NYC Restaurant recommendations - for a birthday meal

[tllm2]

Knowing what a well travelled bunch you are .... wondered whether anyone has any recent recommendations for New York restaurant for a birthday meal. Having googled it, the lists are endless.

Type of cuisine - not fussy, but fairly formal

Price - mid range/ideally no 2nd mortgage required

If it was within walking distance of 49th and Lexington that would be an added bonus

[Rosetta]

Go to the NYC chowhound boards. You will receive help there.

[missyelliott]

I went to Essex and Beauty recently. Really fun place. Perfect for a birthday. Quirky entrance through a shop!

[JRW3]

We lived in Manhattan for 20 years and just moved back to London. Best value cuisine in Manhattan tends to be Thai restaurants. Just West of the theater district (on the West Side (between 40th and 50th along Ninth Avenue) has loads of fun places and much better value than you'll find on the East Side.

A great resource is menupages.com where you can see the actual prices and user ratings, also Seamless.com for reviews and menus (it's a take-out site but good for reading about the food at various restaurants.)

[sbain]

Babbo is fab (although its been ages since I was there) http://www.babbonyc.com/menu/dinner/ pricey though. Plus now that it is in London maybe less special.

I also really like http://www.gramercytavern.com/

[mancity68]

I took my other half to The Odeon on West Broadway in TriBeCa for his 50th. Loved it.

[Jakido]

Zagat is worth consulting e.g. for Midtown East https://www.zagat.com/l/new-york-city/best-restaurants-in-midtown-east-nyc

[sdow687]

Lil'Frankies... we went back twice it was so good!

[apenn]

http://ichabodsnyc.com

My cousin is a chef there. If you go tell me what you think!

[pilsbury]

My other half took me to The River Cafe under Brooklyn Bridge (on the Brooklyn side) for my 30th, when we'd also just got engaged, & it was gorgeous, with amazing view over to Manhatten...

[Scott Ross]

Ma Peche isn't far from there, if you like dim sum, as is Monkey Bar, a gorgeous old NYC institution. New York magazine has the best restaurant listings I've seen, easily sorted by price, location, cuisine and quality.

[peanut 78]

Just back from a long weekend in New York and had a great brunch at ABC Kitchens - http://www.abchome.com/eat/abc-kitchen/

Also enjoyed a really nice birthday dinner at the Gramercy Tavern as someone else has recommended - http://www.gramercytavern.com/

Enjoy your trip!