lines.nyc

Stand
in line.

NYC's only guide to the city's longest, most pointless, most somehow-still-worth-it food lines. Updated never.

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Radio Bakery Mango Croissant: 3 hrs/ Pop Up Bagel: 45 min (for a bag)/ Levain Cookies: 30 min/ Prince St Pizza: 25 min/ Thai Diner Khao Soi: 1.5 hrs/ Scarr's Pizza: 20 min/ Dominique Ansel Cronut: 50 min/ Los Tacos No.1: 22 min/ Radio Bakery Mango Croissant: 3 hrs/ Pop Up Bagel: 45 min (for a bag)/ Levain Cookies: 30 min/ Prince St Pizza: 25 min/ Thai Diner Khao Soi: 1.5 hrs/ Scarr's Pizza: 20 min/ Dominique Ansel Cronut: 50 min/ Los Tacos No.1: 22 min/
Line Density

The heatmap.

Average line intensity by neighborhood and day. Red means you're not getting brunch. You're just standing near brunch.

Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
SoHo
W'burg
LES
UWS
C'town
Midtown
Chill
Unhinged
The Lines

What you're standing for.

These are the lines that define a generation of New Yorkers who could have just eaten something else.

Radio Bakery

Greenpoint
Mango Croissant
3 hrs
vs
Everything Else
10 min
Same bakery. Same register. One item turned the whole operation into a Supreme drop. The other croissants are also great. Nobody cares.
Bagels
Bagels

Pop Up Bagel

Grand Central / UWS / Nomad

Australian-style bagels. Unsliced. You schmear your own. Somehow there's still a 45-minute line for someone to hand you a bag. The bagels come out round and shiny and people lose their minds. New York invented the bagel and now we wait in line for the remix.

45 min avg
Croissants
Pastry

Dominique Ansel

SoHo

The Cronut™ started it all. A decade later, people still line up before the bakery opens for a laminated ring of dough that costs $7 and generates $7,000 in content. The rest of the menu is world-class. No one notices.

50 min avg
Pizza slice
Pizza

Prince Street Pizza

Nolita

The spicy spring pepperoni square. Crispy, cupped, greasy, perfect. The line snakes past three other pizza places that are also good but don't have a line, which means they can't be as good. Line logic.

25 min avg
Cookies
Cookies

Levain Bakery

Upper West Side / Multiple

Six-ounce cookies that are technically underbaked and spiritually perfect. The line used to be the whole experience. Now there are multiple locations, but the original still has a line because that's just how the UWS works.

30 min avg
Optimization

Maximum line coverage.

Most New Yorkers waste hours not standing in line. Here's how to ensure you're almost always in one.

The Dawn Patrol

Start at Radio Bakery Greenpoint by 6:30am for the mango croissant. You'll be in line before most people set an alarm. This is your base layer. Three hours of standing before the day even begins.

6:30 am start

The Midmorning Pivot

Mango croissant secured by 9:30am. Walk to Pop Up Bagel for a 10am arrival. Line's already formed. You can eat the croissant while you wait for someone to hand you an unsliced bagel in a bag.

45 min overlay

The Lunch Sprint

Prince Street Pizza by 11:30. The pepperoni square line builds fast. This is a quick 25-min turnaround. You're now on a three-line streak. The line gods see you.

3 lines by noon

The Victory Lap

Subway to UWS. Levain by 1pm. 30-minute cookie line. You'll eat a 6-ounce cookie having already consumed a croissant, a bagel, and a pizza square. You've spent more time in lines today than most people spend at work. You've won.

6.5 hrs in lines total
Saturday Protocol

Your ideal Saturday.

A fully optimized day where you eat four things and stand for six and a half hours. Peak New York.

6:30a

Arrive at Radio Bakery

Join the mango croissant line. It's already 40 people deep. You knew this. You came anyway.

3 hrs
9:30a

Croissant acquired

Eat it on the walk to Pop Up Bagel. It is very good. You photograph it from four angles.

—
10:00a

Pop Up Bagel line

Join the queue. Receive a bag with an unsliced bagel. Schmear it yourself on a bench like a pioneer.

45 min
11:15a

Walk to Prince St Pizza

The spicy spring square. Line wraps past the door. Three other pizza places nearby have zero line. You ignore them.

25 min
12:00p

Subway to UWS

You've eaten three things. You're taking the 1 train uptown for a cookie. This is your life now.

—
1:00p

Levain Bakery

The final line. 6-ounce cookie. You are full. You eat it anyway. You post it. 4 lines. 6.5 hours. Saturday.

30 min

Skip the line.

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