New York girl's trip;-)
 

and when I say girls I mean mid 40's! Eight of us will be going to New York in June and need a little help. 5 of our group have never been and 3 of us have. We would like to show the newbies as much of the city as possible. I know we will see at least two shows while there. We will be staying in Times Square...I know a lot of people don't like the area but we haver always enjoyed staying there.

In our group some are married and others are not. Tough year for my sweet group so we want to head to NYC to celebrate surviving! We will shop quite a bit and we love good food. Some are on a more limited budget than others.

What I would mostly like to know is does anyone have suggestions for a fun bar for people our age...maybe a piano bar or something else with live music. We LOVE to dress up and have fun but don't want to feel awkward if everyone in the place is under 30.

Thanks,
Lee Ann

For a piano bar with Broadway show tunes, try Don't Tell Mama. It's in the theater district and draws a Broadway crowd. They also have a cabaret room with shows in addition to the piano bar.

Otherwise, I'm really bad with bar recommendations. You might enjoy Zengo, a Mexican/Japanese restaurant that has pretty good, reasonably priced food and great if a bit expensive drinks (well, all drinks in NYC are expensive). It's in the east 30s on 3rd Avenue (I think 39th). I eat there sometimes. There's also a tequila lounge downstairs in the basement bar.

Thanks Doug....Mexican/Japanese sounds interesting;-) While looking online for a piano bar I saw Don't Tell Mama and it sounded fun. We love 70's and 80's music so hoping to find that too. I am prepared for expensive in NYC...wanting to treat my friends to a fun and relaxing trip. Hoping we can find some late night places where we can dress up and celebrate life but not be the oldest ones in the room!

In the village (where you definitely should spend some time shopping, eating and exploring) the Duplex & Marie's Crisis are 2 piano bars near each other. They are gay bars but are very welcoming to everyone and you'll see a mixed crowd...very good fun. I'll just add NYC has become very casual so don't dress up too much unless you're going to a very fancy restaurant (which it doesn't sound like you'll do). Nice jeans or slacks and a top will take you most anywhere.

There are some top restaurants that do very affordable lunches (esp. during the week) if you want to try something glamorous but still affordable. Just be careful about drinks which can easily double a food bill. Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental hotel at Columbus Circle has very good views and food and has a $24 2 course lunch Mon-Fri. I just had a great 3 course $25 lunch at Fishtail near Bloomingdales. http://www.fishtaildb.com/

Three of the best prix fixe lunches I have eaten are Nougatine, Gotham Grill, and Tocqueville. For a great pizza and special luncheon special try Motorino.

One of the great food values is La Marca. Check their hours.

To save money, your big meal should be lunch. There are scores of inexpensive places in the East Village. I am not a bar person but the bar scene in the East Village is basicallly for the under 30 crowd for various sexual persuasions.

Our older group of 4 friends has become a fan of food tours. We took the Chelsea Market tour. There's enough food samples to call it lunch. We did one sit down at an Italian restaurant but we didn't have a full meal.