First Time to NYC

[j_wert40]

I'm headed up to NYC for the first time later this year for the Panthers game at Metlife. Flying up from Houston so it will be a pretty big weather change. We are spending 4 days and 3 nights looking to stay near the Time Square area. Do yall have any tips on where to stay, places to eat, things to do, things like that while we are there. 

[T0mShane]

Do not buy anything from anyone while you're in midtown. Do not get on a tour bus. Do not get in a yellow cab. Do not eat at a restaurant in midtown. Do not stop for a beer. Do not pose for a picture with anyone dressed as a cartoon character or a super hero. In Times Square, take one photo of the video screen, then leave Times Square and never go back. There is nothing for you in Times Square except for larceny. It's a snake pit of corporatized theft. 

 

Central Park is a series of asphalt footpaths leading to various grassy fields and some man-made ponds. You can take your three or four Facebook pictures there, but don't get sucked into trying to walk around the park. It is massive and repetitive. Once you've experienced twenty square feet of it, you've experienced all of it. 

 

If you want to eat food without getting butt-plugged, call an Uber and head to Queens for Italian food. If you want to drink, take the 6 train to Union Square, then take the L over to Bedford Ave in Brooklyn. You will encounter hipsters, but it's relatively safe (due to gentrification) and cheap. There are some decent little restaurants there as well, but the decor and menus will be consciously upsetting. Prepare yourself.

 

worthwhile things to stand in front of and take Instagram pics: Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 reflecting pool; the NYPL, and whatever bridge you can get close to. That's it. Don't do anything else. Don't talk to anyone. Run.

 

 

[Spoot-Face]

4 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Do not buy anything from anyone while you're in midtown. Do not get on a tour bus. Do not get in a yellow cab. Do not eat at a restaurant in midtown. Do not stop for a beer. Do not pose for a picture with anyone dressed as a cartoon character or a super hero. In Times Square, take one photo of the video screen, then leave Times Square and never go back. There is nothing for you in Times Square except for larceny. It's a snake pit of corporatized theft. 

 

Central Park is a series of asphalt footpaths leading to various grassy fields and some man-made ponds. You can take your three or four Facebook pictures there, but don't get sucked into trying to walk around the park. It is massive and repetitive. Once you've experienced twenty square feet of it, you've experienced all of it. 

 

If you want to eat food without getting butt-plugged, call an Uber and head to Queens for Italian food. If you want to drink, take the 6 train to Union Square, then take the L over to Bedford Ave in Brooklyn. You will encounter hipsters, but it's relatively safe (due to gentrification) and cheap. There are some decent little restaurants there as well, but the decor and menus will be consciously upsetting. Prepare yourself.

 

worthwhile things to stand in front of and take Instagram pics: Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 reflecting pool; the NYPL, and whatever bridge you can get close to. That's it. Don't do anything else. Don't talk to anyone. Run.

 

 

 

[Larz]

Carmine's in times square is awesome. Enormous portions of great italian food. Extremely popular with the Broadway crowd, call ahead. 

Keens steak/chophouse near MSG is like eating like a king in 1880.  Very expensive but very good. 

With that said some of my favorite memories of eating in NYC was usually some random pizza place. Yes, NYC has the best pizza

[T0mShane]

26 minutes ago, Larz said:

Carmine's in times square is awesome. Enormous portions of great italian food. Extremely popular with the Broadway crowd, call ahead. 

Keens steak/chophouse near MSG is like eating like a king in 1880.  Very expensive but very good. 

With that said some of my favorite memories of eating in NYC was usually some random pizza place. Yes, NYC has the best pizza

Carmine's is nice if you always wanted to pay $15 for garlic bread that you eat while stuffed into a phone booth with nine other people where you get a call every half hour from a pissed-off waiter who starts pressuring you to leave as soon as you take one bite of your sh*tty $36 chicken parm so he can give your table to some Asian tourists.

[Larz]

3 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Carmine's is nice if you always wanted to pay $15 for garlic bread that you eat while stuffed into a phone booth with nine other people where you get a call every half hour from a pissed-off waiter who starts pressuring you to leave as soon as you take one bite of your sh*tty $36 chicken parm so he can give your table to some Asian tourists.

I had a really great experience.  Order the family style so everyone can just take what they want

[Larz]

if you are travelling with a lady, watch the movie serendipity first, then recreate the movie.  its easy and not expensive. 

you need to go to bloomingdales, serendipity (awesome dessert place) the waldorf astoria and the wollman rink in central park.  

