My wife and I are visiting NYC in November as a sixtieth birthday treat for her. We've never been to New York and are staying at the Box House Hotel in Brooklyn after lots of digging around on Google. So, Would the best way to get from JFK to Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon be: a. Taxi b. Shuttle, or c. Trains? We are staying for 4 nights so want to pack as much in as we can. We've pre-booked the River Café in Brooklyn for her birthday on Sunday but are open to suggestions. Can anyone recommend where we can get a good breakfast, lunch, evening meal etc? I wanted to go to Little Italy to try some authentic Italian food, is it worth it? We won't be shopping (phew) but I will be looking to buy her a birthday present so are the shops open on Sundays? I've been to the U.S many times as I worked in NH but I'm a complete novice when it comes to NYC. There are so many questions. Do I tip the bellhops, waiters, cleaners etc. if so, what's the going rate? Any assistance would be appreciated as we are both looking forward to taking a bite out of the big apple. Thank you in advance for your help.

Subway would be the best way to get to Manhattan.

Do not go to Little Italy for Italian food. Give us a price range and we can offer some suggestions, apart from the old stalwarts in Little Italy.

Many shops will be open on Sundays.

I'm pretty good about food in the City but I need a price range, likes and dislikes, level of adventurousness, type of food. For many places, you need to reserve NOW to get a table agt prime dining hours. Not to say all places, but many of the best ones will be booked weeks ahead.

One place you can walk to, which has great pizza, is Paulie G's on Greenport avenue. No reservations needed but you might have to wait. fun place, friendlyl owner. Interesting area, good for walking around.

http://pauliegee.com/greenpoint/

Airport Transfers: The only practical solution is a taxi or car service. I tend to prefer a car service. Depending on your arrival day and time, it may make more sense to use a taxi (since it has a flat fare and these days relatively short lines). Last week, I was able to get a taxi at Terminal 8 in about 2 minutes, while I'd have had to wait up to 10 minutes to meet a reserved car service.

Given the location of your hotel, I'd strongly recommend you invest in setting up the Uber or Lyft app so you can get cars on demand.

With very few exceptions there is no "authentic" Italian food in Little Italy anymore. It's a sea of tourist traps and mediocre Italian-American red sauce joints. If you want something good and modestly priced, look at Parm, which specializes in the Italian-American staple and is quite good. If you want a real Italian meal, there are hundreds of good Italian restaurants elsewhere in the city. I like Tony's Di Napoli, which has outlets in Times Square and East Midtown. I also like Viceversa, but that's more "modern" Italian ... though the pastas are really good. On the same street is Maria Pia, which is a bit touristy but modestly priced and surprisingly good if you avoid the deceptively cheap prix-fixe menu and order a la carte. The latter two are both on West 51st St. I also like Becco, which some deride but which has a good a la carte menu (and a cheap, mediocre all-you-can-eat pasta special). For amazing upscale Italian food, head directly to Del Posto for one of NYC's more expensive but amazing meals. For fairly expensive but delicious Roman-style cuisine head directly to Maialino in the Gramercy Park Hotel (but it's a tough reservation to get, so make it immediately); there are also excellent upscale pizza places here if you want that ... but avoid by-the-slice joints, which are by and large forgettable to bad.

Virtually all shops are open on Sundays, usually after 10 am (some after 11 am).

Tip 15% to 20% in sit-down restaurants; tip bellhops $5 to carry two bags; I like to leave $1 or $2 for the room cleaner, but that's not universal. Taxi drivers expect a 20% tip; you can add it directly on your credit card; Carmel quotes all-inclusive prices these days that include tolls and tip. Uber allows you to add a tip after your ride, but most people don't except on longer rides.

For high moderate Italian food, L'Artusi is good, as is Babbo. I'm talking pastas in the low $20s, mains hovering mostly around low $30s. L'Altro Paradiso is also good, in same price bracket. If you want high end Italian there is no place better than Marea, although Scarpetta is quite popular, as is Maialino.

