Going to NYC for the first time next weekend...

[purbeast0]

My wife and I are planning a quick trip up to NYC for our 1yr anniversary, and since it's kind of last minute we have yet to book anything.

We wanted to try and get something near times square but aren't looking to spend an arm and a leg on a place. We're staying from September 18th to September 21st.

So I guess I have a few questions....

1. Anyone have any hotel recommendations that are in the middle of all the stuff going on, that aren't goign to cost me $300+ a night? I realize there will be some tradeoff but I'm kind of open to options at this point.

2. We are thinking of taking a train up there from DC (Union Station), which station should we take the train to up in NY?

3. What are some suggestions on things to do? We have a few things in mind - see a show on broadway, take a dinner cruise that goes around the statue of liberty, eat at nice places, which goes to my 4th...

4. What are some restaurants that you would recommend? We don't want to spend $200 on a meal but we want to go have some nice meals, especially on the 20th, which is our anniversary.

Thanks any any advice is appreciated.

 

[bdude]

Go eat at the cart at 53rd and 6th. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 56th and 3rd. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

Better than the one at 53rd and 6th?

 

[bdude]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 56th and 3rd. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

Better than the one at 53rd and 6th?

53rd and 6th! Doh..

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 56th and 3rd. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

Better than the one at 53rd and 6th?

53rd and 6th! Doh..

Lol, thought there was a better cart in Manhattan that I didn't know about. Though I do hear there's one in Queens that's pretty good (almost never go to Queens now).

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 53rd and 6th. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

It's 6 bucks
It's good going down, but it burns coming out. Go easy on the hot sauce.
Also you can stay on the Jersey side and take the ferry, bus into the city.
Fort Lee, Edgewater, Hoboken, Weehawken, Jersey City etc..

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 53rd and 6th. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

It's 6 bucks
It's good going down, but it burns coming out. Go easy on the hot sauce

6 bucks with pita bread, 5 without, though it might have gone up since I last checked.

Hot sauce ain't bad. I always go for the white/hot sauce combo. Mmm.

I second the recommendation for finding a hotel in NJ. Better value, and train (PATH) into NYC from NJ isn't too long. You'll save money and/or find better quality hotel for the price.

For activities, yeah, taking in a show and visiting the usual tourist spots is god for first time visit to NYC. I don't have recommendation for restaurants, though sites like the Zagat Guide could help you find what you are looking for. There are a lot of good restaurants in the city. You could always try picking at random on restaurant row.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Watch out for aidz needles

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Watch out for aidz needles

And I thought I was the time traveler.

 

[ivan2]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Watch out for aidz needles

please let us know where you will be going on a spree ahead of time so i can avoid.

 

[jonks]

Use opentable.com for restaurant reviews, recommendations and RESERVATIONS.

 

[dullard]

If you truely are open to options, I have just the right hotel for you. My fiancee and I stayed at Columbus Studios about 2.5 years ago. I don't even know if it is still open. But it was in a good location (1 block from Central Park, 2 blocks from the Natural History museum, and across the park from the Guggenheim/Metropolitan museum of art, and a quick subway ride to the rest).

That place will live on in my memories as the most memorable hotel. The stairs felt like they were falling apart (as we climed 5 flights, the 6th was sectioned off with construction tape). The walls were not vertical, about 85° instead of 90° from the floor. The room had a TV (non functional) and two cots. Nothing else, the rest were missing (probably stolen furniture and no closet door, etc). There were shared bathrooms/showers that had the light switch IN the shower where the water hit the wall. Every wall/floor/ceiling in each room was painted a different color (well, where there were walls to paint as much of it was crumbling) so you could sit in one room and see 5-7 different paint colors. But, the suites cost $60/night when the cheapest hotel room anywhere else was $600/night (shopping season right before Christmas). We should have gotten a hint when we were told the room was cash up-front, no CC or checks allowed, but that we had 30 minutes to change our minds about staying there (and we'd get the cash back).

My point is you can get a very memorable trip and a very cheap hotel combined! We actually loved it, with a great bakery just around the corner. We have stories to tell for the rest of our lives about that hotel.

Broadway shows are well worth watching. But pay full price and buy it as far ahead as you can so you can enjoy your vacation and watch the shows you want. When I was there, just about everything was sold out. Sure, if you wanted to wait 5 hours in line you might see if you can get a half price ticket at whatever scraps were left over, but it isn't worth the wait to save a few bucks.

 

[Gibson486]

I wa sthere in June...

stayed at Best Western Convention Center Hotel. Location was pretty good, although you have to pass this one block with lots of bums. It's about 4 blocks from time square, and 2 blocks to the closest subway (sounds further than it really is). It does not look pleasent on the outside because there is lots of construction and a cab repair garage accross the street, but it was far from awful and you get free breakfast (hard boiled eggs, biscuits, muffins, toast, donuts). The rooms are very small and you can hear people walk in the hallways if they are loud, but at night everyone is too tired to be loud anyways. For $95 (through price line negotiator) it was a great deal. the bathroom in really clean, you get cable, and the air conditioner works well. I'd do it again.

To give you prespective, I was also there the month before and I stayed in time sqaure ($500 a night hotel). I did not miss it one bit while at the best western.

For meals....my gf and I loved chinatown. Also, remember to look at your check. Lots of places include the tip in the amount.

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 56th and 3rd. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

Better than the one at 53rd and 6th?

53rd and 6th! Doh..

