Best of Williamsburg
The 10 best places to eat and drink in Williamsburg, from an 1887 steakhouse to the slice shop winning NYC's pizza argument. Every pick verified and ranked.
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- 1Williamsburg · $$$$ · Marcy Av (J M Z) · 178 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Also No. 1 on Best Steakhouses in NYC → · No. 1 on Best Old-School Restaurants in Brooklyn →
Cash-preferred, German-beer-hall-style steakhouse serving dry-aged porterhouse for parties of two, three, or four since 1887.
Because the dry-aged porterhouse arrives pre-sliced and sizzling in its own rendered fat, a tableside ritual the house has performed under the Williamsburg Bridge since 1887.
Order The porterhouse for two
Reserve well ahead, bring cash or a debit card because credit cards are not accepted, and add the thick-cut bacon by the slice.
Photo: Brett Weinstein, CC BY-SA 2.5 Photo: Brett Weinstein, CC BY-SA 2.5 - 2Williamsburg · $$ · Bedford Av (L) · 567 Union Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Missy Robbins' wood-fired Italian restaurant in a converted auto-body shop, famous for handmade pastas like the sheep's-milk-cheese agnolotti and mafaldini with pink peppercorn.
Because Missy Robbins won the James Beard Best Chef: NYC award cooking this menu, and the mafaldini with pink peppercorn has kept Resy slots evaporating since the room opened in 2016.
Order Mafaldini with pink peppercorn
Weekend service starts at 4pm and those early tables are the easiest reservation to land, so set a Resy alert and take the odd hour.
From @lilianewyork on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 3Williamsburg · $$ · Marcy Av (J M Z) · 254 South 2nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Also No. 1 on Best Pizza in Brooklyn → · No. 1 on Best Pizza in NYC →
Massimo Laveglia's slice shop, open since 2017, known for thin, long-fermented crust, the burrata slice, and house soft-serve gelato, with lines down South 2nd Street.
Because Massimo Laveglia's long-fermented dough stays crisp under a burrata slice good enough to spawn a West Village outpost while the 2017 original stays mobbed.
Order The burrata slice
Doors open at noon and the line down South 2nd Street builds fast, so go early on a weekday and finish with the house soft-serve gelato.
@lindustriebk ↗L'Industrie Pizzeria
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From @lindustriebk on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 4Williamsburg · $$ · Bedford Av (L) · 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy's Michelin-starred natural wine bar and restaurant on Grand Street, open since 2015, pairing small plates with one of the country's deepest low-intervention wine lists.
Because a room this small holds a Michelin star, the 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program, and a 2026 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant finalist nod, a decade after opening.
Order A glass from the natural wine list, chosen by the sommelier
Seats are held for walk-ins when doors open at 5:30pm, so arrive a few minutes early and put your name in rather than hunting a reservation.
Photo: Meelar, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Meelar, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 5Williamsburg · $$ · Marcy Av (J M Z) · 47 S 5th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Fredrik Berselius' two-Michelin-star Scandinavian tasting-menu restaurant in a 19th-century warehouse at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, with an open kitchen and roughly ten tables a night.
Because it is the only restaurant in Brooklyn holding two Michelin stars, both still showing on the Guide's current listing, for a Scandinavian tasting menu cooked for about ten tables a night.
Order The full tasting menu
It serves Wednesday through Sunday from 5pm only, so book ahead and budget the whole evening for the tasting menu.
Photo: goodiesfirst, CC BY 2.0 Photo: goodiesfirst, CC BY 2.0 - 6
Diner▲ buzzing
Williamsburg · $$ · Marcy Av (J M Z) · 85 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11249Also No. 6 on Best Brunch in Brooklyn →
Andrew Tarlow and Mark Firth's market-driven American restaurant inside a 1927 Kullman dining car at Broadway and Berry, open since New Year's Eve 1998, with the menu scrawled on the paper tablecloth.
Because modern Williamsburg dining traces to this 1927 Kullman dining car, where the market-driven menu that debuted on New Year's Eve 1998 set off the Tarlow restaurant empire and the farm-to-table Brooklyn wave.
Order The burger
There is no printed menu; the server writes the night's dishes on your paper tablecloth, so ask about anything unclear before ordering.
From @dinernyc on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 7Williamsburg · $$ · Bedford Av (L) · 298 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Also No. 3 on Best Seafood in NYC →
New Orleans-styled oyster bar and absinthe den on Bedford Avenue since 2011, with a horseshoe marble bar, a lush back garden from April to November, and a James Beard Award-winning cocktail program.
Because its bar team won the 2016 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program, and the horseshoe marble bar still runs a serious absinthe program alongside nightly oyster service.
Order A dozen oysters with an absinthe drip
Aim for April through November when the back garden is open, and take bar seats for oysters early in the evening before the crowd builds.
@maisonpremiere ↗Maison Premiere
From @maisonpremiere on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 8Williamsburg · $$ · Bedford Av (L) · Marsha P. Johnson State Park, 90 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
America's largest weekly open-air food market, roughly 75 vendors citywide, every Saturday 11am to 6pm on the East River waterfront in Williamsburg from April through October; its 16th season opened April 4, 2026.
Because this waterfront market minted the ramen burger, launches new NYC food businesses every season, and opened its 16th year at Marsha P. Johnson State Park on April 4, 2026.
Order Whatever the longest vendor line is serving
In Williamsburg it runs Saturdays only from 11am to 6pm, April through October; arrive before noon for short lines, and note that on Sundays the market decamps to Prospect Park.
Photo: edenpictures, CC BY 2.0 Photo: edenpictures, CC BY 2.0 - 9Williamsburg · $$$ · Lorimer St (G L) · 32 Withers St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Also No. 9 on Best Old-School Restaurants in Brooklyn →
Map ↗verified 8w agoFourth-generation red-sauce Italian restaurant open since 1900, with tuxedoed waiters, wooden phone booths, chicken and shrimp parmigiana, and a dining room essentially unchanged in more than 60 years.
Because the same family has run it on Withers Street since 1900, it marked 125 years in 2025, and the dining room, wooden phone booths included, has gone essentially unchanged for over six decades.
Order Chicken parmigiana
Skip the search for an official website, call ahead for a table, and let the tuxedoed waiters steer you toward the parmigiana.
Photo: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0 - 10Williamsburg · $$ · Marcy Av (J M Z) · 166 S 4th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Cult Southern comfort-food restaurant near the Williamsburg Bridge, founded in 2006 by Momofuku-alum women chefs, serving fried chicken boxes, chicken biscuits, doughnuts, and seasonal pies.
Because the Momofuku-alum founders have kept the chicken biscuit worth a line for 20 years, long enough that Hell Gate called the shop a Williamsburg icon as it expanded to a second location in Park Slope.
Order Chicken biscuit
The S 4th Street original takes online orders and stays open until 10 or 11pm, so skip the weekend brunch crush and grab a fried chicken box on a weekday instead.
Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY 2.0 Photo: Jason Lam, CC BY 2.0
Good to know
- Does Peter Luger take credit cards?
- No, credit cards aren't accepted, so bring cash or a debit card, and reserve well ahead since it's the neighborhood's best-known steakhouse.
- When should I go to avoid a wait?
- At L'industrie Pizzeria, go early on a weekday since the line down South 2nd Street builds fast after the noon opening; at Pies 'n' Thighs, skip the weekend brunch crush and grab a fried chicken box on a weekday instead.
- Is Smorgasburg open every day?
- In Williamsburg it only runs Saturdays, 11am to 6pm, April through October, and on Sundays the market moves to Prospect Park instead.