New York’s restaurant scene may be filled with opulent tasting menus, caviar supplements and reservation battles, but there are still plenty of places for a casual, relaxed night out—with a glass of wine, of course. These 17 Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winners around the city deliver world-class wines in a laid-back atmosphere, paired with excellent cuisine. With value-driven wine lists and menus, look to this roundup for the next time you want to hit the town.
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The 17 Best Casual Wine Restaurants in New York City
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Spain
Wine Selections: 555
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Catalan/Spanish
Known For: Outdoor Dining, Small Bites, Cozy & Intimate, Special Occasions
Gramercy Park has long been one of the city’s refuges for great dining. One of the area’s cornerstones is the Spanish stalwart Casa Mono, which specializes in the cuisine of Catalonia and wines from across the country. The menu primarily consists of small and shareable plates, including pan con tomate, fried sardines, bacalao croquetas and mussels with chorizo and pork albóndigas (meatballs) with cuttlefish and cockles. Wine director Andrew Bridges’ cellar spotlights some of the finest producers in Spain, such as Priorat’s Álvaro Palacios, Ribera del Duero’s Bodegas Vega Sicilia and Rioja’s R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia.
Open windows add to the casual, Catalan-influenced allure of this wine-and-dining spot. (Courtesy of Casa Mono)
Tip: Casa Mono fills up pretty fast. If you are looking explicitly for tapas, the next-door Bar Jamón is walk-in only and has a robust selection of Sherries by the glass.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, California, Bordeaux, France
Wine Selections: 505
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: French/Mediterranean
Inside the East Village’s Moxy hotel, guests have to step downstairs to enter Cathédrale; the space opens up to reveal soaring brick triple-height ceilings. The restaurant is in Tao Group Hospitality’s portfolio, which includes the flagship Award of Excellence–winning Tao location in Chelsea. The dining menu is French- and Mediterranean-inflected, with dishes such as a potato chip omelet (topped with white sturgeon caviar), steak frites, Maine lobster and squid ink rigatoni and prawns a la plancha with Calabrian chile butter. Nikki McCutcheon, senior director of beverage for Tao Group Hospitality, has grown Cathédrale’s list to 505 selections with a specialization in classic producers from California and France.
Cathédrale provides a stunning yet intimate space for dinner. (Courtesy of Cathédrale)
Tip: Each Monday at Cathédrale is “Big Bottle Monday.” The wine team preselects a large-format bottle with age to pour for only $20 by the glass. Upcoming selections include Baron Philippe de Rothschild Château d’Armailhac 2018 and Château Haut-Bergey 2005.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, Champagne, France, Italy
Wine Selections: 900
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$$
Cuisine: American
Known For: Wine Tastings/Events, Private Event Space, Large Parties, Historic Location, Bar Scene
Amid the bustle of Wall Street and the Financial District, Crown Shy is an oasis that features a robust selection of wines alongside global small plates. Chef Jassimran Singh has helmed the kitchen since the 2024 death of his mentor, James Kent, a beloved figure in the New York City restaurant scene. Singh’s menu jumps from cuisine to cuisine, from Middle Eastern kibbeh nayeh [a raw beef tartare mixed with bulgur] to Italian squash agnolotti to Japanese squash tempura. Wine director Kristen Goceljak’s 900-wine list is dominated by France, with choice selections from François Raveneau in Chablis, Marquis d’Angerville in Volnay and Dom Pérignon in Champagne.
Crown Shy is one of many wine-focused gems from Kent Hospitality Group. (Johnny Miller)
Tip: Crown Shy has a robust lunch service, tailor-made for office workers and tourists in the area (offered both as à la carte and prix fixe menus), with tandoori flatbreads, pork katsu sandwiches and dessert to go.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, France, Italy, California
Wine Selections: 430
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Pizza/American
Known For: Date Night, Happy Hour, Large Parties, Special Occasions, Bar Scene
Do not be fooled by the neon Budweiser sign hanging outside Emmett’s on Grove in the West Village; this is a wine destination. The restaurant is known for slinging Chicago tavern-style pizzas—completely different from deep-dish pizzas, with their thin cracker crust—alongside bites such as cheese curds and baby back ribs. The wine list is spearheaded by wine director Stella Alverson, with a focus on big names across Burgundy, Tuscany, Piedmont and California. Where else in New York can you pair Armand Rousseau with twice-baked potatoes or Fattoria dei Barbi and a “Hot Papi” pie with paprika ranch?
