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Where to eat at and around Hotel Chelsea

You are on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, in the middle of Chelsea's everyday eating: bagel counters, luncheonettes and old bars, with serious restaurants a few blocks in any direction. The hotel has four places of its own: El Quijote, the Spanish restaurant first opened in 1930; the Lobby Bar in the old dining rooms; Café Chelsea, the all-day French bistro on the lower level; and Teruko, the sushi restaurant in the basement. Everything below is within ten minutes on foot, and most of it within six.

Worth the table

The tables at this hotel that are a reason to come, and how hard they are to get.

Hotel Chelsea: El Quijote's murals and red booths

El Quijote

Spanish restaurant and bar beside the lobby, first opened in 1930, with a Basque-leaning menuDinner only

The room is the reason to go. El Quijote opened in 1930, closed in 2018 and came back in 2022 smaller and under new management, with the Don Quixote murals, the red booths and the bar where Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe drank all kept. Andy Warhol held court at the back table. The menu takes its cue from the Basque Country, traditional Spanish dishes with modern pairings. Reservations open two weeks ahead for parties of up to five, or take your chances at the bar, which serves the full menu first come, first served. Dinner only, from 5pm, to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Reserve ahead

The Lobby Bar

Cocktail bar and piano lounge in the hotel's original dining rooms, off the lobby

The hotel's living room, built into the original residents' dining rooms behind the lobby that spent decades as storage. Mosaic floors, a marble bar, old chandeliers, a baby grand in the Piano Room and a glass-enclosed solarium, with art from former residents on the walls. Order the 1884 Martini, made with gin, cedro lemon, vetiver and Spanish olive oil. It is open to the neighbourhood as well as to guests and draws a crowd on weekend nights, so reserve if you want a seat. Open daily from 11am to 2am.

Reserve ahead

On our shortlists

Within ten minutes on foot

  • Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company

    4 min walk

    Bagel counter and coffee · $

    A New York bagel, four minutes up Eighth Avenue: hand-rolled, boiled in a kettle and baked, from unbleached, unbromated flour. Order an everything bagel with Nova smoked salmon and a plain schmear, or try one of the house spreads, which run to jalapeño asiago and honey bacon sriracha. The coffee is house-roasted, and there is a mini gluten-free bagel for anyone who needs one. No bookings: walk in, order at the counter and take it with you.

    Walk in286 Eighth Avenue

  • Le Zie

    4 min walk

    Venetian trattoria, since 1999 · $$

    A Venetian trattoria that has fed Chelsea from Seventh Avenue since 1999. Order the Venetian dishes: baccalà mantecato, whipped cod on grilled polenta, and calf's liver with onions in the Venetian style, also with polenta. Lunch runs every day from noon to 4pm, with a prix fixe at $35 for three courses or $32 for two, and weekend brunch starts at 11am. The kitchen closes at 10pm, and 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday. Book by phone or on Tock.

    Reserve ahead172 Seventh Avenue

  • Peter McManus Cafe

    6 min walk

    Family-run bar, since 1936 · $$

    The McManus family has run this bar on Seventh Avenue at 19th Street since 1936: stools at the bar, Guinness on tap, a dining room at the back and a stained-glass cabinet behind the bar, in a room that has turned up in Highlander, Radio Days and Seinfeld. Order a burger. The Chelsea burgers start at $12.75 with steak fries or tater tots, and Pop Pop's Top-Shelf Cheeseburger, a short rib, brisket and chuck blend with aged cheddar, is $16.75. The bar is open every day from noon to 4am, and the kitchen until midnight, or 1am Thursday to Saturday.

    Walk in152 Seventh Avenue

  • Johny's Luncheonette

    6 min walk

    Breakfast and lunch counter · $

    A luncheonette in the old New York sense, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, serving home-style breakfasts and sandwiches for more than 20 years. Two eggs any style are $12, or $14.50 with bacon, ham or sausage, a cheese omelette is $13.50, and the signature sandwiches, the Sloppy Johny and the Cubano among them, are $12.50. It opens at 8am every day and stops serving in the early afternoon, so it is breakfast and lunch only. No bookings and no phone orders; pick-ups go through the take-out window.

