21 New York City Restaurants for Summertime Guys’ Dinners

A guys’ dinner is the meal that doesn’t need a reason but always has one—a brother flying in, a deal closing, a 38th birthday, a bachelor party with a flight from Atlanta and a hotel in Tribeca. New York is built for the genre, with a chophouse tradition running back to the 1880s, a Greek seafood row on Ditmars Boulevard and a Pan-American oyster bar parked on an island in the harbor. The captains and bartenders in this town have seen every version of eight men on a Saturday, and most have a particular move—a wine they nudge you toward, a side they triple-comp, a way of materializing a four-top when the two-top suddenly won’t work.

A few rules a room has to follow to qualify: It needs a proper bar—not three stools by the host stand, but a landing strip where you can stand, order the first round and let the table sort itself out. It needs ambient noise—a guys’ dinner dies in a hushed room and lives in one that bounces the laughter back at you. It needs something to share—a steak for the table, a baked pasta, a multi-course feast that arrives in waves. The menu has to bend for the friend who wants everything from the raw bar and the friend who doesn’t, and the music should drift up after 10 p.m. without anyone asking.

The World Cup lands at MetLife on July 19 with the city in full eat-and-drink mode, and the next two months will be thick with visiting fans, group reunions and last-minute table requests. Whether you’re here for the tournament or rounding up the boys, here are 21 rooms for whatever the night demands—formal to informal, brand-new to century-old, each one ready for whatever you bring through the door.