Midtown Lunch

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so every week our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap. This week Mamacita has the week off, so Blondie handled the drinking duties. (It’s a tough gig, but somebody had to do it!)

You can do many things during the happy hours in Midtown: play Big Buck Safari Hunter, shoot pool, throw darts, hang out with Miss Australia, and now you can also go (expensive) bowling at Bowlmor. Being the bowling-lover yet bowling-challenged person that I am, I’ve wanted to stop by and work on my ball throwing skills for awhile. Plus, we should applaud David Burke’s attempt at moving away from his Hawaiian Tropic Zone days. Then I saw they had happy hour specials from 3pm to 7pm and I knew I had to at least go for $4 beers.

The incredibly long bar is located on the third floor and is the only place where the happy hour specials are valid. Go towards the restaurant stadium seating, and you’re going to be paying full price. Chances are whatever sporting event it is you’re hoping to see, it’s being shown.

In addition to $4 domestics, well drinks are half off. I got the obligatory White Russian.

As for snacks, they have a small selection of the appetizers for $6.95 each. For the good of the people, my friends and I felt it necessary to try multiple appetizers. The winner of the bunch was definitely this, the “Big Can O’ Nachos.” It comes in a cookie tin, is the size of my head, is made with fresh tortilla chips, and will be one of those dishes you see on “Do Not Eat This” lists. We devoured it.

There was also a Chinese Chicken Wings vs. Buffalo Wings challenge. The sticky sweet teriyaki dressing, a different, crispier frying technique (they might be utilizing the Korean twice-fry?) and sesame seed topping helped the Chinese secure the win.

Of course, I had to have the sliders. The meat was cooked to medium rare, the fresh bun was the right-size, and they were quite enjoyable, but I might get more Chinese chicken wings instead.

After filling ourselves up with food and beer, we made the expensive mistake. This Bowlmor has multiple bowling alleys each with a specific New York theme, we were placed in Times Square aka the bowling alley in my dream house. Full of booze and ordering pitchers, we quickly racked up the $40/half hour tab. If bowling is your thing, they do have $24 unlimited bowling with drink specials after 9pm on Mondays.

And if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see Lady Gaga fighting with her fiancee.  I suppose that might be worth $40 for 30 minutes.  Then again, maybe not.

The Plus + (What someone who does like this place would say)

• Where else in Times Square can you get $4 beers and $7 wings during Happy Hour?
• There’s something for everyone to watch on TV, including your accountant friend who hates sports.
• You can go bowling!

The Minus – (What someone who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I’m in Times Square, the Theater District, surrounded by tourists. No thanks!
• The happy hour deals are over before I even get out of work.
• Bowling masquerading as highway robbery? No Thanks.

Bowlmor Times Square, 222 W. 44th Street, (212) 680-0012