The best dessert spots in NYC in 2026 are Lady M for its mille crêpes cake, Serendipity 3 for frozen hot chocolate, Magnolia Bakery for banana pudding, and Black Tap for over-the-top milkshakes. Lysée in Flatiron does elegant French-Korean pastries, and Spot Dessert Bar inventive Asian-fusion plates.
For specific sweets, see our guides to cheesecake, donuts, cookies, ice cream and bakeries.
Its delicate mille crêpes cake has fans around the world.
Lady M's signature cake stacks twenty paper-thin crêpes with light pastry cream; the Upper East Side boutique is the original.
Good to know: Try the green tea mille crêpes alongside the signature.
41 E 78th St, New York, NY 10075
The whimsical parlor famous for frozen hot chocolate.
Serendipity 3 has been serving its frozen hot chocolate and outsized sundaes since 1954 in a playful, Tiffany-lamp-filled room near Bloomingdale's.
Good to know: Book ahead and share — the portions are huge.
225 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022
The banana pudding and cupcakes made famous by Sex and the City.
Magnolia's original Bleecker Street bakery became world-famous for its cupcakes, but its banana pudding is the real star.
Good to know: Get the banana pudding to go and eat it on a bench in nearby Abingdon Square.
401 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014
The wildly over-the-top CrazyShake milkshakes.
Black Tap's CrazyShakes — milkshakes piled with cake, candy and cotton candy — became an Instagram sensation and remain a fun splurge.
Good to know: One shake easily feeds two.
529 Broome St, New York, NY 10013
Asian-fusion plated desserts, like the chocolate 'Golden Toast'.
Spot Dessert Bar serves creative plated desserts with Asian flavors — matcha lava cake, Thai tea crème brûlée and its famous honey toast.
Good to know: A good late-evening stop on St. Marks Place.
13 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003
Exquisite French-Korean pastries that look like sculpture.
Pastry chef Eunji Lee's Lysée makes precise, beautiful French pastries with Korean influences — including a famous corn-shaped pastry.
Good to know: Some pastries sell out; go earlier in the day.
44 E 21st St, New York, NY 10010
It's strongly recommended — Serendipity 3 is small and very popular with visitors, especially on weekends and holidays.