The Best Breakfast Spots in New York City

Breakfast at Balthazar instantly transports you from SoHo to Paris at Keith McNally's bistro. While weekend brunch can be crazy, weekday breakfast is a serene opportunity to enjoy favorites like eggs en cocotte, cafe au lait, and pain au chocolate.

• Address: 80 Spring Street (between Crosby Street and Broadway)
• Neighborhood: SoHo

Just a few blocks up from Baltazaar, this SoHo bakery has both counter and table service and a year-round greenhouse garden area in the back. People love their pastries as well as their egg sandwiches, making it a suitable choice whether you're craving something savory or sweet. This is also the home of the original Cronut, which is available in just one flavor per month.

• Address: 189 Spring Street (between Thompson and Sullivan Streets)
• Neighborhood: SoHo

Barney Greengrass is famous for its smoked salmon, sturgeon, and Nova, which can be enjoyed with eggs or a traditional New York bagel with cream cheese and capers. If you're looking for something different, try the cheese blintzes or homemade chicken liver.

• Address: 541 Amsterdam Avenue (between 86th and 87th Streets)
• Neighborhood: Upper West Side

Clinton Street Baking Company has been drawing crowds for their amazing pancakes since it opened in 2001. If you want to avoid a long wait for brunch, try to dine during the week, but if you're craving breakfast for dinner, they also serve a selection of breakfast items in the evening.

• Address: 4 Clinton Street (Between East Houston and Stanton Streets)
• Neighborhood: SoHo

Whether you want something healthy, such as a grapefruit with ginger sugar and mint, or decadent, like a full English breakfast, April Bloomfield's restaurant in the Ace Hotel is a great choice for breakfast. The brunch service offered on Saturday and Sunday typically fills up rather quickly, but you'll likely get a table immediately if you visit during the weekday breakfast services.

• Address: 16 West 29th Street (between 5th Avenue and Broadway)
• Neighborhood: Murray Hill

Inspired by European traditions and established in the West Village neighborhood by Chef Jody Williams, Buvette New York offers a truly unique breakfast menu. Whether you want a croissant served with butter and jam or steamed eggs with prosciutto, there are plenty of options, both indulgent and healthy, to enjoy in this easy-going spot.

• Address: 42 Grove Street (at Bleecker Street) 
• Neighborhood: West Village

Bubby's has been a Tribeca staple for the past 25 years, offering classics like smoked salmon bagels, eggs Benedict, and huevos rancheros to visitors and residents alike. While quite popular as a brunch spot on weekends, weekdays at Bubby's are relatively quiet and calm.

• Address: 120 Hudson Street (at North Moore Street)
• Neighborhood: Tribeca

Landmarc in the Times Warner Center is a great choice for breakfast, whether you're in the mood for oatmeal with brown sugar or an eggs benedict meal with all the fixings. Families traveling together will appreciate the restaurant's children's menu with options that are sure to satisfy young palates at a fraction of the cost of the adult's menu.

• Address: 10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor
• Neighborhood: Columbus Circle

From classics like eggs Benedict and buttermilk pancakes to inspired creations like "waz-za," a waffle with fruit inside and out, Norma's, located in the posh Le Parker Meridien Hotel, offers the ultimate indulgent breakfast. Featuring menu items like the "Irresistible Banana-Macadamia Nut Flap Jacks" and "Very Berry Brioche French Toast," reading the selections at Norma's is sure to entertain you while you order and delight you when you eat your meal.

• Address: 118 West 56th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
• Neighborhood: Midtown West

If you're looking for an "only in NYC" breakfast experience, look no further than the legendary Shopsin's Restaurant, which is located inside the Essex Market. Keep in mind the rules, though, as there are no reservations, no groups larger than four, and no ordering the same thing as someone else at your table. Otherwise, prepare yourself for the craziest menu you've ever seen, possibly foul language, and some pretty delicious food.

