The 17 Best Private Dining Rooms In NYC - New York - The Infatuation (2024)

Have you been tasked with planning your best friend’s birthday? Did you realize that your sister’s bridal shower is a month away and you haven’t made a reservation? Sounds like a Private Dining Problem. Whether you’re looking for an intimate room for a group of 10 or an underground lounge that can fit 40, check out these NYC restaurants that are currently hosting private dining events.

THE SPOTS

Capacity: 25

Keens is one of the city’s best steakhouses, and the inside of this Midtown classic is full of different-sized dining rooms. Most of them are for bigger parties, but groups of 20-25 can reserve the Lillie Langtry room, named after a socialite-turned-actress who became Keens’ first lady customer. The room is furnished with 19th-century carved oak, and has a humorous lithograph from the same time period on the wall. Eat some mutton chops and feel like New York high society from a hundred years ago.

Capacity: 32

In a restored carriage house with an open fireplace, Vinegar Hill House in Dumbo feels like a rustic farmhouse with an ivy-covered yard. When you pictured your Pinterest-perfect rehearsal dinner or baby shower brunch, it was probably here. Their private dining room has its own fireplace, and access to the garden. There’s room for 9-32 guests, and a seated dinner of things like cast iron chicken, farmstead cheese, and seasonal produce.

Capacity: 20

The Garden Room at Kashkaval Garden feels like the living room of a mountain house that’s inside a snowglobe. The back room of this Mediterranean restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen has a forest of lush green ferns and foliage that fill up the space between the stone floors and slatted ceiling—and it’s a magical setting for a fondue session. Groups of 12-20 people can get a family style, prix-fixe menu, which features shareable Turkish flatbreads, fondue, and meat skewers.

Capacity: 15 seated, 22 standing

At the back of Superiority Burger’s faux-diner space in the East Village, there’s a semi-private room where you can have a vegetarian get-together. Sit-down dinners and co*cktail receptions require a set menu and a room fee (which varies by season), but if you’re booking after 10pm, you can also do something called a Night Shift Afterparty Party. For a minimum spend of $500, you and a bunch of friends can hang out in the space and order à la carte burgers at the bar.

Capacity: 36

Café Chelsea, in the bottom of the historic Hotel Chelsea, is a nice place to eat steak frites and chat with strangers who belong to SAG-AFTRA. But if you want to skip the crowds and do your own thing, you can book their wine room for a family-style meal. Dinner starts at $125 per person, with options like steak tartare, pâté, rotisserie chicken, and grilled fish.

Capacity: 18 seated, 24 standing

You have better odds of getting elected mayor than you do of snagging a reservation at Torrisi. But you can always rent out the back room. This Nolita spot from the Carbone team has a private dining space with a table that can seat the starting lineups of two baseball teams. You’ll have to arrange a multi-course meal, and it won’t be cheap, but it will be exceptional. Options from a sample menu include tortellini pomodoro, dover sole, and the restaurant’s signature platter of hams and zeppole.

Capacity: 22

Need to have a fancy meal in Midtown with your coworkers, some clients, or a bunch of family members who only eat within walking distance of Grand Central? Try the private dining room at 53. One of the Best New Restaurants of 2022, this “contemporary Asian” spot is big and glitzy, with impressive architectural touches like a rainbow-colored ceiling. Menu highlights include the Hainanese chicken and xiao long bao with Burgundy truffle.

Capacity: 16

The latest spot from Marcus Samuelsson, Hav & Mar is tough to define. The name is a nod to Sweden and Ethiopia, but this Chelsea restaurant’s menu draws inspiration from all over. You can get berbere-cured salmon, teff biscuits, a lobster tostada, and more. There’s a private dining area with its own entrance and a few mermaids on the walls, and smaller groups can also book a semi-private table in the middle of the space.

Capacity: 14

Hawksmoor is a London import, and it’s one of the top steakhouses in NYC. The food at this Nomad spot is impressive—especially the English-leaning dishes like the potted beef and sticky toffee sundae—and we’re also fans of the over-the-top space with vaulted ceilings and green leather booths. There are two small private rooms, and both feel appropriate for an elaborate birthday or the annual meeting of your secret society.

Capacity: 12

Sushi On Me in Jackson Heights doesn’t have a private room—but the restaurant is only about the size of a studio apartment, and you can book the whole place with a group of your friends. For $99 per person, your group can sit at a counter and eat a 15-course omakase with bottomless sake. It’s a good time—just remember to plan at least a month in advance. This place is popular.

Capacity: 40

Ci Siamo’s food is outstanding enough to warrant a group dinner on its own, but the private dining space is arguably even more impressive. It has floor-to-ceiling windows, views of the Empire State Building, a private bar, and an adjacent outdoor terrace. There are several menu options for dinner and lunch events.

Capacity: 7

Arrange an intimate dinner at Sofreh to share some of the best Persian food with your friends. There are both indoor and outdoor areas where up to 7 guests can share a hulking lamb shank and saffron rice, and the minimalist space feels chic and comfortable simultaneously (an ideal balance in all facets of life). For private dining, the prix-fixe will run you $110 per person.

Capacity: Varies based on event

Edy’s Grocer’s Greenpoint shop is the perfect spot for when you want to have “a cute little dinner” with amazing mezze and other Lebanese food. They can even help you take it up a notch with flower arrangements, custom menu design, and bartending from the Grocer staff. Most importantly, you can have a three-course dinner curated for you by Edy himself.

Capacity: 25

Are you currently planning a trip to the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy with 25 of your friends? Probably not. So go have a wine-fueled private dinner in Uva’s cellar room on the Upper East Side instead. Order a lot of pasta and some cured meats to share, and you should be in good shape.

Capacity: 14 in the wine cellar, 50 on the mezzanine

Historically, our favorite way to eat at L’Artusi is to go with just one other person, sit at the bar, start with the roasted mushrooms and ricotta with homemade crackers, and then share two pastas. But having a meal amongst 2,000 bottles of Italian wine in this West Village restaurant’s private cellar sounds pretty good too. It’s currently available for up to 14 guests (but they can also do private parties of up to 50 as a full mezzanine buyout).

Capacity: 25 (with an option to add a second room)

The East Pole has one of the nicest private dining rooms on the Upper East Side. It’s called the Map Room (doesn’t that just sound nice?), and it has massive windows overlooking 65th Street as well as its own dedicated bathroom. This space seats up to 25 people, but you can also add on some seating in their Copper Bar Room next door, which includes a full bar along with lounge seating for up to 20. If you’re searching for somewhere comfortable-but-not-stuffy uptown, this brownstone restaurant is it.

Capacity: 26

Il Buco’s 200-year-old wine cellar might be the single best private dining room in Manhattan, especially when you consider the fact that Edgar Allen Poe used to hang out down there. There's also a rooftop terrace where you can host your event. Be sure to book well in advance. Shockingly, you’re not the only one who wants to eat pasta with dead poets.