I’ve heard many things about Crown Shy, both positive and negative. It’s located in the same building as Saga, a Michelin 2 Star restaurant, and also a supposed good bar called Overstory. This year, Crown Shy received a Michelin Star, and various public forums raved about their dishes being inventive and good. Since reservations were easy to get, we decided to spend our Friday at this restaurant. It was very easy to book a 5:45 PM dinner reservation for 2.

We’ve walked past this restaurant several times eating at various restaurants prior to watching a theater show. Tonight, we had to eat something before our 7 PM show. We made a reservation for this restaurant for 5 PM without any trouble. When you walk in, it seemed like a very bustling restaurant. Looking at the menu prior, I didn’t find it all that interesting, but we thought this was a good day to try it since we had to eat fast.

We had another Friday outing to watch the Mary Jane broadway show starring Rachel McAdams. Because this was very last minute, my partner was able to book this restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. As we explore more of this area, it’s turning out that there are a good amount of restaurant options especially for Italian food. We made reservations easily for 5:30 PM on a Friday evening. It was noticeable there was a large amount of theater crowds since tables cleared right before 7 and 8 PM.

Chica & The Don is a new Latin restaurant that opened in the Flatiron district. Despite their Yelp site pointing to Flatbush, it really is located in Manhattan. When you walk in, the restaurant has a long corridor to the main dining area. They just opened 3 weeks ago, so I was interested in checking this out before the hype were to build up. We were able to make a reservation relatively easy for 5:45 PM on a Friday early evening.

I just have this affinity for noodles. Their sibling location, Okiboru House of Tsukemen, was one of the best I’ve had in the city when it comes to dipping ramen. This restaurant recently opened up marketing itself for udon. Like their tsukemen location, this one offers udon for dipping. Unlike traditional udon, these noodles are much wider and flatter. I was able to walk in by myself at 8 PM on a Tuesday evening, and I immediately was seated.

This Smith & Mills location is in the small inner plaza where the Rockafeller rink is. It caught my attention because the Tribeca location apparently had received some high regard, so I thought it’d be worth a shot to check out this location. Although the food options are small, some of it looked pretty tasty. This restaurant is fairly close to Naro. We had a reservation for 3 for 5 PM, and the place was not full at all.

Class on 38th was something that seemed interesting at first glance when I was browsing the “Hot and New” sections of Yelp. The menu looked like tapas with a price point that wasn’t too expensive. I went here with a business partner, who was in town and looking for something to try. I made a reservation a few weeks back without any issues for 6 PM on a Thursday. When I walked in, they allowed me to sit early to wait for my guest to arrive.

This restaurant has been on my radar for years, and we finally got a chance to try this. What was appealing to me was the price and options that they had. Not only was it steak frites, but you had the opportunity to try different types of steaks if you really wanted. We had an early afternoon theater showing, and this location was within minutes. We were able to walk in around 5:00 PM on a Sunday without reservations, though they told us that we had to finish our food within 2.

We were craving for an early Italian dinner before seeing a Broadway show. Osteria Delbianco actually has two locations: one on 49th and another closer to Bryant Park. Both locations are really easy to get to. We were able to walk in without reservations at around 5 PM on a Friday early evening. The one appeal to me about this restaurant was that it seemed like a local Italian restaurant, and these typically can be hit or miss.

Clinton Street Baking Company is a very popular and well known destination for breakfast for decades. Word of mouth has mentioned that their pancakes and breakfast items have been delightful to eat. My party woke up early to park in line before the restaurant opening at 9 AM on a Saturday morning. It was definitely a struggle for me and my partner to arrive here from where we live, considering how annoying the subway schedules are on weekends.