Restaurant in New York City, United States
Go early. Order the lox and eggs.
Barney Greengrass has anchored the Upper West Side's Jewish appetizing tradition since 1908, and Opinionated About Dining has ranked it among the top casual restaurants in North America three years running. Walk-in only, open mornings through mid-afternoon. Arrive Tuesday through Friday before 10:30 am for the best experience — order the lox, eggs and onions.
Barney Greengrass has been on Amsterdam Avenue since 1908. That longevity is not an accident, and it is not nostalgia doing the heavy lifting. This is the Upper West Side's appetizing institution that Opinionated About Dining has ranked in its top 100 casual restaurants in North America three years running — #55 in 2023, #117 in 2024, #263 in 2025. The slide in rankings may reflect a broader field, but the food hasn't moved. If you want smoked fish done the old way in New York City, this is where you go.
The scarcity here is temporal, not allocational. There are no tasting menus, no waitlists, no reservation apps to wrestle. What is limited is the window: Barney Greengrass is closed Mondays and open only until 4 pm Tuesday through Friday, 5 pm on weekends. Arrive after 11 am on a Saturday and you will queue. The tables wobble , this is documented , and the service has the particular New York quality of being efficient without being warm. That is part of the contract. What you are paying for is what arrives on the plate.
No other format of food retail quite matches the Jewish appetizing shop, and no borough-wide category of dining is as concentrated with memory and identity as the Upper West Side's Jewish food heritage. Barney Greengrass is the last shop of this type that most visitors and locals will encounter in a form this intact. The menu runs through smoked salmon, belly lox, sable, sturgeon, whitefish salad, bialys, matzo ball soup, latkes, blintzes, eggs , the full register. First-timers often over-order because everything sounds essential. The OAD note is candid about this: the soup could arrive hotter, the lines move slowly, and the tables are imperfect. None of that is a reason to skip it. It is a reason to arrive early on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when the room is calm and the morning light is doing what it should.
For the food-focused traveler who treats a city's culinary infrastructure as primary research, Barney Greengrass is reference material. It answers a question that restaurants at every other price tier in New York cannot: what did morning eating in this city look like before brunch became a category, and what does it still look like when done with no concessions to trend? The answer is lox, eggs and onions. Order it.
Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 am to around 10:30 am, is the optimal window. The room is open, service moves, and you have your pick of the menu without the weekend crush. Saturday and Sunday mornings are busy by 10 am and significantly crowded by 11 am. The venue does not take reservations in the conventional sense , walk-in is the format, and booking difficulty is rated easy precisely because there is no allocation to fight for. The trade-off is patience if you arrive at peak hours on a weekend.
The address is 541 Amsterdam Avenue, between West 86th and 87th Streets on the Upper West Side. Hours run 8:30 am to 4 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 8:30 am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. Monday is closed. If your itinerary has you in the neighborhood visiting the Museum of Natural History or Riverside Park, scheduling Barney Greengrass as a morning anchor before 10:30 am is the practical move.
For the appetizing category specifically, the closest peer comparisons in New York are Sadelle's in SoHo and Zucker's Bagels & Smoked Fish across multiple Manhattan locations. Sadelle's is younger, more polished, and prices accordingly , it is the choice if presentation and room atmosphere matter as much as the fish. Zucker's is faster and more accessible for a grab-and-go format. Barney Greengrass is the choice when you want to sit down inside the tradition itself, in a room that has not been redesigned for Instagram.
If you are building a New York eating week and want to understand the full range, the contrast between a morning at Barney Greengrass and an evening at Le Bernardin or Eleven Madison Park tells you more about this city's dining range than almost any single reservation. See our full New York City restaurants guide for the complete picture across price tiers and neighborhoods, and our New York City hotels guide if you are planning the full trip. For reference points on what North American casual dining looks like at the leading end of the same OAD list, consider Lazy Bear in San Francisco or Emeril's in New Orleans. Barney Greengrass operates at a different register entirely , lower price, zero formality , but the OAD ranking puts it in serious company regardless of format.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barney Greengrass | Jewish Appetizing | Opinionated About Dining Casual in North America Ranked #263 (2025); Latkes or blintzes? Nova or belly lox? Bagel or bialy? The extensive menu at this Upper West Side elder can seem daunting for a first-timer, but regulars know there are no wrong choices. Barney Greengrass has been serving smoked fish and other appetizing staples with curmudgeonly panache since 1908. Maybe the matzo ball soup could arrive a little hotter, the tables wobble a little less, the line move a little faster. Nu? There’s no better spot for a taste of O.G. New York Jewish charm, especially when it’s expressed in a plate of lox, eggs and onions. Upper West Side, Manhattan; Opinionated About Dining Casual in North America Ranked #117 (2024); Opinionated About Dining Casual in North America Ranked #55 (2023) | Easy | — |
| Le Bernardin | French, Seafood | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | Modern Korean, Korean | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | French, Vegan | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Masa | Sushi, Japanese | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Per Se | French, Contemporary | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
The menu is built around smoked fish, eggs, and appetizing staples, so it skews naturally toward pescatarian eating. Vegetarian options exist, including blintzes, latkes, and egg dishes, but the kitchen is not set up for strict vegan or gluten-free accommodations. If smoked fish is off the table for your group, Barney Greengrass loses most of its reason for being.
Dinner is not an option: the kitchen closes at 4 pm Tuesday through Friday and 5 pm on weekends. Breakfast and brunch are the entire format here, and morning is when the menu and the room are at their best. Aim for weekday mornings before 10:30 am to avoid the longest waits.
The menu is long and can read as overwhelming, but the move is simple: order the lox, eggs and onions. Opinionated About Dining has ranked this place consistently in its top North American casual list since 2023, and the draw is not variety — it is the quality of the smoked fish and a dining room that has not changed in any meaningful way since 1908. Expect wobbling tables, a line on weekends, and service that runs at its own pace.
Barney Greengrass does not take reservations. It is walk-in only, which means the practical booking strategy is showing up early, particularly on weekends when lines form before 9 am. Weekday mornings between 8:30 and 10:30 am are the lowest-friction window.
For appetizing and smoked fish specifically, Sadelle's in SoHo is the most direct peer and takes reservations, which makes it easier for groups or visitors without time to queue. Zucker's Bagels and Smoked Fish is more focused on the bagel side of the category. Neither matches Barney Greengrass for sheer institutional age or neighborhood density of regulars, but Sadelle's is the better call if you need a guaranteed table.
Only if your version of a special occasion involves formica tables, shared seating, and a cash-register-era pace of service — which for many New Yorkers, it genuinely does. This is not a destination for a birthday dinner or an anniversary meal. It works as a meaningful morning for anyone with a connection to New York Jewish food culture, and the Opinionated About Dining ranking confirms it holds up as a serious eat, not just a heritage trip.
Groups of four or fewer are manageable, though weekend waits scale with party size. Larger groups should arrive as early as possible and be prepared to split across tables. There is no private dining, no reservations, and no concession to group logistics — this is a counter-service-adjacent room that has operated the same way since 1908.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
