Hi. My boyfriend and I are going to NYC for New Years Eve. My question is, where do we go to eat the 31'th? Any good restaurants around Garment Center or Midtown? It's our first time there, so we really need some help :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2010 05:32AM by askanewyorker.

Is there some special appeal reason for chooseing midtown Garment Center for New years Eve dinner? I'm not felling it. There are certainly a whole slew of other options.

It's just because we want to be at Times Square at midnight. The restaurant just has to be in a walking distance to TS.

Hi Sofie,

People arrive in the morning to Time Sqaure to secure a spot. It's absolute celebratory madness. Literally people will get there before noon and stand in one spot all day untill New Years. Bathrooms acess is very limited.If you were to arrive say @ 10pm your not going to be close enough to see the ball drop. So with that said you could dine anywhere and make your way towards Time Square after dinner and be by Time Square just not it it.

Thank you so much for the answer, and I really didn't know that... Maybe we will take an early dinner/late lunch and then try to get a spot on TS. Is it legal to drink champagne on the street that night? We are from Denmark, so we don't know that much about New Years on Times Square :-)

I used to work nearby, and Times Square gets blocked off very early. By lunch time, the crowd is well beyond Times Square proper. Barricades are set up to pen the crowds in. Once in the pen, you aren't allowed to return if you leave. So those people you see in Times Square when the ball drops have been there since early morning, with no food breaks -- and no bathroom breaks!!! If you show up at dinner time, you won't get within 10 blocks of Times Square.

If you want a hotel with a view of the festivities, take out a loan! You must stay for a 3-night minimum, and it's usually around $1,000 for NYE. Some of the Times Square hotels do offer packages where they give you passes to go out for the ball drop, but those are very expensive too. If you want to check each one, the nearby hotels are the Renaissance, Marriot Marquis, Millennium Broadway, Doubletree Suites Times Square.

And, the chain theme restaurants on Times Square -- places no self-respecting New Yorker would dare consider! -- offer new year's parties with open bars that seem to be popular with foreign tourists. Check with T.G.I. Friday's (be sure it's the one on 7th Ave. and 46th St.), Bubba Gump's and the Olive Garden. Also be prepared to pay up to $400 a person for the privelege!

A more civilized way to ring in the new year is to have dinner at some neighborhood place and then head over to Central Park for the midnight fireworks. This is usually what I do. While it isn't legal to drink alcohol in the park, I always bring a bottle of Champagne and have never had a problem.

Or, if you are runners, there's the New York Road Runners midnight road race. It's preceded by a big costume party with live music. Here's a link:

[www.nyrr.org]

If you're looking for an elegant, dressy event, have a look at the Bateaux New York cruise. Also expensive!

[www.bateauxnewyork.com]

I just noticed that the Bateaux New York's web site says their new year's eve cruise ends at 11:00 p.m., so I phoned them. They said it actually ends at 1:00 a.m.

My husband was there for New Years a few years ago, he couldn't get anywhere near Times Square at 4pm.

The one New Years Eve we've spent, we milled around the area of the Wellington from 10pm onward. Its not near the hubub of Times Square, but you could see the ball drop and certainly feel the atmosphere, but we weren't "penned in". I can understand you wanting to experience TS on NY's Eve when its your first time in NY, but I wouldn't waste the whole day standing around. "Restaurant Row", W.46th, is not far away. I'd recommend "Tramonti". Really nice place.