The best birthday restaurants in the Lower East Side

While this restaurant is the namesake of the Dimes Square phenomenon, you’ve gotta give it some credit. The playful, Danish-inspired interior looks straight out of the MoMA design store, and the veggie-forward dishes are reminiscent of an east coast Erewon café. If there’s a time to indulge in a stereotype you love to hate (but secretly admire), let it be your birthday. No one can judge you.

Dimes offers an all-day café menu, so you can celebrate at any time of day. Order bergamot pancakes for breakfast, a tahini salmon bowl for lunch, or a pork shoulder with coconut rice for dinner. Pair your meal with cocktails like the Night Sea or the Desert Flower. Contact the restaurant for events of more than 10.

Stop by the Dimes Deli nearby if you prefer coffee and quick meals with an intimate group, and then head over to the Dimes Market and subtly allude to a gift for your friends to buy you – whether it’s a jar of fancy tomato sauce or a $60 ceramic bowl.

If a trip to Italy isn’t in the birthday budget this year, this is your next best bet. Bucaro, the Italian word for Venetian hole-in-the-wall eateries, elicits a candlelit, pastoral setting that sweeps you away from urban chaos. Long, wooden tables are ideal for communal birthday dining, encouraging conversation between friends and loved ones.

Enjoy simple Italian dishes like pasta & bean soup, cheese plates, mushroom gnocchi, and duck ragu. A sizable wine list, of course, is the bare minimum requirement for Italian restaurants – and Bucaro delivers. Stick a candle in some tiramisu for dessert and you’re all set to kick off another year.

You might miss Wayla at first glance. It’s a typical Lower East Side dungeon, down an unassuming staircase on Forsyth Street, a decorated basement restaurant with antique touches, and a laid-back backyard space. The cuisine is inspired by the street food in Bangkok, the hometown of Chef Tom Naumsuwan, and combines Thai comfort food with vibrant, local greenmarket ingredients.

Wayla’s dishes are made to share. Choose a variety of street market dishes, mains, rice bowls, and noodles and split with friends. You’ll find fried branzino, steak with tamarind sauce, noodle-wrapped meatballs, and some well-loved chili Brussels sprouts. The inspiration bleeds into the cocktail menu, where cocktails like Sway Wayla and Bangkok Surprise include unique ingredients like Thai grenadine, butterfly peas, and shiso leaves.

Gather up to 16 friends for group dining, or buy out the full restaurant or patio for larger parties.

There’s no I in team, but there is one in fish. Or else it would be fsh. So, if your friends don’t agree with your love of boiled crustaceans and never let you indulge, have your birthday meal at Cervo’s. It’s your time to shine. The interior is a downtown ode to coastal Spanish design, with tiled decor, and terra cotta touches, and in the warmer months, it spills out onto Canal St. to soak up the sunshine.

The menu is a love letter to the seafood of the Iberian peninsula, and you’ll find near-daily menu changes to keep things fresh and seasonal. Examples include Louisiana prawns, manila clams, Atlantic fish, and oysters. For more than 10 guests, a three-course family-style set menu is available for $85pp. The long wine list highlights wines from Spain and Portugal and spirits like sherry and vermouth.

Restaurant buyouts are available for up to 55 people, and menu packages can be added to include a raw bar or stationary canapes.

Down a graffitied alleyway just off Rivington St. is Freeman’s, a tavern-like restaurant that looks like it belongs in Colonial Williamsburg instead of New York City. Designed like a manor house from the 19th century, enjoy a birthday dinner in one of their three private dining rooms and feel like you’ve been invited to celebrate with the Little Women themselves.

The cozy space is decorated with dark wood, large bookshelves, antlers, and Gilded Age portraits, highlighting the rustic American fare. Menu highlights include heritage pork chop and Atlantic halibut for dinner, or five cheese macaroni and lobster rolls for lunch, all complemented by seasonal veggies and specialty cocktails.

The three private dining spaces are the Wine Room (max. 12), the Blue Room (max. 25), or the Red Room (max. 35). You can also rent the whole restaurant for up to 200 guests, or the second-floor speakeasy cocktail bar for up to 25. A three-course, family-style dinner can be purchased for $95pp.