Restaurant in New York City, United States
Serious Midtown dining, no tasting-menu commitment.
Four Twenty Five is one of Midtown Manhattan's most compelling fine dining options, pairing Jonathan Benno and Jean-Georges Vongerichten in a Park Avenue room that earned three New York Times stars and a spot on New York Magazine's 2025 best restaurants list. The a la carte format gives it an edge over tasting-menu-only peers, and the Star Wine List recognition makes it a genuine destination for wine-focused diners.
Four Twenty Five is the right call for any food-focused visitor who wants to eat seriously well in Midtown without the rigidity of a tasting-menu-only format. The dual-chef model of Jonathan Benno and Jean-Georges Vongerichten produces a menu that genuinely earns its fine-dining price point, and the Park Avenue setting delivers a room that feels appropriate for both a business dinner and a celebratory night out. Book it if the combination of a globally-inflected menu, strong wine credentials, and a physically impressive space matters to you. If you want a single-chef vision with a more focused culinary throughline, consider Le Bernardin or Atomix instead.
Four Twenty Five occupies a particular niche in New York's dining map that most Midtown restaurants fail to fill: a room that reads as genuinely glamorous without tipping into self-parody. The building at 425 Park Avenue is glassy and modern, and the restaurant leans into it, with an interior that draws comparisons to a 1930s ocean liner in terms of energy and polish. Natural light floods the space during the day, making it one of the more atmospheric lunch options in the corridor between Grand Central and the 50s. By evening, the room tightens into something more formal, and the ambient feel shifts accordingly — composed rather than loud, suited to a conversation you actually want to have.
The kitchen is a collaboration between Jonathan Benno, who built his reputation at Per Se and Lincoln, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, one of the more recognisable names in American fine dining. The pairing is not merely cosmetic. Benno brings a classical, restraint-forward sensibility; Vongerichten contributes a willingness to pull flavour references from Italy, France, and across Asia without losing coherence. The menu hopscotches between those influences in a way that, according to New York Magazine's three-star review, seduces rather than confuses. The result is an a la carte format that gives diners genuine choice, which is increasingly rare at this price tier in New York.
Dishes cited in published reviews include butter-poached lobster with a black pepper and ginger jus, handmade agnolotti with winter squash, amaretti and brown butter, and a foie gras course plated alongside blood orange compote and warm, spiced madeleines. A chocolate tart finished with black cardamom crémeux, tonka whipped ganache, and buckwheat caramel has been noted as a standout conclusion. These are not novelty dishes — they are carefully constructed plates that reflect the classical training both chefs bring to the room.
As a Park Avenue address, Four Twenty Five functions as a neighbourhood anchor for a stretch of Manhattan that has long needed a flagship dining option worthy of its density of corporate headquarters, luxury residential towers, and hotel properties. For anyone staying in the area or arriving via Grand Central, it removes the need to travel downtown for a meal at this level. That convenience is worth factoring into your decision if you are building an itinerary around Midtown. For a broader view of where Four Twenty Five sits in the city's dining options, see our full New York City restaurants guide.
Google: 4.5 out of 5 (191 reviews). The Star Wine List recognition signals a wine program with genuine depth, which is relevant if you are planning to pair seriously across multiple courses.
Booking at Four Twenty Five is rated Easy relative to its peer set in New York City fine dining. That said, for Friday and Saturday evenings, lead time of two to three weeks is advisable. Prime-time slots during the week may move faster given the corporate and hotel clientele the address attracts. Reservations: Book in advance; walk-ins are unlikely at this level but may be possible at the bar. Dress: Smart casual at minimum; the room skews business formal in the evening. Budget: The venue does not publish a price range in available data, but the format, address, and peer comparisons place it firmly in the $$$$ tier , expect comparable spend to other top-tier contemporary fine dining in New York. Location: 425 Park Ave, New York, NY 10022. Well-served by Grand Central and multiple subway lines on the East Side. For hotels close to this area, see our New York City hotels guide. For bars worth pairing with an evening here, see our New York City bars guide.
Against Le Bernardin and Per Se, Four Twenty Five offers a more flexible format: the a la carte menu means you are not committed to a multi-hour tasting structure. Per Se is a fixed tasting menu at a significantly higher price floor and remains harder to book. Le Bernardin is more focused in scope , seafood-only, French-trained , and may be the stronger choice if you want a single-subject kitchen operating at its ceiling. Four Twenty Five wins on flexibility and room energy if neither of those trade-offs matters to you.
Against Atomix and Eleven Madison Park, the comparison shifts to format and philosophy. Both Atomix and EMP are tasting-menu-only and demand a full evening commitment. Four Twenty Five is the better choice for a diner who wants serious cooking without surrendering control of the evening's pace. Masa sits in a different category entirely , omakase sushi at the leading of its price tier , and is not a like-for-like comparison unless Japanese cuisine is your priority.
In the broader context of ambitious American fine dining, Four Twenty Five compares well to venues like Smyth in Chicago or Providence in Los Angeles in terms of positioning: serious cooking, identifiable chef credentials, and a room that supports the price point without alienating guests who are not industry insiders. If you are eating across cities and tracking this tier, it holds its own. For other reference points in the category globally, The French Laundry in Napa and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg represent the West Coast equivalent in format ambition, though both are tasting-menu-only.
Lead with the wine list: the Star Wine List recognition means it is worth spending time with the sommelier rather than defaulting to a bottle you already know. The menu is a la carte, so you control the pace , do not feel pressured to order more courses than you want. The New York Times awarded three stars, which is a meaningful benchmark; this is serious cooking, not a room coasting on its address. First-timers coming from tasting-menu-only venues elsewhere in the city will appreciate the format flexibility. Dress appropriately for the room , it skews formal by evening.
