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 Editor Evelyn Kanter.
John’s Pizzeria
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 spaghetti with meat sauce.
There are also John’s outposts on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx, and in Jersey City.
- John’s Pizzeria, 260 W. 44th Street, (212) 391-7560
- If all you want is a slice and a soda, these 99 cent pizza slice joints in midtown are fast and filling, and most are open to midnight or later.
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 now 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, top reasons his restaurants are so successful. 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.
NY 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 its NYC’s own international chain, started here in an outpost in Madison Square Park, that’s still there.
- Shake Shack, 691 8th Avenue, (646) 435-0135
- SEE ALSO Where to eat in Flatiron
Junior’s
Junior’s has been serving the best cheesecake on the planet since 1950 at its original outpost in downtown Brooklyn, and now also in additional locations, including in Times Square and a mini-outpost in the downstairs food hall in Grand Central Terminal.
True to its Brooklyn roots, decor features images of the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field, where they played. 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 recent demise of 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
- SEE ALSO 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 show people and other celebrities than for its food.
NY Insider tip: Avoid the overpriced menu and, which tends to be over-priced and under-flavored and opt instead for a drink at the bar. You’ll still get to enjoy the museum-like artwork by legendary illustrator Al Hirschfield.
- Sardis 234 W. 44th St., (212) 222-8440
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