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Finding a good restaurant is not always an easy task in New York’s most touristed centers. Most often the fares that you find are overpriced and not up to the mark. It takes a considerable amount of time to finally come across a restaurant serving a delectable meal in the city, especially near the Empire State Building.

Lucky for you, we have done the bulk of research on your behalf and have come up with a respectable list of restaurants, bars and cafes near the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Here goes!

1. Salvation Taco

This sprawling location is as colorful as a Mexican blanket and the rainbow-splashed lounge located within the Pod 39 Hotel feels like a happy hour recreation room more than a taqueria. Decorated with two long votive-lit bars, plush couches and Ping Pong tables neatly tucked away in glass-enclosed corners, this place is famous for its tacos.

In the kitchen, taco maestro Roberto Santibanez and April Bloomfield raise the bar on cheap and tasty Mexican snacks, creating made fresh to order tacos from little tortillas stuffed with primo ingredients from all over the place, from tender skirt steak in a Texas-style smoky pecan and chipotle salsa and coconut-curry and cauliflower crowned with fried mint to fish fried in a beer-batter and covered with pickled red onion.

You might have to wade through a thick crowd in the bar to reach Salvation Taco, but the result is well worth the effort.

2. Urbanspace Vanderbilt

This food hall is always busy packing a loud crowd and is home to some of the most favorite food ventures in the area. From the iconic Roberta’s wood-fired pizzas, Bar Suzette crepes and the exclusive Vanderbilt pepperoncini pie to newcomers like Toby’s Estate Coffee, Ovenly and Brisket Town’s fried chicken project by Daniel Delaney.

3. The Juicy Seafood

When eating at this Cajun special food joint, order your seafood by the pound or try out the hearty combo that is sure to leave you with loosening your belt a few notches. Think seafood and The Juicy Seafood serves it! From snow crab, crawfish, Dungeness crabs, shrimp, fried oyster to lobster and more cooked in a variety of scrumptious spices and sauce.

Garlic butter, Cajun and the juicy specials are some of the most popular dishes on the menu. And while you are at it, take a sip on some of the signature cocktails like Terry’s Cajun Rita (jalapeno infused tequila, Cajun spice rum, lemongrass syrup and citrus) or La P’tite Framboise (St. Germain elderflower liqueur, prosecco and raspberry vodka syrup) or Frank Sinatra (whiskey, orange syrup, citrus, egg white and Angosutra orange bitters).

Add a basket of chicken wings or crispy chicken tenders to your meal or grab a free beer with your wings order during the Happy Hour.

4. Sushi Yasuda

Viewing the Sushi master practicing his art right in front of the patrons is the culinary equivalent of watching the Buddhist monks deep in meditation. Counter seating is the traditional way of enjoying a meal at an authentic sushi bar, and the only way to go at Sushi Yasuda.

Get started with a miso soup and challenge your inhibitions with raw stuff, right from buttery fluke and petals to rich eel and sweet egg custard for desert. Try some of the nearly transparent discs of finely sliced scallop over neatly placed cubes of milky sushi rice. Sushi Yasuda is every sushi lover’s paradise, where no two meals are ever the same!

5. Villard Restaurant at New York Palace Hotel

Located in the heart of Manhattan, the Villard Restaurant offers a fine dining experience like no other, if you are interested in seeking out the experience of luxury dining that best represents the city’s bygone era.

From its full a la carte breakfast menu to late morning brunch, the Villard Restaurant at New York Palace Hotel offers an exceptional New American fare, intricately crafted by Chef Oscar Granados, whose tasty fare and warm service is what truly makes the venue remarkable.

If you want to experience a truly historic breakfast, reminiscing the city’s iconic history by indulging in some of the finest fare designed from local ingredients, the Villard Restaurant is the place to be.

6. Fine & Rare

Every bit of flare that you find at Fine & Rare will remind you of an Old New York. Right from the midcentury-style Art Décor Wallpaper to the Chesterfield sofas and the vintage teller windows brought from the Grand Central Terminal.

Located on a quiet street near the Morgan Library & Museum, this sophisticate restaurant and bar by Tommy Tardie, oozes a retro vibe beyond just the décor! We are talking live jazz acts on the stage along with a $15,000 bottle of whiskey being on the menu.

Some of the novelties of the place include the Choose Your Own Smoke classic cocktail, prepared with your choice of rye or rum base that is then smoked with either applewood, hickory, cherrywood or mesquite. The resulting concoction is fireplace-scented with sufficient sweetness to lift the smog.

For something a tad stronger, try the gin-based Forever Young, which has all the virtues of freshly- pressed juice, with cucumber, lime and mango puree working together to form a tart. Fine & Rare is undoubtedly one of the best restaurants & bars in the country, and offers some very rare bottles on the menu.

Right from the 1966 Glenfarclas, to the 1978 Glenmorangie Pride, some of the most fancy and pricey vintage brew is on the menu here. Accessible only via a library-style rolling ladder, these bottles are safely stored in secured lockers, high above the bar. Regulars can buy any of the bottles from the menu and have them stored for consumption during future visits in secure cubbies. Quite a fascinating and elegant solution we must say!

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