Tucked into Manhattan’s Flatiron district, Sagaponack feels like the kind of restaurant New Yorkers wish they discovered sooner. The room hums with energy without trying too hard, featuring warm lighting, plates moving quickly across crowded tables, oysters arriving cold over crushed ice, and the smell of seafood and charcoal drifting out from the kitchen. It’s polished without feeling formal. The kind of place where dinner effortlessly turns into a long night.
Sagaponack has been serving Flatiron for more than a decade, named after the Hamptons town that inspired its original vision of relaxed coastal dining centered around seafood. In 2020, a new team led by Executive Chef Philip Choy and partner Kyungil Lee brought fresh energy to the restaurant, reimagining the menu through a blend of Mediterranean seafood traditions and subtle Asian influences.
Today, Sagaponack is known for elevated takes on beachfront classics. Think oysters, lobster rolls, seafood towers, and signature dishes like the surf & turf burger, all crafted with ingredients sourced from trusted local purveyors. A standout on the menu is the Peeko oyster from Long Island, prized for its bright brininess and clean finish. At Sagaponack, quality drives every part of the experience, creating a restaurant that feels both polished and deeply connected to the waters surrounding New York. Everything feels designed for the middle of the table, where food is meant to be passed around and eaten slowly with friends or family.
What makes Sagaponack stand out is how approachable the experience feels despite the level of cooking behind it. The restaurant offers one of the more accessible tasting menus in New York City, while still delivering the kind of detail and technical execution you would expect from far more formal dining rooms. There’s ambition in the food, but never stiffness.
That balance comes directly from Executive Chef Philip Choy and partner Kyungil Lee, who have built Sagaponack around the idea that excellent seafood should feel exciting and welcoming all at once—while always maintaining high quality standards.
For us at Billion Oyster Project, restaurants like Sagaponack matter because they understand that seafood culture and harbor culture are deeply connected. Through our shell recycling program, oyster shells from Sagaponack are collected and returned to New York Harbor, where they become the foundation for new oyster reefs across the city. It’s a full-circle relationship. The oysters enjoyed at dinner eventually help rebuild habitat, support marine life, and strengthen the ecological systems surrounding New York itself.
That commitment feels aligned with the larger spirit of Sagaponack. There’s a real respect for seafood here. Not just in how it’s prepared, but in how it’s sourced, shared, and understood as part of a larger ecosystem that sustains us. The restaurant manages to feel modern and energetic while still grounded in something deeper: a genuine appreciation for the waters and communities that make great seafood possible in the first place. At Sagaponack, oysters are part of a much larger story connected to New York Harbor itself.
Want to eat at Sagaponack? Book a reservation now!
A thriving reef cluster, building habitat for generations
