Thanksgiving Dinner
in NYC, Priced

The cheapest full three-course Thanksgiving we verified, and it doesn’t cut corners. $70 buys pumpkin soup with lobster or a pan-seared crab cake, a free-range turkey dinner with leek-sausage stuffing, brown-butter whipped potatoes, root vegetables and cranberry compote, then pumpkin pie or an apple-cardamom crisp. Kids are $35. The regular seafood menu is served alongside it, so the person who hates turkey orders oysters and nobody argues. The local move: hosting instead? Docks sells a complete turkey dinner to go at $60 a person for pickup on Wednesday, November 25, 11:30am–7pm — order by 5pm on Monday the 23rd. The honest caveat: it’s a big, high-ceilinged Midtown seafood room with a long bar, more brasserie than farmhouse. Come for the value, not the candlelight.

The best-value three courses on this page, because the drink is in the price. $75 gets a chef’s amuse-bouche, a first course from a list of six (butternut squash velouté, sesame tuna tartare and wagyu steak tartare among them), a main — a traditional turkey dinner with holiday sides, or beef bourguignon, salmon pavé, roasted vegetables or French onion spaghetti — and pumpkin pie or espresso crème brûlée. Every guest also gets one glass of wine, a cocktail, a beer or a mocktail. The local move: the regular lunch menu runs 11:30am–2:30pm; from 3pm the Thanksgiving menu is the only thing served. The honest caveat: cancel or shrink the booking after 3pm on Tuesday, November 24, and it’s $75 a head anyway. Tax and tip are on top.

The Hell’s Kitchen Thanksgiving, and the family-style sides make it. Every table gets a shared plate of stuffing, roasted carrots, haricots verts, corn casserole and cranberry-orange sauce. Each guest picks a starter (ginger carrot soup, poached pear salad, roast squash or shrimp cocktail), a main (organic free-range roast turkey, Scottish salmon, a vegan risotto, or filet mignon for $20 more) and pumpkin pie, pecan pie or a brownie. Kids 12 and under are $45. The local move: service runs straight through from noon to 8pm, so a late lunch works as well as dinner. The honest caveat: the menu adds a 20% gratuity, so $79 is really $94.80 before tax and drinks — still cheaper than most of this list, but read the fine print.

The easiest group booking in the city: one $88 menu, four addresses. Pick a starter (butternut squash soup, burrata, tuna crudo or ricotta gnocchi with truffle cream, among others), a main — heritage turkey breast, a turkey-leg osso buco, turkey pot pie, braised short rib, salmon or a squash risotto — and dark chocolate cake, apple tart or pumpkin spice cake. Apple-brioche stuffing, crispy Brussels sprouts and cranberry-orange jam land on the table for everyone. The local move: if your people are scattered across Manhattan, book whichever Smith is central for the most of them. The honest caveat: The Smith is loud on a normal night and will be louder on this one, and its Thanksgiving page sends you to the locations list to book — confirm your branch is serving the menu when you reserve.

The most fun Thanksgiving on this page. Upstairs, the $90 Turkey Feast comes with live music — AC Lincoln from noon to 4pm, Diva N’kenge from 7pm to 10pm — and the regular à la carte menu stays on for anyone who would rather not. Downstairs at Ginny’s Supper Club it’s an $85 buffet with the Nate Lucas All Stars playing all day. The honest caveat: the music isn’t free. Add $15 a person upstairs or $20 at Ginny’s, so the real number is $105 a head before tax, tip and drinks. Parties of seven or more pay $105 plus the cover and are seated by the events team rather than booked online; everyone else books on OpenTable.

Eighteen years in, Essex knows exactly what this meal is for. Three courses: delicata squash and frisée salad, house-smoked ocean trout, pumpkin-spice sausage meatballs or cauliflower soup; then all-natural turkey with sausage-and-herb stuffing, candied yams, Brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce — or salmon, a grilled NY strip or a fall vegetable lasagne; then pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake or sorbet. The local move: kids’ pricing runs to age 13 here, the most generous stated cutoff on this page. The honest caveat: the menu says $95, but the page’s own search description still says $90. Budget for $95 and confirm when you book.

