Making my 1st trip to NYC next month. Already planning to do the museum, broadway, and lincoln center thing. Any recommendations, particularly for restaurants? Or maybe some forums or websites anyone can recommend, so I can do my own research (please don't post a link to google ). I'll be staying in Manhattan on 46th st. between 7th and 8th ave. TIA!
Lots of nice places to eat in the Village if you like Indian, Thai, or Chinese. Vincent's in Little Italy makes a badass veal parmesan.
my advice is don't go. I'm here for Christmas with my wife's family and this place just doesn't make sense. It's drab, expensive and packed. People pay too much money for too little and then wonder why they're bitter. Stay in Texas!!
Just got back. Gramercy Tavern is pricey but the absolute best!! Great food and atmosphere......really cool place. But you gotta make reservations way in advance. Just great!! Also enjoyed went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Times Square, and the Village. It's just fun walking around. Have a blast - we did. D R
I'll also be traveling up that way in a few weeks. We'll be staying in New Jersey, but NYC is only a short train ride away.
if you can make it here you can make it anywhere... its the capital of the world, how can you get bored? i'll admit, being the tourist season, its not so fun when you cant move on the sidewalk, but thats Times Square for ya. you just gotta experience it for yourself, go to central park and take a horse drawn carriage tour. head by Strawberry Fields and the Dakota building. restaurants are on every corner, but try Delta Grill on 9th ave in the 40's for some Cajun food. try some experimental theater: Stomp and Blue Man Group are in the Village. great bars in the EastVillage, and dont forget to get at least one bagel and one slice of pizza. i recommend riding the subway and going out of Manhattan: The Bronx Zoo, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, etc... also, the Staten Island Ferry is a free ride and gives you a great view of New York Harbor, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, NJ, Lower Manhattan, and Downtown Brooklyn... just being there and soaking it all in was enough for me to want to move there. everything is open and you can meet people from all over the world. no offense to studogg, but growing up in Texas defines the word "drab" for me, NYC is anything but, it is live with energy and a pulse like no other city in the world... have fun and if you see anyone wearing a Rockets hat, it could be me...
As far as restaurant recommendations, try these pages out for some reviews, recommendations etc. http://newyork.citysearch.com I use Citysearch mainly for restaurants, bars and stuff, but I think they have other info there as well. http://menupages.com This site has menus for basically all the major restaurants in NYC if you want to get info on prices and what kind of food is offered. I agree with most of Citysearch's recommendations. Maybe you might want to combine it with a Zagat or other restaurant guide book. If you have any specific ethnic foods that you want to try out, I would definitely recommend doing so in NYC. It has by far some of the best restaurants anywhere (of course with some places, you might have to pay an arm, a leg, and maybe your first born child). Oh as far as Sushi Samba, I would pass on it. It has a nice NY scene, and maybe I would go for a drink or two, but the food is ok at best. Just my opinion. If you want really good sushi, let me know (of course will be pricy for the most part).
Go to the jekyle and hyde resteraunt and club. Go see ground zero for yourself. Ride a subway so you can say you did. And visit the Toys R us. See if you can get some david letterman show tickets they are free. if Wicked is playing still on times square it's very good! AND BY ALL MEANS VISIT THE NBA STORE...ITS HEAVEN
I love felafel's. I tried several places in New York. None of them beat a felafel we have right in our own back yard. If you love felafel's, you HAVE to go to Mama's Po Boy on Hillcroft and Richmond across the street from Lee H.S. Trust me. As far as N.Y., I loved it there. For good food that's fairly cheap, go over to the Battery Park area. And ask the local's. DO NOT bother with Carnegie deli. Way overpriced IMO.
Hey guys, as I mentioned I'll be traveling up to the New York area in about a week or so, so I'll also be using this thread for suggestions. We're actually staying in New Jersey, so to get to NYC we'll be taking the train into Penn Station. To get to these various areas like The Village, Little Italy, etc.. Do we just grab a cab and ask him to drive us there or what? I wasn't sure if there is an easier way to get around than that.
