Reservations Required
The Red Sauce restaurant in West Village has been identified as the third hardest place to find in the entire United States.
Despite this, Don Angie (located at 103 Greenwich Avenue) opens up reservations a week in advance at 9 AM. According to the 2026 Dining Trends Report from OpenTable, New Yorkers tend to book their spots very quickly.
In the same report, Nashville’s Kase x Noko sushi spot and Mawn, a Cambodian noodle house in Philadelphia, were listed ahead of the New York restaurant, which is known for its contemporary spin on classic Italian dishes.
Don Angie, which is run by the chef duo of Angie Lito and Scott Tassinelli, has garnered a lot of attention since it opened its doors in 2017.
The West Village eatery offers rich selections like buffalo milk caramel pasta and shell steak al limone, and it was awarded a Michelin star in May 2021.
When compiling its annual report, OpenTable analyzes various factors, including customer behavior, popular dining destinations, reservation habits, and wait times for featured restaurants.
This year’s findings revealed that Americans generally wait an average of 39 minutes for a walk-in table. Yet in New York, a city where long waits have become commonplace, that figure jumps to 57 minutes.
“Restaurants are becoming more than just places to eat; they’re now symbols of social standing,” says Andrea Strong, an insider in the New York food scene. She noted to the Post that the presence of a lineup at restaurants is often tied to the perceived status that the establishment holds in the eyes of its patrons, as well as the status it bestows upon diners when they share their experiences on social media.
Long waits for dining at popular establishments seem to be the new norm in the city, whether locals like it or not. Joe DiStefano, a culinary consultant in Queens, mentioned that while lines at classic spots like Katz’s and Emilio’s Barato used to be expected, the aftereffects of the pandemic have caused a surge in wait times at many places throughout the boroughs, including bakeries and restaurants.
