onto newer restaurants.