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“Great for the experience”

Ellen's Stardust Diner
Ranked #766 of 14,736 Restaurants in New York City
Price range: $27 - $35
Cuisines: American, Diner, Deli
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Restaurant details
Good for: Child-friendly
Dining options: Lunch, Dinner, After-hours, Breakfast, Delivery, Reservations, Takeout
Neighbourhood: Midtown
Description: Ellen's Stardust Diner is a retro 1950s theme restaurant located at 1650 Broadway on the southeast corner of 51st Street in Theater District, Manhattan, New York City. The diner is regarded as one of the best theme restaurants in New York. The 1950s-themed eatery is home to its singing waitstaff known as (”Stardusters”). Ellen’s Stardust Diner has since served as the launching pad for many of its waiters/vocalists who have gone on to success in Broadway musicals and touring companies, domestic & international. Our retro 1950s-themed diner is filled with nostalgic memorabilia including the famous “Miss Subways” gallery honoring the beauty queens of a bygone era.
Reviewed 27 April 2018 via mobile

If you go, you have to go for the craic and the experience. Singers are fabulous and that's what it's all about. Food average and quite expensive, impressed by the colourful bagel however. Service ok. Big spiel to get you to donate more money for singers auditions etc. Overall a one time great experience wouldn't go back.

Date of visit: October 2017
Thank zoecb1975
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviews (23,379)
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4,620 - 4,624 of 23,379 reviews

Reviewed 27 April 2018 via mobile

Ellen's stardust Diner is well worth a visit while you're in New York. Yes you may have to queue to get in but it's worth it. My husband and I waited for an hour ( at 6:30pm) before we got in, larger parties were getting in before us due to the larger tables being available before the tables for 2. Once we got in, we were sat so close to the people on the next table, we may as well have been sat on a table with them!
However, once we were seated, the service was great...and so was the food. The singers were incredible and extremely entertaining! We didn't feel at all rushed even once we'd finished eating.
A service charge is added to the final bill so no need to leave an additional tip if you didn't want to.
Would definitely visit again!

Date of visit: April 2018
Thank Skinnl
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 26 April 2018

We decided to go for an early lunch as the queues had been very long for dinner; we witnessed the queues and I just couldn’t be bothered to wait.

So we joined a small queue, even though we could see plenty of tables inside that were unallocated, this was slightly annoying, but I suppose if you see a queue you have to join it, so a clever ploy by the restaurant.

Any way service was quick, they want you in and out, so there was no asking for the bill, it was presented very quickly, once they realised that we didn’t want desert.

On a very positive note, the food was very good.... surprisingly so...

The concept and atmosphere in the diner is very good and as such it is definitely worth a visit...

Date of visit: April 2018
1  Thank Dave C
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 26 April 2018 via mobile

Very long queues but everyone wants the experience of eating whilst being entertained by future stars of Broadway. Going for breakfast around 8am is a good time to beat the queue. Very good we went twice in our short break! Singing was fantastic, servers were polite, well worth a visit

Date of visit: April 2018
2  Thank RML18
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 25 April 2018

Ellen's was our first stop for breakfast on day one of 7 in New York, to say we were disappointed is an understatement! Arrived to a short queue outside which was fine, only about a 15 minute wait - however when we got inside there were numerous tables available! The service was terrible from start to end - we waited a good 20 minutes to have our drinks order taken and a further 10 to receive them - the drinks were bottomless which was great until you asked for another tea and hot water was added to the same mug on your table with the remaining previous cup of tea in it, impossible to drink after that. The food order was taken in between ordering and receiving our drinks.

We were then given the wrong meals (another tables order) when trying to explain this to the guy delivering the plates he was extremely rude and basically threw the plates at us telling us it was our food until our waitress informed him he was in fact incorrect. That was about as helpful as our waitress was and didn't even manage to give us a smile until she provided us with our bill - safe to say a generous tip was not provided!

You could hear how talented the staff were, but being squashed into a corner on the top floor with no view it was quite hard to enjoy the entertainment. Many of the singers that did make it upstairs just seemed to run a lap of the floor and head back down again. The MC then had the cheek to walk around the whole restaurant shaking a bucket in peoples faces asking for at least a $20 tip (on top of whatever tip we were giving within our bill).

After such good reviews and hype about Ellen's I left feeling very unsatisfied, it put a dampener on the first morning there! I wouldn't recommend anyone visiting there in my opinion.

Date of visit: December 2017
    • Value
    • Service
    • Food
5  Thank 457elliem
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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