Recommended Forest Hills Restaurants
- Bangkok Cuisine Excellent Thai fusion. A beautiful place, great, friendly service and terrific food – what more could you ask for?
- Dee’s Awesome pizza, pasta and everything else Italian. Always crowded and lively, one of the best overall family restaurants on Metropolitan Ave.
- Feng’s Garden Excellent Chinese take-out. For a tiny hole in the wall, you’d be surprised how good!
- Jade Eatery & Lounge Indo – Asian food in a stylish, chic setting. One of the coolest-looking restaurants in Forest Hills. Also has outdoor seating overlooking Station Square.
- Martha’s Country Bakery The closest thing Forest Hills has to Manhattan’s famous Magnolia Bakery – cupcakes galore and a whole lot more. A lively, if crowded, place for dessert and coffee.
- Moca Asian Bistro I recommend you try their boneless B.B.Q spare ribs – sensational! According to the menu, they are marinated & prepared for over 24 hours. And it shows.
- NY Falafel Bar A newcomer to the Forest Hills restaurant scene, and more take-out than restaurant. Nevertheless, based on my latest trial of their falafel I can highly recommend that sandwich. I have yet to try the rest of their menu, however.
- Nick’s Pizza To-die-for pizza. One of the best pizza places in the city, simple as that.
- Pahal Zan Another hole-in-the-wall but don’t be fooled – terrific falafel and Israeli food. And friendly service to boot.
- Santa Fe Steakhouse Everyone comes to Santa Fe eventually in Forest Hills. Great ribs!
- Tuscan Hills One of the best new Italian restaurants in Forest Hills. Every morsel is delicious! Worth the walk down the Boulevard towards Kew Gardens. Trust me!
Top Five Forest Hills Restaurants
1. Dee’s — The menu looks like a diner menu at times but damn if Dee know’s how to make all of em good good good!
2. Nick’s Pizza — Best pizza in Fohi, some of the best in NYC.
3. Danny Brown’s — great wine list, great service, great food. The cheese/meat boards are nothing to write home about but the entrees are fannnnntastic.
4. Cabana — Some of the best latin infused food in NYC
5. Dirty Pierre’s — Best Pub food in Fohi and sometimes thats all I want
Honorable Mention Da Silvana, Il Poeta, Alberto’s, Cheeburger, Five Guys, 5 Burro, Forest Hills Diner (so much better than Tower)
My top haunts (as a family and also a couple):
1. 5 Burros on Austin St – aMAZing Margaritas, great Mexican food, fab juke box. It can get VER-y crowded and wait time is ri-DIC-ulous after 7 PM but that just proves how popular a place it is. I can sit at the bar and nurse a Margarita for hours…
2. Bonfire Grill on Austin St – great food and great drink menu. Simple as that!
3. Cheeburger! Cheeburger! on Qns Blvd – great for taking daughter and her friends. Multiple owners and as 1 or 2 are always there working, the service is terrific. Wednesday night is FREE face-painting and balloon art. (These 2 artists are just that: artistes! I have hired them for events.) If you’re hungry and don’t have kids with you, the wait time for a Wed night table is not worth it. Families camp out while waiting for their freebies.
4. Bangkok Cuisine in Forest Hills Station – top notch adult dining. Pricey so not great for bringing kids but great for impressing your Manhattanite friends who dare(!) to pooh-pooh living outside of their island.
5. A.J.’s Pizza on Austin St – good, quick slice-aria. Big screen T.V.s keep you entertained if you need to be.
Has anyone tried Wafa on 72nd Ave off Metropolitan Ave? They have authentic Mediterranean food and their Falafels are out of this world. They do deliver!
Wafa is excellent and sooo fresh!
My top places to eat in Forest Hills include:
– Sushi Yasu (71-45 Yellowstone Blvd). Hands down the best sushi in the neighborhood and it beats out most sushi places I’ve eaten at in general. Fish is extremely fresh and well prepared. Service can be slow but you can leave very well satisfied for < $30.
– Dirty Pierre (15 Continental Ave). A truly FABULOUS burger and fries. Another local neighborhood joint that I find on par if not better with many of the well reviewed burger places in NYC.
– Tuscan Hills (115-20 Queens Blvd). Finally, really good Italian food in Forest Hills. Service is fabulous and the owner, Roberto, is a gem. I'm a big fan of their pizza (makes for a great appetizer for two) but truth is, I've yet to be disappointed with any of the dishes, including those on the brunch menu (how come there aren't more places to enjoy a good brunch in Forest Hills?)
– Danny Browns (104-02 Metropolitan Ave). We need more wine bars with fabulous food in Forest Hills. I love the cured meats & cheese platters and they make a mean steak frites for a very reasonable $25. I still need to try DBs Brunch.
– 5 Burro (72-05 Austin St Queens). Down and dirty tex mex that is still a good value for the money. You also can't beat the margarita's.
– Forest Hills Diner (68-60 Austin St). I wish more people would take the trek down Austin street to eat at this place (versus Austin diner, which has more health violations than I care to think about). The owners are lovely and the food is leaps and bounds better than the other diners in the neighborhood.
– Hot Bialy's and Bagels (116-63 Queens Boulevard). Real, fabulous New York bialy's and bagels. Enough said.
I also want to add, for those of you who are willing to take a short subway ride to LIC, you won't be disappointed with the Rudar Club (34-01 45th Street). This is an Istrian restaurant that I find myself going back to time and time again. The service is gracious, the food is rustic, Istrian home cooking and the price point makes you feel as if you're under-paying for all the food you are served!
1. Dee’s
2. Jade
3. Dirty Pierre’s
4. Danny Browns
5. Alberto’s
Other considerations:
Diners – Do Jewish people really live in Forest Hills? We need some diners that don’t double as a Board of Health teaching facility.
Pizzeria – I love brick oven pizza, but once in a while you need a good Brooklyn style Neapolitan Pizza. AJ’s is great by the slice, but as a pie doesn’t travel well. Other slice places on/near Austin are horrible. Mazarro on Metropolitan is good.
Steak – I’ve eaten at AGED about five times, the food and service is good. But, for their prices, get in the car and go to Peter Luger for an experience.
Fish – London Lennie’s. I wish this was my restaurant.