A group of 12 girls on a batchelorette party would like to dine at a BYOB in Time's Square. Know of any??? Please share!

Also, how about a hip fun bar in that area?

Thanks

A lot of restaurants will allow you to bring in your own wine but they will charge you a hefty corkage fee. Foley's Fish House in Times Square is excellent and great views.

Check with the folks at chowhound.com, they would know.

That is an interesting question. I grew up in NYC and NEVER encountered a BYOB. It was not until 4 years ago when I moved to NJ that I saw a BYOB. I wonder if they exist in NYC?

McSmith,

I am from NJ/Philadelphia area-there are BYO's all over the place! They are great when you go out to dinner w/ a large group!

Too-funny!

I think you'll have difficulty finding a BYOB place in the Times Square area. If anywhere, they'd be in the neighborhoods far from midtown.
As a previously poster said, you'd probably have to pay a hefty corkage fee to bring in your own. After all, alcohol is probably the biggest profit center for restaurants!

Liquor licenses are so expensive and hard to get in NJ. Many good restaurants without one will allow you to BYOB and provide the corkage for free.

We were down in St Augistines, FL, a three years ago with a few couples and decided to have dinner at a restaurant that did not serve alcohol. We each brought a bottle of wine with us. The owner asked us what the heck were we doing, and we told her that since she did not serve alcohol, we brought our own. She darn near threw us out of the place, but made us put our wine in the car. We were so used to BYOB in NJ. Get a good chuckled everytime we think about it.

So are BYO's a Jersey thing? I never thought that if I brought a bottle of wine into a restaurant that has no liquor license anywhere else in the US (like many in NJ) that they would think I was crazy. Are there BYO's anywhere else?

There are plenty of restaurants in nyc that's byo(beer or wine) without the corkage fee, but they're mostly downtown. Zagats has a list in their book and on the web, unfortunately, on zagats.com you have to subscribe with a fee attached. Mcsmith, you need to go downtown more.

BYOB is a Jersey thing. There are a lot of great restaurants that don't have liquor licenses. There are only a limited number of licenses available, and they are expensive.

I am told by some of my Philadelphia friends that there are BYOB restaurants also in the Phila area.

Never heard of such a thing here since prohbition....

They would certainly kick you out immediately because of liquor laws. First of all, you cannot even have alcohol in your car unless you are heading home from purchasing it, let alone take it into a business and try to drink it. and walking the streets with an unopened bottle, you'd be labeled a wino for sure!

There are only a few places in NYC that I have ever BYOB'ed (is that a word??). The Indian restaurants on 6th Street in the East Village will all allow you to bring your own and will even refrigerate it for you. Just be sure to count your beers because we once got back only 5. When we asked for the last one, they gave us a different brand!

I think most restaurants that allow BYOB without a corkage fee, don't have a liquor license. This frequently happens with new restauarants that are still waiting for a liquor license. The suggestions to check CHowhound and Zagats are good one. You can probably get the information you need from those sources.

If you call some of the finer restaurants, they will allow you to BYOB providing the wine sommelier cannot get the bottle you want and/or they don't carry that bottle/vintage. We've done it a couple of times because someone wanted a particular bottle. The corkage fee was around the same price as the wine cost.

Sorry luvthebeach I'm not answering your question directly but I can tell you that they have BYO's in PA.

Have looked at the list of BYOs in 2003 zagat guide (28 are listed). There are none in Times Square. In fact, some are in Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem. Many of the others sound tiny (as in 12 would fill the place.) The only one that sounds at all promising is T Salon at 11 e 20th. Review reads in part "..."light" American fare; female fans say it makes an ideal bridal shower..place." but it's T as in tea. Maybe a bit too cutesy for you guys.

Fun bar (piano bar) Don't tell Momma.

THANK YOU MCLAURIE. Finally a person who is willing to go the extra mile and look up the information in Zagats or whatever instead of just refering other readers to the book or site.

The overwhelming majority of BYOB restaurants in NYC (and many other places, for that matter) are likely to be small restaurants who feel that the cost of the liquor license isn'trth it to them, considering the limiting bar business they would get use of their size.
And further, as has already been well documented on the thread, you just ain't gonna find any in mid-Manhattan!