Safe and Fun NYC Things to Do
- 50 Awesome and Safe Things to Do in NYC
- Open in NYC: 9-11 Memorial, The Highline, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, Edge, The Bronx Zoo, Liberty Island, in-person Sample Sales. MoMA, The Met, Natural History, Madame Tussauds and much more.
- NEW Traveler Quarantine Guidelines - Only 3 days with negative Covid tests
Cheap, Budget, Promo Discount Codes
There are so many easy ways to save on New York City restaurants and food and you just need to know where to look. Of course, you can’t save everywhere, and sometimes you have to wait for a deal, but about half the time I eat out in NYC, at quality restaurants, it is easy to save a few bucks without sacrificing quality. Here are a few of the many ways to save on restaurants and food in NYC.
Groupon – Daily New York City Coupons
Most everyone knows about Groupon discounts at NYC restaurants. You can use their website or app to find deals at local restaurants, buy the deal in advance and show it when you reserve your table or arrive at the restaurant.
The trick to getting the most out of Groupon is to make sure you will actually use your pre-purchased deals!
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Dine and Sightsee Together!
NYC Boat tours cruises are one of my FAVORITE things to do in NYC and a great way to save on food and sightsee together. There are no better views of our skyline than from the water and year-round, you can cruise with brunch, champagne, dinner, booze, jazz, holiday dinners.
With so many boat cruise choices, here are our top picks by category:
- Romantic: Bateaux New York Dinner Cruise
- Family Dinner: Spirit of New York Dinner Cruise
- Hip: Wine & Cheese Pairing Classes on Yacht
- Brunch: Around Manhattan Brunch Cruise
See all our Top Picks: NYC Boat Tours Cruises
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Dine and Tour Together!
What better way to explore NYC and eat our city’s best of the best than with a foodie tour? Pizza, chocolate, chinese, beer..there are dozen’s of specialty tours that will help you learn about a neighborhood while sampling the food!
- Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour – Led by native Brooklynite, Tony Muia. Part food-tour, part history lesson and full-on fun.
- Tenements, Tales, and Tastes – Lower East Side – a three hour journey through history of NYC immigration from the colonial era to present, including local foodie faves.
- Bronx’s Little Italy Arthur Avenue Tour – the ACTUAL best Little Italy in NYC. Explore Belmont and Arthur Avenues, culinary hotbeds of authentic Italian bakeries, butchers, fishmongers, cheese shops and more.
- A Slice of Brooklyn Chocolate Tour - Explore and sample the world of fine Brooklyn Chocolatiers from Valentino Pier to Cobble Hill, Red Hook to Carroll Gardens and beyond.
- Neighborhood Eats Tour: Brownstone Brooklyn - visit a vibrant mix of small, locally owned, artisanal Brooklyn shops, including Italian, Middle Eastern and New American
- New York Craft Cocktail Tour - explore the way real New Yorkers do, bouncing around happy hours all over the city and tasting some of the best cocktails in Manhattan
Seamless – Order In and Save $10
Seamless is NYC’s favorite way to order pickup or delivery from almost any local restaurant. Use my link to save $10 on food delivery right now. Let’s say you are tired after a long day of sightseeing, the kids are not up for another night out or the weather is terrible.
Go ahead and order from Seamless, iPhone, iPad, or Android. There are no delivery fees (though you should tip your delivery person) and you’ll save on in-house restaurant tips, while still getting to eat NYC’s best food. Almost always, you’ll get a $7-10 discount on your first order!
Scoutmob NYC
Join the Mob! Scoutmob is a completely free website and app that tells you, based on your location, right then and there where you can save $$ on local restaurants.
Let’s say you just finished up at the Empire State Building and want lunch. Great, open the app on your phone and it will tell you where you can save about 50% within a few blocks. No pre-purchase, no negotiation, just show your phone to the restaurant. DONE! (Note: Many deals are only available on the app)
Blackboard Eats NYC
Sign up free for Blackboard Eats, and on a regular basis, they email a "passcode" for 30% or more off at quality restaurants throughout NYC. Tell the restaurant your passcode when you arrive or make your reservation, and like magic…save! There are usually restricted dates and times, or minimums you need to spend, so please read the details carefully.
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Instacart Grocery Delivery
Instacart is a new grocery delivery service in NYC. It’s like having a personal grocery shopper and will save you tons of time waiting on lines.
If you stay at one of our NYC Suite Apartment Hotels, all of which have kitchens, why not have groceries delivered right when you arrive? You get $10 off your first purchase and can order from Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Fairway, Costco and many more.
Another grocery delivery service is FreshDirect, which offers their own foods and does not have a physical location, but is very popular in NYC.
Restaurant Week New York City
Tao Restaurant, Midtown, NYC
Every Jan/Feb and July/Aug, 100s of NYC restaurants offer us a three-course dinner at the best restaurants in New York for $35!
Restaurant Week New York City is one of my favorite times of the year since it’s a great way to check out a restaurant without a big financial committment. There are some weekend restrictions to the reservations, but if you can plan your schedule around a Restaurant Week deal, it is totally worth it!
Read more on Restaurant Week New York City
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Restaurant.com – Save on New York City Restaurants
Restaurant.com offers gift certificates in fixed amounts, at a huge discount, for hundreds of NYC restaurants. So, you’ll pay $4 for $10 towards your bill, $10 for $25, etc. Just order your gift certificates in advance, print them out and give them to your restaurant choice.
Some tips for using their website: 1) change the search distance to 1 mile as 5 miles is way too far to be "nearby" in NYC terms; 2) read the fine print on minimum purchases, 3) read the restaurant reviews as many of the choices on here are geared strictly for tourists and not for locals.
NYC Insider Notes
If you need a starter zip code to access any of these sites, use 10019 for Times Square, or 10003 for downtown.
Please be sure to read the fine print on most of the deals listed. Many of them are only offered on certain days and times, some have minimum purchases, some include alcohol and others do not.
PLEASE make sure to tip your server on the original (retail) price of your purchase. While you may be getting 50% or more off your bill, your server is performing 100% of the service you would receive if the bill were full price.
Please read more on NYC Insider Guide Advertising Policies.
Gilt City
Gilt City has some of my favorite restaurant deals. If you plan and buy the deals in advance, you can save 50%+ at 10 or more different restaurants per week. Choices include all you can eat and drink brunches, pre-fixe dinners with wine, group parties of 6 or more, private in-home chefs, gourmet meals delivered to your door and so many other choices.
Take a look at some Gilt City offers and you’ll be amazed at how affordable Manhattan can be, plus 25% off your first purchase specials run all the time!
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YELP Deals - Save All Year Round
Always thought Yelp was just for reviews? (I did). But I just found out they offer 1000s of deals every day - you just need to know how to look. Just look for what you want (I searched Restaurants in Manhattan below - but you can try Sushi in Times Square) and get your results. Then - and here's the trick - in that "Features" column, make sure to click the "Offering a Deal" box..and ta-da...Yelp Deals just for you!