The Thanksgiving menu with a fish-and-chips escape hatch. Cornbread and cranberry sauce come to the table first. Then the full holiday plate — roasted Amish turkey, sausage-and-sage stuffing, caramelized Brussels sprouts, sweet potato purée, roasted potatoes, honey-roasted carrots and gravy — or, on the same $110 menu, battered cod with triple-cooked chips or the JWF burger for anyone who has had enough turkey for one lifetime. Dessert is sticky toffee pudding, banoffee pie or pumpkin pie. The local move: the beef Wellington is preorder-only and $20 extra, so ask when you book, not when you sit down. The honest caveat: the menu lists neither serving hours nor the age cutoff for the $46 kids’ price — ask both on the phone.

The one built to taste like someone’s family cooked it. Bubby’s turkeys come from Pallman Farms upstate, and every side, fixing and pie is made from scratch. It’s $125 a head and $70 for kids under 10, noon to 8pm, reservations required, and the regular menu is off for the day. The local move: cooking at home? Order the pies — apple whiskey crumble, pecan maple, sour cherry and three more — by Friday, November 20, for pickup on Tuesday the 24th or Wednesday the 25th. The honest caveat: the maximum party is eight, high chairs included, and Bubby’s won’t combine two bookings into one bigger table.

The grown-up version, with a chef who spent nearly 30 years at the Waldorf. That’s John Doherty, and his Thanksgiving is three courses with the starters and sides set out family-style; the main is roast turkey with braised thigh and giblet gravy, or filet mignon with red wine sauce and caramelized shallots. $145 for adults, $55 for kids 12 and under, booked on OpenTable. The local move: for a family too big for one table, Blackbarn opens its private rooms on the day and serves the same menu. Its pickup packages are ready Wednesday or Thursday if you order by Friday, November 20. The honest caveat: at $145 before drinks, tax and tip, you’re paying for the room and the chef as much as the bird.

The splurge that earns it, because you can skip the turkey and nobody will judge you. Keens’ $167 dinner runs from shrimp cocktail, Maryland crab cakes and deviled eggs three ways to an organic free-range turkey from Quattro Farms in Pleasant Valley, NY — or the legendary mutton chop, prime rib, filet mignon or Dover sole — with candied yams, Brussels sprouts and Yukon Gold mash, then pecan pie with bourbon cream or pumpkin pie. Children under 12 are $83. The local move: the mutton chop on Thanksgiving is the most Keens order there is. The honest caveat: it’s a steakhouse price for a steakhouse meal, before drinks, and the room books out. Keens says it’s open every day of the year except Christmas, but call for the day’s hours.

The cheapest Thanksgiving dinner we verified in Manhattan, and it’s a diner plate, which is the point. Soho Diner’s Thanksgiving Special is roasted turkey breast with sourdough stuffing, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans, cranberry sauce and turkey gravy, then brown-butter pumpkin pie or an apple pie from Petee’s, both with whipped cream. It’s $45, which the diner bills as “all-in,” from noon until close on Thursday, November 26. The local move: it’s on Resy, and the diner says solo diners are as welcome as a party of six — the best answer on this page for a Thanksgiving for one. The honest caveat: it’s one plate and a slice, not a three-course production. If you want an amuse-bouche, scroll up.

The pub that lets you order just the turkey. Tara Mór’s Thanksgiving menu is $90 for a starter, a main and a dessert with a glass of wine or a cocktail — and every dish on it is also available à la carte, so the roast turkey with sage stuffing, honey-roasted carrots, crispy sprouts and gravy can be the whole meal. Strip steak, salmon risotto and a cauliflower steak cover everyone else. The local move: book a seating at 7pm or later — the band starts on the main floor at 7, and the pub’s own advice is to stay on after dessert with a pint. The honest caveat: the à la carte prices aren’t on the page, so ask when you book. Resy takes up to 10; bigger groups call (646) 868-7884.

Go here instead if nobody at your table actually likes turkey. Hawksmoor says it outright: no turkey. It’s open 11:45am to 8pm with the full à la carte menu, plus the Ultimate Sharing Roast — a whole rib of beef cooked over open fire and carved thick, with beef-dripping potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese and bone-marrow gravy. The room is the 1893 Assembly Hall of the United Charities Building, a National Historic Landmark with 26-foot ceilings and stained glass. The honest caveat: there is no set price, so the bill is whatever the table orders, and at a steakhouse that can outrun every prix fixe on this page.

