The Pod Hotel - NYC

[Duckie]

Has anyone stayed at The Pod Hotel before? For those of you from NYC, or anyone who knows NYC well, it is located at 230 East 51st Street, (formerly Pickwick Arms), New York City, NY 10022. Can you tell me about the area? Is this a safe area (can we go out at night and feel safe walking back to the hotel)? What landmarks are close by?

Any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[midtown]

Completely safe neighborhood just like 90% of the city. I lived a block away with my wife for years. Police station close by if it puts you at ease at all. Let me know if you want bar, restaurant, etc.
Not a huge tourist area but St. Patricks and UN are close. PJ Clarkes, Bloomingdales and other shopping on Madison and 5th and within walking distance. I guess the Waldorf and the Citicorp bldg are also a attractions for some.

 

[Hornin Hong Kong]

FYI Manhattan is much safer than just about anywhere else you may be in an urban environment

 

[hrn346]

Ive stayed there before....be warned, its a really small hotel room.....everything else the posters above have said, i agree with.

 

[midtown]

In reply to:

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[Duckie]

Thanks for the info! We'll only be staying in NYC for one night, so size of the room doesn't really matter. We just wanted something at a decent price in Manhatten, and I stumbled upon this place.

hrn346-Other than size, what was your experience with this hotel?

Midtown-Please recommend bars, restaurants, etc. in the area. Is this at all close to Central Park? We'll also be doing some "touristy" stuff and don't mind taking public transportation. Actually I'm looking forward to taking the subway - yes, I am a dork

!

 

[midtown]

Transportation wise grand central is close. But if you don't want to walk there is a 6 stop at Lex and 51st. It will take you about 15-20 mins to walk to the park.

Restaurants.
Vong 54th & 3rd in the lipstick bldg is probably my favorite restaurant in the whole city but its expensive by Texas standards. Good Italian on 53rd 2nd & 3rd is La Gionconda or Luna Piena. Chinese go to 55th between 3rd and Lex to Our Place II. For a burger, beer, people watching and some nyc history go to PJ Clarke's on 55th & 3rd (pretty good raw bar too). Sushi wise we went to Taka on 2nd and 49th or Haru on 47th and Park. Baluchi's is solid franchise Indian is also on 53rd next to the Expressions if you need some pr0n.

Tons of bars there on 2nd. Warning; it can get very frat douchey and young in some of these including Sutton Place (almost worth the sausage fest for the roof), Local, Turtle Bay, Opal's, Town Crier, Remedy, and Redemption. Several very good pubs around if you can deal with heavy irish accents. JD's on 52nd and on 2nd Jameson's, Clancy's, and of course my old home Murphy's (tell Joe or Kirin that John who moved to Texas sent you there. Just don't embarrass me by ordering a Stella). Divine wine bar if you want wine is around the corner. If you want drunk Pizza there is La Primavera on 53rd and 2nd.

 

[Duckie]

Thanks Midtown! I'll definitely be sure to take this info with us when we go. We definitely don't mind walking either. We're prepared to walk, take a cab or hop on the subway.

If you had to pick one musuem to visit, which one would you go to? Since we'll only be in town for two full days, we know we'll have to be wise when choosing what to see. We would like to go to a museum, but trying to decide which one is difficult.

Also, we'll probably head out to the Statue of Liberty. Do you know about how long a typical trip to the Statue takes? Ever been to Ray's (pizza) and would you recommend it?

 

[midtown]

Well the Met is the Met and probably one of the top 2 or 3 museums in the world but Moma and Frick, American History, Geugenheim etc are all good. Really depends on your intresests. The actual boat ride to the Statue of Liberty is horrendous at times reaching hours from what I understand. I never did it and highly discouraged anyone I was showing around to do it. Too much to do to blow 3 hours standing around. Even the ferry can be time consuming but at least there take some beer with you.

Famous rays, original rays? ray bari? ill leave teh pizza to someone else. I really only ate drunk pizza but I did that A LOT.

 

[Hellraiser97]

Most of the Famous, Original Ray's are good, but the Famous Ray's and Ray's suck.

If you really want to see the Statue of Liberty fairly close, but not go in it, take the Statin Island Ferry (it's free). It passes close enough for you to get some nice camera shots. A lot quicker than the actual ride to and from the island.

If you like cheesecake, try the Juniors in Grand Central. The main store is in Brooklyn, but the one in GC is just as good.