Hottest Restaurants in NYC Spring 2025

With countless dining options in NYC, it’s impossible to experience them all—but this spring, I’ve discovered 13 incredible spots that I can’t get enough of! From the city’s best new brunch, mouthwatering specials, to a Korean-fusion menu straight out of my dreams, these places are just the beginning of what NYC has to offer. Here are my current favorites!

BRUNCH

Hellbender- Definitely my new fav brunch in NYC! Hellbender comes from the team behind both Radio Bakery, and Rolo’s serving a fantastic menu mixing Mexican and American ingredients and dishes! The Fried Oaxacan cheese are their take on the classic mozzarella stick, which are breaded in cornflakes! The Crispy lamb tacos with an avocado salsa were so juicy, crispy, and great flavor in their masa tortilla. Soft scrambled egg tostada with black beans, cheddar, and a salsa macha has this great smokiness and crunch. But you cannot come here and not get their heirloom masa pancakes with a cinnamon butter and maple syrup! Little crisp, super moist, salty, sweet, buttery, that corn coming through. Unreal and Absolutely save room for their coffee tres leches cake!

Leo- A true gem of a restaurant, Id been to Leo in Williamsburg countless times for dinner, but finally got in for brunch! They have the best caesar salad in NYC, so definitely make sure to start there! Their pancake looks simple, but is a little crusty, and has a great balance of chew and fluffy! I finally got their burger which was juicy! And they are most well known for their sourdough pizzas, so you cant go an not get one! This time I got The Hill which is mushrooms, shallots, taleggio, and parm under a bed of greens. Really bright, earthy, full of umami, and of course with that great crust.

LUNCH

Birdee- Birdee is another new addition to Williamsburg, and one I have been eagerly anticipating! This cafe has a daily rotating selection of pastries, a croissant tuna melt, that I needed more than anything, and my favorite thing I tried, their Smoked Salmon breakfast sandwich! Open face on a half an English muffin, you get smoked salmon, trout roe, cream cheese, and pickles for $17

Coqodaq- I went back to Coqodaq for the first time since opening, this time for lunch and some new items! My favorite thing has to be their nuggets, you get a choice of the 18 karat with ocean trout roe, 25 karat with golden daurenki caviar, and the new black gold with their seasonal truffle! And for lunch only they do a halla style chicken and rice platter! Super flavorful and juicy chicken over yellow rice with saffron, and of course a white sauce and hot sauce. And that is served with a miyeok soup and soft serve.

Hen House- A mix of Lebaneses flavors and ingredients and whatever Chef Tony dreams up, this menu has some incredible bites! I went back again to get a taste of some new stuff they are cooking up! They have a special smoked meat sandwich that you need to pay attention to their instagram to know when to get, a “kronish” thats half croissant/half knish, a new tuna melt that is covered in crispy kashkaval cheese, and their super viral knafeh pancakes that is a pancake mixed with kataifi which is shredded phyllo dough for some crunch, stuffed with ackawi cheese and comes with a warm blueberry compote and butter right on top.

Shelsky’s- A really fun mix of traditional Jewish deli, and some more fun twists, I got back to Shelskys in Downtown Brooklyn for their very spicy tuna sandwich! The Tuna Spicy Super Funk puts tuna on toasted rye with jalapenos, a malaysian chili sambal, and crispy fried onions! It brings the heat!

Wagamama- You can find Wagamama and their Japanese dishes all over the world, but I was back to try their hot curry katsu challenge! Def hot, but nowhere near as bad as it could have been, just a little sweaty. I also tried more from their new spring menu, including their mushroom bao, and spicy tuna big salad!

DINNER

Abe’s Pagoda- Abes pagoda is one of my favorite places to drink in Bushwick, but when I'm there, it's always just a tequila on the rocks, but I had heard that their menu, full of Asian influence was really good too! So I went in for happy hour and got their sticky spicy gochujang crispy cauliflower, which you can also get made with chicken! And then i got their private island cheeseburger which is a smashed patty with american cheese, pickles, chromatin, onn, and special sauce on a potato bun.

Cactus Wren- I loved my meal at 63 clinton, so i was pumped to get to dinner at their new sister restaurant cactus wren, which has a menu full of eclectic and fun dishes inspired by the chef's childhood in the Southwest! Some of the standouts from the menu were the Mortadella tartine which is their house made focaccia and has a pine nut chimichurri and egg yolk jam. The chicken wings are coated in a ranch powder and come with a jalapeno green goddess ranch! And also the caviar service is actually a seven layer dip with caviar, white bean puree, lime marinated red onions, avocado cilantro puree, chives, creama, and and ancho chili cotija cheese served with some of the best flour tortillas in the city!

Golden HOF/NY Kimchi- From Golden Diner, comes two new Korean concepts stacked on top of one another by Rockefeller center! Downstairs you will find NY Kimchi, a nicer KBBQ spot with an extensive raw menu. And upstairs is Golden HOF which is a Korean gastropub with some incredibly fun takes on Korean dishes, flavors and ingredients. The wings, the spicy ddukbobbi carbonara, and the buldak dumplings were all must orders!

Hear & There- Hear and there just opened in williamsburg with two distinct concepts: up front, you've got a chic Japanese-inspired cocktail bar serving craft drinks and small bites, and in the back, there's a hidden gem 22-seat omakase counter. For the omakase they have two options, a 13 course seasonal nigiri omakase for $105, or what i did, the $165 luxury otsumami omakase, and to me the otsumami dishes were the real standouts! so I definitely recommend that!

Massara- From the team behind Rezdora comes Massara, where I went to get their pasta tasting menu! You can order a la carte as well, but this was such a fun way to try a bunch of stuff! Maybe most well known for the pastas, but it was actually their pizzette’s that I was dying over!