swints

Planning a trip to NYC for Christmas with 3 teenage boys. Staying at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Need ideas for restaurants especially Christmas Day (not Chinese.) And comments on hotel.

BigAleinstein

Christmas Day

Most Korean restaurants
Ethopian
Vietnamese
Indian
Katz's
2nd Ave Deli

and then you can trawl the internet to see which non-ethnic restuarants will be open.

HappyTrvlr

Hotel is fine if you like being in Times Square. I don't when NYC has so many better options, neighborhoods.

emd3

2nd Ave Deli would be a great choice. Most hotel restaurants are also open on Christmas day.

nytraveler

If you want a real Christmas dinner go to opentable.com and it will list those that are open. Be prepared for a limited selection of to see choices with set dinner seatings: 2 pm, 4 pm, etc.

For what to do the ToTR is open - and if it's a nice day you can tour Central Parka and take the Staten Island ferry to see the harbor and have a great view of the skyline on the way back.

Agree that Times Square is the last place I would stay - it's loud, mobbed and vry tacky - but a lot of tourists like it (they seem to think it's near most sights - which it's not.)

Since I live here my experience with specific hotels is limited unless I have used them for a meeting or event - and we would never use a Marriott. I think the Marriott Marquis is what you would expect from a Marriott.

emd3

OP didn't ask for hotel comments, just restaurant recs. But Since the subject has been brought up, will add that Times Square is a great place to stay for us if a trip involves multiple Broadway shows. When we go to see 3shows in a 3 night trip, it is very convenient to return to a hotel close to the theaters at end of the day, freshen up, walk nearby for dinner, and be able to walk easily and quickly back to the hotel after the play.

TC

With three teenage boys in tow, I think Times Square is perfect. I always stay in the TSq area for Broadway shows. It's an easy walk to them all. You are also only a few blocks from any subway line to get anywhere else in the city. There is always a lot of action going on that will amuse teens. Marquis is a very good hotel.

Be sure to see the Angel Tree at the Met Museum and try for tickets to the Rockette's. Both are wonderful Christmas specialties.

Open table is a great suggestion for Christmas Day restaurant offerings. I would just suggest reconfirming by phone to make sure there are no glitches in the system that might lead you astray. Brooklyn Diner is near your hotel. I think the boys would like it. I always love the food at Joe Allen's after a show. It's in Restaurant Row on 46th. Lots of great little places to eat in the Hells Kitchen area of 9th & 10th Ave nearby.

sf7307

In fact, OP did ask for comments on the hotel.

We stayed there years ago. It's a giant Marriott. If you can stand the hubbub that is Times Square, then it's great - and I think your teens will love being there.

nytraveler

Agree that Times Square area - but I would go a little further uptown - makes sense if you are going primarily for theater. With 3 teen boys I assume the OP has other things in mind.

And did not mean to imply the Marriott is a bad hotel - I'm sure it;s perfectly acceptable - as long as you are ready for a truly massive Marriott.

emd3

Mea culpa, I missed the last line of the OP.

I also think the boys will like the Marriott, it is huge and very busy, suggest getting a sense of the layout quickly as you can get lost with all the different elevator banks, and there is also a Broadway theater inside the hotel. I assume you have two rooms, right? If you can steal away for a drink at the View Bar, it has a great view of Times Square. ( Also the boys might like Colony Records in the Times Square area if they are music fans; Colony has some cool memorabilia from rock bands in cases towards the back. My kids liked that when they were teens. they also loved the backstage tour of Radio City Music Hall, and ice skating in Central Park.)

BigAleinstein

Here's the problem-Times Square is a zoo at Christmas and the streets and the restaurants will be filled. It is advisable to find residential areas to eat. The subways and buses will be running on a holiday schedule but they run 365/24 and there will be a lot of cabs, since many drivers are not Christian.

The only time that area will semi-calm is Christmas morning but after that all hell's bells will be ringing.

sf7307

Is Colony Records the store with all the sheet music? If so, I agree, great place.

HowardR

Colony Records is closed.

scarboroughmom

No help to offer with Christmas Day dinner, but I have stayed at the Marriott Marquis with 3 teenage boys and we all loved it. The rooms are relatively large and comfortable. We could not hear any street noise in our rooms which were about half way up the building facing Times Square. I would not want to live near Times Square, but we all enjoyed the craziness for a few days. The food in the hotel restaurants in pretty mediocre. The service was decent. In three stays there, they were never helpful with early check-in though. You can leave your bags there and go site-seeing. It is about what you would expect from a Marriott.

