Chinatown is best experienced with a wandering eye and a pocketful of cash (though many cash-only restaurants will also take Venmo). Whatever restaurant you find yourself in, you’re likely eating at somebody’s favorite spot. However, if you want some places to start, here’s a list of our 18 favorites.
Mei Lai Wah Bakery
On the other hand, Mei Lai Wah feels like a brand new restaurant since expanding into a larger location in 2024, complete with touchscreen ordering kiosks. However, the takeout spot has been selling its famous pork buns since 1968. You may find a large crowd gathered around the entrance, but don’t be too concerned. The line moves quickly. 41 Mott St., Chinatown, mlwbakery.com
Chang Lai Fishballs and Noodles
For two decades, Chang Lai served its tightly spooled rice rolls out of a mobile food cart. The owners finally opened a brick-and-mortar location in 2023. Chang Lai is still primarily a take-out spot, serving food in plastic take-out containers, but there are a few stools where you can sit and eat. Order one of the rice roll dishes and feel free to mix up your sauce combo. Chang Lai takes cash and credit. 55 Bayard St., Chinatown, changlaifishballsnoodles.com
Kong Sihk Tong
Kong Sihk Tong is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but regardless of when you go, don’t resist the urge to order the Golden Lava French Toast, which is as delicious as it looks. If you can bring yourself to order anything else at this small sit-down restaurant, try one of the Hong Kong-style baked dishes. Kong Sihk Tong takes cash or Venmo. 65 Bayard St., Chinatown, kongsihktong.com
Deluxe Green Bo Restaurant
Deluxe Green Bo is another older Chinatown restaurant, operating since 1982. After all those decades, the restaurant has practically perfected its soup dumpling. Featuring scaldingly-hot soup contained in paper-thin skins, there’s a delicate art to eating Green Bo’s soup dumplings, which appear on the menu as “steamed tiny buns.” As much as you want to dive right in, give these babies a moment to cool. Green Bo takes cash or Venmo. 66 Bayard St., Chinatown, deluxegreentogo.com
Maxi’s Noodles 3
Maxi’s Noodles 3 feels like a classic Chinatown spot, but it’s a relative newcomer to the neighborhood. Owner Maxi Lau-O’Keefe originally started Maxi’s Noodles in 2019 as a Queen’s pop-up. After opening two permanent locations in Flushing, Lau-O’Keefe finally brought the restaurant to Manhattan’s Chinatown in 2025, giving the neighborhood easy access to the restaurant’s acclaimed wontons, which you can also buy frozen and cook at home. The restaurant takes cards, but you’ll get a discount if you pay with cash. 68 Mott St., Chinatown, maxisnoodle.com
Pasteur Grill and Noodles
Pasteur Grill and Noodles is one of the oldest Vietnamese restaurants in the neighborhood. Located near the Civic Center, it has been the go-to place for New Yorkers on jury duty for decades. The family-owned restaurant also boasts one of the more expansive menus, offering over 60 items. The restaurant takes cash and credit. 85 Baxter St., Chinatown, pasteurgrill.com
Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles
Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles would probably have a long line out the front door if it weren’t for the restaurant’s large outdoor seating area and second location a few minutes away (there’s also a third location in Hell’s Kitchen). As its name suggests, the restaurant is known for fresh, hand-pulled and/or knife-cut noodles. Seating is packed tightly, so get cozy, and be prepared to ask your neighbor to pass the chili oil. 1 Doyers St., Chinatown, tastyhandpullednoodlesnyc.com
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou is the platonic ideal of a Chinatown cheap eats spot, complete with generous portions served on disposable plates. Since the restaurant went viral for its peanut noodles, seating at the restaurant can be a little challenging to come by during rush hour. Bring cash. 295 Grand St., Chinatown, no website
Bodhi Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant
Bodhi Kosher’s entirely plant-based menu is a vegetarian’s delight. If you’re not vegetarian, Bodhi Kosher may give you a new perspective on what a vegetarian dish can be, exemplified in items such as the Vegetarian Ribs With Salt and Pepper and Vegetarian Jellyfish. Bodhi Kosher takes cash and cards. 77 Mulberry St., Chinatown, veganbodhi.com
Mam
Located a few doors down from Spicy Village, Mam serves some of the most acclaimed Vietnamese food in New York City. While the restaurant has been praised for its seasonal menu and house-made tofu, part of Mam’s appeal is its outdoor dining experience, which takes place on low-set plastic stools and tables. 70 Forsyth St., Chinatown, no website
Yi Ji Shi Mo
You might scoff at the TikTok virality of Yi Ji Shi Mo or the long wait times to secure a tin of their rice rolls, one of the most ubiquitous dishes in Chinatown. I am loath to send even more people to the restaurant’s small space on Elizabeth St., but the truth is that Yi Ji Shi Mo is just that good.
