Things to eat in Manhattan (Restaurants in New York in general)

Member Name: emay

Product:	Restaurants in New York in general
Date:	29/04/02 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: mostly delicious food

Disadvantages: portions way too big

I was going to include this in with my op of things to do in Manhattan, but it got a bit on the long side!
I?ve not singled out any one restaurant, but given you a little review of each one we visited. Don?t forget to add you 15% tip onto the price!!

Juniors (Grand Central Station Food court)
If you?re looking for somewhere quick and cheap, here?s the place, we?d been in the food court a couple of times for coffee and snacks and one night decided to give the restaurants a try, and juniors was the one we picked. It sells your typical American burgers fries etc, and they?re delicious too. We paid $15 for a huge bacon and cheese burger with fries and salad and a couple of sodas and just sat and people watched for hours. If you don?t like people watching you while you eat though, you?ll probably not enjoy the place it is basically out on the concourse with a very low wall round it.

The Olive garden (Times Square) www.olivegarden.com
This place is popular, when we arrived there was an hour and half wait, but it was Friday in NY and we assumed everywhere else would be the same and stuck it out! They give you a pager, which goes off when your tables ready so you don?t have to listen for them shout you. So off we went to the bar to wait, beware bars in New York, two Jack Daniels $13.00 ? we made it last!
This place is deceiving, the reception area and bar upstairs are tiny, you go up to the dining area floor and the place has grown to about 50 times its original size! The restaurant is right in the middle of Times Square so if you?re sat near a window you?ll have great views.
Now the food, this place was wonderful, we missed on the menu where it says you get a free salad and bread sticks with every main course ordered, so we ordered a starter and a main course and then had a huge salad as well ? only to be attempted if you?re very very hungry, unfortunately we were not as hungry as we thought and couldn?t finish, which was a shame as
the meal was delicious.
We ordered a combo starter between us ? approx. $8 and my main course was cheese ravioli with meat sauce ?approx. $10

Brooklyn Diner (57th Street, near Hard Rock Café)
We stopped here for breakfast on the first day and then again on the Sunday, and be warned if you?re going on a Sunday be prepared to wait, this must be the place to brunch! Luckily when we arrived everyone waiting wanted tables of four or more and there were just two of us.
This place is like heaven; in fact I?m drooling thinking about it!
Their breakfast menu is huge, and you?ll probably of finished your coffee before you decide what to eat. They have a great trick, you sit down they ask would you like coffee? You say yes, they ask would you like freshly squeezed orange juice? Again you say yes, they bring you the bill at the end and the orange juice is twice the price of the coffee!!! (But worth every cent!)
Okay on with breakfast the first day I had French toast, not just plain old bread in egg, no, no. This was inch thick raisin, cinnamon and pecan swirl bread in egg, 3 slices, with maple syrup, fresh strawberries and fresh cream. On our next visit I had pancakes, with strawberries, cream and maple syrup. Yum yum!
Coffee $2.25, Orange Juice $4.50, average breakfast $10.00

Hard Rock Café (57th Street) www.hardrock.com
Okay if you?ve been to one hard rock café, the rest are basically the same, different things on the wall, but the menus and atmosphere are the same. The one in New York is done up like a church inside, with your usual paraphernalia on the walls, and the added advantage of a huge shop next door that you can get to through the restaurant, as oppose to a poky little booth in the others I?ve been to.
Like I said the menus are the same the world over so if you?ve been to one before and didn?t like it, the fact it?s in another city probably won?t alter that fact! Me on the other hand am a rock chick and love your
typical American food so I loved it! The food is nothing amazing, but tasty and well cooked.
I had half a chicken with fries, while my sister had the biggest cob salad you?ve ever seen!
Average meal $10-12.00, bottle of lager $9.99 (but you do get to take away the HRC pilsner glass)

Planet Hollywood (Times Square) www.planethollywood.com
Much along the same lines as hard Rock Café only more expensive. We were there on Oscar Night (where else would you go?) The layout and atmosphere is pretty much the same as Hard Rock café, lots of memorabilia and loud, but fun.
They do the drinks the same way as HRC too, fancy cocktails in a souvenir glasses (about $10) We skipped starter here and just went straight for the main course and dessert. I had a bizarre Lasagne, I would of called it Cannelloni cut in half and stood on end, but whatever it was, it was gorgeous, absolutely delicious ($15). On to dessert, our waitress told us what there was and we ordered, what we should of done was asked the prices too, New York Cheesecake - $10 Ouch! I suppose it?s kind of value as it was an amazingly huge piece of cake, but after the meal I was never going to finish it!
As it was Oscar night we stayed at the bar to carry on watching the ceremony, the barman was almost more entertaining (think Tom Cruise in Cocktail) Although as the night wore on I think he was making some of the drinks up as he went along!
Small downside though, they don?t serve Jack Daniels at the bar!

TGI Fridays (Times Square) www.tgifridays.com
Don?t bother! No really, don?t bother. According to the signs in the window it?s the biggest TGI?s in America, if that?s true the rest must be tiny! The atmosphere was great downstairs in the bar and waiting area but that?s where it stayed, there was no atmosphere on the 2 dining floors, and when a restaurant seats you next to the staff stairway and washing up area you kind of know that its going to be a bad meal. In fact I was so
impressed all I can remember is that it was some kind of pasta dish (which I can?t find on the website!), actually it wasn?t too bad, I just can?t remember what it was.
Defiantly the worst meal of the trip.

And finally, you can?t go to America and not go to a coffee place, and we seemed to end up in a Starbucks most times, although just about every block has a coffee house of some description, and unlike coffee shops in this country that assume everyone wants coffee all the time the Americans do sell alternatives for those of us who don?t, my favourite being steamed apple cider (hot apple juice)

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