Friendsgiving Dinner at Red Rooster Harlem: Turkey Feast

Red Rooster, at 310 Lenox Avenue in Harlem, is one of the few New York restaurants that has already published its 2026 Thanksgiving plan, and it is built for groups. On Thursday, November 26, from 11 am to 10 pm, the main dining room serves a Turkey Feast prix fixe for $90 per person, served family style. That format makes it a natural Friendsgiving dinner: platters go to the middle of the table, and nobody has to argue over who gets the last of the stuffing.

The Thanksgiving menu lists cornbread, sweet potato coconut soup, deviled eggs and the Remix salad to start. The main course is fried or roasted turkey breast with gravy, cornbread stuffing and cranberry chutney. Sides are collard greens, mac and greens, garlic mash and orange and ginger roasted squash, and dessert is pecan pie and apple pie. There is also a $15 per person entertainment cover on the day, with AC Lincoln playing from 12 pm to 4 pm and Diva N'kenge from 7 pm to 10 pm.

The large-party rule is the one to read twice. Red Rooster's events team arranges Thanksgiving tables for parties of seven or more rather than booking them online, and large party pricing is $105 per person plus the $15 music cover. A group of eight friends should therefore budget for $120 a head before tax and tip, and email the events team early instead of waiting for an online slot that will never appear.

Use the music schedule to pick a seating. A table between noon and 4 pm lands during AC Lincoln's set and suits friends who want an early dinner and an evening free, while a 7 pm table catches Diva N'kenge and turns the meal into a night out. Groups with children or older relatives usually do better at the early seating, when the room is calmer and the kitchen is at its freshest.

Downstairs, Ginny's Supper Club runs its own Thanksgiving buffet at $85 per person with a $20 entertainment cover. The buffet suits a group that wants to graze and dance more than sit through three courses, while the main room is the better choice for a long, talkative dinner. Pick one in advance, because the two spaces are priced and booked separately.

If the group cannot meet on the holiday itself, the regular all-day menu works just as well for a shared table. The Chicken Tower is $150 and brings 20 pieces of hot honey Yardbird with cornbread and a choice of three sides, which feeds four to six people. Yardbird fried chicken on its own is $34, shrimp and grits are $34, and the oxtail meatloaf, listed as limited availability, is $48.

Add Mac and Greens at $14 and cornbread at $9 to round out the table. The chicken and waffle is $22, or $37 as an entree size, and it makes a good pick for the friend who wants brunch flavors at dinner. One honest note: skip ordering the Chicken Tower and individual fried chicken entrees together, since the tower already covers the whole table and the second order mostly goes home in boxes.

Live music is part of the room on regular nights too. The menu notes a $10 per person live music cover that may apply, rising to $15 per person on Friday and Saturday. Factor that into the per-person split when you send the bill around, especially for a big group that stays through a second set.

For larger Friendsgivings, the private events page lists three spaces. The Parlor holds gatherings of 10 to 20 guests and is styled like a Harlem townhouse, with books and games on the shelves. The Gold Room fits up to 60 guests, and Ginny's Supper Club can host anything from an intimate gathering of 10 to a full party of 100. Ginny's is designed to evoke a 1970s car, with vintage leather upholstery, beaded details and dark mahogany wood.

The art is worth a few minutes before dinner. An 8-foot original Kehinde Wiley portrait hangs at the entrance, and five Derrick Adams pieces are in the private dining room. Co-creators Andrew Chapman and Marcus Samuelsson named the restaurant after a legendary Harlem speakeasy that once welcomed Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Nat King Cole and James Baldwin, and that history is part of why the room feels like a neighborhood living room on a holiday.

The dining room serves Monday to Thursday from 12 pm to 9:30 pm, Friday from 12 pm to 10:30 pm, Saturday from 11 am to 10:30 pm and Sunday from 10 am to 9:30 pm. The bar is open later, until 11 pm Monday to Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday and 11 pm on Sunday. The 2 and 3 trains stop at 125th Street on Lenox Avenue, a short walk from the door.

Arrive early and walk two blocks to the Apollo Theater on West 125th Street, where the marquee and the Walk of Fame plaques in the sidewalk make a good group photo stop. Then head south and east to Marcus Garvey Park along Mount Morris Park West, where the 1856 cast-iron fire watchtower stands on the rocky hill at the center of the park. The loop takes about 30 minutes at an easy pace.

After dinner, Lenox Avenue stays lively, and a short walk north brings the group back to 125th Street for the train. If the Thanksgiving tables are fully booked, a weekday Friendsgiving in the main room with the Chicken Tower is the closest substitute, and it costs less per head than the holiday prix fixe. For the friend who prefers a quieter evening, an early 5 pm table avoids the late-night music crowd.

Red Rooster Harlem, 310 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Thanksgiving Turkey Feast on November 26, 11 am to 10 pm, $90 per person family style, plus a $15 music cover. Parties of seven or more are booked by the events team at $105 per person. Ginny's Thanksgiving buffet is $85 per person plus a $20 cover. Chicken Tower $150 on the regular menu.