Booking is rated Easy relative to comparable New York fine dining, so you are not competing with the months-out waitlists of Atomix or Per Se. That said, two to three weeks out is advisable for weekend evenings, and the corporate lunch trade means midweek slots can fill faster than you might expect at a venue in this neighbourhood. If you are flexible on timing, a Tuesday or Wednesday dinner is your leading bet for same-week availability.
Yes, more so than most venues at this level. The a la carte format means you are not locked into a long tasting menu structure, and the room's atmosphere , composed rather than loud , works for a solo diner who wants to eat well without the social performance of a group table. If bar seating is available, that is the recommended option for solo visitors; confirm availability when booking. For comparison, solo dining at Le Bernardin is also workable, but the format is more formal.
Bar seating is likely available given the format and scale of the venue, but this is not confirmed in available data. Contact the restaurant directly to ask before assuming walk-in bar access. If bar dining is a priority for your visit, verify it when making your reservation. The room's energy during evening service makes the bar a potentially appealing option for a shorter, more casual engagement with the menu.
A kitchen operating at three-star New York Times level with an a la carte menu is generally well-positioned to accommodate dietary needs, but the specific protocols at Four Twenty Five are not confirmed in available data. Contact the restaurant when booking to flag any restrictions in advance. The menu's global range of influences , spanning Italian, French, and Asian touchpoints , suggests enough flexibility in the kitchen to work with most requirements, but do not assume without confirming directly.
Groups are likely accommodated given the scale of the venue and its Park Avenue address, which attracts corporate dining. For parties of six or more, contact the restaurant directly to ask about private dining options or reserved sections. The a la carte format works well for groups with varied preferences, which is an advantage over tasting-menu-only venues like Eleven Madison Park where the entire table eats the same progression. Budget accordingly for a group at the $$$$ tier.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Twenty Five | Contemporary Fine Dining | Star Wine List (2026); Jonathan Benno and Jean-Georges Vongerichten are behind this elegant restaurant named for the address of the sleek building it's located within. Flooded with natural light, it's stunning yet understated.The menu pulls influences from all over, hopscotching across Italy and France to Asia. Dishes, like the foie gras plated with blood orange compote and served alongside warm, spiced madeleines, have a grand flair while featuring earnest cooking. Even a plate of asparagus is elevated, thanks to creamy avocado slices and a punchy vinaigrette. The meal concludes with a teardrop-shaped chocolate tart that delivers on every level with black cardamom crémeux, tonka whipped ganache, and buckwheat caramel sided by marzipan ice cream.; ★★★ Berthed in a glassy skyscraper over Park Avenue, Four Twenty Five evokes the glamour of a 1930s ocean liner. The kitchen, a megawatt collaboration of the chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Jonathan Benno, seamlessly melds Mr. Vongerichten’s riotous love of highly spiced, global flavors with Mr. Benno’s subtler, more classic purism. The result? An opulent yet never-fussy menu that seduces. Perfectly executed dishes like plush, handmade agnolotti with winter squash, amaretti and brown butter, and butter-poached lobster with an explosively spicy black pepper and ginger jus prove that in some kitchens, two chefs are better than one. Midtown, Manhattan; New York Magazine The 43 Best Restaurants in New York (2025); Esquire Best New Restaurants #21 (2024) | Easy | — | |
| Le Bernardin | French, Seafood | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | Modern Korean, Korean | $$$$ | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Per Se | French, Contemporary | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Masa | Sushi, Japanese | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | French, Vegan | $$$$ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Four Twenty Five and alternatives.
Yes, the a la carte format makes it more solo-friendly than most restaurants at this level. You control the pace and spend without being locked into a multi-course tasting menu. The room is glamorous without being couple-coded, and a Google rating of 4.5 across nearly 200 reviews suggests consistent execution that holds up whether you are a party of one or four.
The kitchen's range — drawing on Italian, French, and Asian influences with dishes built around vegetables, pasta, seafood, and meat — gives the team material to work with across most common restrictions. check the venue's official channels ahead of your visit to confirm; the flexibility of an a la carte menu generally makes accommodation easier here than at a fixed tasting-menu-only venue like Per Se or Masa.
Bar seating is not confirmed in available venue data, but the room's design — a glassy skyscraper space with natural light and a deliberately approachable format — is built for flexibility. Four Twenty Five holds Star Wine List recognition for 2026, so the bar, if available, is worth considering for a drinks-and-small-plates visit. Check directly with the restaurant to confirm current bar service.
The collaboration between Jonathan Benno and Jean-Georges Vongerichten is the headline: Benno's classical discipline meets Vongerichten's spice-forward, global instincts, and the NYT awarded three stars to the result. Come expecting a la carte rather than a fixed tasting menu — that is the structural difference that separates this from Per Se or Eleven Madison Park. The address is 425 Park Avenue, Midtown, and the room is described as flooded with natural light and deliberately understated despite the Park Avenue setting.
The a la carte format helps with groups since everyone orders to their preference rather than committing to a single tasting progression. For larger parties of six or more, contact the restaurant in advance to discuss table configuration and any private dining options. Booking lead time should increase proportionally for large groups, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Booking is rated Easy relative to New York City fine dining peers, but Friday and Saturday evenings require more lead time. For weekday dinners, one to two weeks out is a reasonable target. For weekend prime-time slots, aim for three to four weeks. Four Twenty Five is a NYT three-star restaurant that made both New York Magazine's 43 Best Restaurants in New York (2025) and Esquire's Best New Restaurants list, so do not assume availability will hold if you wait.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
