For a certain kind of traveler, Times Square is a can’t-miss stop on your first trip to New York City—the Big Apple at its biggest and most audacious. For others, it’s an overcrowded, overstimulating, overly commercialized neighborhood that’s best avoided, except for the brief time when you’re coming or going from a Broadway show. The truth of the matter is that it’s a little of both, and that’s what makes it so magical. There’s no denying it’s too loud, too bright, too filled with Naked Cowboys and bootleg mascot characters and scammers. But it’s also a culture-filled crossroads that rewards exploration, where luxury hotels and celebrity-filled Broadway theaters exist on the same blocks as grungy dive bars and decades-old restaurants. Here’s our highly opinionated guide to New York’s most polarizing neighborhood.
Where to eat
There’s much more to this stretch of Midtown than hot dogs, halal carts, and oversize outposts of suburban chains such as Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Begin your morning with an exceptional single-origin pour-over, latte, or cold brew at the Aussie-inspired St. Kilda Coffee—which also has killer merch, including psychedelic-skewing tumblers and totes. If you prefer your coffee lighter and sweeter, opt instead for the kopi with condensed milk at Kopifellas, inside the Singaporean food hall Urban Hawker. Come lunchtime, stands here also dole out Hainanese poached chicken and rice, Malaysian beef rendang, and Filipino crispy pata (aka fried pork knuckle) in a buzzy (albeit better-air-conditioned) approximation of Singapore’s famed food markets.
Many of the vendors here have direct connections to the UNESCO-protected hawker centers of Singapore, and they’re not the only international imports to bring some spice to the neighborhood. Family-owned Florentine sandwich shop All’Antico Vinaio opened its first American outpost on Eighth Avenue, where it serves sandwiches on fresly baked Tuscan schiacciata bread; first-timers should try the La Paradiso, with mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream, and chopped pistachios. And if you’re in the mood for pizza, stop into Don Antonio, which is run by a world-renowned master pizzaiola and known for its montanara, a deep-fried pizza style born in the mountains outside of Naples.
Taiwanese import Din Tai Fung is renowned for its perfectly plated soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao.
Courtesy of Din Tai Fung
Introverts will especially love Ichiran, a beloved Japanese tonkotsu ramen chain that originated in Fukuoka 65 years ago and is known for its “ramen focus booths”: Solo diners sit at a bar between privacy partitions, fill out a paper order form, slide it into the kitchen, and receive a meal without any human interaction. Nearby, Ippudo is another import from Fukuoka where the yuzu shoyu ramen is an unexpected standout and the vibe is decidedly less antisocial.
Times Square was also home to one of 2024’s splashiest restaurant openings in the city when Taiwanese chain Din Tai Fung opened its first East Coast outpost on Broadway between 50th and 51st streets. Guests enter through a glass box at street level and descend to the subterranean restaurant below, which sprawls across more than 25,000 square feet. From the dining room, windows open onto a kitchen where a flurry of staffers hand-fill thousands of signature xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) each day. Save time for a selfie with the golden statue of Bao Bao, the restaurant’s dumpling-headed mascot.
Other neighborhood highlights include the hole-in-the-wall Hyderabadi Zaiqa (get the goat dum biryani); Don Don, a Korean barbecue spot known for its dry-aged pork cuts, helmed by Per Se and Le Bernardin alum Sungchul Shim; the growing taqueria chain Los Tacos No. 1; no-frills Margon for cult-fave Cuban sandwiches; and Schnipper’s, in the New York Times Building, for burgers, milkshakes, tuna melts, and other all-American diner food.
Sardi’s is a classic establishment where you can always spot Broadway stars—either in the flesh or in the caricatures lining the walls.
Photo by JTTucker/Shutterstock
Where to drink
Ask old-school New York media types (you can count some Afar editors among that list!) for the best place to drink in Midtown, and they’ll point you toward Jimmy’s Corner, a beloved dive bar on 44th Street. The boxing memorabilia seen throughout is a testament to founder Jimmy Glenn, a former boxer, cutman, and trainer who opened the place in 1971 and sadly died in 2020 of COVID-19. The atmosphere is boisterous, and the drinks are dirt cheap.
For pre- or post-show drinks, follow traditionalist theater fans and Broadway stars to Sardi’s, which moved from just down the block to its current location in 1927. Its dining room is known for red-leather banquettes and caricatures of theater stars, but the move is to go upstairs to the bar for a Manhattan and a so-basic-it’s-sublime snack of spreadable cheese with plastic-wrapped crackers. You’ll find a similar crowd at Joe Allen, which turns 60 in May and is lined with posters of notorious Broadway flops.
A pair of neon lips hang over ‘80s-themed speakeasy the Woo Woo.
Courtesy of the Woo Woo NYC
If you happen to be stuck with tickets to a critically panned show, steel yourself with a shot or two up on 52nd Street, where Russian Samovar and Russian Vodka Room sit across from one another. Both are known for their infused vodkas—dill, horseradish, ginger—which can be served in a tasting flight or flavored martini. For something a bit classier, duck into the Rum House, a dimly lit, pocket-size cocktail lounge with live jazz, spins on classic cocktails, and an extensive list of rums distilled everywhere from Guyana to Haiti to Mauritius. (It made a cameo in the Oscar-winning film Birdman.)