(the waldorf will let you stay at the bar without a room as along as you are spending cash and its not busy)

if you tell them you are at serendipity because of the movie they will try to seat you at the table from the movie

it takes most of a day, these locations are not close together, but if you are travelling with a lady, this move will score you approximately 1,876,349,235,987,332 points

 

[Gas2No99]

7 hours ago, j_wert40 said:

I'm headed up to NYC for the first time later this year for the Panthers game at Metlife. Flying up from Houston so it will be a pretty big weather change. We are spending 4 days and 3 nights looking to stay near the Time Square area. Do yall have any tips on where to stay, places to eat, things to do, things like that while we are there. 

Times Square SUCKS and is a Tourist Trap that will burn your wallet faster than a case of Da Clap after getting close to the exhibitionist "Desnudas" whores in Father Duffy Square (by the Red Steps 0where slackers rest on their laurels begging for money).

(The underlined are links to the respective websites for the establishments.

You want a GREAT CRAFT BEEER BAR near Times Square: Beer Culture on West 45th St b/t 8th & 9th Ave 

You want a SOLID STEAK DINNER near Times Square: Gallaghers Steak House on West 52nd St. b/t Broadway and 8th Ave.

BEST STEAK IN NYC: A ) Peter Luger's on 178 Broadway in SOUTH Williamsburg, BROOKLYN, NY - make reservations NOW to get a table THEN.

                              B )  St.Anselm on Metropolitan Ave in SOUTH Williamsburg, BK 

 

REALLY good SEAFOOD near Time Square: Grand Central Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant - Subterranean Level of Grand Central Train Station E. 42nd ST. between Madison Ave & Park Ave. 

 

Things To DO:

NYC Museums: The Metroplitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Natural History Museum, The Sex Museum, The NEW Whitney Museum (American Modern Art) and then walk the Highline, The Guggenheim, Central Park Zoo, The Cloisters Monastery 

Walk around the West Village and Meatpacking District to see a POST-gentrified industrial zone that is now obnoxiously pretentious and oblivious to the REAL world (see beautiful entitled rich people bitch about tedious things)

Buy cocaine or marijuana  in Manhattan Valley by Columbia University and then walk around either and near by Riverside Park, Central Park, or Morningside Park. Those 20 year olds sitting on building stoops with spandex-like tight pants halfway down their thighs = Street Corner Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs aka Drug Dealers. 

Feel the sensation of DAGGERS IN YOUR EYES by attending a LIVE game at the garden: Knicks Tickets

Live Jazz AFTER HOURS: Dizzy Coca Cola Club, Birdland (have Zoe seat you), Smoke Jazz Club

ChinaTown

Annoying protests and NYU students rallying against SOMETHING: Union Square Park  

Take a Ferry to Staten Island for the views of the Upper Bay of NY Harbor but DO NOT get off b/c their's nothing to do there. Just stay on the ferry to return to Manhattan. Ferry to Ellis Island or to Lady Liberty 

Rockefeller Center and 5th Ave since it'll be lit up for Christmas by November.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

 

[JPPT1974]

Been there twice over in mission trips. Hope you have a blast. As really it is a fun time there.

[Bugg]

SI Ferry  is free; great views of the Statue of Liberty and the skyline. The WTC reflecting pools are open and free too. The High Line is a nice way to spend an afternoon.Walk on the Brooklyn Bridge at night ; go to the tree really late at night. 

Carmine's is best experienced in Atlantic City. Lots of good ItaliAn places if you will go out in the boros; Domininc's on Arthur Avenue, the Bronx; Bamonte's in Williamsburgh(used several  times in "The Sopranos"), Brooklyn, Michael's in Marine Park, Brooklyn, La Palina in Bensonhurst.   Keen's and Peter Lugar are both great, but bring cash to the latter.  Katz's deli and Chinatown are easy, good and not too expensive.

Tom's advice is sound. But if you want a reasonable and cold pint or 7, hit Farrell's in Windsor Terrace.

Check out the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. Always has some fun stuff about movies. Had a Scorcese exhibit which was great.

 

[southparkcpa]

14 hours ago, Larz said:

I had a really great experience.  Order the family style so everyone can just take what they want

Real NYers never eat at Carmines.  Just sayin.

[southparkcpa]

13 hours ago, Gas2No99 said:

Times Square SUCKS and is a Tourist Trap that will burn your wallet faster than a case of Da Clap after getting close to the exhibitionist "Desnudas" whores in Father Duffy Square (by the Red Steps 0where slackers rest on their laurels begging for money).

