Unrated: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.

From the team behind Rezdôra (see below), Massara is a two-story restaurant that uses everything at its disposal to place you in Southern Italy. It’s a fun party trick, and it works. The floors are travertine flagstone, the olive-green walls are hung with vintage paintings, and the intricate food is inspired by Campania. If you can’t snag a table, stop by around 5pm to grab a bar seat, then try a nest of chilled spaghetti topped with uni and raw red prawn. Pair it with a glass of Ischian wine the color of butterscotch, and finish with gelato.

Gramercy Tavern’s upscale dining room in the back is where you can eat their tasting menu for $175. If you want a special-occasion spot that feels like someone’s very nice home in Aspen, that’s where you should sit. But we prefer the more casual tavern area up front, where you can eat some excellent brick chicken or a top-notch burger. If you need a last-minute spot to impress some people, stop by and get a few seats at the bar.

The Mexican food scene in NYC has changed enormously since Cosme opened in 2014, but this place, from the same folks who run Atla, still feels fresh and new. Budget around $100 per person, and come by for some chunky herb guacamole and the uni tostada with bone marrow salsa. The stripped-down room with spotlights above each table works great for an anniversary dinner, especially if you’re in the mood for margaritas. It’s no longer difficult to get a reservation, but the big platter of duck carnitas is as tender and magnificent as ever.

If you want to celebrate a special occasion at a place where you don’t have to worry about sullying a pristine tablecloth, head to Jua. From the chef behind Moono and the group who brought you Ariari, Atoboy, and Her Name Is Han, this restaurant serves a seven-course, $140 tasting menu in a space with brick walls and scuffed concrete floors. Your meal might begin with a perfect bite of caviar and steak tartare wrapped in seaweed, possibly followed by spot prawns served two ways, a smoky bowl of jook, or dry-aged duck.

After they did “fancy Korean BBQ in a room that could double as an EDM venue,” the folks behind Cote apparently thought, “Let’s run it back, but with fried chicken.” Like its sister restaurant, Coqodaq offers a set meal, which costs $42 per person and comes with banchan, cold noodles, and two types of ultra crunchy, gluten-free fried chicken. It can be tough to snag a reservation for one of the big tables in the dining room lined with glowing arches, but there’s a long bar and a few high-tops for walk-ins. Waits are rough, but worth it.

Rezdôra is a nice, but relatively plain restaurant that excels at exactly one thing: pasta. Specifically, those of Emilia-Romagna. The little brick-walled spot has built a strong following with its meaty modenese ragu, wallet-sized raviolo topped with black truffle, and leek-filled cappelletti that are al dente enough to sharpen your teeth. And rightfully so. We do wish the starters, mains, and sides were more exciting. Still, this is a top-tier date-night destination for pasta nerds.

Eisenberg’s, a sandwich shop open since 1929, was a tough act to follow. Fortunately, S&P stayed true to the old-school spirit of its predecessor, offering an expansive menu of lunchtime staples in its pretty much unchanged, narrow, diner-like space. On weekend afternoons, folks line up to eat eggs with lox or a pastrami-topped burger on a swiveling stool up front, or on a vinyl banquette in the back. Keep in mind, the restaurant closes at 5pm.

Dinner at this lush, leafy-wallpapered Indian restaurant is like picnicking in a meadow at dusk—if that meadow happened to serve excellent cocktails. All that atmosphere, plus big tables and comfy leather chairs, makes Passerine a good option for a special-feeling group dinner. Make sure you order the creamy, citrusy Kolhapuri lamb tartare with delicate fried shiso leaves and the cocoa husk ice cream sandwich.

Mari Vanna looks like something out of a Dickens novel, and has a devoted following among those who have strong feelings toward chicken kiev. The cluttered room is filled with ornate chandeliers, lace doilies, and black-and-white portraits, and the traditional Russian food is better than you’d expect from a place with a swing attached to its ceiling. You’re going to consume a lot of sour cream here—with your blinis, pelmeni, and borscht—and, ideally, you’ll take a shot or two of horseradish vodka.

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Upland works for everything. Dinner, lunch, brunch—the American restaurant does it all, and has room for every single member of your book club or extended family. The huge space, with its dark green booths and jars of preserved lemons, looks like it fell out of a Williams Sonoma catalog, and the California-inspired dishes are both slightly boring and very reliable. Get a pizza, some pasta, or a branzino for two, or swing by during the day if you want to try the best burger in the neighborhood.

With its tiled floors, high ceilings, and tidy, cushioned booths, Stretch looks like a slightly nicer version of your average pizza parlor. But this isn’t where you go for a plain cheese pie. The toppings here include pickled shallots and whipped pineapple ricotta. The Old Town, accessorized with garlic cream, is a wonderful vegetarian option, and the crust on all the pies is perfectly chewy and crisp.