Comments on: Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners in NYC

Question: Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners in NYC

clearlydemon — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:38:19 -0800

My family and I will be in New York city for the holidays. My mission: to find great restaurants for Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners. I'd like personal recommendations for restaurants for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day brunch, and New Year's dinner. We are four adults and two teenagers (ages 16 and 18). Our budget is about $100 per person, per dinner (although I think it should be less for brunch). If we could make reservations online, it would be a big plus.

We'll be staying near the Carnegie Hall. We were planning to go to Times Square for New Year's Eve, but after reading this, I guess we'll go somewhere else.

Thank you!

By: brain_drain

brain_drain — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:00:44 -0800

NYC has tons of great restaurants in that price range, so some additional guidance would be helpful. Ambience? Type of food? Do you want to stick around midtown or are you willing to take a subway or taxi?

By: xueexueg

xueexueg — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 05:37:49 -0800

Most of the Mario Batali restaurants seem to be doing a Christmas Eve "Feast of the Seven Fishes". Last year we went to Esca, I think with last-minute reservations (for two) and it was very good. Here's a recent Chowhound discussion on Christmas Eve Batali fish feasts.

I would do dim sum for brunch, at Jing Fong or at Vegetarian Dim Sum. Chinese is of course the great Christmas refuge for the non-observant.

New Year's Eve? I think you should go somewhere in Brooklyn. Maybe do the countdown in Grand Army Plaza instead of times sq.

By: Sprout the Vulgarian

Sprout the Vulgarian — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:12:47 -0800

Over Thanksgiving, my family and I ate at Osteria al Doge, in the theater district. Nice ambiance, and everyone enjoyed their food except for my dad who was disappointed by the veal. They take reservations by phone. Here's a link to the NYTimes review; you can look up lots of restaurants using their search function.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 07:05:17 -0800

Manhattanusersguide.com had a list out of "Open on Thanksgiving" joints, I suppose they'll be doing something for Christmas too - keep an eye on that.

Not sure if they'll be open for your respective times, but I'd highly recommend Freeman's for your Christmas Eve dinner - its got a rustic, holiday feel. This is the kind of place no concierge would know about - very local joint, good luck finding it.

And as far as brunches go, I love the brunch at Blue Water Grill.

By: pikaboy202

pikaboy202 — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:01:15 -0800

Try Tavern On The Green for dinner. It's inside Central Park and it's absoluately brilliant!

By: clearlydemon

clearlydemon — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:26:11 -0800

Thanks everybody! Your suggestions have been very helpful.

Sorry if my question was too open, I have only been to NYC once and it's a big responsibility to decide the venues for Christmas and New Year's dinners. I'm afraid I'll choose a bad restaurant and my family will disown me because I ruined Christmas :P

brain_drain, we don't have anything too specific in mind. We like international cuisine, but anything but Mexican will do (we are from Mexico and it's just not the same).

A place near our hotel would be a big plus, because we'd need two cabs to transport and I'd rather not take the subway in high heels.

Also, I see most restaurants offer brunch on weekends, but January 1st will be a Monday. Do they make an exception for this date?