Our directory lists more Spanish restaurants in New York than in any other US city: 23 listings in the city, against 9 in Washington and 8 in Chicago. They include long-running tapas bars, a José Andrés food hall, a Basque-style steak grill, a Galician tavern and the dining rooms of Spanish community clubs.
This guide covers 25 New York-area listings by neighbourhood, 23 in the city and two beyond it, using what each venue's own record says. A few Chelsea and Brooklyn records still carry an address to confirm, so check the venue's site before you go.
Chelsea and the Flatiron
In our listings, Chelsea has more Spanish restaurants than any other part of the city.
- Txikito, 240 Ninth Ave: a Basque restaurant from Alex Raij and Eder Montero, open since 2008 and relaunched after the pandemic. Salt cod croquettes, octopus carpaccio, txakoli poured from a height.
- Tia Pol: a small, long-running tapas bar with classic tapas and a serious sherry list.
- Salinas, 136 9th Ave: chef and partner Luis Bollo's Spanish Mediterranean restaurant in a townhouse, known for contemporary rice and pasta dishes.
- Socarrat Paella Bar - Chelsea, 259 W 19th St: the first Socarrat, with tapas, paellas and a private paella bar.
- La Nacional, 239 W 14th St: the restaurant of the Spanish Benevolent Society, which its record calls the oldest Spanish cultural institution in the United States.
- El Quijote: a reborn Chelsea classic from the 1930s, an old-New-York Spanish dining room.
- Boqueria - Flatiron, 53 W 19th St: a tapas bar inspired by the tapas around Barcelona's Boquería market.
Hudson Yards
- Mercado Little Spain, 10 Hudson Yards: José Andrés' Spanish food hall, opened in 2019, with bars, kiosks, restaurants and a specialist grocer.
- La Barra at Mercado Little Spain, 10 Hudson Yards: the tapas bar inside the hall, with croquetas de jamón, Andalusian fried puntillitas and wines by the glass.
- Txula Steak, 515 W 30th St: a Basque-style wood-fire grill with 60-day aged txuleton ribeyes, Ibérico pork and Spanish lamb.
Gramercy, Murray Hill and Midtown
- Casa Mono, 52 Irving Pl: chef Andy Nusser's refined tapas restaurant; its record mentions a Michelin star.
- El Pote, 718 2nd Ave: a traditional Murray Hill restaurant, open for over 22 years, cooking Castilian food from northern and central Spain.
- Socarrat Paella Bar - Midtown East, 953 2nd Ave: tapas and paellas in a room themed on Valencia's Fallas.
- Boqueria - West, 260 W 40th St, and Boqueria - Upper East Side, 1460 2nd Ave.
SoHo, Nolita and the Lower East Side
- Tomiño Taberna Gallega, 192 Grand St: a Galician tavern with pulpo a feira, almejas a la marinera, tortilla de Betanzos and pimientos de Padrón. Galician chef Lucía Freitas is its chief adviser.
- Despaña Fine Foods & Tapas Cafe, 408 Broome St: a tapas café that describes itself as "a piece of Spain in the City".
- Socarrat Paella Bar - Nolita, 284 Mulberry St: tapas and paellas, with flamenco shows on Tuesdays.
- Boqueria - Soho, 171 Spring St.
- Ernesto's, 259 East Broadway: a Basque-inspired restaurant that opened in early 2020, serving pintxos, tapas and modern dishes.
Queens and Brooklyn
Queens is home to two Spanish community institutions with their own restaurants. Both are open only on some days of the week, so check hours first.
- Casa Galicia, 3709 31st Ave, Astoria: a Galician cultural centre founded in 1940, whose restaurant serves Galician and Spanish food, including tapas and seafood, to locals and visitors.
- Centro Español de Queens - Círculo Español, 41-01 Broadway: a restaurant inside the Spanish centre, with tapas, main dishes, homemade desserts and Spanish wines and beers.
- La Vara, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn: opened in 2011 by Alex Raij and Eder Montero, with a menu built on the Moorish and Jewish legacies in Spanish cooking.
For a weekend built around these clubs, see our New York Spanish social clubs weekend.
Beyond the city
- Sangria 71, 1095 Jericho Turnpike, Commack: a family-owned Long Island restaurant founded by two Galician brothers, with tapas, paellas, seafood and grilled meats.
- Basque Tapas Bar, 587 Piermont Ave, Piermont: Benny Castro's Hudson Valley restaurant, with tapas from Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country, plus paellas.
Tips for eating Spanish in New York
- Txikito, El Quijote and Salinas open only in the evening, and Tia Pol opens mid-afternoon Tuesday to Friday, at noon on Saturdays and in the evening on Sundays (closed Mondays). Mercado Little Spain, Casa Mono and the Boqueria branches with listed hours serve from midday or earlier.
- Paella is usually cooked to order for two or more people, so expect a wait.
- If you want something regional, go by region: Txikito, Ernesto's and Txula for Basque food, Tomiño, Casa Galicia and Sangria 71 for Galician, El Pote for Castilian.
