Ellen's Stardust Diner

This might not be much help but I took my family there for a Sunday brunch last year and it was the worst experience of the weekend. Cold food that took forever to get, a waitress that took our order & disappeared (and, no, she was not waiting to sing). The only way we got a check is because we just got up from the table and started to leave. I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Tourist trap well past its expiration date.

Agreed with everyone here. It's the worst.

I had to eat there with my little cousin's school group that was visiting a few years ago and I prayed for sweet merciful death to get me out of there.

I ate there once and it was one time too many.

Skimble, Please do not make some out of work actor have to stop serving pancakes to sing from Hedwig to a karaoke track during the busy brunch time. They end up losing tips each time they have to stop and sing because patrons then have to wait to get their pancakes and, unfortunately, tip less for having to wait. It is a lose/lose situation all around, especially for the actor who is getting paid $5/hr.

There is much better food and better ways to spend your time in Manhattan at brunch time.

Only ever been there once. Walked in, rudely addressed by the hostess and just kinda pointed in the direction of a table to sit at. Get to table, looked down, realized that the silverware was filthy dirty as if they have just left the silverware from the people that had been at the table before is there. Left at once. Never gone back. Reading other peoples experiences, apparently a good choice to stay away.

The few times we went to NYC, my grandmother always insisted on going to that place for breakfast or lunch at some point during our trip. They sang for me on my birthday one year, which was cool, but the food is just okay; I preferred the Jekyll & Hyde Club, personally.

It's worth it to go at least once, I think.

Awful place. Food is gross and overpriced. It's loud, and the singing isn't that good.

What a shame -- being that close to the Winter Garden theater and unable to live up to the quality of CATS and ROCKY.

That's hilarious!

The only redeeming quality is the entrance.

Keep that and get a new restaurant inside.

Allow me to chime in. I actually work there, and have been in and out for 5 years, leaving to do theatre work every now and again.

yes - it's a tourist trap. However it's in Times Square. Of course it's going to be overpriced and gaudy - almost everything there is, so tourists should know what they are in for when they walk the streets of America's largest outdoor theme park/outhouse.

The food is just diner food. It's in the title. Nothing special. it's not Ellen's Stardust 5 star bistro. Any menu that has Mac "N" cheese and Norman Rockwell's Turkey dinner should be a "dine at your own risk" experience anyway. That being said, there are a few items that actually are edible (I know.....a Ringing endorsement), and there are a few newer inventions as of late that have been quite good, thanks to a new manager that comes from the fine dining world.

What I tell all my friends to do is go out to a nice restaurant for your dinner, and then go there for the desserts, all of which are delicious. The ice cream desserts and top notch, and the cheesecake is some of the best in the city, honestly. Our pastry chef is vegan, and he has made many vegan dessert options that are surprisingly good.

This way, you can have your conversations during dinner in a nice restaurant, and you can enjoy the entertainment at Ellen's, Dessert is also the perfect thing to get because there's hardly any wait time, and it takes not too long to eat. People should really only be there for up to an hour anyway. It does get VERY loud, so it's not for everyone, and I get that.

if you haven't been, you should come try it out. If you've never been because of the "stigma" it has, and you're ready to write it off, you should come see for yourself. If you've not been in the last 5 years, come back. The level of talent on any given day has improved greatly over the years. It's now pretty phenomenal, generally at night more than the daytime shift. yes, there are some weak links, but we have a staff of 85. Not everyone is going to be of the same calibre. 80% of the voices there take my breath away though. It's actually very slow during the day, never any lines, and at night, if you get there between 5 and 6, you should be ok.

and keep in mind that sometimes it's right place, right time, and right place, wrong time. The particular hour that you are there one time can be a completely different experience than another visit, because the staff is always different, and their song choices are always different. Sometimes we go full out. Sometimes we need to take it easy because we work and sing for ten hours, and when we are not singing, we are yelling over others' singing to communicate with our tables. It also depends on the crowd. If they are wanting to have a good time, we'll give them one. If they are unresponsive or low energy, our energy goes down as well, try though we may to always sing uptempo and keep the energy up. So take a chance, have some pie, and enjoy some amazing talented singers.

Mike Costa - Thank you for the sentiment, but that's not how Ellen's works. We sing constantly, and we have food runners. We run drinks and desserts, and multi task, many times holding a tray with drinks on one hand, and singing into the mic with the other. We do take requests, but we're not a jukebox. if no body there sings from Hedwig on a particular shift, obviously we can't sing it for you. But if you're nice to your server and he/she feels like trying to go the extra mile, sometimes we look up the lyrics on our iPhones and sing while we read the lyrics. We always try to please, and we want people to go away happy and hopefully not deaf.

if anyone has further questions, feel free to PM me

Updated On: 9/18/15 at 02:38 PM