Upper West Side Restaurants
 

I had another thread about the subway that turned into a discussion about Carmine's and Italian food options on the Upper West Side so I thought I'd start a new thread about the restaurants I've found that look promising for our trip. It's two adults and a six year old child so fancy and romantic is not the priority; just good food, reasonable prices, and a true NY experience.

I've (obsessively) researched restaurants here on Fodor's, MenuPages, TripAdvisor, Google, and other websites and here's what I have on our list of possibilities. For the benefit of me and anyone else doing the same thing -- Any thoughts?

Big Nick's Burger Joint
Bettola
Angelo’s Coal Oven Pizzeria (not on the UWS but convenient to walking to FAO S.)
Lansky’s
Manhattan Diner
Good Enough To Eat
Europan
Shake Shack
Firehouse
Shining Star Restaurant (diner style)
H & H Bagels Inc
Chirping Chicken
Celeste Ristorante and Pizzeria
Carmine's Restaurant UWS location
Nonna
La Vela Ristorante
Ottomanelli Bros.
Soutine Bakery
Emack and Bolio’s
Beard Papa’s
Levain Bakery
Grandaisy Bakery

Big Nick's great greasy burgers
Good Enough to Eat good with kids
Firehouse is a bar
Nonna very mediocre
H & H yes but not a restaurant
Celeste delicious and casual, no reservations
Emack and Bolio's very good and overpriced, also try Grom
All the bakeries are good, also Magnolia and Buttercup
Pio Pio excellent casual chicken
Pinch very family friendly good pizza
also on upper west is Barney Greengrass for smoked fish, not cheap but very new york and delicious

Just saw that you're staying at the Lucerne. Nice Matin is a free standing restaurant but also connected to the hotel. Very good but probably too fancy for any meal but breakfast. On that same block (Amsterdam bet. 79th and 80th) are Bettola and Bello Sguardo, both good. Also good for popping into are Pain Quotidiens, chain but good and casual, the closest to you will be Columbus and 84th

Nice Matin (and really the entire UWS) is extremely family friendly - unless the 6 year old is particularly difficult, you will be fine almost anywhere - especially if you dine before 7:30 or 8 PM. Also try Kefi; 5 Napkin Burger; Arte Cafe; Bella Luna; Bistro Cassis; EJ's Luncheonette; Fairway Cafe; Gennaro . . . I could go on

Don't forget Cafe Luxembourg, 200W70, just west of Amsterdam.
http://www.cafeluxembourg.com/

Agree Pio Pio Salon for great Peruvian chicken. Gennaro's very god Italian. Kefi for good Greek - casuale and inexpensive.

I would also cut back on the diners and try something new. there are a bunch of Indian that are very reasonable and good ( and a 6 year old will love tandoori chicken if nothing else.

Almost all restaurants in the area are fine with kids as long as you don't eat late (9:30 or later) and take a table that might order a lot of drinks.

nytraveler: You would *think* a six year old would love tandoori chicken but not necessarily. This kid doesn't like the usual kid food like mac & cheese, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, quesadillas. On the other hand, she loves peanut butter, pancakes, pizza, and pasta - hence all the diner options and Italian/pizza restaurant choices. Still, I would like to try an Indian place since I don't eat Indian food often. I like the MenuPages website because I can view the menu for the restaurants in question to see if they offer something the kid would eat. I'll save the usual routine of making her eat what she's given for when we're not on vacation and save myself the headaches.

*Actually, she's a great kid and no trouble at all in restaurants as long as she likes the food.*
:-)

The restaurant in Fairway is an interesting experience - it's upstairs of a gourmet supermarket. So you can get a good value dinner (cloth napkins and tablecloths) or lunch (casual but yummy) and hit the "grab and go's" in the deli for later.

cafe luxembourg wouldn't be great with a 6-year old, and the maitre d' at bistro cassis is the most miserable human being on earth...avoid, imo.
having said that, the UWS is super family-friendly overall with an abundance of easy places.

peanut butter-go to Peanut Butter & Co. downtown for lunch one day.
pancakes-Clinton st. Baking Co. on the lower east side is supposed to have the best in the city. Go for b/f during the week. On weekends it's a mob scene.

As for the UWS request, Popover Cafe is nice for breakfast if you like popovers and Barney's Greengrass is famous for their smoked fish -nova, lox, whitefish etc. served with bagels and eggs. Manhattan Diner is also good for b/f. Levain bakery outrageously delicious cookies. Zabar's, Citarella and Fairway famous markets/gourmet food shops in the area for take out. Lansky's is good Jewish deli food. Chirping Chicken is usually just takeout but good. Fred's might be worth a try, esp. if you're dog lovers. http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/freds/

We see six-year-olds (and younger) at Cafe Lux all the time.