Emmett’s on Grove opened in the West Village in 2021. (Courtesy of Emmett’s on Grove)
Tip: For pizza parties, Emmett’s offers a solid selection of large-format bottles, from producers such as Billecart-Salmon, ArPePe and Merry Edwards.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, Champagne, France, Italy
Wine Selections: 1,050
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$$
Cuisine: Italian/French
Known For: Outdoor Dining, Date Night, Cozy & Intimate, Special Occasions
In just a decade, King in SoHo has become one of New York’s most influential restaurants. Founded by chefs Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer (who met working at the River Café in London), alongside sommelier Annie Shi, the restaurant on King Street popularized an effortless, stripped-back approach to dining—the return to white tablecloths, tried-and-true pairings and simple, seasonal cooking. The wine list from Shi (who opened her own Best of Award of Excellence–winning restaurant, Lei, in Chinatown in 2025) features more than 1,000 bottles and is focused on French wines. Burgundy takes the spotlight, with ample selections from the likes of Domaine Leflaive and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
King popularized a classic style of dining that has swept Manhattan. (Courtesy of King)
Tip: The menu at King changes constantly, but one constant is the fried chickpea panisse—cut into large sticks and piled high like campfire logs. It is a must-order.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, France, California, Italy
Wine Selections: 900
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Mediterranean/Small plates
Known For: Wine Tastings/Events, Date Night, Happy Hour, Small Bites, Open Late
In such a changing neighborhood as the West Village, Lelabar remains a quintessential, old-school wine bar. The space is centered by a large oval bar and staffed by a team of sommeliers. The menu offers mix-and-match cheese and charcuterie plates, alongside larger dishes such as paninis and small bites—grilled octopus, burrata with pesto, roasted beets with mascarpone and more. Wine director Chris Martorano’s list of 900 selections has strengths in California, France and Italy. Standout selections include verticals from Bryant Family, Masseto and Krug (dating back to 1995).
Lelabar offers premium wines in a laid-back setting in the West Village. (Courtesy of Lelabar)
Tip: Want to test your blind tasting skills? Lelabar offers a “mystery wine challenge”—if you correctly guess the wine’s grape or region, your next glass of wine is half off.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: France
Wine Selections: 355
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $
Cuisine: French
Paris meets Park Avenue at L’Express. Owned by restaurateur Simon Oren, this French bistro—stuffed to the brim with tiny bistro tables and cane chairs—has been a staple of Gramercy Park since 1996. (The spot is one of several French wine destinations under the Chef Driven Hospitality umbrella, including Grand Award winner Nice Matin on the Upper West Side.) The L’Express menu is filled with French classics for breakfast, lunch and dinner—frog legs to short-rib bourguignon to frisée salad with lardons. The restaurant was promoted to Best of Award of Excellence this year for its growing wine program, with gems such as Joseph Drouhin dating back to 2005 and Château Palmer Margaux 1971.
L’Express offers ample seating indoors and outdoors. (Courtesy of L’Express)
Tip: L’Express is open quite late into the night: 12 a.m. Sunday through Tuesday, 1 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, France
Wine Selections: 560
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$$
Cuisine: Caribbean
Chef Gregory Gourdet flipped department store dining when he opened Maison Passerelle inside Printemps in the Financial District in 2025. The Queens-born chef made a name for himself with the Caribbean fine dining restaurant and Award of Excellence winner Kann in Portland before returning to the East Coast. Gourdet brings influences from Caribbean, African and Middle Eastern cuisines to Maison Passerelle, through the lens of bistro fare: Think cane syrup–glazed duck confit with a tamarind jus, roasted chicken with ras el hanout [a Moroccan spice blend] and preserved lemon and a chicory salad with sweet potato and grilled grapes. Wine director Ren Neuman’s wine list leans French, with a specialty in Burgundy—a nod to the French influences on the menu and Printemps’ origins in France.
Maison Passerelle blends Caribbean cuisine with French bistro standbys. (Jenn Kimmel Photography)
Tip: Printemps offers several bars across the department store, but customers can also enjoy a glass of wine while shopping.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Germany, France
Wine Selections: 400
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Hawaiian/American
Known For: Private Event Space, Date Night, Large Parties, Cozy & Intimate
Named after the Korean word for “playground,” Noreetuh is certainly a wine lover’s play place. A block from Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, the Polaroid-adorned space on First Avenue is one of the city’s few Hawaiian restaurants. The menu from co-owner Chung Chow highlights Hawaiian cuisine’s Asian influences, with notable dishes including kimchi fried rice, mochiko chicken (Hawaii’s take on fried chicken) and musubi—a traditional Hawaiian snack comprising a meat (commonly Spam) or vegetable, rice and other ingredients all wrapped in nori. Wine director and co-owner Jin Ahn’s program primarily focuses on German Rieslings, with libraries of Joh. Jos. Prüm and Keller. France is also well-represented with a wide selection of Burgundy’s Louis Jadot.
