Going to the City to celebrate my 60th birthday (Thurs., Jan 5). We have tickets for 8:00 performance of Follies and need a place to eat BEFORE the show. Followed Fodor's suggestion to look at www.menupages.com and thought Uncle Vanya's looks promising.

Any opinions? Anyone have a suggestion (prefer French/Italian/Russian cuisines but am open to new ideas)?

I'm looking for a place that is not too pricey ($$$ is our limit) and one with service prompt enough to get us to the Marquis on 1535 B'way near W 45th on time. Thanks for your ideas.

Had not heard of Uncle Vanya. Reviews look ok but it"s not that close to your theater. Firebird is closer for Russian & very attractive. Marseille for French & Basilica for Italian are other options but more casual.

Waiter, Chekhov, please.

If you are open to new ideas, take a look at Toloache -
http://www.opentable.com/toloache?scpref=110
http://toloachenyc.com/media/toloache.html

Two regular contributors (ellenem and NeoPatrick) have recommended it and I've added it to my short list to try.

LowCountryIslander just ate there recently and enjoyed it very much. Here's her trip report -
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-sleepsnyc.cfm

I'm not sure if you are at all interested in Mexican, but those three Fodorites have always steered me in the right direction and I've enjoyed meals with them in NYC. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks so much. And Aduchamp1--a good giggle.

If you want Italian you might try Lattanzi or Orso along Restaurant Row on West 46th between 8th and 9th Avenues, a short distance from the theater. PS: How do you translate "$$$" into real dollars?

Howard, thank you for asking that question. The Fodor's restaurant page translates $$$ in NYC to mean "upscale!" Your guess is as good as mine for what THAT means.