The 13 best restaurants near Rockefeller Center (2024)

The new crown jewel of glittering Rockefeller Center brings the team behind NYC favorite Frenchette a few dozen blocks uptown. The Time Out four-star spot is pretty and spacious with a lengthy menu, including nice chicken liver mousse and escargots, terrific pasta and marvelous bison and duck.

Aesthetics are key two blocks north of RC at The Modern, where tables overlook the MoMA’s sculpture garden. Its pre-fixe menus are also carefully curated; as inspired and delicious as the setting and price tag demands: The tasting menu is a confirmed splurge at $250 per person. The Modern’s Bar Room, however, takes walk-ins and reservations for lunch and dinner, and most mains are in the $30-$40 range.

Whether you're a tired ice skaterin search ofsustanance, or abeleaguered newsperson on election night, Ace's has the eats you seek. Sink into its pillowy, Detroit-style rectangles, adorned with items like pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage or burrata, or narrow it down to thin, grandma-style pies.

A stone’s throw from Rock Center proper, this midtown classic has been serving sushi and sashimi for more than 45 years just east of 5th Avenue. It’s worth the tiny detour for its lunch sets priced from $30, and the dinner menu’s popular $55 Box of Dreams, which is beautifully presented in nine compartments of a lacquered box.

Looking every bit the chain that it is (though, with five locations, smaller than you’d expect), Bill’s Bar and Burger was a big deal with it opened its Rock Center address back in 2010. Its sprawling space is warmly kitschy and Bill’s can be friend to tourist and weary guide, both, for a low-stakes bite.

For a little throwback French flair one block out of bounds, head to La Grenouille, which first opened in 1962. Today, its menus include chilled foie gras terrine, caviar blinis, roasted chicken, filet mignon, duck confit and all manner of desserts like soufflé varieties.