Irving Place Restaurants: Where to Eat Below Gramercy Park

The restaurants on Irving Place sit on the six short blocks between East 14th Street and Gramercy Park: Casa Mono at 52 Irving Place on the corner of 17th Street, Irving Farm’s Gramercy café at 71, Friend of a Farmer at 77, and Pete’s Tavern on the corner of East 18th Street. For Italian, step a few doors off the street to Paul & Jimmy’s on East 18th or to Union Square Cafe on East 19th, and for the latest table, Casa Mono serves until 11pm every day while Pete’s kitchen runs to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Hours, addresses and booking policies below were read from each restaurant’s own site in October 2026.

Where Irving Place starts and stops

Irving Place is short and mostly residential. It runs north from East 14th Street to the south edge of Gramercy Park, one block east of Park Avenue South. The music venue Irving Plaza sits at 17 Irving Place near the bottom of the street, which makes the restaurants here a natural pre-show and post-show stop.

The trains are all at the south end. Casa Mono’s own directions point to the 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R and L at 14th Street–Union Square, and from that station every address in this guide is a short walk east and north. Walking the whole of Irving Place, end to end, takes a few minutes; the street is a spine for an evening rather than a destination in itself.

What follows runs south to north, with the Italian kitchens a few steps off the street covered separately below.

Irving Place restaurants, block by block

Casa Mono, 52 Irving Place at 17th Street

Casa Mono describes itself as a Spanish restaurant, and it keeps the simplest hours on the street: noon to 11pm, Sunday through Saturday, as listed on its hours page in October 2026. That makes it the most dependable late table on the street and a sensible booking before or after something at Irving Plaza, two blocks south. Reservations are taken through the restaurant’s own site, and the phone is 212-253-2773.

Its sister bar, Bar Jamón, is set up for groups: the site says it can accommodate parties of up to 30 for a standing reception or a wine class. That is worth knowing if the plan is a gathering rather than a dinner.

Best suited to a late dinner of small plates, or a table before a show.

Irving Farm, 71 Irving Place

Irving Farm is a coffee roaster, and its locations page lists a Gramercy café at 71 Irving Place. It is not a restaurant in the dinner sense, but it is the obvious place to start a morning on the street, and it sits a few doors south of Friend of a Farmer. The locations page does not list opening hours, so check the café’s page on the day before you plan a meeting around it.

Best suited to coffee before the rest of the street opens.

Friend of a Farmer, 77 Irving Place

Friend of a Farmer has been on Irving Place since 1986 and describes itself as family-owned, with seasonal, farm-to-table cooking and menus that change with the seasons. It serves brunch and dinner, and its booking rules are specific enough to plan around. Groups of five to twelve are asked to call the restaurant rather than book online, and the site is clear that it does not accept weekend brunch reservations. The Gramercy location also does not take weekend brunch event bookings; for brunch events of twenty or more, the restaurant points guests to its Upper West Side branch.

The phone is 212-477-2188. The site does not list daily hours, so call if you are timing a late dinner.

Best suited to a weekday dinner, or a weekend brunch you are willing to queue for.

Pete’s Tavern, 129 East 18th Street at Irving Place

Pete’s Tavern sits on the corner of Irving Place and East 18th Street and describes itself as the oldest continuously operating restaurant and bar in New York City, serving since 1864, with a menu of what it calls elevated American comfort food. The hours are the longest on the street: open seven days a week from noon to 2am, with the kitchen closing at 11pm Sunday through Thursday and at midnight on Friday and Saturday. Happy hour is listed from 4pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

Best suited to a late plate after every other kitchen on the street has closed, or a drink with nowhere else to be.

Italian restaurants a few steps off Irving Place

There is no Italian dining room directly on Irving Place among the restaurants checked for this guide. There are two within a few doors of it.

Paul & Jimmy’s, 123 East 18th Street

A few doors west of Pete’s on the same block of East 18th Street, Paul & Jimmy’s calls itself a traditional southern Italian kitchen and has been in business since 1950. Its own site lists noon to 9pm on Monday, noon to 10pm Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 9pm on Sunday. Those are continuous hours, with no break between lunch and dinner, so a 3pm lunch or a 9pm dinner on a weeknight is equally straightforward.

Best suited to an Italian-American meal at any hour of the afternoon.

Union Square Cafe, 101 East 19th Street

One block north, at 101 East 19th Street, Union Square Cafe lists four services on its own site. Lunch runs Monday to Friday from 11:30am to 2:30pm, brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 2:30pm, a midday service every day from 2:30pm to 5pm, and dinner every day from 5pm to 10:30pm, with the last dinner reservation at 9:30pm. The midday service is the useful detail: it is one of the few rooms near Irving Place that does not go dark between lunch and dinner.

Best suited to a booked lunch, or a 3pm table when everything else is between services.

Irving Place restaurants at a glance

How to plan a meal on Irving Place

Start with the hour, not the restaurant. Before noon, Irving Farm is the obvious start, and at the weekend Union Square Cafe’s brunch opens at 11am; Friend of a Farmer also serves brunch but does not list its hours, so call ahead. Between 2:30 and 5pm, Paul & Jimmy’s and Union Square Cafe’s midday service are the doors that stay open. After 10:30pm, the choice comes down to Casa Mono until 11pm or Pete’s Tavern, whose kitchen runs to midnight at the end of the week.

Book where the restaurant asks you to. Friend of a Farmer will not take a weekend brunch reservation at all, so plan on arriving early, and wants a phone call for any group of five or more. Union Square Cafe’s last dinner reservation is an hour before its 10:30pm close, so a late booking there means 9:30 at the latest.

Show nights change the timing. With Irving Plaza at the south end of the street, plan a pre-show meal backwards from the door time rather than around the restaurant. The arithmetic for that evening is worked out in dinner before a show in Gramercy. For the parallel walk one avenue west, Park Avenue South, block by block covers the Italian kitchens between Union Square and the park, and if the meal is on a Sunday, what opens on a Sunday in Gramercy has the weekend hours.

Frequently asked questions

What restaurants are on Irving Place?

Casa Mono is at 52 Irving Place on the corner of 17th Street, Irving Farm has a café at 71 Irving Place, and Friend of a Farmer is at 77 Irving Place. Pete’s Tavern sits on the corner of Irving Place and East 18th Street, at 129 East 18th Street.

Is there an Italian restaurant on Irving Place?

Not directly on the street among the restaurants checked here, but there are two a few steps off it. Paul & Jimmy’s, a traditional southern Italian kitchen since 1950, is at 123 East 18th Street, a few doors west of Pete’s Tavern, and Union Square Cafe is one block north at 101 East 19th Street.

Where can I eat on Irving Place before a show at Irving Plaza?

Casa Mono at 52 Irving Place is the closest full kitchen in this guide, two blocks north of Irving Plaza at 17 Irving Place, and it serves from noon to 11pm every day. Pete’s Tavern, on the corner of East 18th Street, keeps its kitchen open until 11pm Sunday through Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday, which also makes it the easiest late plate after the show.