All Of The Best Food And Snacks I Had In New York

You may have seen that at the start of May I headed to New York for a five day solo trip. If not you can see how I spent my time here. But one of my biggest lists was food spots I wanted to visit, it was probably my number one priority while in the city.

I’d been saving Tik Tok videos, and places on my Google Maps for years. So it was really hard to narrow down where I wanted to try, because realistically I couldn’t manage them all.

I thought it was the sweet treats that would be my ultimate favs, but surprisingly it was the savoury food. The sweet treats just seemed a bit too sweet for me this time.

Here are some of the best places I ate at. Yes a lot of this list were Tik Tok favourites, although a few I don’t see getting spoken about as much. But I wanted to give my honest opinions.

Burger and pizza spots

On my very first night I headed to 7th Street Burger that have a number of  locations around Manhattan. And it was a really solid burger. They do smash burgers, and they’re no frills and simply done, but down well. It was the perfect quick dinner spot when I was hungry and didn’t fancy a sit down meal.

The two pizza spots I did on this trip were Prince Street Pizza (around Soho) and Mamas Too (around the West Village) and I couldn’t pick my favourite as they were both great.

At Prince Street I got the four cheese slice (in the photo above) and it was pretty much perfect. It had the right levels of seasoning, the cheese pull was great and I could have eaten about six slices of it. They call this style the Sicilian Soho Square, and they do the traditional New York round pizza (which is a thinner crust) but I didn’t try this one.

Then Mama’s Too was also great. They do both styles of pizza here too and I tried both. The New York style was exactly what you’d think of when it comes to pizza, and the square one I had was an upside down slice which was actually my favourite. The only downside of Mama’s Too is it always seems very busy and it was impossible to get a table when I went. So I had to take out my pizza and sit in a square outside to eat. Next time I would go back but I’d like to try their other location to see if it had more seating.

Joe’s Pizza is the other pizza spot which usually gets named when you’re talking about New York pizza and I have been there before. The pizza is pretty good, but if there’s a huge queue it’s probably not worth the wait.

It wouldn’t be a New York trip without bagels

Bagels was high on my list and I had hoped to visit more, but I only ate at two. I did head to Popup bagels for their tear and share style where you buy the bagels and a pot of smear to dunk in but they’re not suitable for solo travellers. You can only buy bagels in a 3 pack with one pot of smear. I asked if I could get a single bagel and I knew I’d have a lot of smear but I was fine with that, and they said no. I didn’t want to waste two extra bagels so I didn’t end up trying it.

But the two I did try were Moonrise bagels and Liberty Bagels.

Moonrise bagels was one of the best things I ate all weekend and it’s ingenious. Rather than slicing open a bagel and putting the filling inside they bake the filling inside the bagel. So rather than the filling pushing out every time you take a bite it stays inside. So it was less messy, didn’t feel too bready and tasted absolutely delicious. I had the bacon, egg and cheese and I will 100% be going back there.

To me Liberty Bagels is one of the more traditional bagel places. You choose your bagel and your smear or filling and there’s a lot of choice. I got a garlic bagel with bacon scallion cream cheese and it was so tasty. I hear a lot of people talk about queues but I went super early and it wasn’t busy at all.

Two pancake spots in New York

The first pancake spot I went to was Golden Diner as I’d seen their butter pancakes all over Tik Tok. One thing to note is unless you queue for at least 30-45 minutes before opening you may be waiting a long time for a table. It doesn’t help that it’s very small. When you get to the front they will take your details and message you when your table is ready. When this happens you confirm if you still want it and have ten minutes to get back. I waited for about half an hour in the queue, then a further 15 minutes before a table became available.

Now I’m glad I went to Golden Diner and the pancakes were tasty but I do think they were a little overhyped. Personally I wouldn’t go back again.

I went to Bubby’s a long time ago, before it became known for pancakes (and in a different location), but this would now be my go-to for pancakes. Bubby’s pancakes were better than Golden Diner and there’s a lot of choice of toppings. I got chocolate chip which may have been a little heavier, but the pancakes themselves were soft, airy and super tasty. And if you’re quick you can get a booking at Bubby’s.

Other savoury options

All three of these savoury options were top tier and I would 100% be back.

I had to make a trip to Panda Express and try their orange chicken, and it was everything I hoped it would be. You can get boxes of various sizes alongside rice or noodles, and it was such good value for money.

Lenwich were everywhere on my Tik Tok with their huge chicken Caesar wraps and I knew I had to try them. You can fully customise every element of the wrap which I loved, and it was so tasty. Yes it is quite big and if you’re trying a lot of food you may want to share, but I managed the whole thing myself.

Then finally I tried Los Tacos No1 in Chelsea Market. The queue was quite long but went pretty quickly, but there are other locations which may not be as busy. I tried two of their tacos (chicken and beef) and a chicken quesadilla. Everything was super fresh and insanely tasty so worth the queue. I see everyone rave about their tacos but never about the quesadilla’s and I actually preferred them. They were basically the same fillings as a taco on a slightly larger wrap covered in melted cheese. What’s not to love?!

Sweet treats I highly rate

I tried a few different cookies during my trip and my favourites were Chip City Bakery. They were soft, but not too gooey with some really nice flavours. And what I loved was that they weren’t overly sweet like some other desserts I tried. A big thumbs up from me. I went to the one in the Rockafella Plaza which was dead when I went mid weekend afternoon, but they have a few other locations.

Spotting a Carlos Bakehouse, I had to try it, and to be honest my expectations weren’t that high. I had a chocolate cannoli and it was so  tasty, although a bit overpriced for what it was. I would actually try there again next trip and try something more cake like.

Then Randy’s donut was really solid donut, there’s not much else I can say. It wasn’t over the top with weird and random fillings. It was just a really tasty donut.

Sweet treats in New York that I wasn’t fussed on

And while there were some really yummy treats, there were some I wasn’t fussed on.

I hate to say it but I didn’t rate levain bakery. While the cookies were nice, they were just too sweet for me. Too much chocolate doesn’t feel like an issue, but it actually was. The cookie became overpowering and I couldn’t finish it on my own. Definitely one for sharing.

Now Magnolia Bakery wasn’t for me, probably because I don’t like banana so didn’t try the iconic banana pudding. I had a peanut butter chocolate slice and while it was good it wasn’t anything special. So next time I’ll definitely be searching out some other bakeries.

Now I feel bad for adding Sunday morning here because I think I wasn’t fussed as I made the wrong choice of cinnamon roll. Sunday morning are a cute little bakery that make various flavours of cinnamon rolls and next time I’ll try the classic cream cheese.

And that’s a wrap

That may seem like a lot of food over my trip and yes it probably was. But I did get small things at most places, and walked a lot so got hungry quite quickly.

Overall my top five would be: Moonrise bagels, Los Tacos No1, Chip City Bakery, Prince Street Pizza and Bubby’s.