The Rooftop at The Rockaway Hotel — Restaurant in New York

My team and I produced a small rooftop event with the help of The Roof At The Rockaway staff, and it was AMAZING.

🍣🍹Starting with the food/drink: The food is a fusion of mostly small handheld bites with an Asian influence. The food was fresh and delicious- definitely get the crunchy tuna if you’re a fish fan! The drinks were killer, really enjoyed their selection. No beer on tap but they had perfect seaside options and really tasty cocktails. I particularly enjoyed the “Shark Bite” - A spicy tequila cocktail with tajin. 🦈✨

👥👥 Now for the real heart of this spot, the Staff: The Director, Tara, could not be more lovely and efficient. She made sure that we had the most ideal set up, and worked with us on everything we needed, including a city view and turning down music in our segmented location to support our particular needs. Carla front of house supported with all of my questions, orders and helped me to field all incoming guests, treating them with so much kindness. She helped immensely as we rolled through the night. There were two servers that helped also helped us order and get food out while still managing the rest of the restaurant- not a single mistake or issue the whole night!! They were fantastic (I am sorry I forget their names!!). WOW, what an awesome serving staff. Last but certainly NOT least, Jenna and Manny at the bar absolutely CRUSHED it. We had a lot of people, and organizing an event with a drink limit is never any easy task 😂😅 When we ran into a snag on our end, they jumped in and helped, kept us well informed and made sure all our needs were not just met, but exceeded. And the drinks remained quality the entire time.

Most local, close knit vibes are reserved for the curbs bellied up to their respective establishments. It’s not often in Manhattan or any adjacent rooftop bar with a high end atmosphere, that you get an emotionally local experience. Although I reside in Astoria, I felt like a neighbor and a friend at The Roof At The Rockaway. I will undoubtedly be back with friends/family or for a weekend getaway. Either way, this spot will be a guaranteed incredible time and a must-visit.

Thanks again to The Roof team!!! Excellent work; I’m excited to see you again...

My husband and I live in central/ northern Queens and never really venture to the Rockaways. When we had an out-of-town guest from Chicago, I thought we she might appreciate seeing the ocean as Chi-town only has their lake. We were not disappointed. Restaurant was GREAT about reservations and communicating ahead of time. They called me because my online reservation conflicted with a private party; they also texted beforehand and so I was able to ask about parking valet use. The parking valet is KEY if you visit in summer because everyone is driving to the beach and looking for parking. Valet was about $30 but worth it. The Hotel is beautiful, clean with fun-yet-elegant decor. The rooftop is really stunning though with both bay and ocean sides for sitting, eating and drinking. The ocean side is very windy and not covered. The bay side also looked like it had more comfortable chairs but we only sat on the ocean side and indoors. We ordered the shrimp cocktail, and the guac and chips for appetizers. Shrimp was amazing and I wish we had tried the other seafood! (We make guac at home so I am hard-to-impress with that but their chips are homemade at the Rooftop, which was a nice touch and yummy.) For entrees, my husband had the carnitas soft tacos and my friend and I both ordered flatbreads. All good but I think this place might have great seafood so we will have to be back to try more of the Raw Bar. All of us LOVED our drinks: Shark Bite and EZ Pass are best. Waitress explained that these two favorites made it over from the old drink menu. EZ Pass is a soft purple -so pretty and instagram-able, but Shark Bite is made with tequila and more savory so that was my fav. Overall is was a bit over $300 for 3 people to eat, drink, explore cool art, and get parking included. Keep in mind you could park here and do the beach during the day while using this place as your lunch and dinner chillax spot for when the sun gets too strong. We saw people coming in right off the beach in flips flops and cut-off's. There was a few bachelorette parties too. I can't recommend enough for a fun urban summertime that is a break from Manhattan but still brings that classy,...

A friend suggested we meet here for drinks—and we ended up staying for 5 hours! That should tell you something. The service is truly top tier. When we arrived, the place was mellow with just a few people, but as the night picked up and the crowd rolled in and the staff didn’t miss a beat.

Our server, Katie, was phenomenal—warm, attentive, and made excellent recommendations. She read the room (and us!) perfectly. Knew when to chat and when to give us space. That’s the mark of a pro.

Patrick, the manager, was incredibly accommodating. When a dish didn’t quite hit, he spotted it immediately, took it off the bill without hesitation, and had a replacement brought up from the restaurant downstairs. That’s top-tier hospitality.

Even the hostess greeted us like we were old friends, and the busboy was friendly as well. Lately hospitality workers try and make you feel like it’s a privilege to be there. The Rooftop reminded me of New York in the early 2000s Everyone was happy to be there and everyone understood the vibes!

Later in the evening, a DJ came on and started with old school R&B then picked up the pace and kept the energy high. Looking around, everyone was dancing, laughing, vibing. It felt good.

The rooftop view is lovely with a nice ocean breeze. The drinks were well-balanced and flavorful. We tried the furikake dip with house chips, miso avocado, tuna crispy rice, bao buns, and wings—everything was fresh, full of flavor, and perfectly cooked. I even brought home a Margie’s Burger for my daughter and she devoured it.

Special shoutout to Glen—he set the gold standard in hospitality. Truly.

There are thousands of places to go in NYC, and I try new ones often. But great energy and service like this? That’s what makes me a regular.

Go. It’s...