Restaurants Open Christmas Day in New York 2026
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The Christmas-Day pick in New York for 2026 is Cote, the one-Michelin-star Korean steakhouse in the Flatiron that confirms service on the 25th. Editorial runners-up: Balthazar, Gallaghers Steakhouse, Strip House, Tavern on the Green and Red Rooster.
New York is the great exception among Christmas cities. Where London and Paris go dark on the 25th, New York keeps a real spread of tables open, the legacy of its hotel trade, its steakhouses, and the old tradition of Chinese and brasserie dinners on Christmas Day. The marquee tasting rooms still close, but the city gives you brasseries, chophouses and one Michelin-starred counter that actually want your business on the 25th. Six, ranked by prestige and certainty.
Six Tables for a New York Christmas
The best table in the city on Christmas Day, and the only Michelin-starred room on this list that opens on the 25th. Cote, restaurateur Simon Kim's Flatiron room with executive chef David Shim, has held one Michelin star since 2019 and placed tenth on the 2025 World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list. The Butcher's Feast — four cuts of USDA Prime and wagyu grilled at the table, with egg souffle, banchan and stew — is the order, the beef finished in the in-house dry-aging room. It confirms Christmas Day service, a rarity at this level. Book on Resy well ahead; this seat goes first.
The grand New York brasserie, and one of the few big rooms that opens its full service on Christmas Day. Balthazar, Keith McNally's SoHo institution since 1997, runs regular hours on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: the towering plateau de fruits de mer, steak frites, French onion soup and the pastries from its own bakery next door. The zinc bar, the mirrors and the din are the most quintessentially New York Christmas you can book without a hotel. Reservations open thirty days ahead and the 25th fills fast. Choose it for atmosphere over a tasting menu, with a table of family or friends.
The classic New York chophouse Christmas. Gallaghers, founded in 1927 by former Ziegfeld girl Helen Gallagher, runs its dinner menu all day on Christmas Day from its Theater District room, where the glass-walled dry-aging locker fronts the sidewalk. Order the dry-aged porterhouse or the bone-in sirloin, hash browns and creamed spinach alongside. It is the most old-New-York of the open rooms, a hundred years of red leather and steak, and an easy walk from a Broadway matinee or the tree at Rockefeller Center. Book ahead and confirm the holiday hours; the all-day service makes it a flexible Christmas table.
The second steakhouse pick, and one of the most underrated in the city. Strip House, the bordello-red room off Union Square, opens on Christmas Day with chef Andreas Seidel cooking the namesake New York strip and the famous goose-fat potatoes. It is darker and more intimate than Gallaghers, the kind of room for a smaller Christmas table or a couple who want red meat over turkey. The crimson walls and vintage burlesque photographs give it a theatricality the older chophouses lack. Book the Greenwich Village location for Christmas Day, and confirm the start time when you reserve.
The Central Park landmark, and the most festive room of the six for a family Christmas. Tavern on the Green, the 1934 institution at the park's edge, serves a set four-course Christmas Day menu around $135 per person under head chef Bill Peet, hearty seasonal classics that suit the holiday. The setting is the draw: the Crystal Room and the garden, the park dusted with snow if you are lucky, the carriage horses outside. It is the choice for visitors who want a quintessential New York Christmas scene with children in tow. Book the prix-fixe well ahead through the restaurant.
The Harlem Christmas, and the liveliest table on the list. Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster, open every day of the year, cooks upscale soul and Southern food on Christmas Day: the extra-crispy fried chicken, cornbread, shrimp and grits and crab cakes, usually with live music in the room. Samuelsson, a James Beard winner, built it as a community table for Harlem, and the holiday crowd reflects that warmth. It is the most relaxed and the most musical of the six, away from Midtown and downtown, for diners who want soul food and a band rather than steak and silver. Book through the restaurant.
How to Book on Christmas Day
New York rewards planning here, because the open rooms absorb the demand from every kitchen that closes. Cote, Balthazar, Gallaghers, Strip House, Tavern on the Green and Red Rooster all run documented Christmas Day service, but they fill fast. Book two to four weeks ahead on Resy or OpenTable, or direct for Tavern on the Green's prix-fixe. Cote and Balthazar go first; the steakhouses and the Central Park room hold a little longer.
Two things to plan around. First, confirm December 25 specifically rather than 'the festive week,' since several New York rooms run a special Christmas Eve dinner and then close on the 25th itself. Second, decide on the shape of the day. Christmas Day in New York is usually a long afternoon-into-evening rather than a fixed lunch sitting, so the all-day rooms like Gallaghers and Red Rooster give you the most flexibility, while Tavern on the Green and Cote run defined seatings. Reserve the date, confirm the hours, and New York will give you a Christmas dinner when most of the world has closed.
Frequently Asked Questions
New York keeps more tables open on Christmas Day than London or Paris, thanks to its hotel rooms, steakhouses and the city's long tradition of Chinese and brasserie dining on the 25th. The surest bookings with a documented Christmas Day service are Michelin-starred Cote in the Flatiron, Balthazar in SoHo, Gallaghers Steakhouse near Times Square, Strip House by Union Square, Tavern on the Green in Central Park, and Red Rooster in Harlem.
Cote is the strongest Christmas-Day pick in New York for 2026, the one-Michelin-star Korean steakhouse in the Flatiron District ranked tenth on the 2025 World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list, and it confirms Christmas Day service. For a grand New York room, Balthazar in SoHo opens its full French brasserie on the 25th, and Tavern on the Green runs a four-course Christmas menu in Central Park.
Yes. The restaurants that open on Christmas Day fill quickly because so many others close, so book two to four weeks ahead through Resy or OpenTable. Confirm December 25 specifically rather than the festive week, since some kitchens run a Christmas Eve menu and then close on the 25th. Cote and Balthazar book earliest; Tavern on the Green's large room and Gallaghers hold availability slightly longer.
It ranges widely. Tavern on the Green runs a set four-course Christmas Day menu around 135 dollars per person before drinks. Cote's Butcher's Feast and the steaks at Gallaghers and Strip House run higher once you add wine, typically 150 dollars and up per person. Balthazar and Red Rooster are a la carte and gentler on the wallet. Expect prime-time holiday pricing across the board on the 25th.
Many of the marquee tasting rooms close, including Le Bernardin, Per Se, Eleven Madison Park and The Modern. But New York keeps far more open than most cities, because the steakhouses, French brasseries, Chinatown institutions and hotel dining rooms run Christmas Day service. If you want a specific three-star counter, you are likely dining on Christmas Eve or the 27th; for the 25th itself, the brasseries and steakhouses are your tables.