OK so we had other plans this evening, but time was not on side today, so we went for plan B. I am so glad that we did plan B instead of plan A.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner had been recommended by friends back home in Ireland. Just off 7th Avenue, West 51st street.

Small queue and they called the crowd by the number of diners and the available spaces upstairs. Fair enough, no problem with that, some were called from behind us and others were not called from in front us, but everyone got into this well run diner.

Quickly cutting to the point, this place was awesome. We had an upstairs table overlooking the stage. The stage is the whole restaurant overseeing two floors, the serving staff are the entertainers, the guests of honour are the diners, the staff are your friends and the music is your entertainment.

I have never seen, heard of nor witnessed anything like this before. Honestly, the highlight of my NY experience. A lesser treasure found is the better gem to find.

It is the equivalent of watching a series of broadway shows while being in your favourite restaurant or bar, having a bite to eat, a few beers and a chat.

PS make sure you remember to eat your food, as the singers do a walk through and may briefly stop at your table, with no cause for you to interact, only to smile and wave and you may get caught up in the show and forget to eat you dinner. (A compliment not a critic) 😁

Thanks also to the owner Ellen, who we had the pleasure of meeting tonight, and who took a few minutes to talk and chat with us. However, Ellen like a true and proper business woman attributed her successful business not through herself but to her staff.

And I quote “Don’t thank me, thank my staff”.

Folks this restaurant is a must so, if you are in, on or around the Times Square area.

It may not be for everyone, but I think a packed house full of casual diners paints its own story.

There were so many singers and staff there tonight who all gave amazing performances but who stood out for me this evening were Jazmine, Rebecca and our man with the hands in the pockets taking our order with no pen or paper, in between songs and getting everything on our order down to a T, Sonny.

Hats of to ye all guys and gals, take a bow and thanks for an excellent performance.

Very impressed with this place. If there was any downside, can’t remember nor would I bother posting about it as me, my wife, mam, sister and nephew had a super super evening.

Really enjoyed our evening here. Customers can't book in advance - you just need to turn up and queue. We queued for approximately 15-20 minutes in good weather, which wasn't too bad.

Inside resembles a 1950's diner & to be honest, it is tired looking and in need of a refurbishment, hence only 4 stars from me. However, our meals were hot, tasty, plentiful & served quickly by our delightful waiter (who had an excellent singing voice too).

With the exception of one young lady who murdered a Britney Spears' song (she was very out of tune), every other server sang their hearts out in turn, & were extremely good. Lots of them go on to be stars on Broadway, & we're not surprised.

Yes, a 20% tip is added automatically to your final bill & yes, once every hour the MC comes around with a bucket for tips, but neither is mandatory if you're not so inclined. We can't stand the tipping culture for everything in the USA personally, but on this occasion we were happy to do so as it was such an entertaining evening & one which we thoroughly enjoyed. And we would've paid considerably more for such excellent entertainment elsewhere, so were happy to part with 5 dollars each into the bucket!

One non - financial tip - if you want to swap tables/seats, do so before you place your food & drink orders. We didn't like where we'd been seated - upstairs, elbow to elbow with other customers on a long counter, overlooking the diners downstairs. We felt too cramped & it was like sitting in a canteen. The folks we were sat next to didn't like their seats either. There were plenty of empty booths behind us so we asked if we could move. We were told no because we'd already placed our orders, the ridiculous excuse being that our server wouldn't be able to find us if we moved! We pointed out that we would be sitting a mere foot away & would be able to attract our server's attention really easily to let them know we'd moved. We dug our heels in and eventually, the manager said we could move. Problem solved, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening thereafter in this rather unique establishment.

Would highly recommend if you find yourself in NYC & looking for something different to do.

Entertainment was great...servers are talented
The food on the otherhand was horrible. I had school lunch food that was better. Very pricey.

Stella’s is a place that you might go once. It is a lively place where some of the servers take turns performing to karaoke recordings. The song might be broadway, or another popular music. Some servers seem very talented, while others are just doing fill-in.
Food choices are very limited, and I rate it as just average.

Fantastic night out with a short wait to get in. Singers were extremely talented, friendly and enthusiastic. Food was great with just the right amount on the plate.
My only complaint is with the young girl on the door on Monday evening. Perhaps if she smiled and said more than “ How many “ and “Now go in” it would improve the scoring.
Other than that everything was great.