To experience other recent newcomers, you’ll have to head underground. The Woo Woo is an ‘80s-themed, neon-lit speakeasy hidden behind a fake porn shop that’s meant to evoke the pre-Disneyfication-era Times Square. And the cocktail den Nothing Really Matters is actually located within the 50th Street subway station, just before the turnstiles.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of the investors who saved the beloved Drama Book Shop from closure during the pandemic.
Photo by Anne Czichos/Shutterstock
Where to shop
Perhaps no store better exemplifies the magic of Times Square than the Drama Book Shop. It’s been going strong since 1917 as a source for performers and playwrights to pick up scripts and other books on their crafts, and the shop even won a special Tony in 2011. In 2020, Lin-Manuel Miranda teamed up with other investors to buy the shop as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the neighborhood, and the store moved a block into its new home on West 39th Street in 2021, reimagined by Hamilton scenic designer David Korins to evoke 20th-century European cafés and reading rooms.
While you’re down on that side of the neighborhood, stop into the outpost of Japanese retailer Muji inside the Renzo Piano–designed New York Times Building. If you’re not familiar with the chain, it sells everything from clothing and furniture to suitcases and stationery—all minimalist and chic and elegant. Be prepared to fall in love with its pens.
Another international import, although one that’s decidedly stranger, is the Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, a Wonka-like ode to tinned fish tucked among the brightly lit flagships on Broadway, where you can buy cans of marinated eels, smoked trout in olive oil, whelks, and more.
The Museum of Broadway celebrates not only famous musicals and performers but also the craftspeople who work backstage.
Photo by Darren Cox
What to do
If you’re braving Times Square, there’s a strong chance you’re here to see a Broadway show, and the 2024–25 season is particularly star-studded, with A-listers including George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal (Othello), John Mulaney (All In), Idina Menzel (Redwood), Sarah Snook (The Picture of Dorian Gray), Nick Jonas (The Last Five Years), David Hyde Pierce (Pirates! The Penzance Musical), and Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk (Glengarry Glen Ross).
Theater lovers should also check out what’s playing off-Broadway, which refers not to the proximity to the eponymous thoroughfare but the size of the theater: Broadway theaters have more than 500 seats, those off-Broadway have between 100 and 499, and off-off-Broadway refers to fewer than 100 seats. If you’ve ticked the big Broadway spectacles like Wicked and The Lion King off your list, check out what’s playing at the neighborhood’s smaller theater companies, such as Second Stage or Roundabout Theatre Company, which have both Broadway and off-Broadway houses. And slightly farther afield in Hell’s Kitchen and the surroundings, you’ll also find the New World Stages, Playwrights Horizons, and Signature Theatre, where Brendan Fraser will star in a new Samuel D. Hunter play in February.
If you want to learn even more about the American theater, head to the Museum of Broadway, a chronological exhibit that winds through centuries of history and is filled with costumes, sets, props, and models. Among the coolest exhibits is one that recreates a theater’s backstage area and celebrates the work of stage managers, makeup artists, costume designers, choreographers, and other creatives who make Broadway run smoothly but often get overlooked.
Hotelier Ian Schrager brings a touch of high-design drama to the neighborhood with the Times Square Edition.
Courtesy of Edition Hotels
Where to stay
Times Square is chock full of hotels, with about four dozen within its official boundaries and many, many more just outside. The neighborhood is perhaps best known for its lodging behemoths, like the Marriott Marquis, which has nearly 2,000 rooms and suites, a rotating rooftop restaurant (that’s currently being reinvented by restaurateur Danny Meyer, of Gramercy Tavern and Shake Shack fame), and even its own Broadway theater. But in recent years, there are plenty of newcomers with a bit more personality.
Take, for instance, the glitzy Times Square Edition from hotelier Ian Schrager, which pairs his aesthetic trademarks (a statement staircase, a jungle’s worth of potted plants) with the excellent Terrace and Outdoor Gardens by chef John Fraser. Schrager also happened to be the cofounder of the legendary Studio 54 nightclub (which now houses a Broadway theater), so you won’t be surprised to hear that the hotel features its own see-and-be-seen nightlife spot, Paradise Club.
Romer Hell’s Kitchen is one of a new slate of design-driven boutique hotels in and around Times Square.
Photo by Read McKendree
Over on Eighth Avenue, the year-old Romer Hell’s Kitchen features guest rooms that are meant to evoke a boho-chic dream apartment; depending on the category, yours might include a green velvet couch, a record player with a small vinyl collection, or even an easel. Downstairs, the lobby plays host to a playful and moodily lit piano bar called So & So’s. Nearby, the Kimpton Hotel Theta recently debuted in a midcentury building, originally conceived by Miami modernist architect Morris Lapidus. The lobby features curving sculptural doorways inspired by the art of Isamu Noguchi (who has his own museum a few subway stops away in Queens), abstract paintings curated by Saatchi Art, and a communal table stocked with art books. Kimpton’s robust roster of perks include PUBLIC bikes for rent and free in-room potted plants or yoga mats upon request, and the rooftop is home to the Italian Riviera–inspired Bar Sprezzaturra, known for its signature spritzes.
Broadway fans might also consider the Civilian Hotel, which was designed by the Tony-winning set designer and architect David Rockwell. For the purest distillation of Theater District magic, head to the second-floor Blue Room, a part of the bar where illuminated cases display Broadway ephemera like Elphaba’s hat from Wicked and the dueling pistols from Hamilton.