• Address: 120 Essex Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets)
• Neighborhood: Lower East Side

Located on the ground floor of the Beekman Hotel, Keith McNally's Augustine Restaurant is the place to enjoy a leisurely breakfast away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Featuring traditional breakfast items like avocado toast alongside pastries provided by Balthazar Bakery, this restaurant is a great place to sample a few breakfast items from around the city.

• Address: 5 Beekman Street (at Theatre Alley)
• Neighborhood: Financial District/World Trade Center

For a quintessential diner experience in the Financial District, swing by the 1950s George's New York, which serves up typical diner fare like chocolate chip pancakes, eggs with hashbrowns, and a number of specialty omelets.

• Address: 89 Greenwich Street (at Rector Street)
• Neighborhood: Financial District

Typically wheeling around Manhattan Park in the Financial District of Manhattan and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, the mobile cart for King David Tacos is a great place to grab a quick bite in the morning. The BPEC taco contains bacon, potato, egg, and cheese while the bacon is replaced with refried beans in the Queen Bean and Mexican chorizo in the Or'izo taco.

• Address: Manhattan Park and Grand Army Plaza
• Neighborhood: Financial District and Brooklyn

For a Cuban-Mexican breakfast, consider stopping by Café Habana after the morning rush between 9 and 11 a.m. any day of the week. Featuring spicy menu items like huevos divorciados, which is made with salsa verde, and eggs with spicy chorizo, most of the menu options are also not only delicious but also surprisingly affordable.

• Address: 17 Prince Street (at Elizabeth Street)
• Neighborhood: Nolita

This Los Angeles-inspired restaurant considers itself to be "accidentally vegetarian, decidedly wholesome," offering healthy menu options alongside breakfast standards like yogurt, porridge, granola, waffles, eggs, and even breakfast tacos. West~bourne also has a community-driven company ethos, offering job training and hiring through local charitable partners including the Robin Hood Foundation to provide assistance to New Yorkers in need.

• Address: 137 Sullivan Street (between West Houston and Prince Streets)
• Neighborhood: SoHo

Veselka is a Ukrainian diner with breakfast service 24 hours a day, and a menu featuring challah French toast, latkes, pierogis, and blintzes alongside domestic breakfast favorites like bacon and eggs. This cheap, no-hassle restaurant almost always has a table open, even during the busy morning commute hours. Founded in 1954, Veselka offers a taste of somewhere exotic to shake up your early morning routine.

• Address: 144 2nd Avenue (at East 9th Street)
• Neighborhood: East Village

This Philadelphia spinoff restaurant serves up its breakfasts meals complete with pastries and bread made in-house. With three delicious breakfast sandwiches to choose from including the vegetarian "Forager" and a malted breakfast sausage, egg, and cheese on a sage-black pepper biscuit, High Street is a great place for a casual breakfast or even to host a business meeting over some coffee and light snacks.

• Address: 637 Hudson Street (at Horatio Street)
• Neighborhood: West Village/Meatpacking District

If you're in a hurry to grab something to go, the fast service at Daily Provisions is pretty much unbeatable in Manhattan—but the breakfast sandwiches don't suffer in quality just because they come out fast! Try the maple cruller, orange Kouign-Amann, or the cream cheese everything croissant from the bakery for a real treat.

• Address: 103 East 19th Street (between Irving Place and Park Avenue South)
• Neighborhood: Union Square

Located right off the Highline in Chelsea, the all-day Cookshop restaurant, owned and operated by Marc Meyer and Vicki Friedman, is a great place to grab a seasonal breakfast treat before exploring the elevated walking path above it. Featuring healthy and comfort foods like squash blossom frittatas and a kale bowl with spinach, faro, falafel, feta, and an egg, Cookshop has something for everyone's taste palette.

• Address: 156 10th Avenue (at West 20th Street)
• Neighborhood: Chelsea

Although this restaurant is a bit on the pricier side for a New York City breakfast, the elegance and decadence of the NoMad Restaurant inside the hotel of the same name are worth the cost of admission. The breakfast sandwich with duck sausage and cheddar on a homemade English muffin is a local favorite, but you can also go for healthier options like granola or yogurt with fresh fruit.

