Evening dinner in NY for a 15 year girl

Joe Makowiec ha scritto:

I would want to find a good place for the dinner to celebrate the
birthday of our girl.

Buon compleanno alla signora!

SignorINA :-).
In Italian 'Signora' is 'married woman', 'Signorina' (little 'signora')
is unmarried :-).
My wife is married with me, but (damn) she has NOT 15 years :-(.
Is our daughter that is almost 15 (and she's, happily, not married
yet:-))...

Ciao, Piero.

Alan S ha scritto:

not cheap by mine or yours. The food was good and the location
excellent.

Good.
Thank you all for the tips...
I forget to say that food is important, but also the view (maybe
harbour, or city skyline...) is appreciated.

Ciao, Piero.

Alan S ha scritto:

had a meal with a group at Harbour Lights, part of the Pier
17 complex. http://harbourlightsrestaurant.com/enter.html
Pricing looks reasonable by NYC standards, but it's not
cheap by mine or yours.

It seems a very good location!
Prices high, but reachable: obviously we can't eat this way every day on
a 20 days long vacation....
30 US$ for a main dish, is around 22 euro, now, so not too high, but
there I must remember to add taxes and tips (here prices are net: no
added taxes and tips at the end of the dinner...).

Ciao, Piero.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 20:34:21 +0200, Piero
wrote:

Alan S ha scritto:

not cheap by mine or yours. The food was good and the location
excellent.

Good.
Thank you all for the tips...
I forget to say that food is important, but also the view (maybe
harbour, or city skyline...) is appreciated.

Ciao, Piero.

There are indeed restaurants with a view, but on the whole
very, very pricey. You pay for that view in a sit down
restaurant. A hot dog in Battery Park is cheap Right on
New York harbor. For other harbor views, take the Staten
Island Ferry over and back -- it is free and goes right by
the Statue of Liberty.

Brian K ha scritto:

If she really likes Chinese

We like chinese just a little, because here in Italy we have a plenty of
chinese restaurants, and now all have similar food, made in advance by a
big chinese-owned italian factory.
Is almost ever canned food here now, so we are a little disgusted about
chinese.
In the past we liked much...
Sorry for chinese, but Greenwich Village is a very good tip.
We like neighborood with many restaurants to see and choose...

Ciao, Piero.

NoName ha scritto:

For other harbor views, take the Staten
Island Ferry over and back -- it is free and goes right by
the Statue of Liberty.

Already on my 'will do', but not at dinner time :-).

Ciao, Piero.

On Fri, 18 May 2007 20:43:27 +0200, Piero
wrote:

Alan S ha scritto:

had a meal with a group at Harbour Lights, part of the Pier
17 complex. http://harbourlightsrestaurant.com/enter.html
Pricing looks reasonable by NYC standards, but it's not
cheap by mine or yours.

It seems a very good location!
Prices high, but reachable: obviously we can't eat this way every day on
a 20 days long vacation....
30 US$ for a main dish, is around 22 euro, now, so not too high, but
there I must remember to add taxes and tips (here prices are net: no
added taxes and tips at the end of the dinner...).

Ciao, Piero.

In New York City tax is 8-1/2 percent of the food cost. Most
people just double the tax to figure the expected 15% tip.
I like the European system of figuring the tip into the bill.
So here you would be paying, with tax and tip, about 23% more
than the food costs.

However, many good restaurants do offer main dishes for far less
than $30. Charges for wine are higher than in Italy. I had wine
with my dinners there for very little. I think most restaurants
in New York charge far too much even for non-alcoholic drinks
but water is free Tap water, but New York water is excellent.

On 18 May 2007 in rec.travel.usa-canada, Piero wrote:

Joe Makowiec ha scritto:

I would want to find a good place for the dinner to celebrate the
birthday of our girl.

Buon compleanno alla signora!

SignorINA :-).
In Italian 'Signora' is 'married woman', 'Signorina' (little
'signora') is unmarried :-).
My wife is married with me, but (damn) she has NOT 15 years :-(.
Is our daughter that is almost 15 (and she's, happily, not married
yet:-))...

That's what I get for relying on Babelfish...

A couple more thoughts on food:
- Have your main meal at midday. Lunch prices tend to run about 2/3 of
supper prices, yet portion sizes are only slightly smaller. Then eat a
smaller meal in the evening.
- On the lower level of Grand Central Terminal, there is a wide variety
of takeout restaurants. If everybody wants something different, they
can get it there, then you can sit together to eat.
- 'Service' is not included, so you should add about 15-20% tip to the
total if you get full table service; at a buffet, I generally add 7-
10%. Also, you need to add 8.375% sales tax to posted prices to get
what you'll wind up paying. So a $20 entree will wind up costing about
$25. At takeout restaurants, all you'll pay is sales tax.

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe

On 18 May 2007 in rec.travel.usa-canada, Piero wrote:

(here prices are net: no added taxes and tips at the end of the
dinner...).

A much more civilized system...

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe

Piero wrote:
Next August, 5 will be the 15 birthday of our daughter, and we will
arrive this day in NY.
We will sleep 3 nights at Jamaica, near JFK, and we will arrive there at
3 p.m.
I want to leave all our luggages in hotel (Motel), and to go downtown
(by underground) for the evening.
I would want to find a good place for the dinner to celebrate the
birthday of our girl.
No very luxury restaurants (our budget is not so high)...
No, if possible, Italian or pizza (we're Italians, so I prefer to eat
Italian food at home).
No fast foods, this time...
We like any kind of food: steaks, seafood, all-you-can-eat buffets,
burgers (better if not McDonald's-like), international (not Italian)
food, etc.
Past times in USA we liked much a restaurant chain present only in the
West (Sizzler) and also buffets like the ones in the LV casinos.

Do you have any tip or advice?

A lot depends on where in Manhattan you want to go and the food she
likes. You can go to Chinatown on the subway and get good Chinese food
if you know where to go, and bad Chinese food if you don't. But these
aren't such nice places for atmosphere.

Check out:

"http://nohostar.com/dinner.html"
"http://www.cleopatrasneedleny.com/menu.html"

Which were on the Rachael Ray show about $40 a day for food. Not so easy
in New York City to cheap out like than unless you're off in Chinatown.