What to Order at Tatiana

Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi is the Afro-Caribbean-influenced restaurant inside Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall, and its shared-plates menu, built around dishes like braised oxtails and a short rib pastrami suya, rewards a table that orders broadly instead of one main course per person.

What should you order at Tatiana?

Build the table around the short rib pastrami suya and the braised oxtails first, then fill in with patties and a shared dessert. The menu is split into Small Share and Large Share sections, and regulars order across both rather than picking a single entree.

1. Short rib pastrami suya. The Infatuation is blunt about this one: "If for some reason you're only getting one thing at Tatiana, it should be this." The price has crept up to around $120, per the same review, but it's still the dish the whole menu gets built around.

2. Braised oxtails. Marinated over a day and served in a pot with the meat falling off the bone in a thick, rich sauce, alongside thumbelina carrots, chayote squash, and rice and peas. It competes directly with the pastrami suya for the table's top order.

3. Curried goat patties. Flaky, blistered hand pies filled with curried goat, served with green seasoning aioli and mango chutney. The Infatuation praises the pastry itself, and it's the easiest, most shareable way to start the meal.

4. Crab and oxtail patties. A second patty option built around calypso aioli, pimento, and a Peking-style jus. Order one round of each patty rather than doubling up on one.

5. Mom Dukes' Shrimp. Giant head-on shrimp in creole butter with brioche for scooping up the sauce, a standout that keeps coming up alongside the pastrami suya and oxtails as one of the kitchen's strongest dishes.

6. Bodega Special. A fudgy brownie paired with powdered-donut ice cream for dessert, the consensus sweet way to end the meal after a table full of shared plates.

What should you skip at Tatiana?

Skip the newer "doubles" dish, priced around $42. The Infatuation calls it out directly, writing that it "mostly makes us wish more of Tatiana's diners would go to Trinciti" instead, a nod to the West Indian roti shop rather than a compliment to this version. Worth knowing too: The Infatuation notes Tatiana "isn't the best place to take a vegetarian," since the take-out mushrooms dish is close to the only meat-free option on the menu.

How does ordering actually work at Tatiana?

The menu runs Small Share and Large Share rather than appetizers and entrees, and the format is built for a table to order five or six dishes across both sections and split everything. Six bar seats are held for walk-ins, generally in pairs, and The Infatuation's advice is to arrive right at 5pm opening, or even before 4:30pm, for the best shot at one. Because the restaurant sits inside David Geffen Hall, a lobby wait is common even with a reservation, so build a small buffer into your evening. As of July 2026, reservations run through Resy, releasing roughly four weeks out at midday, though the exact window has shifted by a day or two depending on the source, so treat "about a month out" as the safer rule of thumb rather than an exact date.

How much does dinner at Tatiana cost?

There's no single quoted total from a critic, so this is a built estimate rather than a fixed number. With the pastrami suya around $120 and the doubles dish around $42, a table of two ordering a patty to start, the pastrami suya, the oxtails, and the Bodega Special for dessert lands somewhere around $250 to $350 before tax, tip, and drinks. That range moves quickly depending on how many Large Share dishes you add, since the pastrami suya alone can eat up a third of the bill.

Frequently asked questions

How hard is it to get a Tatiana reservation?

Hard. Tatiana is consistently named among NYC's toughest bookings, and reservations go through Resy roughly a month out, with prime 5 to 7pm weekend slots reported to sell out in under 30 minutes. Cancellations open up in between, which is where DinnerElite alerts do the most work.

Is Tatiana still one of the best restaurants in New York?

The New York Times critic Pete Wells gave Tatiana three stars shortly after it opened and named it the best restaurant in New York in both his 2023 and 2024 year-end rankings, per widely reported coverage of that list, before it settled into the top 10 in 2025. That's a strong, sustained run for a restaurant that's still only a few years old.

Can I just walk in without a reservation?

Six bar seats are held for walk-ins, usually as pairs, and arriving right at opening gives you the best odds. Beyond the bar, every other seat runs through Resy.

Is Tatiana a good option for vegetarians?

Not really. The Infatuation notes directly that it "isn't the best place to take a vegetarian," with the take-out mushrooms standing in as close to the only meat-free dish on the menu. If someone in your party doesn't eat meat, call ahead to see what the kitchen can do.

Tatiana's tables are some of the hardest in the city to catch on Resy. Watch the Tatiana reservations page on DinnerElite for the drop pattern we're tracking, and set an alert so you're not refreshing Resy at noon hoping for a cancellation.