Three cousins (female, 40's), all originally from New York, but now living in NJ, DC and FL, are planning a girls weekend in NYC on September 18. We'll be meeting in NYC on Friday afternoon and are planning on a visit to the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy on Friday night, and hope to get some Broadway tickets for a Saturday matinee. We'll be staying over on Friday and Saturday nights. We'd love some hotel and restaurant advice. Broadway play suggestions would also be appreciated! Thanks!

We had a very nice stay at the Blakely Hotel last weekend: http://www.blakelynewyork.com/ - I recomend it for comfort, location and good service.

We saw the revival of "Hair" and unexpectedly fell in love with it. It's a terrific production.

Have fun!

It's a pricey time to come and the Blakely is a great location for theater, near but not right in Times Square. A room with 2 double beds is $295 plus tax (~15%)or a 1 bedroom suite with 2 doubles and a daybed in the living room (so no one has to share) is $345. Both are good value imo relative to prices I'm seeing for lesser hotels. They include a free cont. b/f and you might be able to get a discount if you're an AAA member.

For comparison, the Hampton Inn Times Square North which has 2 queens in their 2 bedded rooms is almost $400/night. Less expensive, the Courtyard midtown east (not as close to theater) has a room with 2 queens for $339.

If you'd rather be downtown and spend less, the Hampton Inn Seaport has a $279/night for 2 queen beds including free hot b/f and free internet. There's a TKTS booth right at the South Street Seaport where you could buy discounted matinee tickets for Sat. on Fri. when you arrive. There's also a Best Western Seaport that may be even cheaper. Both are very decent budget hotels.

For shows, if you haven't seen "In the Heights" it's great fun and usually on discount on the left column of Broadwaybox.com is you don't want to wait til you arrive.

Thanks for the hotel and play recommendations! Any suggestions on the restaurants -- somewhere near Little Italy for Friday evening, and a non-tourist type place near Broadway for Saturday evening?

Try La Plata Forma for a Brazilian buffet. They come to your table and slice meat off skewers. Delicious. You pick up the rest of the meal at the beautiful buffet tables. http://www.churrascariaplataforma.com

FOr Italian you can't beat Carmine's in the theater district.
You can usually get a table without a reservation if you have an early dinner.

Both those places strike me as very male type places with huge quanitities of food. The noise at Carmine's is deafening.

I assume you know the San Gennaro festival will be on while you're here and Little Italy will be mobbed. You can go west to Soho, east to lower east side or north to Nolita. What kind of food would you like? Are you sure you won't be full from the festival? If you're going to a matinee, why do you need a restaurant near Broadway? You'll get out around 4 or 5 and have plenty of time to go wherever you want. What else do you plan to do that evening?

We're open to any suggestions for Friday evening. I'm sure we'll be "snacking" at the festival, so some lite fare with a glass of wine or two would be perfect for dinner. Then we'll head back to the hotel to hang out and relax. After the matinee, we'll go out to an early dinner and then we'll be meeting some old friends for drinks afterwards. Since they'll be arriving via Penn Station, we thought we'd eat somewhere in midtown.

We'll be seeing Altar Boyz on Saturday, 9/19 at 4:00 p.m. Theater is on W. 50th St. Suggestions for dinner afterwards would be appreciated!

Go to Hell's Kitchen for restaurants. Its a few blocks away from the theater (along 9th Avenue) but definitely better than eating around Times Square or Penn Station.

My recomendations:
Breeze (Fusion Thai-French food) 661 9th Avenue
Uncle Nick's Greek Tapas 749 9th Ave

For NYC I love the Affina group of hotels. I just stayed at the Affinia Shelburne at 37th and Lexington. I can't say enough about what a great hotel this is. It's in Murray Hill so that may not be what you are looking for, although it's great neighborhood. Affinia has another property at 50th and 3rd called the Affinia 50 and it's very centrally located. Affinia is known for big rooms, comfy beds and they usually have a small kitchen or mini bar.
I'll give another nod towards Broadway Box. They have amazing discounts and you don't have to wait in line at the TKTS booth.

Check the Ace, you can probably get a suite or 2 adjoining rooms. Within walking distance to Times Square, very cute lobby, and well done rooms with decent size bathrooms.

This place is in the East Village it is called Bar Carrera 175 2nd Ave near 11th st, it is perfect for a glass of wine and a snack with the girls. It is a Spanish wine and tapas place.

If it is too crowded its sister wine bar next door is just as charming.

Here's a review:http://nymag.com/listings/bar/bar-carrera/

Restaurants near Little Italy are plenty: You will be near Tribeca and can try one of DeNeiro's restaurants: Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Mai House.Or other restaurants in the area like Landmarc. You will also be close to Soho: Blue Ribbon, Mercer Kitchen.

What's your budget for dinner?

or Soho

Hi there: We are a group of 5 gals, all going to NYC the same weekend. Staying at the Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square. Found some good ratings for this in various online pages. Also, we got Saturday matinee tix for In The Heights discounted on Travelzoo for $84 (normally $120). Have a great time!

K_brklyn, our budget for dinner is up to $50 each
for Saturday night. There's been a slight change of plans since I first posted (I now have to return to NJ Saturday night on a 10:00 p.m. train), so we're thinking of having dinner somewhere in midtown so I can get to Penn Station quickly after Altar Boyz and dinner on Saturday evening. Suggestions please!!!

Love 2RV, hope you have a great time too!

Not much by Penn Station, other than fast food and some bar/restaurants. That said, a FAVORITE restaurant is a Japanese Seafood Buffet on E 32nd St. called Todai. It's between 5th and Madison, so it's a few block walk to Penn Station.

If you want to be closer and burger type place is ok try Mustang Sallys on 7th a few blocks south of Penn Station.

There's also a decent Irish Pub on 33rd and 8th called Tira Nog, been there a couple of times and the food was ok, but it's convenient to Penn Station across the street.

As a restaurant/bar I can suggest you Bar 89 in Mercer St,it should be ok to eat and drink something!

So maybe a place near the theater would be better for dinner vs near Penn station in terms of options. There are some suggestions in this post for Hell's Kitchen.

MicheleVee: Hope you had a nice weekend. We sure did.
The hotel was great...comfortable beds, very clean, large rooms, good restaurant and bar inside the hotel, etc. "In the Heights" was wonderful! We also visited Ellen's Stardust Cafe for lunch. I loved, loved, loved it! How did you make out this past weekend?