(The underlined are links to the respective websites for the establishments.

You want a GREAT CRAFT BEEER BAR near Times Square: Beer Culture on West 45th St b/t 8th & 9th Ave 

You want a SOLID STEAK DINNER near Times Square: Gallaghers Steak House on West 52nd St. b/t Broadway and 8th Ave.

BEST STEAK IN NYC: A ) Peter Luger's on 178 Broadway in SOUTH Williamsburg, BROOKLYN, NY - make reservations NOW to get a table THEN.

                              B )  St.Anselm on Metropolitan Ave in SOUTH Williamsburg, BK 

 

REALLY good SEAFOOD near Time Square: Grand Central Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant - Subterranean Level of Grand Central Train Station E. 42nd ST. between Madison Ave & Park Ave. 

 

Things To DO:

NYC Museums: The Metroplitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Natural History Museum, The Sex Museum, The NEW Whitney Museum (American Modern Art) and then walk the Highline, The Guggenheim, Central Park Zoo, The Cloisters Monastery 

Walk around the West Village and Meatpacking District to see a POST-gentrified industrial zone that is now obnoxiously pretentious and oblivious to the REAL world (see beautiful entitled rich people bitch about tedious things)

Buy cocaine or marijuana  in Manhattan Valley by Columbia University and then walk around either and near by Riverside Park, Central Park, or Morningside Park. Those 20 year olds sitting on building stoops with spandex-like tight pants halfway down their thighs = Street Corner Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs aka Drug Dealers. 

Feel the sensation of DAGGERS IN YOUR EYES by attending a LIVE game at the garden: Knicks Tickets

Live Jazz AFTER HOURS: Dizzy Coca Cola Club, Birdland (have Zoe seat you), Smoke Jazz Club

ChinaTown

Annoying protests and NYU students rallying against SOMETHING: Union Square Park  

Take a Ferry to Staten Island for the views of the Upper Bay of NY Harbor but DO NOT get off b/c their's nothing to do there. Just stay on the ferry to return to Manhattan. Ferry to Ellis Island or to Lady Liberty 

Rockefeller Center and 5th Ave since it'll be lit up for Christmas by November.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

 

Best list so far. As a real NYer who goes back now as a tourist, I can speak for some.  I lived on 91st and in Queens.  

 Lugars is standing room only and for a tourist, Brooklyn becomes impossible.

A MUST is a GYRO at GYRO II across from MSG on 7th.  A dirty water dog is a MUST.

Go to Papaya King on 86th street. BEST dogs and papaya is  great for a hard on.

While there... take the TRAM across the river.

I brought my GF last year and told her..  pick any pizza joint you see and I guarantee it will be the best you ever ate.  We chose on on 86th and 3rd. Fantastic.

Go to the west village, near Trump SOHO.  Walk to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across the bridge and look up the east River.

While there, SI Ferry, City hall, Chinatown, Little Italy. All in the same vicinity and worth the afternoon or morning.

NO on Katz's deli. Tourist trap in my view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JOJOTOWNSELL]

Due to its size you can't look at NYC as one big city, you will never see anything.  Its better to look at each neighborhood as its own unique city and explore that way.  Pick 3 hoods that you think you would be interested in and take a full day to walk around and explore each one.  If I was a first timer I would pick Financial District due to all the history,  Soho for people watching, and Williamsburg/Greenpoint because Brooklyn.  

For great Italian food I would do one of the Frank Prisinzano joints like Supper, Frank, or for pizza Lil Frankies.  NYC hot dogs are over rated, don't bother.  Pastrami you have to do Katz Deli.  No mater who you do, don't buy a dollar slice.  You are allowed to briskly walk thru Times Square one time but you can't stop.  Also, don't block the sidewalk whilst you gawk at things

 

Also, Chinatown is the only neighborhood in NYC that looks exactly as it did 25 years ago, if you want to see the NYC you grew up seeing in the movies go there

[JOJOTOWNSELL]

13 hours ago, Gas2No99 said:

 

                              B )  St.Anselm on Metropolitan Ave in SOUTH Williamsburg, BK 

 

 

Meh, one of those lines begets lines places like Magnolia Bakery and The Cronut place....Finally got in and wasn't impressed

[j_wert40]

Thanks for all the tips. Looking forward to seeing NYC and the Jets getting a W. 

[Larz]

3 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Real NYers never eat at Carmines.  Just sayin.

