There are a million great dining experiences in New York, but it can be particularly electrifying to eat at a restaurant just as it’s catching fire. Alas, keeping up with New York’s fickle foodies can be exhausting. How can you figure out which are the hottest restaurants right now? With Lyft data, of course. We’ve uncovered the ten restaurants that have seen the biggest growth in drop-offs over the past year. (We filtered out restaurants with less than 1,000 total drop-offs.)  

We also found a few trends to watch. For one thing: TikTok seems to be a factor in a restaurant’s popularity — at least four of the fastest-growing spots have a sizable presence on the platform. And: Manhattan is back! The borough accounted for six of the top ten spots, with Brooklyn grabbing the remaining four. 

Here’s the list — grab a table while you still can!

TikTok is not just a social media behemoth — it’s also a culinary kingmaker. Four eateries on this list have gone viral, bringing in hordes of hungry New Yorkers and making reservations particularly difficult to land. 

In some cases, TikTok helped put new restaurants on the map quickly. Arthur & Sons, a West Village Italian spot that opened in June 2022, amassed more than a hundred million views from TikTok users, with a focus on the spicy rigatoni alla vodka. Plus, its drinks are fun too. 

Altro Paradiso, on the other hand, has been around since 2016. Still, the SoHo-based Italian restaurant skyrocketed in popularity this year, just as TikTokkers fell in love with its cacio e pepe, a dish that appeared in many of the restaurant-goers’ videos (which have amassed over 73 million views).

NoHo’s BONDST — a three-floor complex complete with lounge, dining room, and sushi bar — took off on TikTok, too, generating over a billion video views. But Taylor Swift may have been just as crucial to its rise when she chose BONDST as the venue for one of her famous girls nights.

Finally, since opening in April 2022, KYU has amassed a whopping 130 billion views on TikTok. While the tuna crispy rice seems popular, particularly adventurous eaters may prefer the caviar sandwich, made with Japanese milk bread and negi butter for $68.

The Flatiron District is a food-focused neighborhood to watch, with restaurants in this area making up 20% of our fastest-growing list. This pocket of the city — named after the Flatiron Building — is home to two big hitters: ABC Cocina, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Latin-inspired restaurant located inside of interior design store ABC Carpet & Home, and OIJI MI, a Michelin-star Korean restaurant applauded for its creative and indulgent menu.

As a borough, Brooklyn has been a restaurant hub for traditional and authentic cultural cuisine for quite some time now, but our fastest-growing list suggests that Williamsburg and Bushwick have particularly begun expanding in this category. 

On the Middle Eastern front, Laser Wolf offers trendy Israeli food and sophisticated drinks on a rooftop with impressive views of Manhattan, while Eyval serves innovative takes on traditional Persian cuisine, like a mushroom kabob with fenugreek cream.

Brooklyn’s Asian food is also represented: Antidote serves Shanghai- and Sichuan-style food made by chefs trained in Shanghai, while Bushwick-based Mao Mao is known for its authentic Thai food, wild decor, drinks, and movie screen.

This content provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Lyft makes no representations as to the accuracy and completeness of this information. Unless otherwise stated, Lyft is not affiliated with any businesses or organizations mentioned in the article.