Fitzpatrick Hotel Manhattan

687 Lexington Avenue
Between 56Tth & 57th Street
New York
TEL: 001 800 367-7701 (central reservations)
001 212 3550100 (Fitzpatrick Manhattan)
Lo-call Ireland 1850 644464
www.fitzpatrickhotels.com

• A real Irish welcome in the Big Apple.
• Central Manhattan location.
• You are bound to meet somebody you know here!

While we Irish have taken to New York with a new-found enthusiasm in recent years, there is no single hotel that represents our favourite home-from-home than the only Irish owned hotel in New York City – Fitzpatricks. While there are two to choose from, Fitzpatrick Grand Central and Fitzpatrick Manhattan, we opted for the latter and discovered a great midtown location for everything on our agenda.

ACCOMMODATION AT FITZPATRICK MANHATTAN

We had a very comfortable room with two double beds, a separate sitting room area, two televisions, exceptional toiletries and a turn-down service that left a chocolate wrapped in green shamrocks by the bed! What we loved most about our room is that while we were centrally located on busy Lexington Avenue, and outside the world was bustling by, our bedroom was a haven of peace and quiet.

FITZERS AT FITZPATRICK MANHATTAN

There is a very good room-service menu available for those too jet-lagged, or just too tired from the shopping to get out of bed! The same menu is replicated in the restaurant down stairs however, and there are plenty of Irish favourites to make the guest feel at home. A full Irish breakfast for example, complete with sausages and rashers and black and white pudding especially flown over, there is also a thinly disguised version of an Irish stew and a Bacon and Cabbage. We however were going all-American, and opted for a steak and a Pork Tenderloin respectively. The steak was a Fillet Mignon and was cooked medium rare to order, the Pork was also delicious and portions were very generous. We started with a simple dinner salad and declined desserts after those big portions. They have a good selection of wines by the glass which I was pleased to see, and they also make up some classic cocktails. Breakfast is served in Fitzers also, and while the restaurant fronts onto Lexington Avenue, the bar is through to the back. We retired to the bar for a couple of drinks later and enjoyed the chat with friendly barmaid Carole Walters who hails from Mayo, and has been working there for seventeen years.
Carole was not the only Irish person we encountered, there were a few Dublin accents to be heard among the staff at this hotel, which seems like a home-from-home not just for guests but for many of those working there as well!

SHOPPING IN NEW YORK

With the dollar/euro rate as it is, thousands of Irish people are flocking to New York with empty suitcases and only the clothes they stand-up in. They told us at the hotel that most guests have double the weight in suitcases for departure than they have on arrival! We even saw a group of people sorting out their bags and removing all shopping tags before catching their taxi to the airport! We did quite a bit of shopping ourselves and concentrated on clothes, designer handbags, jewellery and cosmetics. It was also Spa Week when we were there, so relaxing spa treatments proved great value.

As we were leaving for the airport ourselves the friendly Concierge hailed a taxi for us, and who stepped out as we stepped in, only a well known Irish politician! As we said, you just never know who you will bump into at Fitzpatrick Manhattan!