Sunday Dinner Near Union Square: What's Actually Open

Sunday is the one night several Italian kitchens near Union Square either close early or skip entirely, so checking hours before walking over matters more than any other night of the week. Four verified rooms currently run a normal Sunday dinner service within about a ten-minute walk of the park, with closing times ranging from 9pm to 11pm. Here’s what’s open, how late, and where the Greenmarket crowd tends to land first.

Quick Answer

Isabelle’s Osteria, Carlotto, Da Andrea and Il Cantinori all run Sunday dinner service near Union Square, with the latest kitchen — Il Cantinori — seating until 11pm. The earliest closer on this list is Carlotto, which wraps Sunday dinner at 9pm, so it’s worth booking on the early side if that’s the target.

At a Glance

• Latest Sunday seating: Il Cantinori, dinner until 11pm
• Sunday brunch and dinner both running: Da Andrea, brunch 11am–4pm, dinner 4–10pm
• Closes earliest: Carlotto, dinner 5–9pm
• Closest to the park itself: Isabelle’s Osteria, dinner 5–10pm

Why Sunday Hours Near Union Square Run Short

The Union Square Greenmarket closes by mid-afternoon on Sundays, and several restaurants in the area treat the day as a lighter shift — later opening, earlier closing, sometimes a shortened menu. It’s a different rhythm from Friday or Saturday, when kitchens run their full hours and a late table is easy to find. Sunday takes more planning, which is the reason for this list.

Sunday Dinner Near Union Square: The Four Rooms Actually Open

Carlotto

At 100 East 19th Street, a few minutes’ walk from the park, Carlotto runs Sunday dinner from 5 to 9pm. It’s a modern trattoria with pasta made daily, and the early close makes it a good pick for a Sunday dinner that still leaves the evening open.

Da Andrea

Da Andrea, at 35 West 13th Street, is one of the few in the area running both Sunday brunch and dinner — brunch from 11am to 4pm, dinner from 4 to 10pm. That overlap window in the mid-afternoon is worth knowing about if a group can’t agree on which meal to book.

Il Cantinori

Just off Union Square in NoHo at 32 East 10th Street, Il Cantinori has run Tuscan cuisine since 1983 and keeps Sunday dinner going until 11pm — the latest closing time on this list. There’s no Sunday lunch service; the kitchen opens for dinner only that day.

Isabelle’s Osteria

Isabelle’s in Gramercy Park, at 245 Park Avenue South, runs Sunday dinner from 5 to 10pm. It’s a slightly longer walk from the square itself than the other three, but it’s the closest option to the Gramercy Park side of the neighborhood, and the Aperitivo Hour that runs Monday through Friday doesn’t apply on Sundays — dinner service is straight through from 5pm.

Isabelle’s isn’t the latest closing kitchen on this list, and it’s not the closest to the park’s south side either — Carlotto and Da Andrea both edge it there. What it offers on a Sunday is a straightforward dinner room without the brunch overlap some of the others run, useful for a group that just wants a table at a normal hour. A guide to the Union Square exits breaks down walking times from each subway staircase if the starting point is the train rather than the market.

Frequently Asked Question

Do Italian restaurants near Union Square take walk-ins on Sunday nights? It depends on the room and how late it is — Il Cantinori and Da Andrea both run larger dining rooms that can sometimes seat a walk-in early in the evening, while Carlotto’s smaller space and earlier close make a reservation the safer call. None of these four publish a formal walk-in policy, so the most reliable approach is calling ahead on the day, especially if the group is larger than two. A Sunday dinner for a bigger party, like a group birthday booking near Union Square, should be locked in with a reservation regardless of the room.

Confirm hours directly with each restaurant before heading out, since Sunday schedules are the most likely to shift with the season.

Four rooms, four different Sunday rhythms — the read on all of them is the same: book ahead, and don’t assume Sunday hours match the rest of the week.

Editor’s note: Isabelle’s Osteria is affiliated with this publication. Restaurants were selected using the criteria described above.