I’m very doubtful this particular HO has sufficient experience with food in NYC to make a judgment of it.
I wonder if your party can get into Kafana?
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I don’t think many (any?) NYC posters have expressed this view — at this point the discussion is way off the rails from the OP request for local recs.
Agree — it would help inform recs, like the Chinese Canadian colleague who doesn’t want chinese food.
@mig — any more details on where they’ll be from and what cuisines and locations are easiest to access based on hotels?
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Maybe someone has a few good suggestions for Italian food 
Not me!
It’s been a minute since I lived in New York, and we weren’t fancy, but my mom tried hard, and in the 70’s she always took us to Mama Leone’s for our 16th birthdays. 
More recently we have always made time for a very satisfying slice of pizza!
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I’ve had good pizza in New York. Neapolitan in the Village somewhere 
Keste, I think.
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I loved that place as a teen. The bread basket came with a whole pound of mozzarella, free for nothing!
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Thanks! I only ate there once about 15 years ago. We didn’t go in expecting much. It seemed like a big, prosperous, broadly people-pleasing restaurant. We’d been hiking, were cold, wet, and hungry, and figured there’d be big portions. But we ordered only the daily specials across the board, and they gave us one of the best meals of our lives (I still think about the incredibly well-prepared sand dab and an extraordinary tagliatelle). I’ve always wondered if it was just a very lucky alignment of stars that night or if Nostrana consistently puts out insanely good food.
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I love the Mexican food and Italian food in NYC.
I have had some of the best and worst (Frannys!) Mexican and Italian meals of my life here. Just like I had some of the worst bbq of my life in Texas-- undercooked Mutton. Horrible. From a legend. Go figure.
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That’s NYC!
Hits and Misses!
It has the Best of Food and the Worst of Food.
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Not to mention the more recently arrived italian restauranteurs who are cooking legit “Italian Italian” food including high quality pizzas in our major cities. I havent been to Olive Garden for more than 50 years (and that was in Columbus Ohio) and have Never been to Taco Bell. Its true that there are a lot of mediocre italian and mexican restos especially serving a gringo clientele in surburban and small town areas but in most cities these days if you want to sample something more genuine you can get it, Ive been really surprised at the diversity of cuisines that can be sampled in Central Ohio of all places.
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I think I tried to get us into Pure last year for a company dinner thing, but there were many more of us than 6 and the logistics of a rez didn’t work out.
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Wow, I step away for a couple of hours and y’all really went to town.
In terms of who we are:
one Canadian-Chinese (born in China, lives outside Toronto)
one Canadian-Indian (I think born in Canada, lives outside Toronto)
one Indian-American (born in India, now lives in NYC)
one American residing in Utah
one American who’s mostly lived in California
Me
(I work for a Canadian company, and our meetings are very frequently in Toronto, and sometimes Montreal or Ottowa, but this one is in New York.)
The Canadian-Chinese colleague initially said she wanted something other than Chinese, but has since walked that back. The two folks of Indian descent don’t really want Indian, which is secretly OK with me because it’s not my favorite (she said, cringing.)
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I’m actually having another big work conference in NYC the following week, and a couple of us from that group have agreed we’re getting on the subway to go to Queens for hot pot. That’ll likely be an extracurricular meal, though (my favorite!)
At these meetings, there’s always one semi-required “team dinner.” I have big feelings about these, so when the meetings are in NYC, I do my best to pick a restaurant where I won’t be miserable sitting between random colleagues for two hours (after having spent 8 hours with them in a windowless conference room.)
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Where have the past NYC dinners been?
Indian American (the other way around is who Columbus ran into when he got lost)
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We’d guess you’ve already proved to be a good host. If this exercise is at heart about teamwork and not foodie-ism, and the NYC meetings recur, then draw straws and form pairs that decide for everyone the cuisine/style and ask you for local possibilities and logistics under $50. When the cycle of three pairs is over, draw straws again . . . rinse, repeat . . .
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i’m afraid i don’t understand what you’re saying.
several of the nyc dinners have been terrible, which is what happens when i don’t pick the place like, we went to a dreadful “new orleans” themed restaurant in lower Manhattan where the “family style” food came out in painfully slow dribs and drabs and most of it was forgettable. the whole thing took over two hours and it was the most pointed test of my sobriety i’ve encountered in approx ten years.
last time we wound up at Buddakan, but only because the big boss paid for it herself, so the 50/pp limit was moot. and the food was pretty good for such a hyped-up joint!
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Does it have to be a full dinner? I’ve had to do these sorts of things in the past and often cocktails with some snacks sufficed. And then people could grab their own dinner with their per diem. This keeps it to a lower budget and a slightly more entertaining 90 minutes. The dangerous part there, though – especially with NYC prices and the tight budget – is if people start ordering too many rounds, so you need to tell the place in advance to shut people down after two.
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