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Son Cubano is that restaurant and bar you go to with your co-workers after a long week of fast, hard-core paper-shuffling. On the Meatpacking District's main cobblestone drag, the colorfully tiled Havana-inspired nightspot is itself a kind of meat market: young professionals in pinstripes and halter tops, distressed denim and pricey T-shirts crowd the restaurant's mahogany bar and cavernous dining hall, straining their vocal chords above live conga-accented Cuban music. It's also the kind of place you go when you're not sure you'll be able to sustain a conversation with your partner (internet daters, take note). It's not, however, the type of place where you hoard a lonely entrée to yourself. The restaurant's many Latin-themed tapitas are made to share—and to accompany its mint-speckled mojitos and fruit-adorned sangrias. Pulpo a la Cuban (spicy grilled octopus) is tender and coated in a smoky chile sauce. Under the sultry glow of candles and bubbled-glass lanterns, you won't have to ask twice for another drink from the attentive bartenders. But if you do, just use body language. — Colleen McKinney

Ceviche del día, $15