Rao’s at Rusacks Stays On: New York’s Most Elusive Table Extends Its St Andrews Residency into 2027

The East Harlem institution’s first residency outside the United States has been extended at Marine & Lawn Rusacks, just as St Andrews prepares for The Open’s return to the Old Course.

For most of its history, the surest way to eat at Rao’s has been to know someone who already had a table. The Italian-American restaurant on East 114th Street, open since 1896, built its legend on scarcity: a small room, a fiercely loyal clientele and reservations that rarely, if ever, reach the open market. So when Rao’s chose its first residency outside the United States in nearly 130 years, it was always going to be somewhere with its own sense of ceremony.

It chose St Andrews. And now it is staying.

Rao’s at Rusacks, the seasonal restaurant that opened this past summer inside Marine & Lawn Rusacks, has been extended into 2027. The residency occupies One Under Bar, the hotel’s intimate subterranean room, dressed for the occasion with décor that nods to the original New York dining room. Upstairs and outside, the setting could hardly be more different from East Harlem: the hotel sits on Pilmour Links, a short walk from the 18th green of the Old Course.

A New York Room at the Home of Golf

The pairing is less unlikely than it first sounds. Rusacks was established in 1887 and is regarded as the world’s first purpose-built golf hotel; Rao’s opened nine years later. Both trade on continuity, on regulars and on rooms where little has been allowed to change. AJ Capital Partners, which owns the Marine & Lawn collection, relaunched Rusacks in 2021 after a substantial renovation that added the rooftop restaurant 18, the all-day Bridge and One Under Bar. Rao’s now gives that basement room a second identity, and one with considerably more pull.

The 2026 season ran from May through September as a dinner-only service. Those who missed it, or who return to St Andrews every year, now have a second chance.

Why the Extension Matters

The timing is not incidental. Rusacks has been named Official Hotel of the 155th Open, which returns to the Old Course in 2027. A championship summer in St Andrews compresses the town’s best tables and rooms into a handful of very contested weeks, and a restaurant with a name like Rao’s becomes a genuine reason to book a hotel rather than an amenity once you arrive.

That is the larger story for anyone watching luxury hospitality. Hotel restaurants have long struggled to compete with the independents down the street. The Rao’s residency is a sharper model: borrow a name with decades of cultural weight, give it a limited run and a defined room, and let scarcity do the marketing. It brings in diners who would never otherwise cross the lobby, and it gives a historic golf hotel something no rival on the links can replicate.

What to Order, and What to Drink

Rao’s cooking is Southern Italian by way of New York: red sauce in the old style, generous plates and dishes the family has served for generations, with the meatballs as the house’s most famous calling card. The full menu is published on the hotel’s Rao’s at Rusacks page.

This is food that asks for honest, food-friendly Italian reds rather than trophy bottles. A Chianti Classico Riserva has the acidity to stand up to tomato; a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or a Primitivo from Puglia brings the warmth that suits a long, convivial table. For something closer to the restaurant’s Southern roots, look to Aglianico from Campania or Basilicata. And after a day on the links, a Scotch from the hotel’s bar will not be out of place.

Plan Your Visit

Rao’s at Rusacks
Marine & Lawn Rusacks, Pilmour Links, St Andrews KY16 9JQ, Scotland
Reservations through the Rusacks website; booking ahead is strongly recommended, and essential in an Open year.
marineandlawn.com/rusacksstandrews