It was a bachelor party being put on a Goldman expense account. Sorry I had a blast there. 

[Integrity28]

18 hours ago, Larz said:

Carmine's in times square is awesome. Enormous portions of great italian food. Extremely popular with the Broadway crowd, call ahead. 

Keens steak/chophouse near MSG is like eating like a king in 1880.  Very expensive but very good. 

With that said some of my favorite memories of eating in NYC was usually some random pizza place. Yes, NYC has the best pizza

Carmine's used to be a staple for us after going in for a show, my mother always loved it. That said...

18 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Carmine's is nice if you always wanted to pay $15 for garlic bread that you eat while stuffed into a phone booth with nine other people where you get a call every half hour from a pissed-off waiter who starts pressuring you to leave as soon as you take one bite of your sh*tty $36 chicken parm so he can give your table to some Asian tourists.

This is the experience in a nut shell. I supposed if you aren't a cynical a$$hole, then you can certainly enjoy yourself by looking past the special moments that T0m seems to cherish so much.

[Integrity28]

3 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Real NYers never eat at Carmines.  Just sayin.

As a Long Islander there for the musicals on family trips in... I have to agree.

[Integrity28]

3 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Best list so far. As a real NYer who goes back now as a tourist, I can speak for some.  I lived on 91st and in Queens.  

 Lugars is standing room only and for a tourist, Brooklyn becomes impossible.

A MUST is a GYRO at GYRO II across from MSG on 7th.  A dirty water dog is a MUST.

Go to Papaya King on 86th street. BEST dogs and papaya is  great for a hard on.

While there... take the TRAM across the river.

I brought my GF last year and told her..  pick any pizza joint you see and I guarantee it will be the best you ever ate.  We chose on on 86th and 3rd. Fantastic.

Go to the west village, near Trump SOHO.  Walk to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across the bridge and look up the east River.

While there, SI Ferry, City hall, Chinatown, Little Italy. All in the same vicinity and worth the afternoon or morning.

NO on Katz's deli. Tourist trap in my view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good list, as are some of the others before it.... you guys have to understand that the OP asked for tourist advice, NOT for you all to whip out your dicks and start measuring who is more NYer than the next guy. LOL

[BallinPB]

18 hours ago, Larz said:

Carmine's in times square is awesome. Enormous portions of great italian food. Extremely popular with the Broadway crowd, call ahead. 

Keens steak/chophouse near MSG is like eating like a king in 1880.  Very expensive but very good. 

With that said some of my favorite memories of eating in NYC was usually some random pizza place. Yes, NYC has the best pizza

I love CArmines.  Scarpiello wings and caesar salad are to die for!  Everything is amazing.

[BallinPB]

3 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Real NYers never eat at Carmines.  Just sayin.

Born and raised in the Bronx and I eat Carmines.  Food is good.

[southparkcpa]

11 minutes ago, BallinPB said:

Born and raised in the Bronx and I eat Carmines.  Food is good.

I just ate at Olive Garden in Monroe NC.  The Red Necks think its the best Italian food around.

So..there's that.

 

[southparkcpa]

49 minutes ago, Larz said:

It was a bachelor party being put on a Goldman expense account. Sorry I had a blast there. 

Im sure....   fun and a NY experience are not the same thing.  I grew up with a WOP mom. She would never let us eat at an Italian place that was clearly a large company type. No Mama Leones, Maggiones, etc... oh and no Carmines.     Just the way I was raised.

[Gas2No99]

1 hour ago, Integrity28 said:

Good list, as are some of the others before it.... you guys have to understand that the OP asked for tourist advice, NOT for you all to whip out your dicks and start measuring who is more NYer than the next guy. LOL

Competition is what keeps THIS city humming. 

[Gas2No99]

6 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Real NYers never eat at Carmines.  Just sayin.

That is correct. But it's not a bad option as a "to go/pick-up" when you have guests over or are feeling lazy. 

 

2 hours ago, Integrity28 said:

As a Long Islander there for the musicals on family trips in... I have to agree.

+1. It used to be the spot for HighSchool Birthdays where a group of 6-8 of us would eat family style on the Parent's tab of the person celebrating. Or taking out-of-town guests/in-laws we didn't feel like making any REAL effort for. 

 

2 hours ago, BallinPB said:

I love CArmines.  Scarpiello wings and caesar salad are to die for!  Everything is amazing.

