Where to Eat Near the Met Museum
A 1925 soda fountain, Viennese cake across Fifth Avenue, Milanese panini, a cash-only burger and Bemelmans before the cover: where to eat before and after a day at the Met.
The best places to eat near the Met are a few blocks east on Madison and Lexington: Lexington Candy Shop for a 1925 luncheonette counter (7 minutes), Sant Ambroeus on Madison for a proper Milanese lunch (7 minutes), and Café Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie for Viennese coffee and cake (4 minutes, reopening October 1 and closed Tuesdays). For a drink after, Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle is 8 minutes away; get there before 5:30pm to skip the cover.
A museum day has a different rhythm from a show. You want a fast lunch that will not eat your afternoon, a sugar stop around 3pm, and somewhere to sit down and argue about what you saw. The Met is closed on Wednesdays (its cafés too), open 10am to 5pm most days, and open until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Inside, the American Wing Café and Great Hall Balcony Café cover a quick bite; our Met survival guide has the full lay of the land, including the rooftop, which is closed for construction of the Tang Wing.
Walking times below are measured on a pedestrian route map from the Met's main Fifth Avenue steps at 82nd Street, and hours and prices were checked against each place's own site in September 2026.
At a glance.
- 01Lexington Candy ShopA 1925 luncheonette counter with all day breakfast
- 06Café SabarskyViennese coffee and Sachertorte in the Neue Galerie
- 12J.G. MelonA classic cheeseburger and cottage fries, cash only
- 15Bemelmans BarA martini under the Madeline murals before the cover charge
- Hours
- The Met is open 10am to 5pm, and until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays
- When
- The museum and its cafés are closed on Wednesdays
- Where
- The best options are a few blocks east on Madison and Lexington
The quick answer
- Fastest good food: Lexington Candy Shop, 7 minutes.
- Best sit-down lunch: Sant Ambroeus Madison, 7 minutes.
- Best after: J.G. Melon, 16 minutes, cash only.
- Best drink: Bemelmans Bar, 8 minutes.
If you have 30 minutes
A luncheonette at 83rd and Lexington that opened in 1925 and has been run by the same family for three generations, with a counter, swivel stools and a soda fountain that still makes egg creams. Breakfast is served all day, and breakfast at the counter at 2pm is the correct museum lunch.
Go for: an egg cream at the counter. Know before you go: it is pricier than it looks, and it closes at 6pm (4pm Sunday).
Eli Zabar's Madison Avenue café and food shop, three blocks from the museum, is the closest decent lunch to the Met's front steps. It is expensive for what it is, but the bread is excellent and the meatloaf on brioche ($16) is a famous sandwich for a reason.
Go for: the meatloaf sandwich. Know before you go: daytime only, closing at 6pm (5pm Sunday).
A kosher deli that has been slicing pastrami since 1956, with a small counter and a few tables. The hot pastrami sandwich is the order, and it is big enough for two people coming off a long morning in the galleries. For more, see the best Jewish delis in NYC.
Go for: hot pastrami on rye. Know before you go: open 10am to 9pm daily.
The Upper East Side branch of the cookie shop people line up for on the West Side, with the six-ounce chocolate chip walnut cookie at $5.75. It is the 3pm sugar stop, and it is open until 10pm (11pm Thursday to Saturday).
Go for: the chocolate chip walnut, warm. Know before you go: one cookie feeds two.
The mille crêpes boutique on East 78th, a short walk south on Madison, sells its signature cake by the slice for $11.50. The fall special, a sesame mochi mille crêpes, is $13.75 a slice this season.
Go for: a slice of the signature mille crêpes. Know before you go: seating is limited; take it to the park.
Sit-down before or after your visit
The Viennese café inside the Neue Galerie at 86th and Fifth, with dark wood, Josef Hoffmann light fixtures and a pastry case of Sachertorte and Klimt torte, is the most beautiful lunch on Museum Mile. It reopens October 1, 2026 after a summer closure. Breakfast and lunch are first come, first served, and dinner can be booked on Resy.
Go for: a slice of Sachertorte and a coffee mit Schlag. Know before you go: closed Tuesdays; the museum's galleries stay closed until November 12, 2026, but the café is open.
The Milanese café, restaurant and gelateria at 77th and Madison is the polished, reliable lunch of the neighborhood, open from breakfast to 10pm. Pastries and espresso at the front counter, a full Italian menu in the dining room, gelato for the walk back.
Go for: a pasta at lunch and a gelato after. Know before you go: opens at 8am weekdays, 9am weekends.
A narrow Milanese panini bar off Madison with panini starting around $10 on its menu. The house panino, Via Quadronno, layers Genoa salami and brie with a celery sauce. It is small, fast and much cheaper than the Madison Avenue rooms around it.
Go for: the Via Quadronno panino and a cappuccino. Know before you go: it is a tiny room; go before noon or after 2pm.