• Address: 1170 Broadway (at West 28th Street)
• Neighborhood: Chelsea/​Korea Town

Located in the Turnstyle Underground Market, this homestyle Taiwanese restaurant offers up a far-eastern twist to American-style breakfasts. Here, you can enjoy a sesame flatbread breakfast sandwich instead of on a bagel or English muffin or try rice porridge made with pork belly, bamboo, and pickled cucumbers.

• Address: 1000 Subterranean 8th Avenue (in the Turnstyle Underground Market)
• Neighborhood: Columbus Circle

Good Enough to Eat's menu more than lives up to its name—the delectable breakfast options at this Upper West Side restaurant are truly unique takes on American comfort food. Try the waffles filled with bacon or the corned beef hash with biscuits for a real taste of American home cooking.

• Address: 520 Columbus Avenue (at West 85th Street)
• Neighborhood: Upper West Side

Located inside the Hotel Wales on the Upper East Side, Sarabeth's Restaurant is a popular posh restaurant chain serving traditional American fare with some slightly decadent modifications. With four other locations in Manhattan including at Central Park South, Park Avenue South, Tribeca, and the Upper West Side, you'll have plenty of chances to stop into one of these establishments no matter where you're starting your day in the city.

• Address: 1295 Madison Avenue (inside the Hotel Wales)
• Neighborhood: Upper East Side

For a more casual dining experience, head to Penelope in Kips Bay (just north of East Village) for a country-chic setting and some comfort-food staples. Try the "B.B.E.L.T.," a double-bacon, over-medium egg, green leaf lettuce, and tomato sandwich on sourdough or the lentils and eggs scramble with mango serrano salsa, harissa aioli, and your choice of toast.

• Address: 159 Lexington Avenue (at East 30th Street)
• Neighborhood: Kips Bay

If you don't mind navigating the crowds of Midtown East, The Smith on 2nd Avenue is a great location for a quick or leisurely breakfast. This swanky American bistro offers traditional favorites like eggs any style, vanilla bean french toast, and a ranchero scramble.

• Address: 956 2nd Avenue (between East 50th and 51st Streets)
• Neighborhood: Midtown East

The California-style kitchen at Dimes offers a health-conscious variety of dishes in a tidy, small cafe in the Lower East Side. Combining the traditional diner feel with a west-coast flair for ecofriendliness, the menu at Dimes includes fruity and savory options like the carob acai bowl with bananas, dates, cinnamon, coconut milk, almond butter, and hemp and walnut granola and two tacos with scrambled eggs, mango salsa, cheddar, avocado, and hot sauce.

• Address: 49 Canal Street (between Ludlow and Orchard Streets)
• Neighborhood: Lower East Side

With one location in Brooklyn and the other in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood, Friend of a Farmer is a Vermont-based family-owned micro-chain of restaurants offering farm-to-table meals prepared country style. Try out the farmers market omelette or the fresh crab Benedict for a savory meal or sample Carrie Dee's buttermilk apple pancakes for a sweet breakfast treat.

• Address: 77 Irving Place #1 (between East 18th and 19th Streets)
• Neighborhood: Gramercy Park

Featuring a location in both SoHo and the West Village, this family-owned restaurant chain serves up a hybrid of American and Mediterranean breakfasts in rustic-chic dining rooms. The flagship location in SoHo has very limited space, so tables typically fill up quickly during the morning rush.

• Address: 224 Lafayette Street (between Spring and Broome Streets)
• Neighborhood: SoHo/Little Italy

No trip to New York City is complete without having at least one NY-style bagel, and the best place to get one in a hurry is at the Brooklyn Bagel and Coffee Company in Chelsea (or Astoria, Queens). Featuring a cream cheese flavor of the week as well as over 30 signature spreads and a multitude of bagel varieties, Brooklyn Bagel is the epitome of the New York breakfast meal to-go.

• Address: 286 8th Avenue (between West 24th and 25th Streets)
• Neighborhood: Chelsea