I'll be the first to admit that I associate long restaurant wait times with better-than-average food. It's bad, I know, but popularity is a draw. In New York City, especially, the waits can get long. As a curious albeit lazy customer, I called practically every restaurant in the city that does not take reservations to see what their wait times were at 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday for two people. Some were surprises, some not so much. Without further ado, here are some of the longest restaurant wait times in NYC.
Over Three Hours
Sugarfish - Closed Waitlist
The trendy sushi restaurant from LA tops the list with a ~closed~ wait list for the night. How bougie. While I haven't been patient enough to show up at 5pm or earlier to put my name on the list, that's the suggested method to the madness to snag a seat.
#SpoonTip: For a limited time, DoorDash is testing out Sugarfish delivery with no fees in certain areas of NYC.
Two to Three Hours
Roberta's Pizza - 2.5 Hours
This Bushwick pizza joint is one of the best in NYC. The Bee Sting (a pizza with spicy soppressata and honey) alone is worth every second of the two and a half hour wait, I promise.
The Spotted Pig - 2.5 Hours
Situated in the West Village, this gastropub is famous for their burgers and celebrity sightings.
Tim Ho Wan - 2 Hours
This Hong-Kong based dim-sum restaurant is the world's cheapest Michelin starred restaurant and rightfully so. The slightly sweet, baked BBQ buns and the fried eggplant are a must.
Between One and Two Hours
Ippudo - 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Believe it or not, one hour and 45 minutes is the shortest wait time I've ever seen at this ever-popular and ever-delicious ramen restaurant.
Serendipity 3 - 1.5 Hours
Famous for their frozen hot chocolates and abundance of small children, Serendipity serves up Instagram-worthy sweets. They also have the most expensive ice cream sundae in the world - $1000!
Almost No Wait?!
Joe's Shanghai - 20 Minutes
This is not a drill: 20 minutes for the best damn xiao long bao in NYC. Color me shocked.
Katz's Deli - No Wait
No wait at Katz's? What did the undeserving people of NYC do to receive for this glorious miracle? Get your ass down to East Houston now to try the most mind-blowing corned beef sandwich that has ever graced this planet. With the exception of my Grandma's, that is.
If going outside and waiting for a seat at a restaurant seems tedious, you can always utilize these delivery hacks for the morally ambiguous and stay on the couch.