Christmas in New York

[tapdancer]

Just wondering if anyone has stayed in New York for Christmas day? This is an option we are considering at the moment, is there somewhere you can go for a traditional American Christmas lunch? Is there anything actually open?

The thought of it is wonderful just hoping the reality would be just as great.

 

[aussietravellers]

Just wondering if anyone has stayed in New York for Christmas day? This is an option we are considering at the moment, is there somewhere you can go for a traditional American Christmas lunch? Is there anything actually open?

The thought of it is wonderful just hoping the reality would be just as great.

Can't help with NY but I am sure it will be just amazing being there for Christmas. It is so festive in the US, has such an amazing feel.

In saying that we have had Christmas day in Hawaii a few times and they seem to have their Christmas celebrations the night before. Not one year could we find a big Christmas day lunch celebration, we had nice meals, but nothing like we have here in Australia. So I wonder if it will be the same in NY? I'll be interested to see what others have experienced Christmas day. Oh I would love to be in NY over Christmas

 

[tapdancer]

That's why I was wondering as we had Thanksgiving in Hawaii in 2007 we couldn't find anywhere to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal and everything was closed.

 

[battymum]

search this on tripadvisor, dont post a new thread - i saw a few questions of this nature last year - those NY'ers can be pretty mean. To them there is no such thing as a "traditional" Christmas meal as there population is made up of so many diverse backgrounds.

 

[aussietravellers]

search this on tripadvisor, dont post a new thread - i saw a few questions of this nature last year - those NY'ers can be pretty mean.

Ain't that the truth! I did ask a few questions there and thankfully I got all great friendly responses. But I was often shocked by how unpleasant/rude they could be to somebody simply asking a question, often a question that I was wanting to know and I was so glad I hadn't asked

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Yep, the New Yorkers on Trip Advisor can be harsh, I would definitely search the subject because it really has been asked on there dozens of times. We are also spending this Christmas in NYC Tapdancer so this is a subject I have been looking into.

From what I have read, as Battymum mentioned, they don't do "traditional" Christmas like we think they do and like we do it. That is more their Thanksgiving. Plus finding places that are open on Christmas day can be somewhat challenging apparently. Closer to the day you can look on www.opentable.com to see what restaurants will be open. It seems many of them offer a set menu.

Here is a link to what was on offer last year:-

http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=8&ref=8782&pid=6

We are thinking about going to one of the restaurants at the Rockefeller Centre.

Depending on the ages of your children, you could do this:-

http://www.patinagroup.com/east/breakfastwithsanta/

We are thinking of a nice cooked brekky somewhere, a late lunch and the the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in the afternoon. And if needing any food for dinner, I will have researched a few nearby delis with sandwiches we must absolutely try for something different for a Christmas night.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

This is the place we are thinking of having lunch:-

http://www.rockefellercenter.com/shop-and-eat/rock-center-cafe/

Here are the trip advisor reviews:-
http://www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=31

and the opentable reviews:-
http://www.opentable.com/rock-center-cafe

or for something a bit fancier you could try:-

http://www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=31

Opentable reviews:-
http://www.opentable.com/rock-center-cafe

The Bryant Park Grille gets mentioned a few times in TA for Christmas. Here are the reviews:-

TripAdvisor:-

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Bryant_Park_Grill-New_York_City_New_York.html

OPentable:-
http://www.opentable.com/bryant-park-grill

The recommendations I have made are all fairly non traditional. From what I have read you can go to smaller restaurants a few blocks off Times Square and find something more traditional but you will need to do some research.

If you do decide to do some digging, I would love to hear what you come up with.

 

[tapdancer]

Thanks guys you have given me lots of ideas to look at. Its just an idea at this stage, two of my children thought wow and the youngest would rather do Christmas at home then go so we will see.

 

[Anaheim boy]

I'm originally from the US and can say that most places like restaurants and stuff don't do a "traditional" Christmas offering. And I forget, cause when some Aussie's say "lunch" it is not what American's are used to hearing. Lunch to us means around noon. But while living south of the equator I've heard it used differently, so just making sure I understand. It's just not what many places do. The big thing like that would be Thanksgiving, and even then many people see that as a time to spend at home with family, not to go out to dinner, usually. But again, would usually be like a dinner in the evenings. It's definitely not like it is down under where you guys seem to go out a little more or have your BBQs and such. Many places will be closed, though it being NYC that could be different, especially since so many people go there for the holidays.
If anything I would go to experience all the festive atmosphere (minus the "temperment" of the NYC locals) with all the decorations and such. That is one thing I've missed while living down under. I know I'm in NZ, but I noticed it while about Aus as well, that for me, you guys hardly decorate for anything. Easter, Christmas, Halloween, I barely see any decorations at all. It's strange to me. So I think if you haven't seen it before, you would be amazed by all the store fronts and they get decked out for the holidays. That would be more the experience than any kind of dining experience I think. Hope you have fun, sounds wonderful.

 

[jessiegirl84]

Hello there,

My partner and I just spent this past Christmas in New York. It was a great experience, but it was so so busy. I knew that it would be busy, but it was insane, just walking down 5th avenue there was so many people. I describe it to people like leaving a big football game and trying to get through the crowd.

As for dinner, we also struggled to find an authentic american christmas dinner. They really don't do a real xmas dinner, like what they do for thanksgiving. We ended up booking dinner through open table, at the View Hotel in Times Square. It is a rotating restaurant with a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty good, and the food was beautiful but it wasn't real christmasy.
A few days later we were at Denny's and ihop and they had more traditional christmas dinners, plus about a quarter of the price.

if you have any more questions, I'm happy to help
Jess

 

[cola]

Friends were there for the week leading up to Christmas and a few more days last year. They said it was absolutely crazy the week leading up - the shops seemed to be opened 24hrs a day, just crowds and crowds of people all the time (jessiegirl84's comment about like leaving a football game sounds right!). They tried finding somewhere special to eat Christmas day, but it was just another day, everything was open, no Christmas meals to be found. They said it was amazing, the crowds, the decorations, everything.