Help me amuse my relatives!

August 24, 2007 11:39 AM

tomorrow night I'm taking out a couple relatives who are visiting from Italy. they like the whole tourist scene, so i was thinking of taking them to some theme restaurant.

much as it kills me to go to one of those cheesy places, i suspect that's what they'd like best. someone suggested the Mars 2112 place.... Is that at all fun? Or can anyone suggest anywhere else? I'm at a total loss. We need a dinner/drinks place that will also have some sort of entertainment. Bear in mind that A. I will be paying and I dont have much money! and B. one of them does not speak English, which knocks out any interactive theater type place. Also, they're not really the club/dancing/drunken crowd type. Um... in case it matters, they are two girls in their late twenties. As am I, and my cousin (from queens) who is coming along.

posted by silverstatue to food & drink (7 comments total)

Rainforest cafe?
posted by jozxyqk at 11:44 AM on August 24, 2007

Jekyll and Hyde?
posted by vacapinta at 11:56 AM on August 24, 2007

mars 2112 is best for guests under the age of 12.
i've been there and haven't been to these other gimic places. You can count on all of them being expensive......
posted by lotusmonster at 12:20 PM on August 24, 2007

Vacapinta, would you say Jekyll and Hyde is ok for adults then? I really dont want to bring them to a place overrun with children....
posted by silverstatue at 12:26 PM on August 24, 2007

It's hard to say if you'd find Mars 2112 fun, so I'll tell you what it's like and you can decide. There's a spaceship ride as you go in, the kind where you sit in seats that shake and move as you watch a movie with a flying-through-space POV. When the ride is over, you walk through space-ship-type hallways past bars and an arcade into a cavernous red room. There are a few aliens walking around who will visit your table. They play lively dance music, and the aliens dance. The food is overpriced ($10 appetizers, $15 burgers), but not ridiculously so, for that area. I'd say that kids get a bigger kick out of the place than adults, but I've actually gone there more than once myself because I think it's kind of funny.

Trying to think of alternatives, hmm... the Ninja restaurant would be too expensive. How about a Moroccan place with a bellydancer? Lucky Cheng's or Lips? The Marriott Marquis in Times Square has a restaurant called The View... it's a regular restaurant on the top of the hotel that slowly rotates, so you get a 360º view of the area (not super entertainment, but touristy and not horrible). The Rodeo Bar has Mexican food and a roadhouse design and live music that's actually really good.
posted by xo at 12:34 PM on August 24, 2007

Jekyll and Hyde is fine for adults. I've been there once and I don't remember it being too much of a kiddie scene. Probably more entertaining that 2112.
posted by kimdog at 4:51 PM on August 24, 2007

Are you kidding that there's another Mars 2112? Oh my goodness. We had one in Chicago (actually in Schaumburg, at Woodfield Mall) and it only lasted about 2 years. It was NEVER busy and never crowded. The food sucked. I think it's now a PF Chang's. Funny. Sorry for the derail.
posted by BuddhaBelly at 12:45 PM on August 26, 2007