Peter Luger: The Most Difficult Table in New York, and Not for Reasons You’d Expect

In 2019 the New York Times gave Peter Luger a zero-star review. In the same year it lost its Michelin star. The review described indifferent service, mediocre sides, and a tired atmosphere. The restaurant has been fully booked since. This is either a testament to brand loyalty that survives critical demolition, or evidence that what Luger does with a porterhouse exists outside the normal categories critics use to evaluate restaurants. Probably both.

Peter Luger opened in Williamsburg in 1887. The current owner’s family, the Forman family, has run it since Sol Forman bought the place in 1950, personally selecting every piece of beef. That practice continues. The USDA Prime beef is dry-aged in-house for at least 28 days; the concentration of flavour and fat during aging produces something that wet-aged supermarket prime doesn’t approach. The steak arrives pre-sliced from the bone, swimming in brown butter. The rest of the menu is not the point.

The Steak

Order the porterhouse. It comes for one, two, three, or four people. Medium-rare is the right call; more than that and you’re paying dry-age prices for steakhouse texture. The exterior char combined with the butter-enriched interior is the specific combination that creates the reputation. The sides - creamed spinach, hash browns, sliced beefsteak tomatoes - are acceptable. The house steak sauce, sold bottled at the front, is genuinely good and worth buying to take home.

The cheese cake and apple strudel on the dessert menu are better than their surroundings suggest. Order one if you have room.

Cash, Debit, and the ATM

Peter Luger does not accept credit cards at the Brooklyn or Great Neck locations, with one exception: online ordering. For in-person dining, they take cash, US debit cards, US checks with valid photo ID, and Peter Luger house accounts. There is an ATM at the entrance. A dinner for two with wine runs $150-250 easily. Withdraw more than you think you’ll need before sitting down, not after you’ve seen the bill.

The no-credit-card policy is not a quirk they haven’t gotten around to updating. It is a deliberate choice that has been in place for decades and will not change. Plan accordingly.

Reservations

The Brooklyn location takes reservations by phone (718-387-7400) and online through their website. Resy also lists availability. The restaurant can hold a reservation for 15 minutes; no-shows face a $40 per-person fee if not cancelled within 24 hours. Weekend evenings need booking weeks in advance, sometimes months. Weekday lunches are substantially easier. The bar area takes walk-ins but seating is limited.

The reservation system is genuinely difficult. Calling is more effective than the online system for getting what you want. If you’re flexible on timing, call directly and ask what’s available.

Williamsburg Around It

The restaurant is at 178 Broadway, accessible by subway (J/M/Z to Marcy Avenue, five-minute walk). The neighbourhood has changed completely around Luger over the decades - former manufacturing district, now expensive residential and restaurant territory. The contrast between the unchanged interior and the gentrified street outside is worth noticing.

Smorgasburg (outdoor food market, April-October, weekends) is 15 minutes along the waterfront at East River State Park. The Manhattan skyline view from the Williamsburg waterfront is one of the better free views in the city.

If you want the full Brooklyn steak experience without the booking difficulty: Diner at 85 Broadway, literally next door to Peter Luger, is excellent, accepts credit cards, and has always been easier to get into. For a completely different register: The River Café under the Brooklyn Bridge is one of New York’s more romantic dinner settings and the quality of the kitchen has improved substantially in recent years.