Best Ukrainian Restaurant in New York · New York, NY
Veselka — "rainbow" in Ukrainian — has anchored the corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street in the East Village since 1954, when Ukrainian refugees Volodymyr and Olha Darmochwal opened a small newsstand-and-candy shop that grew into the city's most beloved Ukrainian diner. Three generations later it's still family-run and still open around the clock.
The kitchen turns out hand-pinched pierogi, deep-red borscht, stuffed cabbage and potato pancakes to a round-the-clock crowd of students, cab drivers, artists and night-owls. In recent years it has also become a rallying point for New York's Ukrainian community.
From one East Village storefront it now reaches Grand Central, Brooklyn and beyond — but the original diner is the heart of it, and the 2026 Centurion Award winner in New York.
Each Centurion Award is a dated record tied to one year’s evaluation — earned annually, never carried over. Open a year for the full citation and verification details.
Awards run one calendar year and renew only if the business clears the bar again. Selection is by published criteria, never for sale.
Visit Veselka
This page is the standing record for Veselka (2026). It was not bought, voted on, or sponsored — only winners are published, and an award that stops holding up is revoked, not quietly removed. For hours, bookings, and live reviews, go straight to the business itself.
If you’ve put in the years, you may already clear the bar. Evaluation is free, private, and never for sale.