As pumpkins and spooky decor leave the city’s stoops and lobbies and festive tinsel, trees, and lights sub in, it’s time to start thinking about holiday meals. Waking up on Christmas Day with nothing to do but open gifts and enjoy a low stress, highly indulgent restaurant reservation sounds like the best way to enjoying others’ company (or your own!), excellent food, and relaxation in the Big Apple. Christmas tables tend to book up (not everyone can host two generations of cousins in their apartment), so make a reservation at these restaurants for a chef-prepared Christmas Day dinner.
Chinese Tuxedo
Visiting Manhattan’s Chinatown on Christmas is a New York rite of passage. And while plenty of restaurants are walk-in only (and will command a holiday wait), Chinese Tuxedo is booking family-style banquets for $98 per person (kids under 9 eat free), with a vegetarian menu also available. Dishes will include braised black pepper oxtail buns with pickled chili relish; hamachi crudo with ponzu brown butter, black bean and rice pearls; squid ink noodles with shiitake mushrooms, salted seaweed, garlic and chili; steamed branzino with ginger, soy and leeks; stir fried Snake River beef sirloin wih kampot black pepper; and more. Reserve via Resy
The Fulton
Jean-Georges’ maritime-inspired restaurant at South Street Seaport will offer elegant Christmas Day dining for $168 per person, with panoramic waterfront views and a menu rooted in ultra-fresh seafood and winter truffles. Guests choose from a three-course menu featuring options like a petite plateau of oysters and sashimi, Long Island fluke tartare, warm octopus with fresh mozzarella, and mains including glazed Maine lobster longevity noodles, Dover Sole, and Prime NY strip with aji verde. Optional caviar upgrades are also available. Reserve online
The Russian Tea Room
In Midtown, The Russian Tea Room is offering a three-course prix fixe menu for $145 per person on Christmas Day. Menu highlights include Eastern European favorites like the RTR borscht, boeuf à la stroganoff, and côtelette à la kiev, apricot glazed duck, roasted red snapper, and cranberry orange crème brûlée. Reserve via OpenTable
Le Crocodile
Celebrate Christmas with a festive feast at Le Crocodile the classic French brassiere located in Williamsburg on the first floor of the Wythe Hotel. The prixe fixe menu is $163 per person and includes three decadent courses, as well as optional wine pairings. Dishes includecanapés, like a mushroom pâté tart and gruyère cheese puff, as well as appetizers including the citrus, date and beet salad and roasted sunchokes, chestnuts and raclette. Dishes to share include roast beef with jus, baked Atlantic halibut, mashed potatoes, maple-glazed carrots, and Brussels with pancetta. Desserts include Mont Blanc with Biscoff and cranberry, maple butterscotch pear with honeycomb ice cream and ruby grapefruit sorbet with pomegranate. Reserve via Resy
Central Park Boathouse
Central Park Boathouse will be open from 12pm-5pm on Christmas Day, serving the winter a la carte lunch menu in addition to specials including prime rib of beef, lobster pasta, and diver sea scallops, with dessert specials to include sticky toffee pudding and olive oil cake. Reserve via Open Table
Shalom Japan
Head to this iconic Jewish Japanese restaurant in Williamsburg for its 13th Annual Holiday Hot Pot feast. $80 per person includes the signature “Jew Egg” and Sawa’s Mama’s Karaage, followed by the choice of Wagyu beef, seafood, or vegetarian hotpots or Matzo ball ramen. A5 Wagyu, okonomi-latkes and black truffles are available as decadent add-ons to the prix-fixe. Reserve via Resy
Jones Wood Foundry
Celebrating 15 years of pouring pints on the Upper East Side, Jones Wood Foundry will once again host its beloved British Christmas feast. The Christmas Day Lunch is a three-course feast featuring Heritage New York State roasted turkey, Roast NY Striploin with yorkshire pudding, and traditional desserts like mince pies and christmas pudding. Seatings are at noon, 4 p.m. (sold out), and 6 p.m. and $150 per person or $45 for kids under 12. Reserve via Resy
Temple Court
Tom Colicchio’s refined American restaurant inside Lower Manhattan’s landmark Beekman Hotel is offering a special $195 Christmas menu from 4-9 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 1 p.m. – 9 p.m. on Christmas Day. Guests can enjoy dishes like chilled Maine lobster with artichokes, orange and salsify; chestnut agnolotti with black truffle and Brussels sprouts; and a choice of diver scallops, halibut, roasted Rohan duck breast, or American wagyu Denver steak. The meal will conclude with a choice of sticky toffee pudding, eggnog custard, chocolate bûche de noël, or sorbet. Reserve via Resy
LaRina Pastificio & Vino
This Fort Greene Italian restaurant will celebrate Christmas Day with a customizable four-course, $140 Pranzo di Natale. The meal starts with antipasti like oysters, scallops crudo with capers and tangelo, Wagyu beef tartare with endive and pumpkin seeds, or fried shrimp kataifi with onion and peppers agrodolce. Pasta choices include risotto with saffron, castelrosso and black truffle; Manfrigoli ai frutti di mare with lobster sauce, octopus, clams, mussels, spuma di acqua di vongole, and parsley oil; Cappelletti filled with pork, beef served in a chicken broth; Buckwheat cappellacci with savoy cabbage, sage and cheese ; and lasagna layering spinach pasta, bechamel and ragu bolognese. Second courses includes monkfish roasted on live coals with bisque, red sorana beans, smoked carrots, crispy leeks and chlorophylle or lamb saddle with duxelle, dandelion, maitake, Green peppercorn jus and herb oil. Reserve via Resy