The Best Restaurants in Times Square + Rock Center!
Reviews of Danny Meyer's The View, See No Evil Pizza, Smokin' Joe's charcoal chicken, and more
Yeah, I know.
These probably aren’t your favorite neighborhoods.
Going out of your way to dine in Times Square makes about as much sense as hopping on a double decker tour bus for your morning commute (sounds like a “Seinfeld” plot).
And trudging through Rock Center during the holidays is a good recipe for a panic attack. Trust me, lol!
But still. We all have to put in our time here. For family members that want to check out The Big Xmas Tree. For an easy dinner after watching “Bill & Ted” perform “Godot.” For all those Midtown job interviews (wait, you’re landing interviews in this economy?). And for getting to MoMA’s Ruth Asawa retrospective (it’s insanely good!).
Okay, maybe I don’t sound enthusiastic enough. Let me try again.
Eating out in Times Square and Rock Center is so much better than it used to be. This is the year that gave us Golden Hof, a great Korean pub; Cuerno, a taco-centric Mexican steakhouse; Gui, a fancy Korean chophouse; El Rey, a new place for amazing quesadillas, and more. I’ve reviewed all these spots, and I’ll write up a few more right now, including The View, Danny Meyer’s restaurant atop the Marriott Marquis.
Honestly, it warms my heart knowing that tourists and locals alike can eat so well in these office districts, these Disneyfied neighborhoods, these Elmo-friendly streets teeming with bland fast food chains, trinket shops, and a really big store that hawks canned Portuguese sardines. This isn’t the seedy 1980s anymore — probably for the best — but it feels like Times Square and Rock Center keep getting little bit of their character back, at least when it comes to eating out.
So let’s get to it.
The best views in Times Square…
The View by Danny Meyer
