Favourite reasonably priced pre-theatre dinner spot?

Any suggestions?

Serafina at the Time Hotel is a good and reasonably priced option for a pre-theatre meal.

My suggestion is to avoid Midtown at any cost. Much better restaurants on the Lower East Side, East Village, Chinatown or even in Queens or Brooklyn. I found a really great spot for burgers around 10 dollars called Burgary at 67 Clinton Street on the LES, which is my new favorite burger place in the city.

Which is more important to you - price or pre-theatre? In other words, are you looking for a great pre-theatre spot that isn't too expensive or a cheap place that you can go to before heading to the theatre?

If it's the former, I always recommend Joe Allen for a pre-theatre meal. It's a theater folks landmark, home of the famous "flop wall" with posters from Broadway's notorious flops. Most importantly, it's a great place to eat (famous burgers, lobster rolls and liver & onions) and is a well-oiled machine before and after shows. Its pricing is reasonable for the location and not expensive for NY, but not cheap. (Noticing your spelling - if you're coming from London, there's a Joe Allen in Covent Garden that won a London contest for best burger ...which for some reason is unlisted in the menu there, But everybody orders it.)

Note - they accept reservations no more than 7 days in advance.

Updated On: 2/23/17 at 11:52 AM

Cha Pa's.

I really enjoy John's Pizza of Times Square. Reasonably priced, delicious pizza! c: It's right next to the St. James Theatre.

I think John's is lousy and very overpriced for what it is.

While it is not cheap, Juniors is always reliable and has great pastrami. Kodama, also on W. 45th St. has very reasonable Japanese. Pongsri, which someone else recommended is also good for reasonable Thai (W. 48th). Scarlatto, on W. 47th, is a go to place for us, although its prices have been edging up. I also agree re Marseilles. You may want to check the on-line sites to see if the prices are what you are looking for.

John's Pizza for sure. Another one you might want to consider is going to Sardi's on W 44th as well - across the street from the Broadhurst. If you head upstairs to the bar, there have a bar menu. It's limited but enough to fill you up - and you get all the ambiance of the restaurant. We go there before and sometimes we'll go after. Last time we had John Slattery beside us kicking back after The Front Page with some friends of his. It's quite lively at the bar and its fun to look at all the caricatures on the wall and try and guess who they are.

whizzer_wins said: "I really enjoy John's Pizza of Times Square. Reasonably priced, delicious pizza! c: It's right next to the St. James Theatre."

And they have a fantastic Absolut martini menu, all of which are served in fishbowl-sized glasses!

Mercato, B Squared, Pure Thai Cookhouse, Gyu Kaku (happy hour only!- great discounts/food), Bea,

La Masseria

Trattoria Trecolori

Saju Bistro

Carmines

Don Antonio



Juniors is always crowded, the tables are tightly packed so you can't move your chair comfortably, and the food is ubiquitously mediocre ... except for the cheesecake. Have dinner at La Masseria before your show and go to Juniors for cheesecake afterward.

Another vote for Trattoria Trecolori. Great food, great service and reasonably priced. It's our "go to" place when we come into NYC.

I try to avoid eating in the Times Square area, but sometimes when people are visiting I go to Trecolori on 47th before a show. Damn good Italian food at prices that aren't as ridiculous as much of what's around it.