An upscale Italian restaurant in a townhouse a block from the museum, and the closest serious dinner to the Met's steps. It is a good choice for a Friday or Saturday late night at the museum followed by a proper meal.
Go for: a long Italian dinner after the museum's 9pm close. Know before you go: book ahead; it is an upscale room.
Masa Takayama's Madison Avenue restaurant does Japanese small plates and a counter omakase that its booking page lists at $245. It is the splurge lunch on a gallery-hopping day.
Go for: lunch at the counter. Know before you go: closed Sundays; lunch runs noon to 2:30pm.
A German restaurant between 85th and 86th, one of the last reminders that this was once the city's German neighborhood. Pretzels, sausages and German beer; it is the right kind of heavy after a day on your feet, and its Oktoberfest menu runs into early October.
Go for: a pretzel and a sausage platter. Know before you go: no strollers, per the restaurant.
After
The green-and-white bar at 74th and Third has been serving one of the city's great burgers since 1972. A cheeseburger is $15.25 and comes with cottage fries. It is cash only, open late every night, and always full.
Go for: a cheeseburger and a beer. Know before you go: bring cash. More burgers in our burger guide.
A wood-fired Neapolitan pizzeria that also makes panuozzo, a sandwich baked from pizza dough, which is the dish to try. It works for an early dinner after the museum closes.
Go for: a panuozzo. Know before you go: no lunch on weekdays; it opens at 4pm Monday to Thursday and noon on weekends.
In The Mark hotel, a polished dining room and bar that serves from breakfast to late night, with the Mark cheeseburger and a Parmesan-crusted chicken on the dinner menu. The bar stays open until 2am Tuesday to Saturday.
Go for: the cheeseburger at the bar. Know before you go: it is a scene on weekends.
Drinks
The bar in The Carlyle, with murals by Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of Madeline, is the most civilized room on the East Side. A pianist starts at 5:30pm and a cover charge starts with him; a jazz trio plays from 9pm with a higher cover. The museum-day move is to arrive at 4:30, order a martini and leave before the music.
Go for: a martini under the murals. Know before you go: no athletic wear. More in our hotel bar guide.
A gastropub at 83rd and Second with a weekday happy hour from 3 to 6pm and a "10 After 10" deal on select $10 drinks every night after 10pm. It is the relaxed neighborhood pick.
Go for: a beer and a burger at happy hour. Know before you go: it is open until 4am.
A whisky bar that calls itself the world's least pretentious, with a deep list of Scotch and a weekday happy hour until 7pm that takes $2 off beer and wine and half off the month's featured whisky.
Go for: the happy hour whisky. Know before you go: opens at 5pm on weekdays.
An Italian wine bar at 77th and Second with a back garden open year round, and walk-ins welcome every night. It opens at 3pm on weekdays and 11am on weekends, which makes it the place for a long glass of wine after a Saturday at the museum.
Go for: a glass in the garden. Know before you go: weekend brunch starts at 11am.
More guides for the day
This page is part of our where-to-eat-near series. See also where to eat near Lincoln Center, near Carnegie Hall, before a Broadway show, near Bryant Park, near Madison Square Garden, near Barclays Center and near the World Trade Center. For the neighborhood, see our Upper East Side guide, and for what else to see, the best museums in NYC.
The Shout NY take
The Met's own cafés are fine for a coffee. For lunch, walk east: three minutes to Madison for Sant Ambroeus, a few more to Lexington for an egg cream at a 1925 counter. Save the Sachertorte at Sabarsky for a day it is open, end at Bemelmans before the cover, and if you are hungry later, J.G. Melon takes cash and nothing else.
Questions, answered.
- Where should I eat near the Met Museum?
- For lunch, Lexington Candy Shop at 83rd and Lexington (7 minutes) and Sant Ambroeus on Madison (7 minutes) are the two best bets. Café Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie, 4 minutes up Fifth Avenue, reopens October 1, 2026 and is closed Tuesdays.
- Is there food inside the Met Museum?
- Yes. The American Wing Café and the Great Hall Balcony Café are open 11am to 4pm, and until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The Petrie Court Café is due to reopen in October, and the Eatery is open weekends. Everything is closed Wednesdays along with the museum.
- Is the Met roof garden bar open in 2026?
- No. The Cantor Roof Garden closed after October 19, 2025 for construction of the new Tang Wing, and the Met expects it to stay closed for several years.
- What is a cheap place to eat near the Met?
- J.G. Melon at 74th and Third serves a cheeseburger for $15.25, cash only, and Levain Bakery on Third Avenue sells its famous chocolate chip walnut cookie for $5.75.
- Where can I get a drink near the Met after a museum visit?
- Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle, 8 minutes away on 76th Street, is the classic. Arrive before 5:30pm, when the pianist starts and a cover charge applies.
Next up
The Upper East Side GuideBeyond the cliches of money and museums, the Upper East Side runs on neighborhood restaurants, serious bars and the best park access in Manhattan.Read it Get the Shout Sheet.
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