Israeli Restaurant Near Me in Hudson Square: Port Sa'id's Vinyl-Soundtracked Dinners

Port Sa'id prints a new menu every night, and the bottom of the sheet names the DJ spinning vinyl that evening. Eyal Shani's Tel Aviv restaurant opened its New York branch on July 12, 2023, and serves dinner Monday to Saturday from 5 pm at 88 King Street, New York, NY 10014, in Hudson Square. Walk-ins are welcome, and Resy shows bar and dining room seats open through late October 2026. For an israeli restaurant near me between Tribeca and the West Village, this is the loud, generous option.

The restaurant sits on the ground floor of 350 Hudson Street, but the address you want is 88 King Street, where Resy lists the cross streets as Hudson and King. Hudson Square is the pocket of former printing buildings where Tribeca, SoHo and the West Village meet, and after office hours the blocks go quiet. The nearest subway is the Houston Street stop on the 1 train at Varick Street; the C and E stop at Spring Street works too.

Inside, the space is far bigger than the entrance suggests. The opening press described a 4,000-square-foot room with a central dining area, a dedicated bar and a listening station, and the events page says the restaurant seats up to 160 people, or about 350 standing. The Infatuation describes brown butcher paper over every table, a very long bar and a DJ booth flanked by enormous speakers.

The original Port Sa'id opened in Tel Aviv more than a decade before the New York branch, in an open-air courtyard beside the city's Great Synagogue, according to the New York Jewish Week's 2023 report. It became known for a menu that changes daily, a huge vinyl collection and a rotating cast of DJs. Time Out Israel called it possibly the coolest spot in Tel Aviv, and New York was built to copy that late-night energy indoors.

Eyal Shani was born in Jerusalem in 1959 and opened his first restaurant, Oceanus, there in 1989. His New York group now includes Miznon, HaSalon and the Michelin-starred Shmoné. The daily menu credits Dan Goldenberg as restaurateur and Shani as the inspiration, while the kitchen belongs to head chef Victor Gothelf. Gothelf grew up in Gedera, Israel, took his first restaurant job at 13 and cooked at North Miznon before taking over Port Sa'id NYC in 2023.

Gothelf describes a Jewish-Moroccan-Greek-Polish family whose Shabbat dinners fed 40 people, and he says that heritage shows up on the plate, matbucha included. The room itself was designed by Sight Specific, the studio of Dror Sher and Tal Friedland Sher, which mixes vintage pieces with custom furniture. The sound system was hand built by One A Way, an audio studio that makes custom speakers, and daily selectors play anything from ambient and modern classical to candlelit jazz.

The menu is printed in Comic Sans and reads like poetry: vegetables are 'Vegetable Creatures,' fish are 'Ocean Creatures.' Start with Hummus Gargarim, served with soft challah, whole chickpeas and two kinds of tomato seed mixture. Add the Burning Potato, a baked potato under crème fraîche, cracked black pepper and horseradish. The Infatuation points out that it does not actually arrive burning, but it is one of the best baked potatoes in town.

The Bread Salad mixes sourdough 'rocks' with roasted tomatoes and herbs 'from the mountains of Jerusalem,' and a 2025 review in The Knockturnal said it was bright enough to share. The Charred Beetroot Carpaccio comes with horseradish snow and crème fraîche. The Infatuation skipped it until its third visit and then called it unreasonably good. For meat, the Juicy Lamb Kebab comes with tahini, spicy pepper, charred tomatoes and onions.

The showpiece is the roasted branzino, listed under the name 'And if I'm not wrong, it's the best Branzino I've ever eaten.' It reaches the table on fire, with crisp skin over a bed of charred onions, and heads turn across the room. One honest skip for couples: the Lamb and Roots is a slow-roasted dish the menu marks as good for two people, and ordering it leaves little room for the vegetable plates, which are the real reason to come.

The staff push the Tatami for dessert, which the menu says is not tiramisu: a chocolate cookie base sits under a coffee-soaked cream layer. Vegan malabi and Basque cheesecake are also on the list. On the drinks list, the Arak Mojito, with arak, mint and lemon, and the Sumagarita, made with tequila and sumac-infused syrup, lean most Israeli. Domaine du Castel's Haute Judée bottles, labeled Jerusalem, represent Israel on the wine list.

Port Sa'id takes reservations on Resy and keeps space for walk-ins. When you book, you can choose between a Dining Room table and a Bar Counter seat, but the restaurant warns that table types are not guaranteed. Tables are held for two to two and a half hours depending on party size, and late cancellations, under 12 hours before, carry a per-person fee. On weeknights the last Resy slots fall around 8:45 pm; Fridays and Saturdays run until about 10:15 pm.

Big groups are the core crowd here, and Resy files the restaurant under Good for Groups. Groups of ten or more must email contact@portsaidnyc.com to book and are served a family-style prix-fixe menu chosen by the head chef, with up to 16 guests at one table. You can bring wine, with a corkage fee and a two-bottle limit, and a cake, with a cake-cutting fee per group. Private events use the Parlor for 30 to 70 guests or the Listening Bar for 15 to 30.

The cheapest way in is Happy Hour, Monday to Friday from 5 to 7 pm in the Listening Room, with buy-one-get-one beer and wine by the glass and an à la carte bar menu, which is when people come straight from work. Weeknight hours end at 10 pm Monday to Wednesday and 11 pm on Thursday, so for a full night of records come Friday or Saturday, when the kitchen stays open until midnight.

If every table is booked and the bar is three deep, do not wait. Walk about 20 minutes northeast to Kubeh on Sixth Avenue between West 11th and West 12th streets, where chef-owner Melanie Shurka serves Kurdish, Iraqi and Syrian dumplings with an Israeli and Persian flair, and Resy showed open tables the same week. Kubeh plans about 90 minutes per reservation, so it also suits a quicker, quieter dinner if the DJ volume at Port Sa'id is more party than you wanted.

The Ear Inn on Spring Street is a five-minute walk south and gives its founding year as 1817 on its website. It is open daily from noon to 4 am, so it works for an early beer before a 5 pm table or a last round after Port Sa'id closes. Its website keeps a music schedule, so the evening can stay on a soundtrack after the vinyl at Port Sa'id stops.

Film Forum, the cinema on West Houston Street just west of Sixth Avenue, is the other easy pairing, about ten minutes on foot along Houston. Because Port Sa'id holds tables for up to two and a half hours, the simplest plan is an early film followed by a Friday or Saturday table, when the kitchen runs until midnight and the DJ has warmed up.

Port Sa'id, 88 King Street (inside 350 Hudson Street), New York, NY 10014, in Hudson Square. Dinner Monday to Wednesday 5 pm to 10 pm, Thursday 5 pm to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday 5 pm to midnight, closed Sunday. Reservations on Resy, walk-ins welcome. Happy Hour Monday to Friday 5 to 7 pm in the Listening Room. Bar Counter or Dining Room seating on request, tables held two to two and a half hours, groups of ten or more by email.