Hi,
We will be in the city for a 5 nights/ 4 days over Thanksgiving, staying at the Marriott Marquis. Traveling with hubby and 17yr. & 15 yr. Kids are not picky eaters and enjoy all types of cuisines and dining. Any suggestions for current restaurants and other to do for teens. Thanks!

If you'll be there Thanksgiving morning, you should definitely check out the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's pretty cool to watch all the floats, balloons, bands, etc come through Time Square.

Fro restaurants you need to give us budget and types of foods you like and dislike. The kids may want to try some places with potential sightings of "someone" - but you ned to give us more info.

As to what to do/see - what gender are the kids and what are their interests? At that age my stepdaughters loved museums, ballet, trendy boutigue shopping, biking or tennis in the park (you may be able to do the former if the weather cooperates), ice skating - and trendy/obscure movies. And given the choice you could;t pry them out of Tao.

John's pizzeria (famous for coal oven pizza) has a location right near the hotel. Their original location is in Greenwich Village.

There are loads of restaurants on 8th & 9th ave. (1 to 2 blocks west of Broadway) in the 40's-50's. One of our regular posters, NeoPatrick spens a month in NYC in the theater district. You might enjoy reading his trip report which mentions lots of restaurants. http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35002515

I suggest you ask your teens each to come up with 1 or 2 things (apart from shopping) they'd like to do and let them do some research.

Thanks for your help. Daughter is 17yr, loves shopping, fashion and music. Son is 15yr. major sports nut, esp. ice hockey and baseball. Looking for less expensive lunch places and splurge on the evening meals. Enjoy all types of cuisine. Thx again.

For a splurgish dinner the River Cafe in Brooklyn is great. The food is excellent - not the best in the city, but very good - but the views of Manhatan light up at night across the river are incomparable. I think their prix fixe dinner is now about $100.

You can check out menupages.com for actual menus and diner reviews - as well as a complete searchable listing by neighborhood and cuisine.

Agre if you walk over to 9th Ave there are a bunch of intersting, inexpensive ethnic places to explore.

Menu pages is a great site, thx for the tip. NeoPatrick's posts are not only informative, but what a great read.

Have also done this trip with teens. If you want to REALLY splurge the Novetel (sic) has an overlooking balcony for the parade. Very expensive, but includes breakfast and lunch buffet (nice), private viewing balcony, restrooms, hot chocolate and champagne. Skating in Rockefeller was a hit. Don't let lines discourage you. Everyone loved Wicked. Ate T/giving dinner at Tavern on the Green. Complete disaster. Crowded, overpriced, and hot! Maybe the ESPN Zone for your son?

ESPN Zone gets surprisingly good reviews for food and may be a good lunch option. Gray's Papaya has the best hot dogs around and it's really cheap-several locations. There's one at Broadway & 73 st. There's a Loehmann's and Filene's Basement (discount shopping) nearby and the Museum of Natural History is not far if Dad and son want to do that while women shop. There's also a new Sports Museum near Lincoln Center. Have no idea whether it's any good but it is pricey. http://www.sportsmuseum.com/

Teens usually love Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum, another really pricey attraction. There should be discounts on broadwaybox.com and maybe also on seasonofsavings.com

Radio City Xmas Spectacular is always fun and/or a Broadway show.