The rice rolls are delicate and chock full of whatever filling you order. Even its condiments, including a delightfully numbing chili oil, are a cut above those available at other rice roll places. Yi Ji Shi Mo is cash-only. 88 Elizabeth St., Chinatown, yi-ji-shi-mo.taste-pick.com
Sun Hing Lung
If you don’t have time to wait up to an hour for Yi Ji Shi Mo, walk down to Sun Hing Lung, which offers one of the cheapest rice rolls (and probably meals) in Chinatown, serving takeout rice rolls that start at $2.50. The rice rolls come out a little thicker compared to Yi Ji Shi Mo’s, but they’re cheap, fast, and delicious, which is a combination that’s hard to argue against. Bring cash. 58 Henry St., Chinatown, sunhinglungnyc.com
Spicy Village
Spicy Village has a devout following, gathered around the restaurant’s spicy big tray chicken and pancake with pork. The restaurant is BYOB, so pair these dishes, and anything else that strikes your fancy, with your favorite beer. Spicy Village is cash-only. 68 Forsyth St., Chinatown, spicy-village.com
West New Malaysia
New Malaysia used to be one of those “if you know, you know” spots, tucked away within the shadow of Jing Fong’s dim sum hall. Despite its obscured location, the restaurant was still recognized for its accomplishments in Chinese-Malaysian food, receiving a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2020.
It has since come out of the shadow and into a two-room restaurant space on Bayard St., rebranding as West New Malaysia. Regardless of what you order for your entree, your meal should start with an order of roti canai. The restaurant takes cash and credit. 69 Bayard St., Chinatown. westnewmalaysia.org
House of Joy
With rent steadily rising across New York, it’s nothing short of a miracle that we still have access to sprawling dim sum banquet halls in Chinatown, complete with large, circular tables with diameters longer than some restaurants are wide. One of the best is House of Joy, which still serves dim sum out of push carts in the mornings. Try to arrive as early as possible, and be prepared to share your table with strangers. 28 Pell St., Chinatown, houseofjoynyc.com
Lei
Since Lei opened in June 2025, it has collected a number of accolades, receiving the 2026 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and owner Annie Shi’s Michelin Guide sommelier award. The intimate wine bar serves a curated seasonal food menu to compliment its nearly 50-page, 800-plus wine list. 15-17 Doyers St., Chinatown, leiwine.nyc
Hay Hay Roasted
Hay Hay Roasted is hard to miss. It’s the restaurant with the human-sized roast duck statue outside, right in front of the duck-sized roast ducks hanging in the storefront window. While the restaurant’s exterior appears, at first glance, to be a tourist trap, the food is quite good. The roast pork has this crackly skin that you’ll be thinking about hours later. Consider us ensnared. Hay Hay Roasted is cash only. 81 Mott St., Chinatown, hayhayroasted.com
Yunnan Rice Noodle
The late-night Chinatown spot has become increasingly rare over the last few decades and especially in the years following the pandemic. If you find yourself hungry in Chinatown past midnight, Yunnan Rice Noodle is your best bet. Open 24/7 with a wide selection of noodle soups and unlimited noodle refills, there are certainly worse places to end a night out. 274 Grand St., Chinatown, yunnanricenoodle.com
