Savor Scout › What to eat › Where to eat on Christmas Day
Where to eat on Christmas Day
Christmas Day is the day the most restaurants close, which makes finding a good open one the whole problem. The answer is well known — Chinese restaurants are famously open — but it is not the only one.
Search “open on Christmas Day, reservations, family group” →
What restaurants are open on Christmas Day?
Chinese restaurants are the best-known option, along with many Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese restaurants, hotel restaurants, some steakhouses and diners, and a number of chains. Many fine-dining restaurants offer a set Christmas menu by reservation. Hours vary every year, so check the week before.
The Chinese restaurant on Christmas is a real American tradition, rooted in the decades when they were among the few places open. It is still a great choice: full menus, big tables and food suited to sharing. Many other immigrant-run restaurants are open too, for the same reason.
Hotel restaurants and some upscale places run a set Christmas dinner, usually expensive and often fully booked weeks ahead. If you want a traditional roast with all the trimmings out, that is where to look — and when to book early.
Christmas Eve is different. Many restaurants are open with a special menu, and Italian-American restaurants sometimes serve the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
What to look for on Christmas Day:
- Confirmed holiday hours — Call or check recent updates; standard listings are unreliable.
- Reservations — Open restaurants get busy fast.
- Big tables and shared plates — Chinese and Indian menus suit family groups well.
- A festive menu, if you want one — At hotels and some restaurants.
- A backup — A second option in case of a long wait.
Try this search
Savor Scout takes a sentence rather than a category, so the criteria above can go straight into the box. For this, something like “open on Christmas Day, reservations, family group” works — it reads menus and reviews for those specific things and comes back with one place and the reasons it picked it.
Search “open on Christmas Day, reservations, family group” →
What usually goes wrong
Assuming normal hours, arriving without a booking at a popular open restaurant, and paying for an expensive Christmas menu you don't really want. If you're travelling, don't leave it until the day.
What to eat
Worth considering here: Chinese food, dim sum, Indian food, Peking duck, seafood.