The Best Hotel Restaurants (IOHO)

Picture Tom Colicchio in linen pants and flip flops, and you’ve got Beachcraft pretty much figured out: it’s a locavore New Yorker on vacay, and mere steps from the sand of Miami Beach. Order the grilled Key West shrimp, best washed down with a draft “Say High!” cocktail: highland park 12-year whisky, fresh lemon, citrus hops and honey.

We know what you’re thinking: wait, another New York hotel restaurant made the cut? Yes. This one, from Chef Daniel Boulud, may be located on East 76th Street, but it will transport your tastebuds to Boulud’s native Rhône region: the seared duck breast is served with sunchoke, quince, and wild rice citrus coriander jus; the mocha bavaroise topped with whiskey ice cream. You know what they say on the Upper East Side: you can never be too rich, and that goes for food, too.

Skip the chichi restaurant in the hotel’s 2nd floor greenhouse and head straight to the lobby, where there's an edible Koreatown that was tailor-made for Instagram stories: you’ll find hickory smoked duck breast on the menu, but there’s saccharine Giant Fruity Pebbles Snow Ice with condensed milk, too. Pot is hands-down one of the best hotel restaurants.

Sure, you could spend $295 a person for the tasting menu at Eleven Madison Park. Or you could come here, to Chef Daniel Humm’s other restaurant, where the lunch is equally delicious, yet more palatable: the chicken burger with foie gras on brioche, with black truffle mayo and fries, will set you back a mere $24.

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This list isn't just about culinary pedigree. Some are just fun, like this circa 1945 tiki room designed by a Metro Goldwyn Mayer set director, complete with a thatched barge and turquoise lagoon (Sigh.). Ordering a Mai Tai is a given, but before you get too schloshed, don’t miss the coriander crusted tenderloin and Hawaiian fried rice, made with Spam, coconut, and pineapple.

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For something that’s pure granola (the restaurant maintains it’s own farm, in the Cartmel Valley), two Michelin-starred Fera’s interior design is a luxe as it comes, with Deco-lines designed by Guy Oliver himself. The food, though, is why you’ve decided to stay in, in one of the most buzzing cities on the planet—and dishes like halibut cooked in pine, leeks, and whey make it worth it.

Hay smoked sea bream with kristal caviar and Brittany lobster with hibiscus are just two of the mouthwatering dishes at Le Meurice. What else would you expect from the Alain Ducasse? But we’d go for the grand atmosphere itself, which feels a bit like you’d expect to see Marie Antoinette eating her cake—it’s a gilded ode to the Salon de la Paix in the Chateau de Versailles, and overlooks the Tuileries.

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When everyone from Frank Sinatra to Audrey Hepburn has been a dinner guest, you know you’re sitting on a gold mine. But the 1938 supper club, Pump Room, isn't resting on their Hollywood-royalty laurels: Jean-Georges Vongerichten created the menu, where dishes like prosciutto-wrapped pork chops and caramelized filet mignon attract today’s it crowd.

It could be the best view in the Eternal City: a wide panorama of the Colosseum set over ruins of gladiator barracks. And the food itself is worth its own Roman holiday: local chef Di Lorio infuses the menu with plates like venison terrine with pistachio, redcurrant, and honey emulsion and quail breast green risotto.