Does ANYONE know of a decent restaurant near JFK airport? We dropped off some visiting Dutch friends last evening at one of the no-restaurant,inexpensive Day's Inns near JFK cuz they had an early morning flight, but we could NOT find any decent place to share a fairly nice dinner meal (with some wine) nor even a place to look one up (in a guide , that is) Any ideas?
(I mean for people who don't know the area - at all - so it would have to be relatively easy to find.)

I'm just topping because I am determined to find some good place to eat a meal near JFK airport. Some of you must know. HELP>

Consensus seems to be that there is nothing good nearby. If you take the Airtrain to Jamaica, you can find some good food near there.

If you can find one, please let us know. There are some great neighborhoods in Queens with really good ethic food - but none near JFK that I've ever heard of.

We always go to Howard Beach - 5 minutes from JFK, off the Belt Parkway take the Cross Bay Blvd. exit south, our favorite is Matteo's, they have valet parking and the food is great.

There are also many local pizza places. Here's a great web-site listing all businesses on Cross Bay Blvd. http://www.howardbeach.com/

Owlwoman. Thanks. that is super info. Never thought to go that way, and never thought I'd get any answers at all! Matteo's sounds just fine. Next time! thanks all.

You're very welcome, when we've had early JFK flights, we frequently take advantage of the Stay/Park hotels and like to find places not too far away for our "last" meal in NY.

owlwoman - how in the world do you ever get from JFK to Howard Beach in 5 minutes? The Belt tends to be pretty jammed up near JFK going west.
If you go straight down Rockaway Turnpike (east)you will come to the Sherwood diner. While not even close to fine dining, has good typical diner food. Continuing a bit to the intersection and turning right, you will see a small shopping center with a typical NY Kosher deli.
If instead you just continue east on Rockaway Turnpike, you will come to the town of Cedarhurst in about 1 mile. Cedarhurst has quite a few decent restaurants in various price ranges. Thesea are all with 10-20 minutes of JFK

The title of this thread makes me laugh ... "Good food near JFK" ... but I guess it depends on your definition of "near."

basingstone, we usually are going to dinner after rush hour on a Fri or Sat. night, so maybe it's 10 minutes, anyway HB is close enough. For a little further away, we go to London Lenny's in on Woodhaven Blvd.

The trick is that you must have a car to get to decent food near JFK. Often it is people who are flying in at night and out early the next AM - that are stayig at an airport hotel and don;t have access to a car.

If you do have one - or are willing to explore by cab - there are options. But nothing within walking distance of the hotels.

nytraveler: I was thinking WITH a car, and it was because we didn't want to leave our friends stranded sans car for the evening meal, that we stayed and drove around looking for something. It's tough with a car if you don't know the area, and it's much worse without a car.