Any suggestions for a good Italian restaurant near the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square and the theatre? Trattoria Trecolori? Thank you! Susan

We went to Becco and liked it very much.

Becco is ok, but it's usually very very crowded and the all-you-can-eat pasta special pretty mediocre. I prefer Roberto Passon, which doesn't have a prix-fixe but does have reasonable prices (just watch out for really expensive specials ... I once had the risotto special, which was absolutely fab but also almost twice as much as other dishes on the regular menu).

La Masseria lamasserianyc.com
Scarlatto scarlattonyc.com
Esca esca-nyc.com

Esca is too good and too expensive, imo, for a hurried pre-theater dinner. I like it for an early dinner after a matinee.

ViceVersa
La Vineria
Insieme
Maria Pia

You haven't said how much you want to spend. If we know that, then we can hone in better on recommendations
Two very good choices on Restaurant Row on West 46th Street are Orso and Lattanzi.

I wouldn't organize a major dinner before the theater. You end up either eating at an ungodly early time - like 6 in the afternoon - or rushing through the dinner to get to the theater. then you stuck sitting in the theater for 3 hours with a heavy meal in your stomach.

Suggest you either have a late lunch and eat after dinner - or a large launch and make dinner a light meal (we sometimes just have a shared salad and an appetizer each) rather than a full one. You can always for for coffee or drinks/snacks afterward.

(This can easily work at some of the places mentioned - but Becco tends to leave you incredibly full o fjust OK pasta.)

IMHO if you want to have a nice dinner it's much better to do so when you can eat at regular dinner time and have enough time to enjoy the meal.

This may come as a shock to you, nytraveler, but 6 p.m. is the dinner hour for some of us!
And, since we don't enjoy having a big meal before bedtime, we--like a helluva lot of others--choose to dine before the theater. Funny, in spite of this dining routine, my wife and I have never experienced three hours of a discomforting heavy meal in our stomachs while at the theater.

Dining before the theater is fine if you're used to eating early and don't try to rush a big meal. But some people try for a special dinner before the theater - and then don;t get the best of either one.

For those of us that normally eat at 8 or 8:30 (I'm still at work until at least 7, but perhaps that's NYC, or just my industry) I reco a light meal first instead of a rushed early dinner.

CPG, thanks for the Scarlatto...looks wonderful! La masseria looks good too! Thanks.

Hi Judyrem. I think La Masseria has better food, but the prices are higher as well. Pre-theater is what it is - not fine dining, but the beginning of, hopefully, a great evening. Have fun!