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“Dirty, over crowded, greasy ultra processed food- just don’t bother”

Ellen's Stardust Diner
Ranked #754 of 15,097 Restaurants in New York City
Price range: $27 - $36
Cuisines: American, Diner, Deli
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Restaurant details
Good for: Child-friendly
Dining options: Lunch, After-hours, Breakfast, Dinner, 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 9 December 2024 via mobile

Recommended that we visit this place. We queued for over an hour. Once we got through the door we were shoe-horned into a tiny space sandwiched between other diners. The food was greasy and consisted of the sort of ultra processed snack food you find at a toddler’s birthday party. The ‘entertainment’ was nothing spectacular and unfortunately the overcrowded, conveyor belt nature of the place coupled with (what I am told) were disgusting women’s toilets and a poor food offering left us with a bad taste (and that’s before the indigestion!).
A tourist trap trading on a historic reputation I suspect.
AVOID.
Spectacularly bad!

Date of visit: December 2024
Thank GrandTour25598278674
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 (23,364)
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41 - 45 of 23,365 reviews

Reviewed 9 December 2024

We absolutely loved it here. We queued for about an hour. The queue looks longer that it is and it does go quickly! We were greeted really well by all staff members. Lots of happy faces. The food was great and so were the milkshakes! The singing waitresses/waiters are absolutely amazing and had such a great talent. They did such a great job.

Date of visit: December 2024
Thank 650maddis
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 8 December 2024 via mobile

We were in NY for the week end and we were told this was a great place to take kids.
It was absolutely terrible - we queued for about 30 minutes, then were seated at a table with no view of where the majority of the singing was taking place. The menu was full of fast food and as it was coming out you could see it was just large quantity of poor quality food. The service was rushed and rude. The wine list was terrible. The food and drinks were dreadfully over priced. We asked if we could move tables when one became available and were told that if we wanted to move tables then we had to go and join the back of the queue again. The waiter was so rude. We left before our food arrived. Our experience was that it was over priced with exceptionally bad service! A tourist trap for sure!

Date of visit: November 2024
Thank Alexandra B
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 4 December 2024

Entertainment was fab - service was fast - food was bland and tepid and I’m currently in bed with food poisoning (it was the only meal and drink I had that day so I am 100 per cent sure I got food poisoning there)

Date of visit: December 2024
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
Thank Studdmralans
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 3 December 2024

If you are planning to go just for dinner without alcohol involved you will get the worse customer service ever.
I went with my husband, and as soon as we asked to Markesha just for water she switched her behavior with us. She was very very rude with us.
Food is ok but with her behavior we didn’t enjoyed it nor the “show”
Never again in this place!
October 5th 2024 check #723 table #2

Date of visit: October 2024
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
1  Thank Patty-Atlanta
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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