laschi

My friend and I will be in nyc 10/18 and 10/19.
We'd appreciate any suggestions for good restaurants for dinner near Carnegie Hall. The first night is a birthday celebration. The second night will be dinner before an 8 PM show. We're open to anything but Thai.

mclaurie

It's hard without a budget or idea of how fancy you want to be. Right near Carnegie Hall is Petrossian, one of the places in NYC to go for caviar. They do a prix fixe dinner (not nec. with caviar) that's lovely, but pricey. I think this is current
http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant...us/dinner.html

Trattoria Dell 'Arte (Italian) and Redeye Grill (seafood/American) are both right across from Carnegie Hall. Both are large and loud, but good food. Basso56 is another Italian in the area that gets good reviews but I've never been.

For dinner before the theater, it would help to know whether your theater is in the 40's or 50's. ViceVersa is a popular Italian in the 50's with a prix fixe that's good. Bar Americain is also in the 50's and good (no prix fixe). Marseille is a nice French bistro in the 40's.

nytraveler

mclaurie has given some very good moderate suggestions - but since you haven't provided a budget you may want to have a look at menupages.com to see diner reviews and actual menus with prices. (Some people are surprised at dining prices in NYC and end up looking for strictly budget options.)

HowardR

A strong endorsement of Redeye Grill, which is across the street from Carnegie Hall. Excellent seafood. To cut down on the noise factor, ask for a table in the back area, where it's much less noisy.

laschi

Thank you for your replies. Budget....probably no more than $$$$. You're right, nytraveler. I think I'd better check with menupages.com to research what prices are like in NYC.

As far as location, our 8PM show Friday night is in Carnegie Hall. We are staying at Park Central New York on 7th Ave. between W. 55th and W 56th St. So
sounds like the Redeye Grill may be one of the least complicated places to get dinner before the show. We have little time in the City, so we need to focus our activities on Friday.

Thursday night, we are just getting into town, looking for a nice place near the hotel to have a birthday dinner. Is there a prix fixe dinner in our $$$$ price range anyone would recommend for the birthday dinner near our hotel? Petrossian might be a bit much for our budget.....

sobster

Molyvos -Greek just down the street

mclaurie

Other thoughts for the birthday meal-

Telepan is not as close to the hotel as these other suggestions, but their prix fixe is very good.
http://www.telepan-ny.com/

If you go to Redeye Grill before the show, ViceVersa for Italian is a good option for the birthday.

You're not far from the Time Warner building where there are a bunch of restaurants. Most are pricey, but Landmarc is more moderate and I've heard good things about it. Here's a list of the places
http://1centralpark.com/restaurants/

otto

sobster...absolutely. molyvos is my suggestions as well. yum.

DMG

San Domenico at 240 Central Park South is excellent for Italian food. It has consistantly withstood the test of time.

nyer

Just curious--exactly how much IS
"Budget....probably no more than $$$$"
Assuming you don't mean in the thousands of dollars....

bfrac

I second all of the other recommendations and would like to add Rue 57 to the list. It is on the corner of 6th Ave and 57th and it is a good, reasonable choice. It is also open late if you choose to eat after the theater.

coolbluewater

Nougatine at Jeans-Georges is also nice for a special dinner. (Jeans-Georges itself is even better, but of course, more spendy). It is walkable from your hotel (probably about 10 minutes or so, slightly longer if you are in heels).

laschi

Thank you everyone, for your valuable
suggestions. We had the best time in NYC...... Left wishing I had more time and figuring out when I could make it back. We lucked out with the weather feeling like gentle, soft summer nights. In October!! No jackets needed! We stayed at the Park Central. The hotel was fine. (Although I would advise eating breakfast elsewhere....almost $30 for the buffet.)But the location was great..close to Carnegie Hall, Central Park, Time Square, Broadway, St. Patrick's, and great restaurants. The first night there, we strolled the Time Square/Broadway area; then went to the Red Eye Grill for a wonderful seafood dinner. For lunch the next day, we went down the street the other way to the Carnegie Deli. Lots of fun getting to socialize with people you don't know...they seat you very closely together at a big table. Hard to ignore your table mates. And the sandwiches are HUGE! At least 6 inches tall! I'm such a tourist.;-)
And the walls were covered with autographed pictures of celebrities who have eaten there. I don't think I mentioned that we, too, were there for the JK Rowling event at Carnegie Hall. My friend won the sweepstakes tickets and invited me along. Lucky me! It was magical enough just to be in Carnegie Hall. Meeting JK Rowling just added to it. Great event!!!
That night we ended up at the Greek
restaurant almost across the street from our hotel, Molyvos. Wonderful lamb chops and moussaka....We ate for $100 for the two of us....including wine and appetizer.
Great service at all the restaurants we visited. During the day we strolled Central Park. When it started to rain we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amazing!
Need to go back. I was so impressed that they asked everyone if they could comfortably pay the entrance fee. The museum is truly available to all.
Again, thanks for your help. It was a short, sweet, wonderful trip. I love NYC!!