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Best hotels for food and drink in New York

The Fifth Avenue Hotel has Café Carmellini, Andrew Carmellini's Italian and French restaurant in a 1907 banking hall. The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel has Bemelmans Bar, open since 1947 under its Central Park murals, and Café Carlyle's cabaret. The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel has Temple Court, Tom Colicchio's dining room, and Le Gratin, Daniel Boulud's Lyonnais bouchon.

3 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: October 2026

At a glance

  1. The Fifth Avenue Hotel: Café Carmellini in the double-height banking hall

    The Fifth Avenue Hotel

    Café Carmellini in the old banking hall, the Portrait Bar beside it

    NoMad · From about $760 a night

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  2. The Carlyle's tower at dusk, with Central Park beyond

    The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

    Martinis under Bemelmans's murals, cabaret at Café Carlyle next door

    Upper East Side · From about $1,300 a night

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  3. The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel: The atrium, rising nine storeys to its pyramid skylight

    The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel

    Colicchio's Temple Court and Boulud's Le Gratin under one roof

    Financial District · From about $505 a night

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What we looked for

In New York a hotel restaurant competes with the whole city, and these three hold their own: each has a room people cross town for, so book the evenings that matter when you book the room. Use the neighbourhood as well. Eleven Madison Park is seven minutes on foot from The Fifth Avenue Hotel, Sushi Noz eight from The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, and Crown Shy ten from The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel.

Budget for the city's habits. Menus are priced before 8.875% sales tax, table service expects 18 to 20%, and a bar $1 a drink or 18 to 20% on a card tab. Breakfast is not in the standard rate at any of the three, so check what yours includes. Then choose by the evening you want: a long dinner and a late cocktail in NoMad, a martini and a cabaret seat on the Upper East Side, or two chefs' kitchens and a jazz brunch downtown.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel: Café Carmellini in the double-height banking hallThe new classic

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The Fifth Avenue Hotel

NoMad, New York

The Fifth Avenue Hotel is shaped around a restaurant and a bar. Café Carmellini fills the double-height banking hall of McKim, Mead & White's 1907 bank, with sapphire velvet booths and balcony tables for two above the room, and Andrew Carmellini cooks Italian and French there: the squab en croûte with foie gras and the crab mille-feuille are the dishes to know. Master Sommelier Josh Nadel keeps a list of 1,800 bottles, and the restaurant was No. 39 on the first North America's 50 Best Restaurants list, in 2025.

The Portrait Bar, a wood-panelled room of paintings around a carved stone fireplace, is the guests' lounge until 5pm, then a cocktail bar for the city, No. 71 in the 2026 ranking of North America's 50 Best Bars, which runs to 100. Upstairs, in-room dining runs around the clock, the snacks and soft drinks in every room's Maxibar are free, and the butler will mix a martini in your room.

The Corner King at The Fifth Avenue Hotel: a king bed with a dark green headboard, a writing desk and red chair in front of tall windows hung with paisley curtains, and a mirrored wall beside the bed

The room to book

The Corner King

375 sq ft (35 m²)$1,045 a night

Every room shares the butler, the free Maxibar and round-the-clock in-room dining, so spend on space: 35 square metres with windows along two walls.

Every room, and why

Book Café Carmellini the day dinner tables open, four weeks ahead; if a night is full, breakfast in the same hall runs 7am to 11am every day.

$$$$From about $760 a night

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The Carlyle's tower at dusk, with Central Park beyondThe classic

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The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

Upper East Side, New York

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel earns its place on the ground floor after dark. Bemelmans Bar, open since 1947, sits under Ludwig Bemelmans's murals of Central Park through the four seasons, with Madeline and her classmates among them, and the drink is a martini. Bartenders wear red jackets, the piano starts at 5:30pm and a jazz trio takes over at 9pm. It seats on a first-come basis, and before 5:30pm there is no music and no cover charge.

Café Carlyle, next door, has been a cabaret room since 1955, seating about 90 under Marcel Vertès's murals; Bobby Short played there for more than three decades. Broadway names, pop singers and jazz players take runs of one night to a fortnight, with dinner from 6:30pm and the show at 8:45pm. The Gallery, the red velvet room Renzo Mongiardino designed, serves afternoon tea, and Dowling's serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, from 6:30am on weekdays.

Premier Room at The Carlyle: a king bed with white linen, a writing desk between two tall windows and a television above a low console

The room to book

Premier Room

450 sq ft (42 m²)$1,650 a night

All four bars and restaurants are on the ground floor, a lift ride from any room, so spend on the room: 42 square metres on Madison Avenue with a soaking tub.

