"If you despise birthday attention but were coerced into a celebration by someone who unconditionally loves you, it’s probably best not to fight it at this point. Rounding up five more folks, some pies, and a bottle of natural bubbles at Delancey is the perfect way to slap together a low-key evening that’s way better than staying home with a sad candle-jabbed Safeway cupcake. Since they only take reservations for parties of six or more, it makes last-minute planning easy. Plus, Delancey’s charred pizzas and mountainous salads are easily shareable, and a freshly baked chocolate chunk cookie loaded with salt flakes is the greatest no-big-deal birthday dessert you could ever ask for. Delancey is primarily a walk-in restaurant, but it has a limited number of reservations for parties of less than six Tuesday through Thursday, and larger group reservations every night. For the latter, choose either 5:30pm or 7:30pm (or 5pm and 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays). Weekends can be dicier, but if you plan two weeks in advance, you'll be eating pizza before you know it, as all of the date-night couples wait outside sniffing your pepperoni in jealousy." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley