By Gus Saltonstall
The New York Times came out with its annual list of the 100 best restaurants in New York City on Tuesday, and three Upper West Side eateries earned a spot on the ranking for 2026, including a pair in the top 12.
The list was put together by the Times’s new co-chief critic Ligaya Mishan, who wrote in the introduction, “For the rankings, I considered imagination, ambience, service, technique, passion, commitment and sheer deliciousness — but also, and most important, New York-iness. What does a restaurant tell us about our city, and ourselves?”
For this year’s edition, the Times returned to ranking the restaurants from No. 100 through No. 1, as opposed to last year, when it ranked only the top 10 restaurants in numerical order and listed the rest of the eateries in alphabetical order.
The three restaurants on the Upper West Side to earn a spot in the rankings this year are the same that received the honor in 2025 and 2024:
Barney Greengrass: 92nd best restaurant in New York City for 2026
- 541 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 86th and 87th streets)
The iconic Upper West Side Jewish deli continued its streak in 2026 of featuring on the New York Times 100 best restaurants in the five boroughs. Barney Greengrass did, though, fall from its 66th ranking in the 2024 ranking from the publication.
“At this venerable appetizing store and linchpin of Jewish life on the Upper West Side, you will find the fish [sturgeon] honored as it deserves, cut with laser precision every time,” Mishan wrote about the Upper West Side eatery.
You can find out more about Barney Greengrass — HERE.
Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi: 12th best restaurant in New York City for 2026
- 10 Lincoln Plaza (near West 64th Street)
In 2023 and 2024, Tatiana was named by the New York Times as the single best restaurant in New York City. Last year, the American and Caribbean restaurant dropped to the still impressive 10th spot, and in 2026, it came in as the 12th best eatery in the city.
Tatiana opened at Lincoln Center in 2022 and was met by a wave of stellar reviews.
“The restaurant remains a hymn to the city as he [Onwuachi] lives it,” Mishan wrote in the 2026 ranking. “Scrappy, risky and, even when it’s a little jagged at the edges, beautiful.”
You can find out more about Tatiana — HERE.
Jean-Georges: 5th best restaurant in New York City for 2026
- 1 Central Park West (between West 60th and 61st streets)
The highest ranking Upper West Side restaurant and the fifth best in all of New York City for 2026? The French tasting eatery Jean-Georges.
The two-Michelin-star restaurant is overseen and run by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and routinely gets named among the best eateries in NYC.
“After nearly three decades, the dishes here still have the capacity to surprise, as both feats of engineering and sheer delights,” Mishan wrote about the neighborhood restaurant.
You can find out more about Jean-Georges on its website — HERE.
Multiple Upper West Side restaurants with Michelin stars did not make the 2026 list of best restaurants from the New York Times, including the three-star French-American eatery Per Se, the two-star omakase restaurant Masa, and the one-star French restaurant Essential by Christophe.
The New York Times also named a new best restaurant in 2026, the Caribbean-tasting eatery Kabawa in the East Village, which knocked off the Indian restaurant Semma from the top spot in 2025.
For those interested in finding different ways to work through the list of 100 restaurants, including a highlight of the most affordable establishments to make the ranking, you can check out the Times’s guide — HERE.
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Tatiana at #1 was always a bit of a stretch but it is extremely good
I agree. Glorified Caribbean food. Life-changing if you never had a good Jamaican patty before…which apparently Pete Wells never did.
I gave up trying to get a reservation a year ago..it was exhausting. I did read that you can go as they open and grab a seat at the bar, but I mean a real, sit down enjoyable table experience..I’m just a school nurse, no connections, no fancy firm or friends..so I gave up on trying.
Jean Georges has been an extremely impressive restaurant for many, many years.
Barney is so overrated
I like them. Wish they were a little cheaper, but it’s a favorite lox sandwich as an occasional treat. I’d be open to suggestions for a better sandwich though, I’ll make no defense of their bagels
Hate to say it but I’ve eaten at Jean George’s a half dozen times over the years and always left a bit disappointed.
Christophe is my go to for fine dining in the neighborhood.
Pretty depressing for the nabe. Basically no real and reasonable restaurant north of Lincoln center. Uws and morningside are void of really good dining spots. We can do better!!
There are plenty under the radar – and that’s what makes them so neighborhood-y 🙂 Rated restaurants are more often than not just overhyped average spots.
Essential by Christophe is the best kept secret for fine dining.
Agreed…surprised its not popular with a Michelin star
Put Abigael on the committee!!! She’ll show them what’s good.
The UWS does have a top-notch restaurant north of Lincoln Center: Essential by Christophe. My husband and I often wonder why it is consistently ignored by the NY Times.
So we could always get a seat! I don’t want my go-to spots to be on any list. Keep it in the family 😉
Birria Landia made the list too!!
Was just coming here to advocate that they should be on this list given their constant presence on 71st & Amsterdam!
Barney Greengrass is extremely expensive for what you get.
Manifestly, Barney Greengrass is coasting on its legendary status. The last three times I’ve been there, the lox/salmon was REALLY not up to snuff–and I mean, like barely fresh. (Not to mention their whole “off-menu” latkes “special” that the waiters pitch is a complete scam—wait for the check.)
On a separate note: the current–and absolutely monstrous–incarnation of the NY Times put together 100 restaurants, and were extremely careful to include all types of cuisine (including , e.g., Ghanaian)….but they just couldn’t come up with ONE Israeli-cuisine restaurant.
Fancy that.