The only bar here with two happy hours on Thanksgiving Eve. From 11am to 7pm every beer, wine and well drink is $2 off. Then at 10pm beers drop to $5 and cocktails to $11, and they stay there until 4am — built for the night everyone you went to high school with is back in town. There’s a pool table in the back and a jukebox. The local move: do the $12 weekday lunch menu, go home for a nap, come back at ten. The honest caveat: Barfly posts its specials week by week, so check the holiday-week calendar on its site before you promise anyone $5 beers.

The bus-station pregame, with a second happy hour at 11pm. The weekday window runs 4–7pm: $6 16oz Weihenstephaner and Stella, $5 Bud Light, $8 wells, $10 house wine and $12 cucumber gimlets. Then a late-night happy hour comes back from 11pm to 1am, Wednesday through Sunday — so Thanksgiving Eve gets both. The local move: it’s a few blocks from the Port Authority and a short walk to Penn, so take the 4–7 window and catch a later departure. The honest caveat: the late-night prices aren’t published, so ask at the bar, and this is a big, loud beer hall rather than a place to hear yourself think.

Where to wait out the train home. It’s a short walk from Penn Station, happy hour runs 11am to 6pm — $7.50 drafts of Bud, Bud Light, Demsey’s Ale, Michelob Ultra or Coors Light, $10 wine and wells, $15 for a beer and a shot — and Wednesday is Wine Down Wednesday, with every bottle on the list at $35. The local move: two of you having a couple of glasses each? The $35 bottle beats four $10 glasses. The honest caveat: happy hour stops at 6pm, and after that it’s a crowded Midtown Irish bar at Midtown prices. It is open until 4am, though, if the LIRR has other plans for you.

The Upper West Side homecoming bar, at $5 a drink until 8pm. The Gin Mill has been on Amsterdam for more than 30 years, every beer, well drink and shot is $5 from the 11:30am open until 8pm every day, and with 17 TVs and room to spread out it handles the Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving crowd better than most rooms uptown. The local move: get there before 8 and claim a table for the group; the $5 window does the heavy lifting, and Wednesday after 8 is $14 Bud Light or Coors Light pitchers. The honest caveat: it’s the same group as Down the Hatch, Stumble Inn and 3 Sheets, so expect a reunion crowd rather than a quiet pint, and it closes at 2am on Wednesdays.

Astoria’s Thanksgiving Eve pick, at two drinks for the price of one. Albatross calls itself the gay “Cheers” of Astoria, friendly to everyone, and its happy hour is buy-one-get-one, Monday to Friday, 5–8pm — which means Wednesday starts at half price the minute the doors open at 5. The local move: there’s entertainment most nights, from karaoke and trivia to drag, and the lineup goes up on the bar’s Instagram, so check what’s on for the 25th. The honest caveat: the bar confirms the two-for-one but not which drinks count, and the 5–8pm hours come from a May 2026 local guide, so ask before you order from the top shelf.

The bar that has promised in writing never to close. Iggy’s says it is open seven days a week, 365 days a year, with 14 flat-screens and a 95-inch projector in the back and the sports on all night — so all three games are covered, from the 1pm Bears–Lions kickoff to the 8:20pm Chiefs–Bills night game. After that, it’s karaoke. The local move: if the family dinner ends early, this is the Upper East Side bar most likely to have the night game on with a crowd. The honest caveat: Iggy’s hasn’t posted Thanksgiving hours, only the 365-day promise, so call before you plan a 1pm kickoff around it.

The sports pub that has actually put Thanksgiving on its calendar. The Tailor lists Thursday, November 26 as an event — “bring your friends and family by on Thanksgiving Day for a celebratory feast” — and its posted hours are 10am to 4am every day, a couple of blocks north of Penn Station. It also takes reservations for Florida Gators games, so an all-day football crowd is its natural state. The honest caveat: there’s no menu or price for the feast yet. We’ll re-check in mid-November; until then, call to confirm the day’s hours before you build a plan around it.

The best Thanksgiving-night tradition in the city. 11th St. Bar opens at 8pm on Thanksgiving and, “in a long standing tradition,” puts The Band’s The Last Waltz on the TVs — the concert film shot on Thanksgiving night 1976. It’s the exit for anyone who has had enough family and enough football. The local move: come the night before too: James Maddock plays on Wednesday, November 25, and the Jack Smead happy hour takes $2 off all beer, draft wine and house liquor from 2pm to 7pm on weekdays. The honest caveat: the TVs are showing The Band, not the Chiefs and Bills, so if you need the 8:20pm game, go to Iggy’s.