The Caesar Salad there IS to die for, also a fan of the Eggplant Parm & Penne Ala Vodka. GLUTTONOUS INDULGENT MONSTER deserts. 

2 hours ago, BallinPB said:

Born and raised in the Bronx and I eat Carmines.  Food is good.

Same here. Marble Hill/Kingsbridge represent.

BEST Italian Food in the Bronx is in Belmont by Arthur Ave. But when I slum Italian Cuisine in NYC, Carmine's is definitely that Hooker with a Heart of Gold that randomly draws me back every now and then. 

[BallinPB]

29 minutes ago, Gas2No99 said:

Same here. Marble Hill/Kingsbridge represent.

 

Millbrook houses in the south Bronx until I was 12, Co-op city until I was a young adult.  I miss the Bronx even though I do enjoy the suburban life that Rockland County has to offer now.

[#27TheDominator]

Serendipity will seat you at the table from the movie?  I have been to that place 4 times and have never actually eaten or sat because it was always too crowded.  Last time, I think we ended up eating at some takeout place in the basement of the Plaza.  

I am a real New Yorker.  Well, not really, I am from Brooklyn.  I never say that anymore because then people expect some skinny jeans wearer from Williamsburg, so now I stick to saying Bensonhurst.  I never ate at Carmine's until I moved to DC.  They have a decent happy hour here and it isn't that crowded on weeknights. 

I have hated Staten Island all my life, but my wife has a townhouse there and I can honestly say that the majority of good food that I had in Bensonhurst is currently being served somewhere on that God forsaken borough.  OTOH, I would never suggest that a tourist go there.  Where are these Italian places in Queens?  I had an office in Forest Hills for years, but never bothered eating Italian in Queens because Bensonhurst.

Too bad he is coming for Thanksgiving.  I love sending newcomers to experience Coney Island and nowadays you don't have to feel guilty.  Haven't had any visitor I sent there get stabbed in over a decade!

This thread is making me wonder where else Shane posts.  Football is obviously not his wheelhouse, just a way to blow off steam

[Gas2No99]

23 hours ago, j_wert40 said:

Do yall have any tips on where to stay, places to eat, things to do, things like that while we are there. 

and for the LOVE OF GOD! Don't say Y'all when up here. We say YOOZ up here. 

[southparkcpa]

46 minutes ago, Gas2No99 said:

That is correct. But it's not a bad option as a "to go/pick-up" when you have guests over or are feeling lazy. 

 

+1. It used to be the spot for HighSchool Birthdays where a group of 6-8 of us would eat family style on the Parent's tab of the person celebrating. Or taking out-of-town guests/in-laws we didn't feel like making any REAL effort for. 

 

The Caesar Salad there IS to die for, also a fan of the Eggplant Parm & Penne Ala Vodka. GLUTTONOUS INDULGENT MONSTER deserts. 

Same here. Marble Hill/Kingsbridge represent.

BEST Italian Food in the Bronx is in Belmont by Arthur Ave. But when I slum Italian Cuisine in NYC, Carmine's is definitely that Hooker with a Heart of Gold that randomly draws me back every now and then. 

 

13 minutes ago, BallinPB said:

Millbrook houses in the south Bronx until I was 12, Co-op city until I was a young adult.  I miss the Bronx even though I do enjoy the suburban life that Rockland County has to offer now.

 

4 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

Serendipity will seat you at the table from the movie?  I have been to that place 4 times and have never actually eaten or sat because it was always too crowded.  Last time, I think we ended up eating at some takeout place in the basement of the Plaza.  

I am a real New Yorker.  Well, not really, I am from Brooklyn.  I never say that anymore because then people expect some skinny jeans wearer from Williamsburg, so now I stick to saying Bensonhurst.  I never ate at Carmine's until I moved to DC.  They have a decent happy hour here and it isn't that crowded on weeknights. 

I have hated Staten Island all my life, but my wife has a townhouse there and I can honestly say that the majority of good food that I had in Bensonhurst is currently being served somewhere on that God forsaken borough.  OTOH, I would never suggest that a tourist go there.  Where are these Italian places in Queens?  I had an office in Forest Hills for years, but never bothered eating Italian in Queens because Bensonhurst.

Too bad he is coming for Thanksgiving.  I love sending newcomers to experience Coney Island and nowadays you don't have to feel guilty.  Haven't had any visitor I sent there get stabbed in over a decade!

