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HARLEM, MANHATTAN

Rao's

Ten tables since 1896, and famously none of them bookable — East Harlem's most mythologized dining room.

Rao's has occupied the same corner of 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue since 1896 — ten tables, red walls, year-round Christmas lights, and a Southern Italian menu whose meatballs and lemon chicken launched a national jarred-sauce empire. It is, famously, the hardest table in New York, and honestly: the tables are effectively owned by longtime regulars, there is no public reservation book, and most New Yorkers will never eat here.

We list it anyway, because the corner itself is worth seeing on an East Harlem walk, and because the bar has been known to welcome a civilian for a drink when there is room. Treat dinner as a lottery you have not entered, enjoy the storefront and the history, and have your actual meal at Patsy's up the avenue.

Editor’s tip

Go for the corner, not the table: see the storefront on an evening walk, try for a bar stool, and keep dinner expectations at zero.

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Editorial draft — core details last reviewed October 13, 2026. Confirm practical details with the official site before you go.