If you want to spend alot, check out Peter LUger's and Nobu. Love Austin, but I can see the allure of NYC. Get ready for culture shock. You're going from probably the least densely populated major city (presumably you're from Houston) to the most densely populated city.
its called the Metropolitan Transit Authority and it costs two dollars per ride. the subway is by far the fastest and easiest method of transportation in New York City. cab drivers are evil and if you ask me, the cancer of NYC traffic. all they do is honk their horns all day, not giving pedestrians the right of way, they speed, they make it harder for new yorkers to live. the cab fares just went up and an average cab ride will run you over 8 dollars each ride you take. take the subway man, it is safe, fast, and inexpensive
I agree with the subway. Actually from Penn Station you can take the train downtown to all those places (1, 9 the red line will take you to the West Village, where all the cool jazz bars are - you can walk crosstown to the Village). I would recommend buying a one day Metrocard pass (go to an attendant or at basically any newstand or convenience store in Manhattan), which is I believe 4 or 5 bucks last time I checked but that was a while back. Otherwise it is $2 each way. I would recommend getting one of those free MTA Subway maps (you can find them at most major stations - ask the attendant selling tokens) or better yet if you have a good tour guide map and outline all the places you want to go. Many of the downtown places can be reached by subway if you know your way around. If you aren't a fan of the subway and don't want to take it especially late at night, the cabs aren't that expensive (not cheap though - from Penn Station to the Village maybe 10 bucks or more - can't say for sure it has been a while). I would suggest telling the driver cross streets (like say drive us to 3rd street and 2nd avenue etc) then a particular place unless it is a really famous such as Penn Station, MSG, The Met, Ground Zero etc. Of course you can say the Village or Little Italy, but you will definitely sound like a tourist. Just my two cents. Hope it helps. Oh and I am definitely in favor of going to Nobu or Peter Luger's if you want to splurge. EXCELLENT food at both places. Both places will definitely require a reservation. Good luck with Nobu though. Tough to get one even after all these years, but you can try Next door Nobu, which has a no reservation policy for small groups (still insanely crowded last I went a year or two ago).
I don't think we'd be against using the subway, as long as we know where we're going. Do the subway destinations tell you what part of town they're going to (SoHo, Village), or do you basically have to know the street names of where those areas are located? Also, when you say the train can get us to those destinations...do you mean the train from Penn Station, or the subway? We've been to NYC a couple times, but I've never ventured past times square. We'd actually like to experience the city this time around, and we'll be in the area for a few weeks so hopefully we get to check out some good things.
Most of the subway maps have a small indication of roughly what neighborhood each stop is in. But most parts of lower manhattan especially are conducive to walking which is where you see the most so I wouldn't take the train unless I was going btw uptown and downtown or far east to far west or some combination thereof. One of my favorite things to do back when I had the time was to walk from 5th avenue & the 80's after a visit to the museums all the way down to the east village/alphabet city where I lived, about 70 blocks down or so and a few blocks over. A long walk to be sure, but always an interesting one Cabs are kind of expensive now, anyway.
harrisment, when we say trains we mean subways. Penn station serves as the rail transit hub(NJ Transit and Amtrak), but there is also an MTA subway station located within Penn Station. the 1, 2, 3, and 9(red line) run through Times Square at 42nd, down through Penn Station at 34th and down to Greenwich Village. if you want to experience the Village, get off at Christopher Street/Sheridan square. on the east side, the 4, 5, 6(green line) runs through Grand central at 42nd street. there is a shuttle train that connects Times Square to Grand Central that runs until midnight, it just goes back and forth and it is a one minute ride. relatively, its all close. if you walked along 42nd street east from Times Square to Grand Central, it would only take you fifteen minutes tops. you would pass Bryant Park and the adjacent New York Public Library. if you walked East from Penn Station along 34th street, you will get to the Empire State Building at Fifth Avenue. The Plaza hotel is the southeast corner of Central Park at 59th and Fifth, thats where FAO schwartz is located. columbus circle is the southwest corner of the park, thats where the new Time Warner building is and one of many Trump Towers. a weekly metrocard will run you $21, a daily will cost $7. so if you ride the subway 4 times in one day, it pays for itself ... have fun and if you need more tips, just let me know.... I LOVE NY
