5 Restaurants I Always Recommend To Visitors Crossing The Brooklyn Bridge

In a city as famously expensive as New York City, it can seem kind of miraculous when an attraction is actually free. The beautiful Brooklyn Bridge exemplifies both of these rarely overlapping qualities: Its East River and skyline views are breathtaking to behold, and the whole experience is totally gratis. In my opinion, this mostly serves to save more cash to put toward visiting restaurants.

I have long recommended the short jaunt over the water between Manhattan and Brooklyn as one of the top things to do in town, both personally and as a journalist covering NYC for nearly 20 years. That goes double for my work surfacing the best places to eat and drink in New York City. Worlds further collide in that I happen to cross this majestic stretch quite a bit in my daily life in Brooklyn. As you can imagine, I have honed a tight list of my favorite spots nearby. Just know that, if you're arriving from Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge's pedestrian walkway ends at a busy intersection that doesn't feel like either Downtown Brooklyn or Brooklyn Heights (the neighborhoods in immediate proximity). But, when you exit the bridge, make a right, and you'll find yourself in Brooklyn heights and each of the following five restaurants just a few minutes walk away.

This remarkable diner less than half a mile from the base of the bridge is exactly what anyone with starry eyes from afar thinks New York City is going to be like. Every staffer is incredibly warm, kind, and inviting, and the cute, bustling space is imbued with inimitable neighborhood character you just can't fake — not that I haven't seen plenty of places try. Be warned: describing this place as bustling would be a bit of an understatement considering the crowds that form outside at peak weekend breakfast and brunch times.

As a personal policy, I do not wait in these types of lines. My general feeling is there are plenty of places to get pancakes. However, I'll happily wait for a stack at Clark's, along with its eggs Benedicts, bacon, club sandwiches, and a whole tome of burgers, steaks, chops, salads, and pasta options I haven't even gotten to yet throughout my repeat visits (and probably never will). The wait passes pretty fast.

My favorite time to go is around lunch during the week, particularly when the weather is nice and I can sit outside. I have planned solo trips to Clark's' sidewalk seats for a couple glasses of wine amid what I orchestrate as "perfect New York days," which might include theater tickets or baseball games. I've done this enough times to notice that I'm pretty lucky to be in close proximity to such a great place. Maybe now, you are too.

Clark's is located at 80 Clark St, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

Jules is just a little farther up the road, also about a half mile from the bridge. Here, you find some of the best pizza in the five boroughs inside a slyly stylish space with a couple of roomy booths for groups up front, tables throughout the petite, but efficiently arranged, dining room, and a gleaming bar (which is my favorite place to sit, when I feel like sitting there).

I've been visiting pretty regularly with my husband, Tom, since Jules first opened in 2024, and I've been willing to jump through more hoops than normal to score a table (by which I mean I'm willing to wait — I really hate waiting in almost every other conceivable case). Thankfully, Jule's now accepts reservations, which pretty much eliminates any reason not to go.

For all its mythology, New York City actually has more bad pizzas than good ones. Jules is easily in the top percentile of superb pies citywide. Tom and I love the funghi and fennel sausage, the soppressata picante, and the Parmigiana with crispy eggplant varieties — so much so that we only recently got around to trying one of Jules' few menu zags, the whole roast chicken with broccoli rabe and fingerling potatoes. It was great! Also great: Jules' ace martinis, Manhattans, and selections from its studied wine list.

Jules is located at 50 Henry St, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

Noodle Pudding is a red sauce Italian spot in cozy, vintage environs that's only a few hundred feet from Jules. It's also the place for the best martinis in New York City. I love little more than to slink up to its distinguished wood bar and order one of those crystalline, ice cold babies, replete with cocktail shaker sidecar, as the sun begins to set outside. Noodle pudding is also — you guessed it — super popular. It doesn't take reservations, so this seemingly simple act is easier said than done.

When it does work, I might get there a few minutes early to wait for a table and for Tom to arrive from work. Do not do this. Noodle Pudding only seats complete parties in an effort to keep its operation humming along — I just happen to have the timing calibrated by now. Instead, get there with all of your companions in tow, and prepare to wait around half an hour for items such as the wonderful duck and mushroom pappardelle, lovely linguini with clams, crisp chicken Milanese, and a petite but decadent eggplant Parm on Noodle Pudding's frequently updated menu. I have also heard longer wait times quoted, and seen them truncated. You have to be a little flexible here.

Noodle Pudding is located at 38 Henry St, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

A little farther inland (and still under a mile from the bridge), Ingas Bar is on my list of restaurants I always bring friends to when they visit New Yory City. It's a rare find that paints the town in tremendously flattering hues with seemingly effortless aplomb. The darling charmer has a comprehensive array of possible use cases, including romance, catching up, reading the paper with a bloody Mary, or just, you know, grabbing a terrific burger.

Tom and I have been frequenting since it first opened in 2022. It has the kind of following that can take plenty of places much longer to achieve, which means it gets crowded — reserve a table if you can. If it's just me and Tom, we usually prefer to sit at the bar, which you cannot reserve, but which does provide an ideal perch for lingering over excellent cocktails and brunch plates, such as chilaquiles, cheffy egg sandwiches, and possibly the world's greatest banana bread. Dinner offerings have been known to include a standout celery Victor, duck breast, and a steelhead trout. New dishes often enter the mix.

Ingas Bar is located at 66 Hicks St, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

Milkshakes at the counter! Root beer floats in big booths with your cutie! Is this Brooklyn Heights in present day, or have we been transported to an Archie comic strip? Its cheery interior has a freshly retro aesthetic while retaining a more modern footing better befitting its 2024 opening date (which is when I first started coming by). Additionally, Montague Diner is, like the other restaurants on this list, only about a half mile from the bridge.

Even though it's only open until 10 p.m. on weekends, Montague Diner is one of the few places still serving food at any hour approaching "late," which is a gift on nights when we make it just in time after a show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music nearby. Montague Diner also has alcohol, which I find pairs even better than the dessert drinks with the ever-busy kitchen's satisfying savory preparations. Saunter over the neighborhood's quintessential block to sip a martini with a Caesar salad, slice into a dry-aged New York strip with a cabernet sauvignon, or grab a beer with the chicken schnitzel. The menu also includes a few cute packages, such as a "pile" of fries with a bottle of Champagne for $99 if you're too tuckered out from the trek to make a more bespoke choice.

Montague Diner is located at 148 Montague St, Brooklyn, New York 11201.