Where to Eat in Times Square at Local Restaurants Not National Chains

With so many great local and family-owned restaurants in Times Square and the Theater District, NYCOTC remains amazed by visitors who opt for national chains more at home in any suburban shopping mall anywhere in the USA.

Enjoy the great tastes of the Times Square and Theater District area at these standout homegrown choices, where you always eat better, and usually for less money, than at a national chain.

Avoid the tourist traps and get native NYC vibe and flavor, along with value for your restaurant dollar, at these top local choices recommended by native New Yorker and NYC on the Cheap Publisher/Executive Editor Evelyn Kanter.

This list was published originally in 2018 and is updated regularly.

This April 2021 update reflects restaurant business decisions due to the Covid-19 pandemic and indoor dining restrictions.

NYC now permits restaurants to stay open until midnight. Indoor dining is limited to 50 percent of capacity.

While outdoor dining is permitted and encouraged, there is little space in the Times Square area for outdoor dining. Take-out is encouraged, as are reservations.

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John’s Pizzeria

John’s is currently closed and re-opening in late summer 2021.

This is always my top recommendation to out-of-town visitors who want to eat in Times Square or the Theater District it overlaps.

Get thin crust pizzas cooked in coal-fired brick ovens, with a traditional, eight-slice pie serving up to four people costing $16.50.

There’s also pasta and salads, all housed in a former church with original stained glass windows, so I like to joke that eating here is a religious experience.

One warning: Only pies are sold. Do not embarrass yourself by asking for slices.

My go-to menu item is always the calamari – the appetizer portion is enough for a meal, and bigger eaters can add a salad. My son is a fan of the hearty and traditional spaghetti with meat sauce.

John’s is also unique because it is in a decommissioned church, so you are eating surrounded by stained glass windows an impressive architecture

There also is a John’s outpost in Jersey City, which is open.

John’s Pizzeria, 260 W. 44th Street, (212) 391-7560

NYC on the Cheap insider tip:

If all you want is a slice and a soda, these 99 cent pizza slice joints in midtown are fast and filling, and nearly all are open late.

Nearly all the recommendations on this page are included in my new NYC guidebook,

100 Things to Do in New York City Before You Die,

available in bookstores and online.

Shake Shack

Shake Shack made its name with upscale burgers, hot dogs, fries and shakes courtesy of NYC restaurateur icon Danny Meyer, one of the smartest businessmen and nicest guys in the food business, two reasons his restaurants are so successful. Excellent food and service are other reasons.

The lines are long and it’s hard to find seats unless you stop in well before or well after normal lunch and dinner hours, especially before the theater curtain.

NYC on the Cheap insider tip:

Order a concrete – a dense frozen custard ice cream in a cup with a straw — to sustain you during a show.

Yes, Shake Shack is now an international chain, but it is NYC’s own international chain. Shake Shack started here in an outpost in Madison Square Park, in Flatiron, that’s still there.

Junior’s

Junior’s Times Square has re-opened, but the Rockefeller Center Location has not.

If you need a cheesecake fix, also open are the Junior’s flagship location in Downtown Brooklyn is open.

Junior’s also is giving away a FREE mini-cheesecake to patrons who show proof of vaccination.

Junior’s has been serving the best cheesecake on the planet since 1950 at its original outpost in downtown Brooklyn.

True to its Brooklyn roots, restaurant decor features images of the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field, where they played before breaking the hearts of all New Yorkers and moving to Los Angeles.

Charles Ebbets is buried in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, where hundreds of famous New Yorkers including Leonard Bernstein and Louis Comfort Tiffany are also buried, but that’s a whole other story.

There’s lots more on the menu here than cheesecake, including burgers, salads and Jewish deli classics.

With the demise of the famous Carnegie Deli and the Stage Deli, Junior’s is the best place in midtown for a traditional overstuffed pastrami or corned beef on rye.

Junior’s is also open early for breakfast and late for after-theater.

Juniors, 1515 Broadway at 45th St. (212) 302-2000 and 1649 Broadway at 49th St.

Best Jewish delis for overstuffed sandwiches

Sardi’s

Sardi’s has been a Theater District landmark for a couple of generations, more celebrated for its walls papered with hundreds of framed caricatures of famous Broadway shows and show people and other celebrities than for its food.

The menu tends to be over-priced and under-flavored, served by uniformed waiters, some of whom have worked here for decades.

NYC on the Cheap insider tip:

Even if Sardi’s is not your choice for lunch or dinner, stop by for a drink at the bar. You’ll still get to enjoy the museum-like artwork by legendary illustrator Al Hirschfield.

Sardi’s, 234 W. 44th St., (212) 222-8440

Burger and Lobster

Bryant Park/Times Square location currently open only for take-out and delivery.

Flatiron location open for indoor dining.

Burger and Lobster is the name, and also the only things on the menu, along with fries, beer and wine, at this second NYC location for the popular London-based group of restaurants.

The same menu and prices as the location in NYC Flatiron, plus some additional items aimed at the theater crowd, including a Po Boy ($20) with cornmeal crusted lobster, and Burger Bites ($10) and Lobster Bites ($10), both served in a fried pastry shell.

Burger and Lobster, 132 West 43rd Street, 917-565-9044

Best NYC lobster restaurants

Margon

Margon has been serving up Latin food for more than 30 years, prepared and served by members of the Margon family in the kitchen and behind the counter of this luncheonette.