Spam musubi is just one of many delights that make Noreetuh an enticing culinary stop. (Courtesy of Noreetuh)
Tip: Need a good lunch in Midtown? Check out the Noreetuh team’s French bakery, Pavé, which serves jambon beurre and more alongside bottles of Haart Riesling and Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Italy
Wine Selections: 570
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $$$
Cuisine: Italian
Open since 1999, Peasant in Nolita has long been an “if you know, you know” restaurant for wood-fired Italian dishes and Italian wines. Since 2020, the restaurant has been led by chef Marc Forgione, who has doubled down on the live-fire nature of the cooking, with dishes such as charred baby octopus with chiles and lamb ragù (first cooked on a rotisserie before made into a sauce). The wine list is devoted largely to Italy, supplemented by ample selections of Champagne. Standout bottles include Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1994 and Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia Soprana 1971.
Peasant specializes in live-fire cooking. (Courtesy of Peasant)
Tip: Whole-animal grilling is a feat and a feast at Peasant. Guests can pre-order suckling pigs, ducks, rabbits and more for their table. Peasant also offers a multi-course “Whole Pig Dinner” for $135 per person (minimum six people).
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, Rhône, Piedmont
Wine Selections: 1,200
Wine Pricing: $$$ | Food Pricing: $
Cuisine: American
Known For: Date Night, Small Bites, Cozy & Intimate, Open Late, Bar Scene
The ratio at the East Village wine bar Stars is just right for intimate and in-depth wine service—only 12 seats and more than 1,200 wines on the list. The walk-in only bar opened earlier this year under the direction of hospitality moguls Chase Sinzer and Joshua Pinsky of Best of Award of Excellence winners Claud and Penny. Food at Stars is thoughtful—guests can look for rotating fine cheeses and small bites such as deviled eggs topped with cute crunchy stars—but wine is the explicit focus. Expect hard-to-find wines selected by Sinzer and the sommelier team, with selections from France, Italy and beyond, as well as interesting by-the-glass options such as unfortified Palomino, Oregon Chardonnay and Nielluccio from Corsica.
Don’t expect a full meal at Stars—the menu is made of bites to pair with wine. (Andrew Bui)
Tip: Stars opens Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. for coffee service—the full wine list is also available then.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Burgundy, France, California
Wine Selections: 420
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: American
Housed in the historic Beekman hotel—which was built in the 1880s and frequented by literary icons Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain—Temple Court is a destination in and of itself, owned by chef Tom Colicchio. The kitchen serves a seasonal à la carte menu, with recent dishes including braised lamb shoulder with apricots and Jimmy Nardello peppers and a tomato tarte Tatin with Niçoise olives. Wine director Isabella Fitzgerald’s 420-label list primarily focuses on France and the United States, with choice wines from Antica Terra and Eyrie in Oregon’s Willamette Valley as well as Napa’s Robert Mondavi and Spottswoode.
Temple Court offers a casual yet refined atmosphere for enjoying great wines. (Jose Portillo)
Tip:The Colicchio team also operates the Bar Room inside the Beekman, which serves breakfast, lunch and weekend jazz brunch.
Best of Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: France, Germany, Austria, Spain, California, Italy, Madeira, Sherry
Wine Selections: 1,200
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: American/Small plates
Terroir is a spot for wine nerds, full stop. Sommelier Paul Grieco first opened Terroir, now located in Tribeca, in the East Village in 2008. Grieco is the mastermind behind the cellar—with great amounts of collaboration from his staff—stocked with more than 1,200 wines. The by-the-glass list itself offers more than 100 wines—it’s both manic and enlightening, with 12 different fonts, filled with photographs and descriptions of each wine. (All by-the-glass offerings are available as 3-ounce tastes or 6-ounce glasses.) This is the wine bar to go to for flights of German Riesling, horizontal lineups of Burgundy and pours of Palomino. The wine selections are complemented by a gamut of bar snacks—pigs in a blanket with ramp sausage, deviled eggs with trout roe and more—as well as larger dishes including ragù and a smash burger.
