How hot are the customers at NYC’s Jewish restaurants? This website will tell you.

There are many ways to decide where to eat in NYC. You can look up reviews on Google, get recommendations from friends and critics, or just walk into the new place next door.

And now, there’s a website that can help you choose where to grab a meal based on a new metric: how attractive its customers are.

LooksMapping, a website created by a San Francisco-based programmer, helps its users “see which restaurants have the most attractive diners — according to AI!” as its tagline goes. Riley Walz, 22, created the site by using artificial intelligence to scrape data from some 2.8 million Google Maps reviews. LooksMapping then uses the information to rate some 9,800 restaurants in New York — as well as in Los Angeles and San Francisco — across three values: from hot to not, young to old and ratio of female to male customers.

Naturally, when the New York Jewish Week found out about this website, we immediately typed in the names of a bunch of Jewish, Israeli and kosher restaurants to see what LooksMapping had to say about how hot the customers are at some of the city’s best-known Jewish establishments.

The results were rather mixed. Some Jewish restaurants, like the famous Katz’s Delicatessen on the Lower East Side, garnered an 8.1 rating out of 10 — and is therefore an undeniably “hot” spot. But most of the Jewish restaurants on LooksMapping seem to fall into a 5-6 range on the 10-point scale, and no Jewish restaurant made it to the tippy-top of the list, where East Village spots like Salma, a Lebanese restaurant, and 11 Tigers, a Thai spot, both received a 10/10. 

The list is not comprehensive. Only Manhattan restaurants have been “looksmapped,” and many well-known spots weren’t included, such as popular SoHo Israeli restaurant 12 Chairs and the iconic 2nd Avenue Deli.

Some observers have criticized the website for its racial bias. In the world of LooksMapping, a red marker means hot, a white marker is neutral, and a blue mark means not hot — and critics have pointed out that many of the “blue” restaurants appear in lower income, more racially diverse neighborhoods uptown.

Speaking to The New York Times last month, Walz noted that the data scraper is not necessarily precise, calling the way the AI model scored attractiveness was “admittedly a bit janky.” 

“It’s making fun of AI,” Walz added. “One of the ugliest restaurants is a country club.”

The website acknowledges its jankiness. “The model is certainly biased,” it reads. “It’s certainly flawed. But we judge places by the people who go there. We always have. And are we not also flawed? This website just puts reductive numbers on the superficial calculations we make every day. A mirror held up to our collective vanity.”

If you’re looking to grab a meal at a Jewish restaurant among a bunch of hotties — or not — take a look at some of the results in the Big Apple, below, from most hot to the least.

Essex: 9.9/10

124 Rivington St., Lower East Side

This Lower East Side eatery is located in the former home of Schapiro’s Winery, which was the city’s last kosher winery as well as a former bootleg alcohol operation during the Prohibition.

The contemporary restaurant, which pays tribute to its Jewish history on its website, also boasts late-night parties with DJs, happy hour specials, bottomless brunch and, according to LooksMapping, some of the hottest diners you can find in the city.

Katz’s Deli 8.1/10

205 East Houston St., Lower East Side

There’s nothing better than a pastrami sandwich from Katz’s — except, maybe, eating it in the company of a particularly good-looking crowd.

Founded in 1888, the famed deli is known for many things: their pricey but gravity-defying sandwiches; their World War II-era slogan, “Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army,” and that scene in “When Harry Met Sally.” Katz’s Deli aired its first-ever commercial last fall, created by “New York Nico” Nick Heller, and featuring Dave Roffe of lifestyle brand Old Jewish Men.

Long lines outside of Katz’s provide ample opportunity to mix and mingle, if that’s your cup of tea — I mean, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda.

Miznon: 7.3/10

435 West 15th St., Chelsea

Israeli celebrity chef Eyal Shani’s opened his first restaurant in New York as a Chelsea Market outpost of his fast-casual pita chain, Miznon. The eatery quickly became a popular spot, known for its whole roasted cauliflower.

Since opening Miznon in 2018, Shani has gone on to open several restaurants in the city, including the Michelin-starred Shmoné, kosher spot Malka on the Upper West Side and in Brooklyn, and three additional Miznon locations.

In January 2024, Miznon’s Times Square location became kosher. So far, the only Shani spot on LooksMapping is the original Miznon in Chelsea. With a rating of 7.3 out of 10, this Miznon may not be kosher certified, but it’s definitely hottie certified!

UN Plaza Grill: 6.4/10

845 United Nations Plaza, Midtown East

International relations is the theme of the UN Plaza Grill, a well-reviewed kosher steakhouse that also serves Japanese cuisine.

Opened in 2017 as “kind of a hobby” by businessman Albert Gad, UN Plaza Grill is located on the ground floor of Gad’s former apartment building. After years of ordering sushi from a restaurant on the ground floor, Gad was disheartened when the restaurant went out of business — and was inspired to open his own kosher restaurant there. (Gad moved to Miami during the COVID pandemic in 2020, and the restaurant’s culinary director, Inés Chattas, who is also based in Miami, flies in to New York every few weeks to check in on the kitchen.)

As for the diners here, with a 6.4 rating, they’re apparently hotter than average.

Russ & Daughters Café: 4.7/10

27 Orchard St., Lower East Side

Ranking just below average in hotness is Russ & Daughters Café, the sit-down restaurant that opened in 2014 as an offshoot of the historic appetizing spot Russ & Daughters on Houston Street.

Named for founder Joel Russ and his three daughters — Hattie, Ida and Anne — Russ & Daughters, which opened in 1914, was the first business in the United States to have “& Daughters” as part of its name. The business is now run by fourth-generation owners and cousins Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman.

Russ & Daughters Café doesn’t take reservations and doesn’t do takeout. There may be a wait, but with iconic old-school dishes like “schmaltz and a shot,” we think it’s worth it — even if the other customers aren’t ranked among the hottest of the hot. While you wait, there’s plenty of other Jewish businesses on Orchard Street to explore.

Tsion Café: 4.2/10

763 St Nicholas Ave., Harlem

Sugar Hill’s Tsion Café, which opened in 2014, became certified kosher and vegan in early 2024. Owner Beejhy Barhany, who was featured in our 2024 36 to Watch, released her first cookbook in April, inspired by her Ethiopian-Israeli upbringing.

The slightly subterranean spot is the former home of Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, a famous Harlem eatery and jazz club that was frequented by Malcolm X and comedian Redd Foxx, where jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker Jr. washed dishes before his big break.

Despite this iconic history, Tsion Cafe’s hotness ranking is somewhat low. Nonetheless, we can confirm that the food here is both tasty and beautiful.

Chop Chop: 4/10

501 West 184th St., Washington Heights

Located across the street from Modern Orthodox flagship Yeshiva University, serves fast, pan-Asian food, with dishes like sushi, Mongolian beef and udon that draw on Chinese, Thai and Japanese cuisines.

While their LooksMapping review is low, Google Reviews, Yelp and TripAdvisor suggest the people who dine there do enjoy their meals, and with a two-mile free-delivery radius, it’s a great option for many kosher-keeping New Yorkers.

Deli Kasbah AKA Kasbah Grill: 3.9/10

251 West 85th St., Upper West Side

Kasbah Grill may not have a particularly high rating on LooksMapping, but it remains a popular spot for a variety of kosher meat dishes, including burgers, grilled meats, steaks and sandwiches.

Pro tip: If you give a d’var Torah — a short talk on the week’s Torah portion — to your server, the restaurant will give you a free dessert. Now that’s hot.

With additional reporting by Noa Yolkut