Barkada Social Club
CITY GUIDES | NEW YORK CITY
The New Queens Restaurants You Need to Know
From Jackson Heights to Flushing, these are the boroughs hottest restaurants right now.
By Maria Rodriguez | Dec. 29, 2025
AUTHOR BIO: With a day job that requires constant travel, Maria Rodriguez is likely a regular at your favorite restaurant. She’s reviewed restaurants since 2007 in magazines from Barcelona to Bakersfield.
New Yorkers tend to share the same belief about Queens: it’s the borough most likely to serve foods you didn’t grow up eating.
For those of us who live for that moment—eating something new and realizing you’ve been missing it—Queens is a veritable United Nations of the world’s best dishes. That’s why I track new Queens openings, because they are the fastest way to get out of my own rut and into somebody else’s comfort food.
Below are the Queens restaurants I’m most excited about right now—the new spots every New Yorker (and every tourist) should know.
Arrigo’s
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Arrigo’s is the Ridgewood offshoot from the Daphne’s team, with chef Paul Cacici and co-owner Gary Fishkop turning a neighborhood deli idea into a 25-seat lunch-and-dinner spot on Fresh Pond Road. I start with one of the house sandwiches (the Italian combo, the artichoke pesto, or their chicken cutlet) and then come back after dark for the house-made pastas like rigatoni or casarecce with short rib ragù, plus a bottle. It reads as “casual deli” on paper, but the move is to treat it like a tiny restaurant that happens to be excellent at feeding you quickly.
Best for: A Ridgewood lunch that turns into a dinner plan
Barkada Social Club
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Barkada Social Club in Astoria is Filipino food with the volume turned up, where the menu makes it very clear you are not here for a timid bowl of soup and a quiet night. Order the kare kare-style pork belly with crisp skin and bagoong, then go bigger with pan-fried whole snapper or tilapia under coconut-cream ginataan, or the skirt steak with coconut-vinegar chimichurri and rosemary potatoes. The room feels built for group hangs, which is convenient because you’ll want backup when you realize you ordered “just one more dish” three times.
Best for: Going with friends who will actually share
Dar Lbahja
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At this halal Moroccan gem in Astoria, the lamb tagine is the anchor, but I also like the harira (tomato broth with lentils, chickpeas, and beef) and the chicken bastilla that shows up dusted with icing sugar and cracking when you cut in. Save room for the jahwara, above, because those layered sheets of fried dough and perfumed custard are the reason you’ll start texting people mid-meal.
Best for: A comfort-food dinner that still feels like a treat
Hanjan Pocha
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Hanjan Pocha is a Korean small plates restaurant built for big tables, massive orders of stew, and the kind of night where somebody keeps ordering another round of soju. Go straight for the shareable stuff: the grilled whole squid, buldak-style chicken, and the budae jjigae that lets everyone hover their chopsticks over the pot like they’re monitoring a science experiment. It’s the rare new opening that already feels like it has regulars, which is usually my cue to order like one.
Best for: A late-night feast with a group
Mrs. Georgia
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Mrs. Georgia brought homestyle Georgian cooking to Astoria, and it feels like a neighborhood spot that already knows your order, even if it’s your first time. Do the classics: cheesy, buttery adjaruli khachapuri; khinkali dumplings; and then chocolate layer cake with walnuts, because this is not a place for restraint. The vibe is cozy and unfussy, which is perfect when your meal involves cheese, broth dumplings, and the good sense to stop checking your phone.
Best for: A comforting dinner that doubles as a carb reset
Pierogi Boys
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Pierogi Boys in Queens Village is exactly what it sounds like: a small place devoted to pierogies, with options served steamed or fried and enough fillings to keep you arguing with yourself at the counter. Go savory with brisket, chive-and-potato, or mushroom-and-potato, or lean into dessert territory with sour cherry or strawberry, and do not skip the garlic-dill sour cream. It’s simple, direct, and weirdly addictive in the way any good specialty spot should be.
Best for: A quick pierogi fix
Salvo’s
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Salvo’s has gone from sandwich pop-up to a Ridgewood order-at-the-counter with a chalkboard menu that includes exactly zero misses. Some of my favorites: mortadella, burrata, and pistachio pesto brightened with lemon zest; an eggplant parm that does not pretend to be tidy; and a sausage sandwich that borrows the logic of potato leek soup and puts it on bread with gorgonzola cream. While it’s still lunch-only, it’s a perfect excuse to “accidentally” order a bottle of wine in the middle of the day.
Best for: A lunch that feels pretty special
Soothr LIC
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Soothr’s Long Island City outpost is bigger, flashier, and built around multiple zones that nod to Bangkok’s Chinatown, including a hidden Sato Room that shifts from tea bar to speakeasy. The expanded menu goes beyond the Manhattan original’s noodle fame with dishes like Dungeness crab curry and Yaowarat-style five-spice roasted duck. Come here when you want the energy of a night out, but you also want to eat extremely well while you’re doing it.
Best for: A dinner that can turn into drinks without changing addresses
Sushi on Me
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Look, I’ve cheated by sneaking this omakase counter—open for a few years now—into a list of new restaurants. But the house-party vibe here makes this Jackson Heights spot still feel like the hottest spot in Queens. The format is a roughly one-hour, four-seating-a-night sprint that stacks appetizers (think uni-topped bites and smoked salmon theatrics) before rolling into nigiri like fluke with yuzu kosho and torched snapper, plus a handroll that can land with eel, uni, toro, and chili crisp. It’s about a hundred bucks and cash-only, and it feels like a live show—one of the rare sushi meals in New York that actively wants you to have fun.
Best for: A restaurant that feels like a dinner party
Traze
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Traze Pizza is a decade-long pop-up that finally has a Long Island City storefront. It’s built around 10-inch grandma squares with a 72-hour-fermented, sesame-edged crust and a menu that’s constantly changing. Go for a signature like the French onion fungi (caramelized onions, Gruyère, huitlacoche) or the falafel pie, then come back in the morning for breakfast slices, including a veggie, egg, and cheese slice with a creamy herb sauce. The oddest/tastiest might be the Elvis with mozzarella, bananas, bacon, peanuts, and a maple peanut butter drizzle. It’s a small, cozy shop with about eight seats, which is perfect, because this is the kind of pizza you want to eat immediately, not transport like luggage.
Best for: A detour-worthy grandma slice (and a breakfast slice too)
Yolanda’s Dominican Food
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Yolanda’s is an Elmhurst Dominican counter with a steam table and combo plates big enough that my lunch also became my heated-up dinner that night. Build a tray around pernil or pollo guisado with stewed beans, then add the mofongo (mashed green plantain with pork cracklings) with its garlicky red broth or a bowl of sancocho. It is open from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. most days, which means this is the Dominican fix needed after nights out.
Best for: A big Dominican plate when you want leftovers
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