Help with New York Restaurants
 

We're coming to NYC next weekend for 2 days of theatre and need restaurant recommendations. I've searched other posts here and gone to the menupages website but I'm totally overwhelmed. So many places, how do you choose? I've been to NYC before but never really enjoyed the food. It's always so expensive and seems mediocre at best. Guess we're just not finding the right places.

We'll need lunch and dinner on Saturday and will be in the Broadway/45th-47th area. Considering Bolzano's and/or Cafe Un Deux Trois (found them both on menupages). Are these good choices for that area? Will we need to make reservations? We like all kinds of food except Indian (i.e. curry). Sunday we've booked Brasserie 8-1/2 for brunch (saw it recommended on another thread) as we will be staying at the Hilton NY and I think it's near there.

Will need to find a place for dinner Sunday night though. We're going to the Promenade Theatre at Broadway & 76th St. and would like to find someplace near there as we will have limited time to eat. Anyone have a recommendation? As I said we like all kinds of food except Indian. Price would be in the $20-$25 max. range for entree. A lot of the restaurants in this area were unrated on menupages.

I know the topic of food in NYC comes up again and again here but I've looked and looked and I'm getting a massive headache. Everytime we come to NY we end up eating crap food and feeling ripped off and I'd like this trip to be the dawn of a new and better eating experience.

With all the wonderful restaurants in New York, you obviously have previously relied on the wrong sources during your previous trips if you've only found your choices to be "mediocre at best."
YOu've told us you like all kinds of food, but didn't offer a price range. That'll help us make some recommendations.
Cafe Un Deux Trois is okay but you can do better.

Menu pages is a great website for looking at the menus of restaurant to gauge the price or to make your mouth water, but to chose a restaurant you need to read reviews. Try nymetro.com --they always have great food suggestions.

Some of my favorites (these are downtown--I don't usually eat in Midtown, and you know you can get downtown in about 30 minutes (or less) via cab, so you don't just have to stick to Midtown restaurants):
Pastis
Balthazar
'Inoteca
Il Bagatto
Market

Well - your problem may be expetations. If you want $20 entrees this is modest by NYC standards - esp in the Times Square area - and you're really can;t expect gourmet dining or elegant service - just nice tasty food in a casuale place.

You will do much better away from Times Square - in the residential neighborhoods there are a lot more good inexpensive places - try upper west side, lower east side, village etc.

For dining near the theater district you can do a search above for innumerable recommendations. A couple popular inexpensive places are Becco or Joe Allen.

For casuale places in the west 70's try Isabellas or Nice Matin.

Thanks, Eliza26, I'll check out nymetro.com. My head was reeling after looking at menupages.com. So many choices and the menus all started to look the same after awhile. We're not looking for anything fancy, just good food at a medium price. We're not into the "snob appeal" and hubby doesn't like getting dressed up. Nice tasty food in a casual setting sounds wonderful, nytraveler. That's exactly what we're looking for.

We're seeing 2 shows on Saturday so for timing purposes I think we're limited to an area fairly close to Times Square. I think I'll choose a couple of places, maybe one in the theatre district and one a little further away, and see how our timing is once we get there.

We've used recommendations from the hotels before but with limited success. We haven't found a place that we really wanted to go back to.

I just noticed you said next weekend, so you may be out of luck in getting pr-theater reservations at some of the best choices in the theater district. I suggest you decide very quickly and call for reservations ASAP.
You still haven't given us a price range. "Medium price" is a relative term. What's medium price to you may not be to me!

HowardR, I did give a price range, I mentioned $20-$25 for entree in my original message. When I looked at the menus on menupages.com, this didn't seem unreasonable but I have since been informed this is probably not realistic. We're not looking for a high end gourmet dining experience, just "nice tasty food in a casual place" as nytraveler mentioned.

Recommendation for Sunday: Niko's (Greek/Mediterranean) is right across B'way from the Promenade Theatre - on the corner of 76th & Broadway. Solid neighborhood place that fits in your price range. Casual setting.
If you are looking for that same price range in midtown, your best bet is Ninth Ave: Grand Sichuan (Chinese)- Ninth near 50th; Pietrasanta (Italian) - Ninth & 47th; Rachels (Amer/Continental) - Ninth betw 43-44th.
One other possibility is Dervish Turkish on 47th between 6th & 7th Ave. I think they have a $25.00 pre-theatre fixed price dinner.

There are lots of great choices near the Promenade Theatre that are reasonably priced:

Pappardella - 75th/Columbus (Italian)
Cafe Frida - 77th/Columbus (Mexican)
Ocean Grill - 78th/Columbus (Seafood)
Rain - 82nd/Columbus (Thai Food)

Columbus Avenue is 2 blocks from Broadway... all very close to the theatre.

Enjoy!!!

My apologies. I didn't catch that price range.
In the Promenade area, I would also recommend the Ocean Grill, as well as the Luxenbourg.
In the theater district, try (if you can still get reservations) Chez Josephine or Le Madeleine.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm going to try to get reservations at Chez Josephine for Sunday night as we don't have a show and could take our time. The lobster cassoulet sounds great. The Dervish also sounds interesting, maybe for Saturday lunch or dinner. I'm just going to check out the Cafe Frida on menupages as Mexican is one of my favorites. Thanks again for all your help, everyone. I'm getting hungry just thinking about this trip!

As long as you don't have a show on Saturday, make your reservations for 7:45 or later at Chez Josephine.

We love Trecolori-I think it's on 45th, near Times Square. It has been mentioned on this board a lot and that's how I ended up there. Entrees are reasonably priced and delicious. There is an arugala salad with goat cheese that is phenomenal, if you like goat cheese. We each had different entrees and enjoyed everything. I also went to Joe Allen's and thought it was pretty good. Names escape me at the moment but there's also pubs in the Times Square area, which are not expensive and we've had good luck with them for burgers and lighter meals.

If you want something extraordinary, but more expensive we had the best meal ever at the Blue Fin in the W Hotel. It is primarily seafood, but really exceptional. (The bar on the main floor was also great if you want a cocktail.)
Have a great time!

Times Square 52nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue, Gallaghers Restaurant, has a great lunch menu for $20. You get soup or salad,entree and desert. The food is excellent and dinner prices are considerably higher. We've split this meal so you can eat well for $10 per person.

Sorry, forgot to mention that lunch is only served to 3 pm so stop in there before that anyday.

For your Promenade Theatre night, I highly recommend Ouest or Cesca, imo, the two best retaurants on the upper West Side.

Brasserie 8-1/2 - I went for my birthday, forgot to tell them I had my spend 50 take off 50 coupon(go to the Restaurant Associates website). They were still gracious and took it. The food is very good, dessert is amazing try the Bento box. I went to the rest room and the maitre d' walked in front of me and cut me off. Nothing that I would even notice and I laughed at it. The maitre d' sent me an amazing container of cookies. I was shocked, they were oh so tasty. It made me really want to go back and eat there again. Great service and no snobby attitude. The bar scene seemed really interesting.