Where To Eat Before Or After A Broadway Show

After one visit to Jupiter, you’ll start sending every Broadway fan you know here. Open until 10pm every day (except Sunday), this Italian restaurant from the King team is located on the concourse at Rockefeller Center. While the colorful dining room is plenty warm and lively, we prefer sitting at the long red stone bar. Order the zucchini fritti with a tempura-like batter that'll make you forget about all the soggy fried zucchini you’ve ever had. Round out your dinner with the beef carpaccio and clam casarecce.

Whenever you need something quick before a show, go to Yakitori Totto for pork neck and tsukune skewers. The slightly smoky room up a flight of stairs on 55th Street smells like grilling chicken, and sake or frosty beer will gear you up for a night of singing in the aisles. Just make sure to keep an eye on the clock—it's easy to get distracted by the good time you’re having here.

Originally opened in 1949, this bistro with an iconic red neon sign makes homey, beautifully executed classic French fare at a refreshingly reasonable price. Anyone attending a Broadway show should consider Le Tout Va Bien’s prix fixe dinner a gift straight from the almighty gods of duck fat and Bordeaux. The three-course pre-theater menu is served 4-6:30pm daily, for $45 per person. Get the buttery escargot and the steak frites with a creamy au poivre.

This excellent Sichuan restaurant that’s directly across the street from the Port Authority is an all-too-rare pre-theater option that’s both convenient and delicious. Highlights of Sky Pavilion’s extensive menu include the unreasonably silky tofu pudding with crunchy peanuts and the tender stir-fried spicy rabbit. (They also serve crowd-pleasing dim sum and American Chinese entrees, for any peppercorn first-timers in your midst.) Plus, it’s BYOB, so you won’t have to drop $25 on an adult sippy cup of Chardonnay at the theater.

Utsav serves classic Indian food with the speed and ferocity of someone who’s as stressed about making a curtain time as you are. This 46th Street spot is ideal if you want something warm, spicy, and delicious but you don’t want to worry about waiting for a table. The space is massive, and looks like a modern bistro. We like the dal makhani and butter chicken, but you can’t really go wrong. Plus, Utsav stays open until 10:30pm. 

Hainan Jones is officially our favorite vendor at Urban Hawker, the Singapore-style food court on 50th. You can get your chicken roasted or fried, but we prefer the classic poached version. The uber gingery rice and broth it comes with are flavorful on their own, but the spicy chili and sweet sesame soy help the dish realize its full potential. Lines can get long, but you have plenty of other options in the building if you don’t have time to wait. Keep in mind, If you wanted to go after a show, it closes by 7:30pm.

Directly across the street from the Winter Garden Theatre, Din Tai Fung should be near the top of your list for a convenient yet special pre-show meal. The Taiwanese soup dumpling empire's largest worldwide location serves up its famous xiao long bao in Midtown West, where you can watch chefs fold their wrappers into 18 precise pleats in a glass-walled kitchen. It’s the best kind of dumpling dinner theater, performed in an enormous, subterranean dining room. Get yourself at least one steamer basket of the shockingly delicious Chocolate & Mochi Xiao Long Bao.

While Danji doesn’t technically have a pre-theater menu, the Korean American restaurant from the same people behind Meju and Little Banchan Shop is still perfect for a casual meal with big flavors before a show. Food and imported Korean beers come out fast, especially the crispy and soft tofu, which made it to our table seemingly seconds after our server took our menus back. They offer a $78-per-person “Greatest Hits” menu, though if you’re just two people, we suggest going a la carte—provided that you order the kimchi fried rice with chorizo, and the bossam pork belly that swaps lettuce wraps for pickled mu radish.

There are restaurants that are simply near Broadway shows, and there are restaurants—like Bar Centrale—that cater specifically to theater-goers. When you make a reservation (only taken via phone, like it’s 1991), they ask about your show details so they can get you in and out on time. The entrance looks like any old brownstone, and once inside, you’ll feel like you stumbled into a secret club with zebra wallpaper, old-timey music, and Jimmy Stewart movies on TV. Come before or right after a show, and order deviled eggs, a strip steak, and a classic cocktail.

For a little show before your show, ask to sit near the oven at Frena so you can watch the cooks bake bread right in front of you. This stylish Mediterranean restaurant with big picture frame windows makes hot, dimpled bread and hummus with the creamy consistency of health food store brand peanut butter. Fill up on dips and a glass of something like a Turkish pet nat or a Moroccan syrah before trekking to your theater from 10th Avenue.

Located amongst a bunch of pasta and steak frites specialists in Hell’s Kitchen, this is a particularly exciting option for a dinner where each dish—from Sichuan classics like double-cooked pork to more playful things like pork belly on a swing—shines. With two floors (the upstairs is nicer), this third location of the Sichuan chain is slightly less impressive than its St. Marks one, but the shingled-roof, faux-village theme is intact, and still cozy rather than gimmicky. The menu is the same, and you really can’t go wrong with anything from the green pickled pepper frog to the mapo tofu. The portions are generous and you can make a reservation for up to nine people online, so it’ll work for a bigger group.

In 2019, All’Antico Vinaio popped up in NYC, and the lines made people seriously weigh the value of their time against the need for an Italian sandwich. A permanent location of this Florence import opened on 8th Ave, and it’s a great option for a quick bite before you head to a theater. The sandwiches—all on Tuscan schiacciata bread—are huge and most have creamy spreads that come in varieties like pistachio and ‘nduja. This place only has a few stools, so plan on eating on the sidewalk.

