We're celebrating my 40th in NYC this summer. Conde Nast recommended the Plaza Athenee. Any comments? Does anyone have a better choice? How about great restaurant recommendations? We live in Wisconsin so we don't get to splurge much on food - we'll try anything! Thanks.

The Plaza Athenee is great. Good location, beautiful rooms, smaller hotel. Nearby are some good restaurants like Nello, La Grenouille, and Daniel.

If you are checking around, you may also want to check out the mark, which is also highly rated by Conde Nast. either way, you can't go wrong.

Definitely stay there! And, make sure you have drinks in the first floor lounge. And, I'll second John's restaurant recommendations!

If you want to eat at any of NYC's top restaurants, het on the phone exactly a month in advance; you really do need to reserve that far in advance. Summer weekends are sometimes a little easier because a lot of locals are out of town. Gramercy Tavern is a personal favorite, but there are many excellent "splurge" places. Check out nytoday.com for restaurant listings; you can read past NY Times reviews of three- and four-star places (as well as many other, of course), and get an idea of food and prices. Be prepared for both to be high-level...

I agree with Caitlin. Make restaurant reservations well in advance.
My favorite is Le Bernadine; it's the best seafood restaurant in the US. Wonderful ambiance, incredible French seafood. It's in mid-town not far from your hotel. Believe me, you will remember Le Bernadine.
Windows on the World is on the top of the world trade center. I think its still WOW, it closed for remodeling, and I believe it reopened.
Not too many years ago, they had a Sunday brunch that was a bargain. The food was good, at a price that was a third of what you would have paid for dinner. You got the view which you probably would have gone to me anyway.
Also, if you hope to go to the theater make reservations now.

I just got back from NYC and we stayed at this marvelous hotel! I have to say I am totally thrilled with my hotel choice. I went back and forth between this and the Pierre and I'm so happy I chose the Plaza Athenee. Anyone who has been to Europe and loves European hotels will love this place. The rooms are not huge but very elegant. The bathrooms are all marble, older but very clean. The hotel is VERY quiet!! We were on the 5th floor and I only heard a police siren once and thankfully it was very brief. In the past we have stayed closer to Broadway when we have gone to see shows so this was a very pleasant change. The hotel is in a fabulous location on 64th street between Park Ave and Madison Ave. The shopping is fabulous and I felt very safe. I also can't say enough about the service between check in, valet parking and the concierge. The hotel staff couldn't do enough to please their guests and each time we entered or left the hotel they would address us by our name saying "hello" or "good evening". I highly recommend this hotel if you're going to NY!!!

I'll offer a contrary opinion. I did extensive research before celebrating my own 40th in NYC just 2 months ago. The Plaza Athenee was on my list of places to check out.
A question, though: why do you say that Conde Nast recommended the PA? You mean in an article on NYC they suggested the PA over all other places?
The new Conde Nast Gold List has 10 New York hotels on it and the PA's rooms have the lowest rating of all. The website makes it apparent that they're small (which is OK with me if they're nice). After reading lots of opinions here and at other sites I just couldn't get comfortable with the PA, though the location is outstanding and I believe the ambience is probably very very nice.
But I was looking for something as nice as I could find. So it's not that I concluded there was anything wrong with the PA, just that there were other even more tempting options.
The St. Regis and the Four Seasons ended up being my final two choices.
But obviously there are many very nice options in Manhattan.
I just thought I'd throw that into the discussion.

Oh yes, and I should mention that my husband and I ate at the Gramercy Tavern (which Caitlin mentioned) and really loved it. Such a nice balance of great but not esoteric food, nice but not stuffy ambience, attentive but not overbearing service. A really nice choice.

OK, bozos, knock off the conversations with the dead.
Helene is now almost 42 years old since this post was written a year and a half ago.

Hey "Mr. Fine Print"...I did a scan to see if there were other posts about this hotel because I didn't want to get flack about starting a new thread on a topic that's already been discussed. Isn't that how this forum is "supposed" to work? Obviously Helene won't be spending her "40th" birthday there but maybe she might want to spend her 42nd one there!

Has anyone stayed at both the Plaza Athenee in NYC as well as Paris? My husband and I have reservations at the George V in Paris this coming October but given our great experience at the NY Plaza Athenee, I'm really considering change the hotel if they are similiar.

Thank you!