Every room, and why

Take a seat at Bemelmans in the afternoon, before the cover starts at 5:30pm, and stay for the piano; the 9pm jazz brings the longest wait.

$$$$From about $1,300 a night

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The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel: The atrium, rising nine storeys to its pyramid skylightThe design one

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The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel

Financial District, New York

The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel has two chefs' restaurants and a bar inside the 1883 Temple Court Building. Tom Colicchio's Temple Court is the formal room, with stained-glass windows, golden chandeliers and mahogany leather, cooking seasonal American with sides drawn mostly from the Union Square Greenmarket; it serves dinner every night and asks for a reservation for every visit. Daniel Boulud opened Le Gratin on the corner of Beekman and Nassau Streets in 2022, a Lyonnais bouchon for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, and the more relaxed of the two for a first night.

Between them, The Bar Room serves Colicchio's cooking all day from sofas and bookcases on the floor of the nine-storey atrium, from breakfast at 7am to a late menu until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, with a live jazz band at weekend brunch. After dinner, Laissez Faire in the cellar is a cocktail lounge and club, and the destination fee includes priority access to the restaurants.

Premium King at The Beekman: a king bed with a leather headboard beside two tall windows with grey blinds, a green tufted bench at the foot of the bed and a burgundy armchair

The room to book

Premium King

375 sq ft (35 m²)$659 a night

Two restaurants and two bars are downstairs, so spend on the room: 35 square metres under high ceilings and crown mouldings, with an armoire and a marble desk.

Every room, and why

Ask for a high floor down a side hallway rather than off the atrium galleries, and book the weekend jazz brunch, noon to 3pm.

$$$From about $505 a night

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How to choose

Your tripBook
Dinner in a former banking hallThe Fifth Avenue Hotel
Cocktails in a panelled bar by a fireplaceThe Fifth Avenue Hotel
A martini with live piano or jazzThe Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
A cabaret show with dinnerThe Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel
Colicchio, Boulud and a jazz brunch downtownThe Beekman, A Thompson Hotel

Also worth a look

Questions people ask

Good questions about New York City

Do hotel guests need to book Café Carmellini?

Yes. The restaurant at The Fifth Avenue Hotel takes every reservation on Resy, guests included, and releases dinner tables four weeks ahead, with a notify list for full nights. Dinner runs from 5pm to 10pm every night, so book the day your dates open. If dinner is full, breakfast in the same banking hall, 7am to 11am every day, is the easy way in. The Portrait Bar takes bookings 14 days ahead for up to four, and until 5pm it is a lounge for guests only.

How do you get a seat at Bemelmans Bar?

Arrive early. The bar at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel seats on a first-come basis and opens at noon. Until 5:30pm there is no music and no cover charge, which is the time to see the murals properly. Then the pianist starts and the cover begins, and the jazz trio follows at 9pm with a higher one, as much as $35 a head at a table. At 5:30pm and 9pm the wait can run to one or two hours. The dress code is smart casual, and athletic wear is not welcome.

How does Café Carlyle work?

It is a supper club for about 90 at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, and every seat is sold in advance. You pay for the show when you book, and each seat carries food or drink on top: a $95 two-course menu a head at a table, or a $60 minimum at the bar. Dinner tables are booked for between 6:30pm and 7:30pm, and the show starts at about 8:45pm. Performers take runs of one night to about a fortnight, and the autumn 2026 season runs from 8 September to 12 December.

Is breakfast included at these New York hotels?

Not in the standard rate at any of the three, so check what yours includes. At The Fifth Avenue Hotel, Café Carmellini serves breakfast in the banking hall from 7am to 11am every day. At The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, Dowling's opens at 6:30am on weekdays and takes walk-ins at breakfast. At The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel, The Bar Room serves it from 7am to noon on the floor of the atrium, and every guest gets morning coffee in the lobby.

How much should you tip at restaurants and bars in New York?

Tipping is part of the price. The city's tourism office gives 18 to 20% of the bill for table service, where anything under 15% reads as a complaint, and at a bar $1 a drink, or 18 to 20% on a tab paid by card. Restaurants often add 18 or 20% automatically for groups of six or more, so read the bill before adding your own. Menus are priced before tax, and 8.875% sales tax is added to the bill.

How did you choose these hotels?

Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.

More ways to choose in New York

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Prices are a guide from our last check, not live rates.