The Ultimate Sex and the City Dining Guide

Over 20 years have passed since we first met the leading ladies of New York—Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte. And now the girls are back (sans Samantha, unfortunately), this time on Max!

While you wait for season two of And Just Like That. . ., perhaps a culinary trip down memory lane will satisfy your cravings for more Sex and the City (SATC) shenanigans. Take this virtual tour of dozens of restaurants, bars, and coffee joints where Carrie and crew showed us what it truly means to be the “it” girls of New York—and discover which of the show’s spots have stayed the same or have been replaced.

Click on any of the red pins above to explore CableTV’s thirty-five featured NYC hot spots, as seen in the Sex and the City series. You’ll learn which restaurant or bar was featured in which episode or film, and you’ll see an image or YouTube video associated with each business where Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte ate and drank in style.

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The same yesterday and today

Sex and the City may have left us, but these NYC spots from the series still remain.

21 Club

Featured in: Season 6, Episode 11, “The Domino Effect”
Carrie and Big visit the 21 Club Bar Room, where Carrie learns about Big’s heart surgery—what he calls “a little heart thing.”

Balthazar

Featured in: Season 1, Episode 5, “The Power of Female Sex”
Carrie and Samantha have a difficult time getting a table at a crowded French restaurant (known as Balzac on the show), but they ultimately succeed after Carrie offers the hostess a tampon in the bathroom.

Bubby’s High Line

Featured in: Season 3, Episode 18, “Cock-A-Doodle-Do” 
This meatpacking district spot is where Samantha make amends with her noisy neighbors and invites them up for a rooftop party.

Buddakan

Featured in: Sex and the City Movie
Carrie and Big’s rehearsal dinner in the first SATC movie is held at Buddakan in Chelsea, where Miranda argues with Steve outside and then snaps at Big inside, causing him to get cold feet the night before the wedding.

Cafeteria

Featured in: multiple episodes
This Chelsea spot was a regular lunch spot for Carrie and friends.

Cipriani Downtown

Featured in: Season 3, Episode 3, “Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman” 
This Soho restaurant is where the SATC girls see Big and Natasha’s wedding announcement in The New York Times’ wedding section. Cipriani was a favorite among the gal pals for Sunday bellinis.

Da Marino

Featured in: Season 2, Episode 8, “The Man, The Myth, The Viagra”
Italian eatery Da Marino is where Big calls Carrie his girlfriend for the first time and serenades her. This Midtown West Italian institution is currently closed for renovations, but as of summer 2016, say they will open soon.

Eleven Madison Park

Featured in: Season 2, Episode 18, “Ex and the City” 
Big and Carrie meet for dinner as friends, and Carrie learns that Big got engaged to Natasha.

Grand Bar & Lounge at the Soho Grand Hotel

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 15, “Change of a Dress” 
The Grand Bar & Lounge is where Richard holds his charity fundraiser, and where Samantha learns Richard is sleeping with other women.

Il Cantinori

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 1, “The Agony and the ‘Ex’-tacy” 
Il Cantinori is where Carrie’s 35th birthday party was—where she’s stood up by the girls and Big, leaving her all alone at a table for ten.

Joe’s Pub

Featured in: Season 5, Episode 6, “Critical Condition” 
Stanford and Carrie attend Stanford’s boyfriend’s show, but Carrie can’t stop thinking about her upcoming book review.

The Loeb Boathouse Central Park

Featured in: Season 3, Episode 18, “Cock-A-Doodle-Do”
Carrie and Big meet for lunch at the Boathouse in Central Park, where they both fall in the lake as he tries to kiss her.

Magnolia Bakery

Featured in: Season 3, Episode 5, “No Ifs, Ands, Or Butts” 
Carrie tells Miranda about her crush on Aidan while the two eat cupcakes outside of Magnolia Bakery.

The Mercer Kitchen

Featured in: Sex and the City Movie
Carrie and friends dined at the Mercer Hotel’s Mercer Kitchen in the first SATC film.

The Modern

Featured in: Sex and the City Movie
Carrie shares the news of her engagement to Big with the girls, and Charlotte announces the happy news to the entire restaurant, leading everyone to cheer.

Onieals

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 5, “Ghost Town”
Steve and Aidan’s fictional bar, Scout, is actually Onieals. Carrie drops off a congratulatory Mulberry bush as Scout is located on the fictional Mulberry Street. Later in the episode, Carrie and friends attend the opening for Scout and Carrie and Aidan share a moment outside the bar.

Pete’s Taven

Featured in: Season 6, Episode 14, “The Ick Factor” 
Miranda proposes to Steve outside of Pete’s.

Russian Samovar

Featured in: Season 6, Episode 12, “One” 
Carrie and Aleksandr have their first date, quite late at night, at Russian Samavor

Slate

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 10, “Belles of the Balls” 
Carrie and the girls—and Steve and Aidan—play pool here.

Starbucks

Featured in: Sex and the City Movie
Carrie holds interviews here for a personal assistant and meets “Louise from Saint Louis” (Jennifer Hudson).

Tao

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 3, “Defining Moments” 
Carrie, her jazz musician date, and the girls hang out at Tao and Carrie runs into Big’s date in the bathroom.

Tortilla Flats

Featured in: Season 4, Episode 6, “Baby, Talk Is Cheap”
After Carrie sees Aidan at his bar’s opening, she realizes wants him back and arranges a double date with Steve and Aidan at Tortilla Flats.

Same location, new biz

All the NYC spots you see below are located at original SATC filming locations. However, they’ve been replaced with new businesses. So while you won’t see these new dining and drink spots in any SATC reruns, you’ll likely still notice a few similarities.

American Whiskey TriBeCa (formerly Layla)

Featured in: Season 2, Episode 2, “The Awful Truth”
Before this West Broadway spot became American Whiskey TriBeCa, it was the Mexican restaurant Centrico and before that, the Moroccan restaurant Layla. Layla is where Big (her ex at the time) attends Carrie’s birthday party.

Casa Mono (formerly Irving on Irving)

Featured in: Season 5, Episode 2, “Unoriginal Sin”
Formerly Irving on Irving, this Irving Place restaurant is where Carrie and Charlotte watched men on the street passing by to see how many men in 100 they would sleep with.

Cognac East (formerly Lumi)

Featured in: Sex and the City Movie
Just after a very pregnant Charlotte sits down for a meal at Lumi, she sees Big on the other side of the restaurant. She runs outside to avoid him and Big follows her out, where Charlotte proceeds to yell at him, “I curse the day you were born!” and then goes into labor.

The Edison Ballroom (formerly The Supper Club)

Featured in: Season 5, Episode 1, “Anchors Away” 
What was once home to The Supper Club inside the Edison Hotel is now The Edison Ballroom. This event space is where Carrie and friends partied with the sailors during Fleet Week.

“They say life’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans. But sometimes in New York, life is what happens when you’re waiting for a table.”  

—Carrie Bradshaw 

So there you have it, the ultimate dining guide to every NYC hot spot where the female powerhouses who ARE #squadgoals sipped cosmopolitans and swapped the juicy details of their latest triumphs and defeats in life, love, and the bedroom.

If you’re like me and learned basically everything you need to know about men from your favorite SATC character, you’re probably ready to go visit these holy grounds/restaurants to start an SATC shrine.

That being said, it’s time I leave you to spend my rent money on a pair of Manolos and book the next non-stop flight to The City that Never Sleeps . . .