What Time For Dinner?
 

We're visiting NYC in a couple of weeks; plan to have dinner Friday night in the theater district. We're not going to a show. What would be the ideal time for dinner, such that the show crowd is long gone, but we might be having dessert when the after-show folks start coming in? Or will we be pushed out for the after-show crowd if we try to linger? We want to enjoy the "buzz" of this crowd -- and maybe sight a celebrity...

How about 8:30 or 9 o'clock? That sounds about right for what you're looking for.

Don't be disappointed, but your chances of seeing a celebrity at a theater district restaurant are slim to none. For that you need to hit a hip downtown spot, but even then chances are slim.

You certainly won't be crowded out by the after-show people.

Most shows start around 7:30 - 8:00 and let out around 10:30 - 11. If you wanted to catch dinner and still be there when everyone gets out, I would shoot for between 9:00 - 10:00. But it's been a few years since I've done the dinner and a show thing, so maybe someone has a better idea.

Having just spent a full month in the theatre district and having dinner but no show on more than half our nights, I have a couple of thoughts to add. Twice we went to restaurants about 9 and although they were virtually less than half full, they couldn't seat us, as they had full reservations from 10 on. Many shows are shorter these days. We saw a number of them that were 90 minutes, no intermission, so after theatre diners are getting earlier than they used to be.

Of course, your question really depends on the restaurant. Some are only busy pre-theatre and others have their biggest crowds after (Joe Allen for example, one place you're relatively likely to see a "star").

Make your reservations for 8-8:30 p.m. The theater crowd has already left. The waitstaff has cleaned up, and you can have a leisurely dinner until the after-theater crowd starts arriving at 10-10:30.
You might have a problem getting a 9 p.m. reservation at a popular after-theater restaurant, as it would overlap with the later busy period.

I NEVER recognize stars. I once carried on a conversation in Sephora about lipstick with Drew Barrymore for a good ten minutes and didn't know it was her until after she left and my siste told me. Duh.

That's precisely why they like living in NYC. We're either too rushed, too jaded, too ambivalent or too unimpressed to care.

I work in Soho and probably pass celebrities all the time and have no idea. I constantly get the "Did you see..." or "Hey, it's..." from my friends. I'm oblivious.

I'm also not a good 'celeb.' spotter but my teenage daughter seems to spot people regularly. They could be found in playgrounds, parking garages, coffee shops, grocery stores and many other uninteresting places.

Funny, isn't it? I often don't recognize celebs because, to me, they look *like* themselves--as in, "Boy, that guy really looks like Dennis Miller!", when it actually *was* Dennis Miller! I've always read that one reason celebs like NYC so much is because they mostly get left alone there. I also read that Gwyneth Paltrow rides the subway, and no one bothers her because they don't believe GP would be on the subway.

I agree with Howard-8-8:30 would be best. Joe Allen or next door at Orso are likely candidates for celebs in that area but not at thta hour :(.

if you are not going to the theater,I would rec. not eating in the theater district.There are so many great resturants in NYC.Check out zagats.com and all of the posts listed on this site