Tulips

Celebrating daughter's 18th birthday in New York City. Can you recommend a fabulous restaurant for dinner? Somewhere trendy, with great food, and good atmosphere.
Any recommendations on cool shops for 18-year olds, would be also welcome. Or even a personal shopper, who knows the best and newest places to be. She likes clothes, shoes and bags

Aduchamp1

There are a number of owner/designer shops in the East Village, especially on East 9th Between 2nd Ave and Ave A.

bspielman

Cuisine? Cost? Location?

Skiergirl

The best personal shopper is Kimberly Garrett from Plush Fashion styling.
http://plushfashionstyling.com/

Go to Buddakan but call way ahead of time for a reservation.

One new shop I really like is Aritizia which is a Canadian store that just opened in Soho. It's a chain but they have cool brands like JBrand, Citizens, Seven Jeans, etc.

There is a great stretch of boutiques on 3rd Avenue between 73rd and 80th Street. Big Drop, Scoop, Anik, National Jean Company, Precision, and Searle are all up there.

nytraveler

Buddakan is sort of traditional trendy - but should satisfy most 18 year olds - esp if they are not from New York. (Real trendy changes about every 3 months.)

For other choices knowing your budget and cuisines you like/dislike would help.

Tulips

We were looking at Buddakan, and maybe Spice Market. We're from Belgium, so prefer something unique to New York. We wouldn't go to a French restaurant in NYC, plenty of that at home. We like Asian food, but also steak houses and burgers. You just cannot get a steak here, like the ones in the US.
Don't really have a budget, but would not go for 'michelin star' type cuisine in NYC.

Thanks for the tips on shopping. The personal shopper looks fantastic!

nytraveler

Well Buddakan would be about $250 for dinner for 3 - assuming you do appetizer, main course, dessert and coffee. This includes tax and 20% tip but not any drinks or wine. '

And you do need to be aware that in the US 18 year olds are not allowed to drink - not even wine or beer - you have to be 21 to imbibe, or else have fake ID. (My daughters had the latter since we don't agree with this regulation - esp since they didn't have cars and couldn't drink and drive - the reasons the law was passed to begin with.) And restaurants are very serious about this - since an infraction can mean loss of their liquor license - a big part of their profits.

Tulips

We know about the drinking age in the US; here in Belgium it is 16. It's not a problem at all that she cannot drink in NY, but not allowing people to drink wine until they're 21 is very odd to Europeans.

Thank you for the recommendations; 250 dollars for 3 is actually not bad, compared to the cost of a good restaurant here.

nytraveler

It's not something I agree with - but it was caused by the huge number of teen deaths due to drinking and driving (kids not used to drinking and not yet very exerpeienced drivers is a really poor combination). And in the US it is routine for 16 year olds to have licenses and full access to cars -borrowing a parent's even if they don;t have their own. And since many MUST have cars to get to school or work - it was decided that raising the drinking age is the answer. And the rate of deaths has gone done significantly since the drinking age was raised (although most teen car accidents are still substance-related, although now illegal.)

PeaceOut

Our DD's 21st birthday party was at Sushi Samba 7, which was perfect for her group of 12 friends. Weather permitting, they have a wonderful rooftop patio with dinner service. It has a fun vibe your 18 year old might like, too.

Tulips

That looks great too! I just love NYC restaurants, so many great places. We need to plan a longer trip.

kaaala

well, here are some suggestions since I take my two teen girls into NYC all the time. Ellen's Stardust Diner - Timesquare area - google exact address is always a fun time. You may want that for lunch, all the waiters and waitresses sing in between serving the food, I think a lot of them want to be on broadway. For a more upscale place for dinner I always like to go to Del Friscos, delicous food, pricey but worth it. Very trendy, cool bar scene and interesting people watching. Depending on what you what to spend there is wide variety of shopping - anything from 5th Ave, Bloomingdales, Bendels, Gucci, Tiffany's to Macy's, Forever 21 and Victoria Secrets. You can also take her to the Plaza Hotel for lunch or dinner or the Rainbow Room.

nytraveler

What is this thing with Del Frisco's and everyone saying how good it is. It advertises all over the place - from cab TV to billboards to whatever. If it were really good and trendy they wouldn't advertise - you woudl have trouble getting in.

Austin

This from my super trendy ;-) 21 year old who lives in the West VIllage.

Trendy restaurant...Imperial No. 9 at the Mondrian Hotel in Soho. Great food, super trendy, DELICIOUS! Pastis is also fabulous in the meatpacking district. Bond Street (restaurant) for sushi goers! MPD meatpacking as well. MPD is very loud so beware! Often a DJ and packed place but a lot of fun.

Shops...West Village & Meatpacking: Start in Meatpacking district and work your way down the west side then take Bleecker Street heading east. Take a right on 6th ave. Go downtown on 6th ave 3 blocks and take a left on Prince Street. That will take you down into Soho shops! You can also head uptown to Madison Ave & 5th Ave but that's always packed and touristy. Great upscale shops though. As far as personal shoppers I don't know how that works. If you're want to go upscale Saks & Bergdorf's both have complimentary personal shopping by appointment I believe!

Hope this helps!

bspielman

I'd hardly call the Plaza Hotel trendy, and the Rainbow Room has been closed for years.

Tulips

Thanks for the great suggestions. If you ever need any restaurants and shopping tips for Antwerp.....

mclaurie

urbandaddy.com is a website with trendy info. The hip place for kids these days is Brooklyn, esp. Williamsburg. Miss Lily's, Do or Dine and the Red Rooster in Harlem are some of the trendy new restaurants.

rmw555

Also for shopping: Nolita, just east of Soho - many of the smaller/more interesting boutiques moved there (if not even further east to the East Village) once rents rose in Soho and bigger/mall-type stores like J Crew, Anthropologie, H&M etc moved in.