How we choose New York City's best places
How Best New York's editors choose the places in each ranking: coverage of all five boroughs, local reputation, current details and a careful final edit.
New York does not lack options; it lacks time. Most people want two or three places they can trust, not three hundred to sift through. Our job is to narrow the field honestly, in a way that holds up whether you are in Midtown at lunchtime or in Bay Ridge on a Sunday afternoon.
Covering all five boroughs
Each category starts with a wide search across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. We look well beyond the obvious corridors, because a family bakery in Ridgewood or a tailor in Riverdale can be every bit as good as the names that get written about in Manhattan.
Listening to the neighborhood
A business earns its place through a steady reputation with the people who use it: regulars who keep coming back, customers who send their friends, a name that comes up again and again over years rather than weeks. Short-lived buzz and opening-month hype carry little weight with us.
Checking the doors are open
No place makes a list until we have confirmed it is still in business where we say it is, with a live phone line, current hours and a working website where it has one. In a city where storefronts turn over fast, this check matters as much as any other.
Judging the work itself
We ask what each type of business is for. A pizzeria is judged on its pies and its consistency, a lawyer on clear communication and the right specialty, a hotel on location, cleanliness and service. Places that do the core job well, day after day, stand out from those that only look good.
Balancing the list
Finally we shape each ranking into a short, useful list. Where the category allows, it mixes boroughs and price points, so a dinner list can hold both a white-tablecloth room and a counter in Jackson Heights, and it leaves out anything we would hesitate to suggest to a friend visiting from out of town.
When the city changes
New York reinvents itself constantly, so our lists are never finished. We revisit each category on a regular cycle and update it when places close, move or slip. Anything look out of date? Email info@bestnewyork.us; tips from readers are one of the best ways we have of keeping up.