I will be in NYC from Nov 3-5 with my journalism class and I am trying to find a restaurant to go before we see Phantom. The night before we are going to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thanks!!!
How many people are in your group? Shake Shack is literally right there by the Majestic, but finding seats is very hard. What I usually do is go to Chelsea Market (big indoor food market with lots of offerings), and then just take the E train up a few stops. If you wanna stay in the Theater District, there's John's Pizzeria, which is in an old church, or Junior's: http://www.yelp.com/biz/johns-pizzeria-new-york-2
Junior's is great but hard for large groups. I'd check menupages.com and look for a place that takes reservations. Angus McIndoe is right there and takes reservations - as does Sardi's. Both are a little pricier than Junior's but as long as you don't order a steak or something you should be okay.
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Seconding the John's Pizzeria recommendation -- my dad and I ate there before a show once, and loved it. I don't get to NYC very often, but I'm hoping to get to eat there again sometime! Have a fun trip, RW3.
Skip Sardi's. It is ridiculously awful and overpriced. John's is great. Though if you want to deviate from Italian, maybe try Bobby Van's Grill across Times Square on 45th. Very accommodating and good food. Bond 45 is good too if you want to do Italian again.
Angus' is literally right across the street and it is usually reallllly good. It's a steak house. Not cheap, not overpriced, but reasonable for the quality... AND you get to gaze at the Majestic while you eat
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There's a great little hole in the wall Italian restaurant that most people probably miss when they walk by there. It's on 8th avenue between 45th and 46th street on the east side of the street called Daniela's. If you have a group, you may want to pop by ahead of time and get a business card because, and I'm not sure if it is a year round thing, on the back, they have a VIP customer 10% off coupon.
If Thai suits your fancy, Qi on 8th between 42nd and 43rd is fantastic.
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If you have a group of 18, take a subway or taxis or anything and run away from midtown and go to eat to any other neighborhood. Finding a table in that area is going to be hell. In Little Italy, I recommend La Dolce Vita on Mulberry Street or Novella.
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I do like Thalia's on 50th Street (6 blocks)..it's pretty big and have a varied menu.
But my first choice would have been Kodama's (as already noted above). Certainly if you like Sushi, go there. I happen not to be a huge Sushi fan but they also have the best chicken/beef/salmon Teriyaki around. And it's a block away so it's less of a distance to deal with possible weather issues. They both take reservations.
I was assuming that if you were going to Little Italy the night before, you wanted something different).
How many people are you talking about? Carmine's is great and inexpensive for groups, but I hate to suggest that since you're doing Italian the night before. Angus will reserve the whole top floor if you're a fairly large group, and the food and atmosphere are great. Whatever you do avoid that Guy's American place like the plague, even though they court groups.
My new favorite restaurant is Bann, on the south side of 50th between 8th and 9th, in the Worldwide Plaza just past New World Stages.
• The cuisine: Korean Barbeque! It's Asian without necessarily being sushi, with flavorful dishes for everyone - noodles, rice, meats, vegetable, etc. • It's just close enough to the theaters that it's easy to walk to the theater after dinner and just far enough away that you aren't dealing with a huge crowd there. • You can do Korean Barbeque (such as bulgogi - marinated skirt steak, shrimp, vegetables, chicken, etc.) where you can actually grill it at the table! Their tables have grills built in to the middle. It's a novel, fun, exciting thing to do, and from my experience the more the merrier. They give you chopsticks but you can always ask for silverware - my friends almost always use the silverware! If you want, you can get the barbeque items cooked for you and then you and your group can just focus on dining, but the grilling is really fun. • They take reservations! I've seen tons of big groups, and they can accommodate a lot of people pretty easily.
You know, if all else fails, I've taken big groups of people to the Grand Central Station food court. There are a lot of choices, it's cheap, and finding seating usually isn't a problem, unless you all insist on sitting together. Then you can do the Whispering Arch thing after: http://www.sonicwonders.org/?p=426 And GCS is beautiful!
I'm surprised nobody recommended Tony Di Napoli's on 43 between Broadway and 6th . GReat for groups. Family style Italian. Similar to Carmine's but in my opinion better and easier to get in cause its less know. For a large group reserve ahead.