NYC in Winter
 

We will be visiting NYC on Feb 4-7, staying near Rockefeller Center. Was wondering about bus tours when it is bitterly cold. Might not be interested in hopping on and off in bone chilling weather, so what options are there on the tour buses? Also, saw that restaurant week is that week. Would appreciate recs for restaurants--Italian, Greek, and American. Also, explain Restaurant Week itself.

Buses: The bottom floors are climate controlled, though you obviously lose most of the view. A few of the buses from both companies provide cover for the first few rows up top, which at least blocks the wind. But none of them have anything like all-glass upper decks that allow prime viewing from heated comfort.

Restaurant Week: To lure in customers during an otherwise slow period of the year, dozens of nice restaurants offer specially priced menus for a set period (far more than a week at many restaurants). You don't get to order off the regular menu at the special rate. You have to stick with a small number of choices with less expensive ingredients and smaller portions.

Some places treat restaurant week as a serious challenge and work hard to provide top-caliber dishes and service within the price contraints. Others treat it as a cynical way to lure people into seats. They then make the special menu so unappealing that many choose to go with the regular menu and spend far more. Those few who stick with the regular menu get surly service, when they get any service at all.

The other problem with restaurant week is that many restaurants try to make up for the low prices by overbooking their tables. You can easily end up with endless waits, even if you're eating off the regular menu.

My advice, in other words, is to be careful. Research whatever particular restaurants you think you might want to try and look to see if there have been any special complaints about them during previous restaurant weeks. Play it right, and it's the best time to eat in NYC. Play it wrong and it's the worst time to eat here.

Specific restaurants: Ignoring incredibly well known places (like Babbo) my current Greek favorites would by Pylos and Snack. Italian favorites would include Aurora and Apizz. American is pretty broad but I'd recommend Blue Ribbon Bakery (which serves real food) or Prune.

Thanks--great info about restaurant week. Are all bus tours the double decker type? Did the Greyline red bus last summer in the rain...don't want to be wet and cold this time.

I reco against bus tours at any time of year - since they insulate you from the city versus letting you actually experience it. They're a lot of money, often have incorrect info -and just show you the outsides of buidlings.

Feb is likely to be cold, windy and possibly snowy -so I would have alternate plans available depending on the weather. Much better to just hop a subway -which runs every 5 minutes, versus standing 30 minutes in the cold waiting for a HOHO bus - and just go see what you rally want to see,

Restaurant week is a great idea when th restaurants offer a smaller selection of their usual dishes - versus some that give you only 2 or 3 choices of a sinplified menu. Check each one to see what the offer (but obviously don;t expect steak, lobster, caviar for that price.

Dined at Petrossian before a Vienna Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall on Friday. Their $35 three-course pre-theater prix-fixe dinner (available all year, but during Restaurant Week, too) does, indeed, include flank steak (very good, by the way). For a $5 supplement, they offer a caviar (American) and cucumber "sandwich" on brioche, a beautiful appetizer, and a very tasty and satisfying presentation. Their tiramisu was excellent (and generous).

A caution for virtually all NYC prix-fixes: beverages, tax and gratuity are usually not included. You can figure $5 and up for coffee, then add almost 30% to the bill for tax and tip.

The public buses work very well in rain or snow and they have great window views. The subway is fast and will get you to where you need to go. You've done a double decker tour. Just what did you want to take a tour of?

kingofnyc.com is a good option for a bus tour in an enclosed heated bus, but if you did a bus tour already on your last visit, why would you do one again? If you're interested in seeing an area you didn't see last time like Brooklyn, you could do this one http://www.asliceofbrooklyn.com/neighborhood.html

For restaurants, Molyvos is a good Greek place as is Kefi. I know that Molyvos is participating in restaurant week. Check on Kefi. Some restaurants only do lunch or dinner and some do both. There are thousands of Italians. OPentable.com is a booking site and has a list of the restaurant week participants. Menupages.com is one place to do some research by location and cuisine. Most of the restaurants near Rockefeller Center are pricey. Fig & Olive is a mediterranean that's doing restaurant week. A Voce is a good Italian in the Time Warner building that's also participating. One problem with restaurant week is popular places get very booked up. Book today. It's easier to cancel that book later.

We did a tour with kingofnyc.com He used a minibus holding about 14 people. Very knowledgable.

As previous poster stated, perhaps look into another, more focused tour, since you already have done the big overview tour.

MY

If you decide to do public transportation, consider buying an all day pass, about $8.50 and can be used on both buses and subways. It is a time saver and can be purchased at an information booth or at a machine in the subway. Enjoy NYC.

Just to add to the comments re: restaurant week, I have found that, in many cases the special menu isn't nearly as compelling as the regular menu, and half the time you end up ordering off the regular menu anyway. This is not always the case, but, you may want to check the menus in advance if possible.

Som of the menus for restaurant week are listed here: http://manhattan.about.com/gi/o.htm?...week/index.cfm

for a list of rest. taking part in rest. wk go to nycgo.com/restaurantweek