Staten Island by the numbers.

The reason this site exists

Star averages can't tell anyone apart

65% of every place we track lands between 4.0 and 4.7 stars. The most common score of all is 4.4 — that badge is worn by 122 different restaurants. A number that everybody has is not information. The Sweet Score spreads the same places across 20 bands instead of one.

How the Sweet Score is built →

Where a street has a specialty

The blocks that are actually known for something

Not folklore — arithmetic. For every neighbourhood we ask what share of its restaurants belong to a category, and compare that to the same category’s share of the whole region. New Dorp Beach is 18.3× more Vietnamese than the region average. These are the streets you go to on purpose.

1. New Dorp Beach · Vietnamese18.3×3 places · 8% of the block
2. New Dorp Beach · Thai7.9×3 places · 8% of the block
3. Dongan Hills · Halal7.6×4 places · 19% of the block
4. Midland Beach · Mediterranean6.6×4 places · 10% of the block
5. Midland Beach · Middle Eastern6.1×3 places · 8% of the block
6. Mariners Harbor · Latin5.3×4 places · 17% of the block
7. Port Richmond · Mexican4.7×24 places · 27% of the block
8. Castleton Corners · Mediterranean4.6×5 places · 7% of the block
9. Great Kills · Italian4.5×11 places · 25% of the block
10. Bulls Head · Sushi4.5×4 places · 11% of the block
11. Mariners Harbor · Fast Food3.9×4 places · 17% of the block
12. Prince's Bay · Pizza3.8×4 places · 29% of the block
13. Arden Heights · Pizza3.8×6 places · 29% of the block
14. New Springville · Steakhouse3.8×3 places · 5% of the block

Bars are the multiple against the regional average. Every town →

What people actually order

The 16 dishes reviewers name most

Pulled from what reviewers wrote, not from menus. If a dish shows up here it’s because people kept bringing it up unprompted — which is the only kind of recommendation worth anything.

1. Burger71 places
2. Calamari71 places
3. Fried Rice70 places
4. Donuts59 places
5. Fried Chicken55 places
6. Espresso49 places
7. Latte48 places
8. Hero40 places
9. Bubble Tea39 places
10. Dumplings37 places
11. Burrito37 places
12. Pancakes34 places
13. Cheesecake31 places
14. Chicken Parm30 places
15. Chicken Sandwich30 places
16. Quesadilla30 places

All the dishes →

The question everybody asks

Does spending more get you a better meal?

A little, and then it stops. The median $ place scores 43; the median $$$$ place scores 59. Four dollar signs buys you 16 points — on a scale where the gap between #1 and #50 in a single town is bigger than that.

The categories

What this region is made of

Every place belongs to every category it earned, so these add up to more than 1,173. The median column is the honest one — a category with a lot of places and a low median is a category where picking badly is easy.

Every ranking →

Where the food is

The 15 densest places to eat

Restaurants per named town or neighbourhood. Manhattan neighbourhoods are small and stacked, which is exactly why they dominate this list.

1. Mid Island172 placesStaten Island · median 47
2. Port Richmond88 placesStaten Island · median 50
3. Castleton Corners72 placesStaten Island · median 61
4. New Springville66 placesStaten Island · median 31
5. West Brighton64 placesStaten Island · median 48
6. Charleston56 placesStaten Island · median 50
7. Eltingville50 placesStaten Island · median 42
8. Tottenville45 placesStaten Island · median 48
9. Great Kills44 placesStaten Island · median 74
10. New Dorp44 placesStaten Island · median 56
11. Midland Beach40 placesStaten Island · median 52
12. Bulls Head37 placesStaten Island · median 28
13. New Dorp Beach37 placesStaten Island · median 38
14. Stapleton Heights36 placesStaten Island · median 51
15. Arrochar33 placesStaten Island · median 62

Borough by borough

The seven counties, side by side

Same measurement everywhere. The 'pricey' column is the share of places charging $$$ or more — it's the closest thing to a cost-of-dinner map we have.

The list nobody else can build

Loved, and almost nobody knows

High Sweet Score, barely any ratings. These are the places where the people who have been are near-unanimous and the crowd hasn’t arrived. This is what a percentile can find and a star average can’t.

1. American GrillManor Heights · 262 ratings94
2. Sazon Villa TaqueriaMariners Harbor · 65 ratings89
3. 8-Bit BitesPort Richmond · 90 ratings85
4. New Dorp food cartNew Dorp Beach · 44 ratings84
5. Cafe GiannaGreat Kills · 50 ratings84
6. The Vintage TeaGreat Kills · 53 ratings84
7. Tienda Valentina’s Restaurant Corp.Todt Hill · 45 ratings83
8. NYC BREAKFAST CAFFENew Dorp · 48 ratings83
9. D.etoxWest Brighton · 31 ratings82
10. South beach tasty eats SHAWARMA AND GRILLArrochar · 69 ratings82

The other end

The most-rated restaurants in the region

Volume, not quality — though the two turn out to be less related than anyone expects. These are the places everybody has an opinion about.

1. Panini GrillWest Brighton · 3,375 ratings94
2. Arirang Hibachi SteakhouseGreat Kills · 3,059 ratings89
3. Denino’s Pizzeria & TavernPort Richmond · 3,042 ratings89
4. Dave & Buster's Staten IslandNew Springville · 3,012 ratings20
5. Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood & BarNew Dorp Beach · 2,926 ratings88
6. Royal Crown BakeryDongan Hills · 2,651 ratings56
7. Patrizia's of BrooklynGreat Kills · 2,401 ratings81
8. Miller's Ale HouseNew Springville · 2,336 ratings24
9. Shake Shack Empire Outlets (Staten Island Ferry)Mid Island · 2,313 ratings44
10. McDonald'sMidland Beach · 2,241 ratings18

What the board can do for you

Counted, so you can filter by it

Every one of these is a list. Outdoor seating in August, somewhere that takes a reservation, somewhere that will let the dog sit down too.

• 152Outdoor seating
• 951Deliver
• 1,111Do takeout
• 313Take reservations
• 347Vegetarian options
• 771Good for kids
• 442Work for groups
• 24Allow dogs

Every filter →