On the 9th Avenue end of 46th Street’s restaurant row, this Argentinian steakhouse is a great little spot for a glass of full-bodied red alongside some grilled meat that’s still pink in the middle. If the six tables look occupied, there are two more floors up the steep stairs of Palermo’s old townhouse. Get some empanadas too, and note that they have homemade free bread.

Maybe you skipped lunch today because of all those stupid meetings, and now, your body needs calories to make it through a three-hour musical. Head to Los Tacos on 43rd Street. This place has some of our favorite quick eats in the neighborhood—but there aren't any seats, so you'll have to scarf down your Mexican food standing up. Order a few tacos and lean against a counter while you gather your thoughts on whatever upcoming show you paid hundreds of dollars to see.

This isn't our favorite lobster roll in New York City, but it is, definitively, our favorite lobster roll served in the very same building as the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. On its own, the Classic Lobster Roll is neither particularly good nor bad, but combined with the culinary cheat code that is Burger & Lobster's creamy lemon and garlic butter, it's delicious. This sandwich costs $30—arguably a steal, considering a) it's a lobster roll and b) you're basically in Times Square—and comes with fries, which you should liberally dip in that butter. Burger & Lobster has plenty of room for groups and is open till 11pm on weekends and 10pm otherwise.

The Lambs Club is a very Midtown restaurant. The design is Art Deco, and the seats are filled with people who just left work and could really use a martini. It’s a fancy place, and it’s a little stuffy, but if you’re going to have a pricey meal in the area, this is a reliable option. The Italian-leaning food is uniformly well-executed, and your server will probably ask if you're seeing a Broadway show as soon as you sit down. Dinner is only served until 10pm, but you can get snacks until 11pm.

If you're looking for a pre-theater spot that isn't boring, come here. Jasmine's is a colorful place where you can sit under some hanging plants and drink a rum punch or a piña colada. The food is broadly Caribbean, and you can stop by for some empanadas and a plate of well-seasoned jerk chicken before or after The Book of Mormon. Jasmine's is open until at least 10:30pm every day except Monday.

Marseille bills itself as one of Broadway’s favorite dining destinations—and while we’ve never spotted Ben Platt there reviewing sheet music over moules frites, you will find plenty of theater-goers having pre-show dinners and green Ricard apéritifs at this warm French brasserie. The menu is standard, but the tartare, escargots, and steak frites do not disappoint, and they’ve got a fun oyster Happy Hour. Marseille doesn't have the Parisian cool of Frenchette or Le French Diner, but, surprisingly, it doesn't feel as dated as a Times Square-adjacent white tablecloth restaurant could.

This tiny restaurant is filled with colorful paper lanterns, makeshift seating made from repurposed Suntory crates, and a very fun bathroom. We like the incredibly rich and thick ramen broth, but we love the yakitori. It can be ordered by the skewer—we highly recommend the saba, which comes lightly marinated in vinegar and is artfully charred on the outside. The menu also covers all the classic izakaya dishes, like curry rice and karaage. It's far enough from Times Square that you can use this spot as a non-touristy pre-theater option.

Chalong is a district in Phuket, but it’s also the name of the Thai place you should go before your show (or right after if it’s the weekend, when this place stays open later). This spot has a spacious, earth-toned dining room that works well for big groups, and their menu features a lot of seafood dishes like shrimp and crab stuffed in crispy tofu skin. Similar to the one at Fish Cheeks, the crab curry is a must-order, and you can get it without a horrendous wait because it’s relatively easy to book a table here.

Grab a spot at this 10-seat counter on Ninth Avenue, and watch a cook in a paper hat squish a beef patty onto a griddle next to a mound of thinly sliced onions. Lovely’s Old Fashioned is for when you need something quick and satisfying, with a side of 1950s nostalgia. The offerings are simple and straightforward—burgers, a hot dog, and a few patty melts, including a vegetarian version—and there are no misses. Bring $20, get a side of crunchy onion rings, and finish your meal with a chocolate pistachio bundt cake.

This restaurant is loud—like “we considered texting a question to someone sitting right across from us” loud. We don’t say this to discourage you from coming here. The food at Quality Italian is solid, with a wide-ranging Italian menu that will likely please even the pickiest diner. Standouts include the fried calamari with bacon and the spicy lobster rigatoni alla vodka (flambéed tableside). You'll likely leave stuffed because the portions are huge, so build in time for a walk to your show from 57th Street. (Or come for a late dinner because this place is open until 10:30pm on weekdays, and 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.)

As with any NYC neighborhood where tourists outnumber actual New Yorkers two to one, the Theater District has plenty of places to eat pizza. This one is dark, has mostly bar seating, and looks like a ’70s rec room. The brick-oven pies here taste like whoever’s making them cares more about bread than finding somebody to love. We especially like the carbonara pie and the one buried in soppressata, chili oil, and hot honey, which you can get until at least 11pm every day.

For a post-theater hang at a spot that’s the opposite of chill, head to Vida Verde, a Mexican restaurant that’s open until at least 3am every night. Every possible color (and a giant disco ball) is present in a dining room that's filled with neon signs, rainbow umbrellas, and strings of lights. If you eat only one thing, get the shredded brisket birria tacos with a pleasantly bitter consommé. There’s also a rooftop if you want to drink under the stars. Just kidding—we know you can’t see any stars in the city.

Kashkaval is a dimly-lit, rustic Mediterranean restaurant where you should bring a date, a parent, or really anyone you feel comfortable sharing a plate of fondue with. (They serve three different kinds.) This brick-walled space stays relatively quiet, so you'll be able to enjoy a peaceful meal before you wade through crowds of people screaming for autographs. Note that this place is only open late (until midnight) Thursday to Saturday.