    Walk in124 West 25th Street

  • Txikito

    8 min walk

    Basque restaurant, since 2008 · $$$

    Alex Raij and Eder Montero, he from Bilbao, have cooked Basque food on Ninth Avenue since 2008, and it is the place to go if El Quijote has given you a taste for the north of Spain. Start with a gilda, the anchovy, pickled pepper and olive skewer, at $11, and the day's kroketas, then the txipirones encebollados, squid with sweet onion and pine nuts, at $27. Dinner only, from 5pm to 10pm, and to 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday. Book on Resy, or walk in: the bar keeps space for walk-ins and serves the full menu.

    Reserve ahead240 Ninth Avenue

  • Markette

    8 min walk

    European and Caribbean, MICHELIN Guide selection · $$$

    Chef India Doris cooks European technique with Caribbean flavour on Seventh Avenue at 28th Street, and the MICHELIN Guide lists it. Start with the roti and mint chutney ($19) and the salt cod fritters with scotch bonnet aioli ($21), then the braised oxtail gratin with crispy cheddar polenta ($39). It is dinner only, from 5pm to 10pm Sunday to Wednesday and to 10.30pm Thursday to Saturday, and it takes bookings on OpenTable. The Argyle, its cocktail lounge downstairs, is the place for the drink after.

    Reserve ahead326 Seventh Avenue

  • Cote

    9 min walk

    Korean steakhouse, one MICHELIN star · $$$$

    Simon Kim's Korean steakhouse, opened in 2017, holds one MICHELIN star: Korean barbecue's table grills with American steakhouse beef from an in-house dry-ageing room. On a first visit, order the Butcher's Feast at $82 a head: four cuts of USDA Prime and American Wagyu grilled at the table, with banchan, an egg soufflé, two stews and soft serve to finish. Tables for up to six open on Resy 30 days ahead at 10am, and the grill tables are built for four or more. Without a booking, try Undercote, the cocktail bar downstairs.

    Book well ahead: tables go weeks out16 West 22nd Street

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Breakfast

Breakfast is Café Chelsea's, the hotel's all-day French bistro on the lower level beside the lobby: 7am to 11am on weekdays and 7am to 10.30am at the weekend, when brunch takes over until 3.30pm. A croissant is $6, fresh orange juice $9, pain perdu filled with mascarpone $26, and the Breakfast Américain, two eggs with potatoes or salad, toast and a choice of bacon, avocado or chicken sausage, $28. The rates on the room page are room only, so all of it is on top. Outside, Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company is four minutes up Eighth Avenue, and Johny's Luncheonette, six minutes away and open from 8am, does two eggs any style for $12.

What to skip

Doughnut Plant no longer has its shop next door at 220 West 23rd Street, whatever an older map or guide says. Its New York shops are now at Grand Central, on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn and Queens, none of them a short walk from here.

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Compared with

Questions people ask

Good questions about Hotel Chelsea

Where can I eat near Hotel Chelsea?

You are on West 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, in the middle of Chelsea's everyday eating: bagel counters, luncheonettes and old bars, with serious restaurants a few blocks in any direction. The hotel has four places of its own: El Quijote, the Spanish restaurant first opened in 1930; the Lobby Bar in the old dining rooms; Café Chelsea, the all-day French bistro on the lower level; and Teruko, the sushi restaurant in the basement. Everything below is within ten minutes on foot, and most of it within six. Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company, 4 min walk. Le Zie, 4 min walk. Peter McManus Cafe, 6 min walk.

Where should I eat at Hotel Chelsea?

El Quijote. The room is the reason to go. El Quijote opened in 1930, closed in 2018 and came back in 2022 smaller and under new management, with the Don Quixote murals, the red booths and the bar where Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe drank all kept. Andy Warhol held court at the back table. The menu takes its cue from the Basque Country, traditional Spanish dishes with modern pairings. Reservations open two weeks ahead for parties of up to five, or take your chances at the bar, which serves the full menu first come, first served. Dinner only, from 5pm, to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Our verdict

Hotel Chelsea earns its place on the building itself: the staircase, the residents' art and El Quijote's murals and bar are the real thing, restored rather than recreated. Pay for a Premier Chelsea, ask for your side, and accept 23rd Street as part of the address.

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From about

$510 a night

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