Lol, thought there was a better cart in Manhattan that I didn't know about. Though I do hear there's one in Queens that's pretty good (almost never go to Queens now).

both sides make the same lamb and rice. go to whichever side has the shorter line

 

[n yusef]

No one like Jersey, nor the people who travel from that shithole to Manhattan. Don't go there if you can help it.

 

[Arcadio]

You can stay at my place.

 

[purbeast0]

anyone else?

booking the hotel today at some point.

doesn't have to be DIRECTLY in time square or anything, but I want to be in the vicinity of all the action going on.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Hold on to your wallet.

 

[ivan2]

time square is a tourist/local high school students shithole, avoid!

oh for hotel i heard some buzz about the pod

http://www.thepodhotel.com/

 

[blackdogdeek]

my wife and i stayed at the time hotel. it's right near times square and i think it might be in your budget. it was small but very nice and has a great location.

the food cart at 53rd and 6th is $5 for lamb over rice during the lunch rush. i work in that grey building that is on that block, the calyon building.

you can get a nice meal for less than $100 with good drinks at Ruby Foo's which is at 49th and broadway. you're also right in the neighborhood for good brazillian bbq at churrascaria platafarma which is on 48th between 8th and 9th i think. you can google is for the location. it's pricey but it has a ridiculously stocked buffet salad bar complete with shrimp cocktail and sushi. then you get the all you can rodezia(sp?) experience where waiters walk around with huge skewers of all types of cooked meats and you just signal if you want them to cut you a slice. there's also bobby van's steakhouse near 50th and 7th. utsav is decent indian but they have a lunch buffet. there's also smaller quick venues like tina's at 56th and 5th for freaking awesome cuban food for about $10 for more than you can eat in one sitting, cafe duke is a more upscale deli that has good ramen and other korean food on 51st between 6th and 7th. today i went for some quick chinese food at yip's on 52nd between 5th and 6th.

EDIT: closer to times square there is that dallas bbq place, carmine's for family style italian, ollie's for cheaper chinese food. gray's papaya has awesome hot dogs for cheap but it's at 38th or 37th and 8th ave.

one thing to note is that times square has been turned into a pedestrian area meaning that broadway is closed off in that section to traffic so it's now packed with people sitting at chairs and tables enjoying the sights of times square. there is a TKTS booth right there where you can go to get cheaper ticket for broadway shows.

 

[nerp]

If you park next to a yellow car, make sure to swing your door open until both cars touch.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 53rd and 6th. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

for you

thats the fake cart. you gotta go around 11pm in the same vicinity for chicken and rice.

as for restaurants"
momofuku ko
also there is a japanese restaurants where people dress up like ninjas

 

[blackdogdeek]

another interesting dining experience: lucky cheng's. it's chinese cuisine served by flamboyant and super-hot transvestites. it's downtown though at 2nd st and 1st ave.

ny penn station (not to be confused with newark penn station) is at 34th and 7th which is right around madison square garden and is about 8 blocks south of times square. grand central station is at 42nd and park ave and is about 3 avenue blocks east of times square.

there's a bunch of those double-decker hop-on-hop-off open-roof bus tours that go all over the island. this might help you decide what else you want to spend more time doing. other places to visit: chinatown (especially for dim sum on sunday morning), little italy, ground zero, central park (they close the big loop on weekends and lots of places rent rollerblades so you can blade on the roads), the UN, south street seaport, nintendo world, the ridiculously big toys r us, the big glass cube apple store, rockefeller center and the top of the rock, st. patrick's cathedral, little india, battery park, scores (recently re-opened), espn zone, empire state building and lots of other stuff depending on what you like to do.

 

[BChico]

Originally posted by: bdude

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: bdude
Go eat at the cart at 56th and 3rd. Look for the long line, only after 8pm though. Best lamb and rice in the city for 5 bucks.

Better than the one at 53rd and 6th?

53rd and 6th! Doh..

Chicken & Lamb w/ White and Hot Sauce

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
my wife and i stayed at the time hotel. it's right near times square and i think it might be in your budget. it was small but very nice and has a great location.

the food cart at 53rd and 6th is $5 for lamb over rice during the lunch rush. i work in that grey building that is on that block, the calyon building.

you can get a nice meal for less than $100 with good drinks at Ruby Foo's which is at 49th and broadway. you're also right in the neighborhood for good brazillian bbq at churrascaria platafarma which is on 48th between 8th and 9th i think. you can google is for the location. it's pricey but it has a ridiculously stocked buffet salad bar complete with shrimp cocktail and sushi. then you get the all you can rodezia(sp?) experience where waiters walk around with huge skewers of all types of cooked meats and you just signal if you want them to cut you a slice. there's also bobby van's steakhouse near 50th and 7th. utsav is decent indian but they have a lunch buffet. there's also smaller quick venues like tina's at 56th and 5th for freaking awesome cuban food for about $10 for more than you can eat in one sitting, cafe duke is a more upscale deli that has good ramen and other korean food on 51st between 6th and 7th. today i went for some quick chinese food at yip's on 52nd between 5th and 6th.

EDIT: closer to times square there is that dallas bbq place, carmine's for family style italian, ollie's for cheaper chinese food. gray's papaya has awesome hot dogs for cheap but it's at 38th or 37th and 8th ave.

one thing to note is that times square has been turned into a pedestrian area meaning that broadway is closed off in that section to traffic so it's now packed with people sitting at chairs and tables enjoying the sights of times square. there is a TKTS booth right there where you can go to get cheaper ticket for broadway shows.

That dallas BBQ place is AWESOME! It's cheap compared to the rest of NY too...