This place is always full. So either go when you're not starving so that you can put your name down and walk around the Village while waiting to get a call, or don't go here for brunch on the weekend. The menu isn't that authentic, but the food is tasty and the crowd is always very trendy and good-looking. (PS: Celebrity sightings are highly probable.)

This is an adorable bistro in Greenpoint that usually has a very long wait on the weekends. The seats outside are ideal, but the wait for them was much longer when me and my friend went on Friday, so we asked to be seated inside, which turned out perfectly well. Everything on the menu sounds deliciously fresh (the house-made ricotta was my personal favorite), service is great, music is great, and there's an overall neighborhoody feeling that's very welcome. I definitely want to return to try their dinner menu.

Some dishes to try from their lunch/brunch menus are the house made ricotta, steel-cut oats, truffle fries, ricotta pancakes, and the Five Leaves burger.

Dimes is the perfect spot for a breakfast, lunch or afternoon bite alone, or with one or two other friends. Located in the Chinatown/LES border, its menu boasts many healthy items (think acai bowls, salads, and green juices). They also have a smaller, on-the-go spot attached to their own grocery a few blocks away, called Dimes Deli, which I love.

This is a farm-to-table restaurant and you can actually taste the freshness in everything you eat. Service is very fast, and they bring a complimentary apple-cinnamon bread mid-brunch, which is a nice surprise. Their orange juice is super pulpy, sweet, and fresh, so definitely worth the try. If going in for brunch, try to get there before 11 AM because the line can get out of control after that. 

Some items to try off their breakfast menu are the assortment of breads (lemon, zucchini, chocolate chip), the healthy omelet, pumpkin pancake, and their orange juice. 

Banter is a cute little Aussie cafe in SoHo. The menu is nothing crazy, but it’s a nice place for a quick breakfast or coffee meeting.

Sunday in Brooklyn opened last year on the northern edge of Williamsburg. It’s a spacey, beautifully designed restaurant that’s great for breakfast/brunch, as well as for an afternoon bite. They have a curated selection of goods you can purchase such as plates, candles, and other home goods.

This is a true Italian restaurant. It's dimly lit with almost no natural lighting. The staff are one of the most friendly I've ever seen in New York, and the food is so good that it almost made me cry. 

If you go for breakfast/brunch, make sure to try their bruschetta (one of the best things I've eaten in New York) and the poached eggs on butternut squash. 

Re.Union lies between Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and is a cute little neighbourhood coffeeshop/ breakfast/ lunch spot. The ambiance is quite casual, the staff is extremely friendly and the food is delicious. It's very Instagram and Pinterest-friendly with an adorably decorated wall with a bookshelf with old radios and accessories, service is fast and pleasant; definitely worth the visit! 

A few items to try here are the avocado toast, their iced Matcha latte, and the yogurt & granola bowl. 

This is your typical American brunch venue. The space is pretty big, but gets very crowded on the weekends so it makes sense to make reservations or be prepared to wait at the bar for 15-20 minutes while you drink an orange juice on weekends. 

he strawberry and banana oats, as well as the buttermilk pancakes are delicious. 

This is another traditional American brunch venue. Again, reservations are definitely necessary if you're trying to come here on a weekend. They have 2 other locations in upper Manhattan.  

Their Sicilian baked eggs & egg white omelette are some good breakfast items off their menu.

This is sort of like the Starbucks for bagels. It's constantly busy, but is managed so efficiently that you don't have to wait in line for more than 10 minutes (in & out). As someone who loves bread and cheese, but is intolerant to both gluten and lactose, I always walk past one of the best bagel shops in the city, which tends to be a block away from my apartment. So when I finally found Bagel Pub, a bagel shop that has gluten-free and vegan cheese options, I think I became their most devoted customers. The vegan cream cheese, lox & avocado bagel I had was simply amazing. Plus, the staff here is incredibly sweet and helpful. 

Cookshop is one of those brunch spots that's always busy on the weekends in Chelsea. The menu is pretty typical Contemporary American fare, with a few twists here and there, but everything is delicious. 