TC

I really don't understand the constant disrespect for the Times Square vicinity as a central location for a visit to NY. I stay in that area on every trip. There are some very top notch hotels. The Muse being my personal favorite. Sure there are people, but where in NY aren't there lots of people? It's no more a zoo than the East Side shopping district at Christmas. The actual Times Square is closed to traffic making it quite easy to walk about. There is alway a plethora of mounted police on show there. I would guess its one of the safest places in NY. There are tons of moderately priced, excellent restaurants within an easy walk. And all the major subway lines run right through. What else could a visitor want? Yes...there are a few tacky souvenir shops right on Broadway, but those are found all over the city.

I think three teen boys will find Times Square a riotous good time. You never know who or what you might see there.

mclaurie

Hells Kitchen, the area west of Times Square, has loads of good food. Here's a link to a good food blog that highlights many of them http://eatingwithziggy.com/category/.../midtown-west/
Right near the hotel is Johns pizzeria in a converted church. Shake Shack is a local burger chain that gets raves and has a location a block off TS.
Menupages.com is a good place for research. Times Square is the west 40's or midtown west.

For Xmas, if you want a traditional meal, there are lots of options beyond hotel restaurants. Friend of a Farmer is a homey place known for their Thanksgiving turkey meals but they also do Xmas. Balthazar in Soho is usually open. The Rock Center Cafe overlooking the ice rink is popular with visitors.

As for the hotel, if you're getting just one room, I would have preferred the all suites Doubletree- 1 bedroom suites for more space or one of the other suite hotels. But teens will like the MM. Try to spend time out of Tmes Square though. The village, the lower east side and Williamsburg Brooklyn are the popular areas for young people. Freetoursbyfoot.com is getting very good reviews for neighborhood walking tours.

Let the teens do some research themselves and pick some things they'd like to see. The Intrepid Air & Space museum is sue west of Times Sqaure.

nytraveler

Sorry - but all tourist areas of NY are very safe - and TS is one of the places where you see MORE petty crime (pickpocketing, etc).

And for them to have a riotous good time in Times Square they would have to be close to simple minded. It does have theater - and a lot of flashing lights (but that's good for about 30 minutes total) - and most things anyone, inclding teen boys, really want to see - are in other parts of the city. We have had young nephews visit and they loved SI ferry, visiting trendy neighborhoods downtown (much better shopping than the local mall), central park, museums of natu'l history, the Met, the Intrepid, ToTR and skating in the Park. As well as taking advantage of the huge selection of movies that can be found around the city - again, NOT like the local mall. And they spend one whole morning in the Apple Store.

TC

NYtraveler. I agree that all the things you mention are delightful, however they can all still be enjoyed from a central hotel location in the TS area. No one is suggesting that the OP and teens spend all of their time sitting in the middle of Times Square. As I said, you can access nearly any and all subway lines. As for shopping....teen BOYS aren't often into the "trendy" downtown shopping (a run through Chinatown might be some fun) and every mall in America has an Apple store now. While I'm sure you've had a lovely time at the movies with your nephews, a trip to NY is way too expensive to spend time inside a movie theater. We have art houses outside NY for the non-blockbuster movies.......which don't usually have much appeal to teen boys anyway.

TS has changed quite a lot over the last decade. With your aversion to being anywhere near Times Square, I wonder when you were last there to have a look around. Could it be that your views are based on outdated input?

Lastly, I don't believe you should call people "simple minded" for any reason....and certainly not for their choice of hotels. You owe the OP an apologe.

wtm003

We've also stayed at the Marriott Marquis with teen boys and they loved it. Our room overlooked Times Square and the hubbub below was fascinating to them. The elevator wait can take awhile at times but the experience of walking into the craziness of TS is one they won't forget.

Even though we are "simple-minded" we managed to get to the theater, take the subway, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, visit Central Park, ride the Staten Island Ferry & do Top of the Rock. We even watched a commercial being filmed outside the Apple Store.

Have a great trip swints!

SueNYC

You all might enjoy caroling on Christmas Eve http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...on-square.html