Tony's DiNapoli is in another category, although not inexpensive. Predictable red sauce cuisine, not bad at all if you must but not for any kind of special occasion. For the same price point, I would go to Marta where the food is a lot better. Note that prices include service:


https://www.martamanhattan.com/menus/


http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...eyer-marta.cfm




If budget is not so important and you want red sauce, go to Carbone where you might see a few famous faces. High prices and vast portions. Their veal parmigiana is some of the best I've ever had, one of the few served on the bone.

http://carbonenewyork.com/menus.php

Actually, I think I led you astray for the airport transfer. The flat taxi rate applies only to Manhattan. So do car service, Uber, or Lyft. Sorry about that.

Thank you everyone, you've been really helpful. ekscrunchy asked about price range, likes, dislikes and levels of adventure. Well, by likes are spicy foods, the hotter the better. Dislikes are bland diet monstrosities. Levels of adventurousness. Well, my wife is French and my late father in law was a top French chef (he was head chef for the Queen's coronation) and she had inherited his skills, hence the girth and a willingness to try anything. I even tried tripe in an Escabeche sauce. I've eaten Escargot, Kangaroo stakes, pigeon in red wine so yes, pretty adventurous. Price range isn't so much an issue as quality, but I reckon to pay $40-50 for a breakfast, similar for lunch and $150-200 for dinners.

All Manhattan

Hot kitchen-Sichuan in the East Village, might satisfy your craving for spicy

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/hot-kitchen/
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Xi'an-a mini chain.

http://xianfoods.com/
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Dim Sum-Jing Fong during the week.
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For upscale pizza-small pies

Motorino, Luzzo, Keste, Co.,
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Venezulean- Patacon Pisao-, unbelievable chacapas
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Serbian-Kafana on Ave C.
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Hip Filipino both owned by the same people Jeepney and Maharlikan (more expensive)
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Best bagels
Ess-a-Bagels
Absolute
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Best European Jewish

Russ & Daughters
Barney Greengrass
2nd Ave Deli

You have a good budget for some of our upscale places as long as you d on't drink too much! Since you mentioned Italian, I would highly recommend Marea, on Central Park South, for one of your expensive dinners. You must try their fusilli with octopus and bone marrow. And you must book soon to get a table at prime dining hours. If you do not like the look of their menu, try Babbo, a little less pricey, with a broad menu of Itallian for all regions.

For spicy, we do have some good Sichuan places, although the best ones tend to be in Queens, which means a train or subway ride of under one hour.

Neither is Manhattan great on Thai food, although, again, there are some good authentic places in Queens. If you think you are interested in going to any of those in Queens, I can be more specific.

So before I write a tome here, let me know if any particular spicy food is of more interest than any other: Mexican (can be sort of spicy), Thai, Sichuan..come to mind. I imagine Indian is not in the cards since I think you come from the UK where the Indian food is bound to be better than what we have here. (Although we do have some good places now, in all price ranges).
Unfortunately, with exceptions, most of the best ethnic food will be in the immigrant neighborhoods which means a subway trip, but since you will be in Greenpoint, it's not such a long trip at all...

The #7 train is the conduit to some of the best ethnic eating in the city. Again I can be more specific if that is of interest.


https://www.vogue.com/article/queens...wl-seven-train

Thank you ekscrunchy. Yes, I do like Indian food (the UK is the centre of the world for it) but even here you have to be careful or you get a red hot bowl of something swimming in red coloured oil. I am very eager to try all ethnic food, but (Indian aside) from top to bottom it's: French, Italian, West Indian (Jamaican), Chinese, specifically Szechuan, Thai. That said, when in Rome and all that. What would be good old American fayre? I'm very keen on barbecues, burgers and hot dogs, but only authentic American ones.

I'm glad I could help too. Why bother?

Hi IMDonehere. I viewed every one of your great suggestions and the only reason I didn't reply was that ekscrunchy asked me some questions, but we will visit as many as your recommendations as possible so thank you very much for suggesting them. Warmly: Edward