Eat Here, Not There

Let's dig up some hidden restaurant gems, shall we?

Impossible restaurant reservations have existed for as long as I can remember. Beginning with the French Laundry in the 1990s, each era has crowned certain spots as kings of the dining hierarchy; global headliners like El Bulli, Alinea, Noma, and Eleven Madison Park, plus a handful of spots in every major city. Bagging a reservation at these places required either a wealth of social capital or remarkable telephone stamina.

Lately, though, the thrill of the good-reservation hunt has curdled into something different and troublesome. For years, the expansion of food media, of ‘best of’ lists, of social media’s death grip on pop culture has been changing how we discover restaurants, and how we think about what a dining experience should be. Gradually these forces have twisted the vice, concentrating the hype onto a roster of chosen darlings in any city. At a certain point, the buzz becomes self-reinforcing; restaurants are desirable for being desirable.

The result is that today, impossible reservations are no longer just for bucket-list dining experiences. It seems like we all want to have our date nights and meet up with friends and host work dinners at the same twenty places, and a prime-time meal there is always out of the question. Resy has become a sea of “Notify” buttons.

The restaurant-as-fetish-object has created a system of winners and losers in which a very small number of America’s 180,000 full-service restaurants have more business than they know what to do with, while many other excellent ones teeter on the edge of viability. This is, I think, an unfortunate market failure; for every restaurant that can absolutely never seat you before 10:15 PM, there are ten others that offer equally — perhaps superior! — dining experiences.

So today, we’re going to tap into the Consumed community to shine a light on some of the best sleeper restaurants around the country; places where you can usually get a reservation on the first try, and where you’re going to have a truly pleasurable dining experience.

Tell us: what restaurant do you love that flies under the radar? Let us know in the comments. It can be old or new, casual or fancy. All that matters is that you love it and it’s generally possible to eat there without scalping, bribing, or standing on the sidewalk for hours to get in.

To kick the conversation off, we reached out to the editors at FOUND — a superb recommendations newsletter from the founders of Eater and Curbed — and asked: Where do you send friends when they strike out on the restaurant of the moment?

Here are their underloved swaps for the hottest reservations in three cities.

New York

• Impossible: The Corner Store. NYC’s celebrity-magnet of the moment — Taylor Swift is a regular — serving a menu of classic American dishes, heavy on whimsy and nostalgia.

• Fresh alternative: Jean’s. If the clubby restaurant of the moment is impossible, book at last year’s clubby hotspot, Jean’s, for cocktails, burgers, and mini lobster rolls.

• Impossible: Torrisi. The two-year-old SoHo Italian is both a serious hotspot and a bigger critical success than its high-profile sibling property, Carbone.

• Fresh alternative: Leon’s. They’re very differently styled restaurants: Torrisi is Italian maximalism, while Leon’s is more understated (but equally delicious). Bonus: it’s open daily for breakfast and lunch, too.

• Impossible: The Polo Bar. Ralph Lauren’s clubby midtown Manhattan spot serves a retro continental menu — a Waldorf salad, Dover sole — and takes reservations only by phone.

• Fresh alternative: Chez Fifi. Just opened on the Upper East Side, the lush, gorgeous Chez Fifi is poised to be one of 2025’s big hits. Get in now before it becomes the next Polo Bar.

San Francisco

• Impossible: Chez Panisse. The progenitor of the farm-to-table restaurant movement is still one of Berkley’s toughest tables, more than fifty years on.

• Fresh alternative: Standard Fare. From a Chez Panisse alum and with a similar ethos around ingredients and care, but in a far less fussy environment.

• Impossible: House of Prime Rib. This iconic Nob Hill steakhouse has been open since the 1940s, and yet you still can’t get a table.

• Fresh alternative: Niku. Blockbuster cuts of wood-fired A5 wagyu, plus better wine and whisky lists than House of Prime Rib.

• Impossible: Cotogna. A financial district powerhouse that’s been serving some of the city’s most sought-after Italian food for over a decade.

• Fresh alternative: Collina. Might be the best handmade pasta going in San Francisco right now, and the service is beyond warm and attentive.

Los Angeles

• Impossible: RVR. A much-anticipated new Japanese izakaya in Venice, from Gjelina and Gjusta co-founder Travis Lett.

• Fresh alternative: Izakaya Osen. Chef Damon Cho's izakaya, with locations in Silverlake and Irvine, captures the same sense of fun and elevated Japanese dining as Lett's RVR. See: Tuna "Pringles."

• Impossible: Bar Etoile. This instant hit opened in Melrose Hill earlier this fall, serving natural wines and bistro cuisine.

• Fresh alternative: Cosette. Choose this year-old wine bar, which has settled in beautifully, over the newcomer Bar Etoile that’s still finding its footing.

• Impossible: The Benjamin. A hot Hollywood hangout founded by streetwear mogul Ben Shenassafar serves elevated takes on classic American dishes.

• Fresh alternative: Any of Hillstone’s reliably clubby venues which you can find in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Newport Beach.

Now, take to the comments! Tell us about the places you love.