Terroir is a Riesling-centric wine bar in Tribeca. (Courtesy of Terroir)
Tip: With education being a cornerstone of Terroir, Grieco and his team offer wine classes on Sundays. Upcoming lessons include the Judgment of Paris and wines of Hungary. Terroir also frequently hosts “Guest Somms,” or winemakers who work the floor for a night and pour flights of their wines.
Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: California, France
Wine Selections: 200
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $
Cuisine: American
Known For: Wine Tastings/Events, Outdoor Dining, Date Night, Small Bites, Open Late
As soon as guests step into Ardesia Wine Bar in Hell’s Kitchen, they will know they’re in for a great wine experience, with a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard wall covered in by-the-glass pours and a catwalk above the bar where sommeliers grab bottles. Ardesia owner and wine director Mandy Oser hand-selects the wine list to highlight both classic and esoteric wines across the globe—the quintessential wines of Oregon and new-to-market Chinese wines, plus benchmark producers of the Rhône and the wines of Lebanon. (The wine list comes in two formats: sorted by country and grouped as wine categories such as “Aroma Therapy,” “Zesty & Zippy” and “Lush.”)
Ardesia Wine Bar offers an oasis for wine lovers amid the bustle of Hell’s Kitchen. (Courtesy of Ardesia)
Tip: The Ardesia happy hour is one of the best near the Theatre District—$8 glasses of wine and $10 cocktails from 4 to 6 p.m. (For drinks after a show or natural night owls, Ardesia also hosts a late-night happy hour every night, from 10 p.m. until close.)
Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Italy
Wine Selections: 145
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Italian
Forsythia brings a slice of Rome to the Lower East Side. The restaurant—opened in 2020 by owner Jacob Siwak—specializes in handmade pasta, particularly the Roman classics: pasta alla gricia, carbonara and all’amatriciana. Other pastas include candy-shaped agnolotti stuffed with short rib and swirled in a duck jus as well as spaghetti puttanesca with fatty tuna belly. Appetizers such as fried squash blossoms and mains like bistecca fiorentina are also on offer. The wine list is devoted entirely to Italy, with choice producers including Sicily’s Feudo Montoni, Trentino–Alto Adige’s Foradori and Umbria’s Paolo Bea.
Forsythia offers Roman-inspired dishes on the Lower East Side. (Kate Pauley)
Tip: Every Wednesday, Forsythia hosts pasta-making classes led by the kitchen team. The price of the workshop includes a multi-course prix-fixe dinner and unlimited wine.
Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: France, Spain
Wine Selections: 110
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Korean/Spanish
Known For: Private Event Space, Happy Hour, Large Parties, Cozy & Intimate, Special Occasions
Chefs and co-owners Jeffrey Kim and Matthew Lee discovered the name of their restaurant, Nudibranch (which refers to a type of sea slug), during a scuba diving trip in Indonesia. On First Avenue in the East Village, Nudibranch mixes Korean and Spanish cuisines. Menu staples include duck confit croquettes, jamón Ibérico wrapped around Korean melon and gochujang-glazed pork chops. Beverage manager Sammi Schachter’s 110-label list shows strength in France and the Iberian Peninsula, with gems from Portugal’s Luís Pato and Susana Esteban.
Nudibranch chefs and co-owners Jeffrey Kim (left) and Matthew Lee (Courtesy of Nudibranch)
Tip: Fans of tinned fish should check out Tin Parlour, the Nudibranch team’s next-door lounge and private events space dedicated to canned delicacies.
Award of Excellence
Wine Strengths: Italy, Spain, France
Wine Selections: 115
Wine Pricing: $$ | Food Pricing: $$
Cuisine: Italian/Spanish
Known For: Outdoor Dining, Date Night, Happy Hour, Cozy & Intimate
For over a decade, Vinateria has been a go-to spot in Harlem for stellar wines and laid-back Italian and Spanish fare. Located on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, the restaurant is owned by native New Yorker Yvette Leeper-Bueno. The menu features bites such as fried calamari and farro salad, as well as larger dishes including spicy veal meatballs, lobster ravioli and pomegranate lamb chops. The wine list spotlights Italian wines, with picks from Piedmont’s Giacomo Borgogno & Figli, Tuscany’s Camigliano and Trentino–Alto Adige’s Alois Lageder.
Vinateria blends Spanish and Italian dining in Harlem. (Courtesy of Vinateria)
Tip: Vinateria is only a ten-minute walk from the historic Apollo Theater and is also within walking distance to Morningside Park and Columbia University.
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