girlonthego

Hi I have searched for info, but I can't seem to find much. My brother is taking his daughters, 16, 13 and 12 to NY for a first time visit for 5 days this week. He has tickets to see the Odd couple. Any recommendations for things to do and see? restaurants? shows?
Thanks.

hikerboy

Do a NYC search on this "talk group." There is a veritable wealth of information. Also see the Fodor's "Destinations" information on NYC for a great capsule view at: http://fodors.com/miniguides/mgresul..._york_city@111

lia_b

Some ideas that come to mind. There is free ice skating in Bryant Park till mid January. The Bryant Park grill is right there. You can visit MTV studios in Time Square (ther might be age restriction though for tickets). Walk through SOHO and check out the shops. Visit the South Street Seaport to get a nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge and then walk over to Century 21. If they are willing to get up early go to Rockefeller Center for the Today Show. Take a carriage ride by Central Park. Definitely go to one of the museums, Natural History or MOMA. There is so much to see and do, narrowing it down is the hard part.
Here's a link to shows taped in NYC and other things to do...
http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=376

mclaurie

Huge amount of info here is you do a search for teens AND nyc or something similar. Gocitykids.com is a good website also. Put in the kid's age and have a look at choices. Clearly the 16 yr old will have different interests to the 12 & 13 yr old. The younger girls might like a visit to the American Girl STore. The 16 yr old will like H & M for shopping if she doesn't have one at home. All will like the shopping in Chinatown and the store Pearl River Mart.

They might like the film/tv location tour. What about the UN or the NBC tour?

girlonthego

Thanks. I have been searching fodors and some of your suggestions. I recommended the NBC studio tour and statue of liberty. I suggested shopping for knock offs in Chinatown and dining in Little Italy. I also suggested the ticketbooth for same day tickets for another show.
Is Jekyll and Hyde any good? Can anyone recommend a good chinese, italian, and steak house and maybe spanish or mexican food? Moderate price range is preferable with good food. Thanks.
They are out of the American girl thing. They went in Chicago (closer to their home) already. I was thinking of MOMA.

hikerboy

This is a pretty good site with ratings and reviews of NYC restaurants by neighborhood, type and price.
http://www.menupages.com/
It might be best, within the time constraints of a 5-day visit, for your brother and nieces to plan their sightseeing and activities first, and maybe one meal at most, and then just eat where and when the girls are hungry.

ekscrunchy

When you go to Chinatown/Little Italy (the two are overlapping areas) have lunch or dinner at NY Noodletown, a Cantonese place on Bowery and Bayard Street. It is very cheap with wonderful food and a mixed clientele of both local Chinese and non-Chinese. Order the roast pork wonton soup and an order of Chinese vegetables. That will cost about $8.00 per person with tax. It is within a 5 mnute walk of the stalls on Canal Street and you will not find better food for the price anywhere in the city. Look at the menu on menupages.com.

dina4

Our teens actually loved the audio tour at Ellis Island. It's amazing.

They also loved WICKED and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

They also loved the top of the Empire State Building and shopping in areas like Soho.

fpk1005

Avenue Q or Rent -as far as plays go. Shop on Canal Street.

Anonymous

If the H&M chain hasn't hit a mall near you, be sure to visit them, the teens all love them. They have several locations in Manhattan, including two in SoHo -- make a list and drop in on whatever one you're closest to.

LLindaC

Tell him not to miss Ground Zero. They are old enough and it will have a lasting impression on them. And don't miss seeing the damaged globe sculpture that is in the park a block away. Kids this age don't always think about such things; he'll have a rare opportunity to talk about life, love and sacrifice!

mclaurie

The food at Jekyll & Hyde is not very good. It a theme rest., overpriced. There's great inexpensive ethnic food all over. For Spanish, El Charo or El Faro in the village could be fun. El Quijote is in Chelsea, just off the lobby of the old Chelsea Hotel with lots of rock n roll history if they're into that. El Quijote has a great lobster dinner. The others are better imo for Spanish food.

Can't remember if someone has already suggested Balthazar for breakfast. This place is in Soho, very trendy and hard to get into for lunch and dinner but serves a nice b/f and has home made bread/pastry. It's a Sex in the City type place. They also have great steak frites.

MFNYC

Stay away from theme or chain restaurants. There's so much better out there. Teens love walking around St. Mark's (E. 8th St) in the E. village, Washington Sq Park and Union Sq Park (which is loaded with teens on weekend evenings and after school). The village area in general has many good, reasonable restaurants. Good, inexpensive spanish, try Cafe Espanol, variuos locations in the village area (Bleecker St, Carmins St). Inexpesnive Italian, there are several. One that comes to mind is John's restarant (not to be confused with John's pizzeria which is also good), on E. 12th St. It has good red sauce italian, very warm and old fashion style. Another with good brick oven pizza and other dishes, is Con Legno in the E. Village. In Little Italy, Il Fornaio has good food and is also very reasonable. There are also some decent Italian palces in the theater district, especially around 9th Av near 47/48th Sts. A few that come to mind ar Basilica and Cascina. Good steak tends to be pricier, but if they are not big eaters, they can share. Sparks is pricey but has great steaks. Other good steakhouses are Palm and Old Homestead (all similarly priced). Inexpensive Chinese can be found almost anywhere. For something different they can try Indian in little India (E. 6th St between 1st and 2nd avs).

If they want to see another show, teens love Rent, and you can almost always get discounts for that (playbill.com, broadwaybox.com, or the TKTS line). Hairspray is another good show for teens. Wicked is great, but still may be a tough ticket.

My daughter (16) loves window shopping in soho (particularly broadway between Houston and Spring). Girls love Pearl River on Broadway near Spring (a chinese dept. store). 8th st between broadway and 6th av, also has a bunch of smaller stores for young adults.

MFNYC

For less expensive than balthazar and less crowded (although B is very nice), yet also that French brasserie look, check our Cafe Deville on 3rd Av and E. 13th St.

Menupages, as already mentioned, is a great resource for restuarant info.