Straker's Took Over the Lucky Strike Corner. Here's How Anyone Actually Gets a Table

"Get here at 5 p.m." Brock Heath, general manager of Straker's NYC, gave that advice to Resy when asked how to get a table at the most requested room in SoHo. He was describing a restaurant whose online reservations disappear within seconds. His answer also means the restaurant is easiest to reach for anyone who can be on the corner of Grand Street and West Broadway in the late afternoon. Over the past two months, several new restaurants have opened within a short walk of that corner, so a walk-in that fails no longer ends your evening.

The door opens before the reservations do

Straker's opened on Saturday, October 10, at 59 Grand Street at West Broadway. It is the first U.S. restaurant from Thomas Straker, the London chef best known for viral cooking videos and his butter. It's open every day from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

That first hour is the opening for walk-ins. Heath told Resy that guests who arrive at 5 p.m. get seated at the bar "to the best of our ability," and the bar runs as walk-in seating for about an hour before booked tables start arriving. He also gave a sense of the odds. On one recent evening, about 20 people were waiting at the door and he could seat 10 of them.

He mentioned something else for people who show up early. Some guests arrived around 2 p.m. and kept asking, and if the staff is "in the right mood," he said, they will put the table in the book for later. His advice to the Resy interviewer was to be patient and polite, and he added that the restaurant does not take bribes.

Why the app is the long way in

Reservations open two weeks ahead, at midnight. In late October, Heath described them filling "within seconds. Absolutely immediately." He put the waitlist at roughly 30,000 to 35,000 people.

Resy Notify is turned on, and Heath said about 5,000 people had signed up for each day, with the number still rising. He also said the alert works less well than usual, because so many requests also come in through email and concierge teams. When asked whether many people cancel, he said they don't.

That means thousands of people are watching the same app for very few cancellations. At the front door, by contrast, half the line got a seat on the night Heath described.

An evening at 59 Grand, by the clock

Heath's interview lays out the whole evening:

1. 5 p.m. The doors open and walk-ins fill the bar for about an hour before booked tables start arriving.
2. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. These are the peak hours, which Heath called "the classic" prime-time window.
3. Mid-evening. People linger at their tables. Heath asks guests to be patient if they end up waiting 20 minutes for their table.
4. 11 p.m. On the night before his interview, Heath said, they "sat the entire space at 11 p.m. again."

Both ends of the evening matter. At 5 p.m. the bar is open to whoever is first in line, and at 11 p.m. the dining room is full all over again.

What 59 Grand Street remembers

Before Straker's, the corner belonged to Keith McNally's Lucky Strike, which ran in SoHo for 31 years before closing in 2020, Eater reported. Straker told Eater NY that he knew he wanted the space as soon as he walked in. The deal took about six months, and he signed the lease in April 2025.

The build went past plan. In the same Eater interview, Straker said the project ran 12 months late and about $2 million over budget. His team took out the old kitchen and added an open kitchen and an open bar. Post Company designed the interiors, working from the look of the London restaurant and with what Straker called "nods to Lucky Strike."

You'll see those nods throughout the room. There is a cocktail named Lucky Strike in honor of the old restaurant. Heath calls the back-left dining room's table nine "legendary," says it is Straker's favorite, and told Resy it has already been the setting for photos that include Keith McNally himself. At the entrance, a doorman stands at a heavy curtain and gives his name only to guests with reservations. Inside the curtain you see the open kitchen and the artwork.

What to order once you're at the bar

Straker told Eater that the mussel flatbread is the one dish he was sure to bring over from London. It uses a 48-hour cold-ferment dough topped with mussels and a chile butter made from the reduced cooking stock, and it is baked in the wood oven. Heath's list adds the anchovy crostini, the langoustines, and a lamb skewer made with Australian lamb, which he said was the top-selling dish when he spoke to Resy.

Chef Luka Coyne runs the kitchen. Straker said the menu would follow the London structure almost unchanged, and that he hoped to use fish caught on this coast. He also mentioned visiting dairy farms in Connecticut. The wine list pours Krug by the glass and includes an English sparkling wine. On the cocktail list, Heath's favorite is the Sicilian 59, a melon-based drink.

When the door says no

The 5 p.m. strategy is a reasonable bet because the area around Straker's filled in with new restaurants this fall. These are within a short walk of 59 Grand:

Good Company is just up West Broadway. Chef Robert Sieber previously cooked at Jungsik and at Montauk's Surf Lodge. Eater NY lists focaccia toast with pimento goat cheese and pickled celery, wagyu French dip sliders, burgers, and a build-your-own banana split. Eater also reported plans for an espresso martini with labneh foam. An Invited NYC report says it's open Tuesday through Sunday and takes reservations on Resy.

Kythira's schedule fits well with a 5 p.m. try at Straker's. According to the restaurant's website, it opens at 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and stays open until 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday it's open from 3 to 9 p.m. Reservations go through OpenTable. This is Poulmentis's first solo restaurant, and Eater NY describes a seafood-heavy menu with ceviche, oysters, and stuffed calamari, along with spinach pies, goat cheese gnocchi, lamb chops, and a vegetarian moussaka. OpenTable lists the price range as $50 and over.

A little farther north, two more fall openings give you other options. Romy opened Tuesday, September 22, at 199 Prince Street in the former Little Prince space. Eater describes it as a steakhouse with a supper-club feel, caviar service, and an Italian-leaning menu from chef Lucrezia Stella. La Salumeria Soho, from chef Salvo Lo Castro of neighboring Casasalvo, opened Friday, September 25, at 195 Spring Street. It's listed as open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with Italian wine, aperitivi, and cheese tastings.

On a typical evening, that leaves you with two backups near 59 Grand: Good Company on West Broadway and Kythira, which is already open by the time Straker's lets in its first walk-ins.

At The Saez + Fromm Team, we keep track of how downtown is changing block by block, from who takes over a storied corner to how its new neighbors fill in around it. If you'd like that local knowledge behind your own plans in SoHo, Request a Private Consultation.