You’ll be eating alongside construction workers, office workers and even those costumed characters who pose for money in Times Square.

The lunch special will set you back a whopping $10.90 for a whopping platter of a meat choice, rice, beans and sweet plantains, and a Latin-style soda like Materva Yerba Mate or Colombiana.

Margon, 136 West 46th Street (on Restaurant Row)

The Hourglass Tavern

The Hourglass Tavern packs in savvy theatergoers in its cozy three-story building with a pre-theater prix fixe dinner anchored by pork chops or pasta for less than $25, and an intriguing post-meal cocktail called “curtain call chai-tini,” which mixes chai tea, vodka and Irish cream.

Although this might be better served after the show, so you don’t fall asleep during the show.

Located in a historic 1894 townhouse on the street known as Restaurant Row.

Note that since the Pandemic, Hourglass Tavern has instituted a cash only policy.

Hourglass Tavern, 373 W. 46th Street, (212) 265-2060

Kodama

The Japanese restaurant Kodama, serving sushi, tempura and sashimi platters is across the street from the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Modest prices and fast service will have you overlooking the threadbare decor.

A good deal is the dinner Broadway Box, which for $16 includes tempura shrimp, chicken teriyaki, a shrimp shumai, a California roll, soup and salad.

Kodama, 301 W. 45th St., (212) 582-8065

Island Burgers and Shakes

The dining room may be the size of a typical suburban closet, but Island Burgers and Shakes offers more than 40 options of burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches, from blackened to ones smothered in Boursin cheese, ranging from $9.95 to $14.75.

Milk shakes, salads and baked potatoes round out the menu.

Island Burgers and Shakes, 766 Ninth Ave., (212) 307-7934

5 Napkin Burger

The bistro mini-chain 5 Napkin Burger packs them in.

The $15.95 house burger is a hefty 10 ounces of fresh ground chuck topped with Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and a rosemary aioli.

Other burgers include Italian turkey, lamb kofta burger, a veggie burger and even a burger salad. There’s also a late night menu of $1 sliders.

5 Napkin Burger, 630 9th Ave., (212) 757-2277

Virgil’s BBQ

Midtown Manhattan may not seem like a great spot for ribs, but Virgil’s offers huge portions of messy, excellent barbeque — Memphis pork ribs, Georgia chicken fried steak, Kansas City fried chicken and Texas beef brisket, each around $22.

Go early as the place fills up.

Virgil’s BBQ, 152 W. 44th St., (212) 921-949

Carmine’s

The Times Square location is closed.

The original Upper West side location is open.

Carmine’s started on the Upper West Side, serving huge family-style platters of Italian favorites. Since each dish is big enough to feed two, and priced accordingly, it’s easy to over-order.

There also are Vegan and Gluten-free options on the menu.

NYC on the Cheap insider tip:

My favorite is the rigatoni and broccoli – carbs and veggies all in one.

The Times Square outpost is more touristy than the UWS original, more like the Carmine’s in Las Vegas

Carmines, 200 W 44th St., (212) 221-3800

Joe Allen’s

Joe Allen’s is currently closed, and expected to re-open when Broadway shows re-open.

Joe Allen’s has been feeding both theatergoers and the performers who pay to see them since 1965, has a menu that ranges from a spicy Thai stew ($19) to a pan roasted monkfish ($28) and is such a Times Square mainstay that its website lists each show’s running time.

A post-theater drink is part of the Broadway experience, and you might be rubbing elbows with one of the Broadway or Hollywood stars who hang out here.

There’s also a late night bistro with live entertainment.

Joe Allen, 326 W. 46th St., (212) 581-6464

Bond 45

Bond 45 moved from its location in the historic Bond Clothing Store at 154 W. 45th to another cavernous space around the corner, with the same mix of chops, pizzas and pastas and some new items, such as lobster burger.

The massive antipasto bar also returns to the new space, which was designed in part by the scenic designer of Hamilton and the lighting designer of The Lion King.

Some say it is overpriced — the meat lasagna has a $27 price tag — but it remains such a go-to for well-heeled theater diners that it made a cameo appearance in the TV series “Smash.”

Bond 45, 221 W. 46th St., (212) 869-4545

Angus McIndoe

The cafe bistro Angus McIndoe offers menu choices that range an affordable dish of mussels with white wine for $22 to a pricey porterhouse for two at $79.

It’s also a destination for a late night cocktail. The top floor may even have a Broadway star or two joining you.

Angus McIndoe, 258 W 44th St, (212) 221-9222

Chirping Chicken

This popular mini-chain specializes in flame-broiled chicken. It’s fast and cheap – 1/4 chicken and a hot vegetable side is around $10.

Decor is one step up from a fast food joint, and the rest of the menu is not fancy either, with burrito bowls and burgers.

It’s location at the corner of Ninth Ave. and 42nd St. makes it a five minute walk to theaters.

Chirping Chicken, 587 Ninth Ave., (212) 244-7334

Do you have a favorite non-chain restaurant in Times Square? Let us know.

Add a comment here, or send an email to info@nyconthecheap.com and we’ll check it out.

This article was posted originally in 2018 and is updated regularly, including for 2021

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NYC on the Cheap publisher/editor Evelyn Kanter is a native New Yorker who has written for the NY Times, NY Daily News, NY Post and New York Magazine, and is a former on-air reporter for WCBS Newsradio 88 and WABC-TV Eyewitness News.