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Howard Johnson's Times Square (New York City)

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Location: Times Square

Our thoughts: This restaurant has been in Times Square for a long, long, long time (at least since the '70s). It kind of looks like it, too. This is a sit-down restaurant that will remind you of an old-time diner, kind of like a Denny's or a Friendly's.

We've only been there for breakfast, although they do have a lunch and dinner menu. It also appears that they sell alcoholic beverages, as there are signs advertising happy hour.

Every time I'm there I order the chocolate-chip pancakes, which they always seem to over-cook. I also get hot chocolate, and they put real whipped cream on top. Mmmmmmmm. The service is good, so leave a good tip for the waitresses who work very hard at this restaurant.

The last time we were there, we had the unfortunate luck of being seated next to the window where you can see all the foot traffic go by. That wasn't the bad part. A few minutes after we sat down, they seated another group of people, who apparently had just gotten back from the 'Good Morning America' taping and were 'buzzed' from that experience. This group of seven people (mostly women) then proceeded to talk very loudly about everything and anything. A few of them weren't going to order anything, which caused the people at the Howard Johnson's to say that each person had to order at least $2.50 worth of food or they would have to go somewhere else. This offended some of the people sitting there, who apparently feel you can walk into a restaurant, sit down and then not order anything.

After arguing for what seemed like 10 minutes about the situation, three of the group left the restaurant, apparently not wanting to order any food or drinks. The remaining four women picked up where they left off, only now they were discussing the situation that had JUST occurred. After a few more minutes, we asked our very nice waitress if we could move to another table, and we were moved. Of course, we couldn't resist saying something to these 'ladies,' who were SHOCKED that we would be so rude to them.

Tip: Ask for a quiet table near the back.

More from Times Square

Hotels
• Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan
• Millennium Broadway

Restaurants
• ESPN Zone
• Times Square McDonald's

Shopping
• Hershey's Store Times Square
• M&M's World Times Square
• Spirit of Broadway
• Toys R Us Times Square
• Virgin Megastore Times Square

Shows
• The Late Show with David Letterman

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