This thread is making me wonder where else Shane posts.  Football is obviously not his wheelhouse, just a way to blow off steam

I moved to Charlotte in 1995 and while here met a buddy from Port Chester NY. Now my best friend. We are inseparable. He was born in Italy and moved to the US at age 2.  It is remarkable to think his mom and dad barely speak english.  That in parts of the Bronx and surrounding areas north still have (or had into the 80's) areas where Italians lived and spoke no English.   It is so kool to see him speak fluent Italian with his mom. He is a VERY Tony Soprano type of guy. Tough guy look, Italian horn around his neck with a NY accent that would knock you down. When his mom comes to visit, she brings a few extra quarts of sauce for  me and dry sausage homemade..  She calls it sauce, not gravy.

[Larz]

3 hours ago, southparkcpa said:

Im sure....   fun and a NY experience are not the same thing.  I grew up with a WOP mom. She would never let us eat at an Italian place that was clearly a large company type. No Mama Leones, Maggiones, etc... oh and no Carmines.     Just the way I was raised.

Cool story

You realize this is a thread asking for tourist things to do near times square, right?

[southparkcpa]

10 minutes ago, Larz said:

Cool story

You realize this is a thread asking for tourist things to do near times square, right?

Hey...the thread was derailed long before me.   ?

[The Crusher]

On 8/14/2017 at 5:36 PM, j_wert40 said:

I'm headed up to NYC for the first time later this year for the Panthers game at Metlife. Flying up from Houston so it will be a pretty big weather change. We are spending 4 days and 3 nights looking to stay near the Time Square area. Do yall have any tips on where to stay, places to eat, things to do, things like that while we are there. 

Don't forget to get a picture in front of this badboy.

[#27TheDominator]

19 hours ago, Gas2No99 said:

and for the LOVE OF GOD! Don't say Y'all when up here. We say YOOZ up here. 

It is pronounced How-ston.  If you say Houston Street, add a 239% surcharge for the cab ride.

[nj meadowlands]

On 8/14/2017 at 6:23 PM, T0mShane said:

Do not buy anything from anyone while you're in midtown. Do not get on a tour bus. Do not get in a yellow cab. [Wrong - use yellows in Manhattan, exclusively. Uber is a ripoff with the taxes and you'll get surged to death anyway]   Do not eat at a restaurant in midtown. [there are plenty of great places to eat in midtown west and hell's kitchen, but generally agree]  Do not stop for a beer. [??? stop for many] Do not pose for a picture with anyone dressed as a cartoon character or a super hero. In Times Square, take one photo of the video screen, then leave Times Square and never go back. There is nothing for you in Times Square except for larceny. It's a snake pit of corporatized theft. [agree]

 

Central Park is a series of asphalt footpaths leading to various grassy fields and some man-made ponds. You can take your three or four Facebook pictures there, but don't get sucked into trying to walk around the park. It is massive and repetitive. Once you've experienced twenty square feet of it, you've experienced all of it.  [also nonsensical. central park is an absolute marvel and worth exploring for 2 or so hours.  check out especially Oak Bridge (near west 76th street) and "The Ramble" (but go during the day ) ]

If you want to eat food without getting butt-plugged, call an Uber and head to Queens for Italian food. [Arthur Ave in the Bronx is my rec if you want Italian food] If you want to drink, take the 6 train to Union Square, then take the L over to Bedford Ave in Brooklyn. [if you don't feel like schlepping all the way to Brooklyn to be surrounded by hipster doofuses (it's an admitted pain in the ass], go to the West Village or East Village and drink your face off.  if you like burgers (i love them), stop in at Bar Sardine in the West Village or the Brindle Room in the East Village] You will encounter hipsters, but it's relatively safe (due to gentrification) and cheap. There are some decent little restaurants there as well, but the decor and menus will be consciously upsetting. Prepare yourself.

 

worthwhile things to stand in front of and take Instagram pics: Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 reflecting pool; the NYPL, and whatever bridge you can get close to. That's it. Don't do anything else. Don't talk to anyone. Run.

 

 

 

Don't you live in Syracuse or something?  @j_wert40, I've edited Shane's post and will give some other suggestions later

[nj meadowlands]

On 8/14/2017 at 7:02 PM, T0mShane said:

Carmine's is nice if you always wanted to pay $15 for garlic bread that you eat while stuffed into a phone booth with nine other people where you get a call every half hour from a pissed-off waiter who starts pressuring you to leave as soon as you take one bite of your sh*tty $36 chicken parm so he can give your table to some Asian tourists.

This is a good opinion lol.

 

Agree with Larz on Kean's though.