Anything under the "Eggs" section of the menu, as well as the French Toast come highly recommended. 

This is also a great spot for larger groups, so ordering multiple things and sharing is a good option too if you want to try a lot of different dishes off the menu. 

Gardenia is in an off-the-grid location right on the cusp of Greenwich Village and W Village. I went here for a small group brunch and the space is unusually white and bright for a New York brunch spot (feels like it should be somewhere in LA), and provides a pleasant dining experience. Everything we had was delicious, but the menu doesn't really match the design aesthetic, which unfortunately makes the restaurant, overall, not very memorable.

That said, a few great items to try are the Gardenia guacamole, tuna tacos, and the lavender margaritas. 

I came to Hotel Americano on Saturday for brunch and it was pretty crowded, though the space is not that large in the winter when the only seating available is indoors. The portions are great as you don't feel stuffed at the end of your meal, but rather quite satisfied, with room for some coffee. There's live jazz music, which adds a lot of character and warmth to the atmosphere. 

The Coffee Shop is a diner-style restaurant right on Union Square. The setting and the food are both very casual, non-pretentious, but very tasty and pleasant. 

They have a fantastic juice bar attached to the outside of the restaurant, which serves amazing freshly squeezed juices and smoothies.

The menu is typical breakfast food, so quite self-explanatory and no need to give suggestions from:) 

Little Park is a quiet restaurant (literally quiet; we went for Saturday brunch, and even though the room was full, there was an interesting silence) by James Beard Award-wining chef Andrew Carmellini, on the cusp of Tribeca and Financial District. I tried this spot for brunch, but the dinner menu looks just as good, if not better. Each dish is simple, yet elevated (though they can do a little work on plating). Some items to try off the brunch menu are the kohirabi, garden herb omelette, and the heirloom grain porridge with hen of the woods, poached eggs, and pine nuts (I also added some hot sauce to mine). If you want to end on a sweet note, the grapefruit sorbet is a delicious and light bite. 

Bluestone has a few locations in the city, but this review is specifically for the Greenwich Village one. I've been here multiple times and have loved each experience and every single dish I've tried. It can be a bit of a scene on the weekends, but it's still less crowded than the West Village one. I'd recommend the avo smash (I had mine with gluten-free bread), granola, and the Aussie iced chocolate. 

It took a long time for me to try Fat Radish after having heard of it for the first time. I came here for brunch on Saturday, which, as you can imagine, is the busiest possible time I could've picked. We were seated in a corner table that made me feel like I was being punished and sent there by my parents after being scolded. Service was fine, but nothing great and I have to say the same thing about the food. All in all, I think this place might have been overhyped. 

This is another one of those places I tried after having seen it all over my Instagram. I will have admit that it is quite adorably decorated (hence its popularity on Instagram) and even the dishes look colorfully beautiful. That said, service is below sub-par, which detracts from the overall experience quite significantly. I tried the dragon bowl, which was delicious, but there are so many of such cafes opening up in this area and Nolita/Soho, that at the end of the day, I'd have to say that the food is not memorable either.

I visited SISTERS Bklyn for my friend's birthday brunch and I can say with confidence that it's one of the most beautifully designed restaurants I've visited in the city. There's a lot of natural light thanks to the large skylight and all in all, it's a very spacious spot. The menu is quite standard for brunch, and even though I didn't try the Bloody Mary, my friend did and it looked absolutely delicious. 

I only stumbled into Marm Cafe because the actual place I wanted to try for brunch happened to be closed. This is a very unassuming cafe from the outside, and extremely humbly designed on the inside. The menu is vey simple and straightforward (and seriously inexpensive), but everything is seasoned perfectly and tastes delicious. I don't know if I would ever venture here for breakfast especially, but if I happen to be in the neighborhood, I would most likely prioritize it over some other, more sceney venues. 

Jeffrey's is an American restaurant with a special focus on oysters & raw bar. Even though they serve brunch and dinner, I've heard from several different sources that brunch is the more delicious option. I had the crab & avocado toast, and they were able to substitute the bread with Papas Rellenas instead. The ambiance is very authentic and has a truly local and "New York" feel to it.