Taste of Times Square

We discovered this place on a Sunday morning. It was a comfortable atmosphere, The «owners?» were very gracious. As the previous Unilocaler mentioned, it is not outstanding or particularly imaginative, but the food is very good and modestly priced. We ordered standard breakfast food: eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausage, biscuits, french toast, pancakes and sandwich (there were 6 of us). We were all very pleased We ordered take home cream pie, which was excellent. We will visit again.

Times Square. New York City. The cradle of modern American cooking. One of the most diverse and all-​encompassing destinations for restaurants on this planet. Taste of Times Square is named for location at which the two owners met. One of them was working at a Ray’s pizza at the time. Take all of this information, and take a guess at the type of food ToTS serves. Modern interpretations of international dishes? Garishly and flashy mega-​portions in a la Guy Fieri? New York-​style pizza?
Did you guess that ToTS serves the exact same boring-​ass breakfast plates and sandwiches that can be found at dozens of restaurants around the city? That the only thing remotely New York about the restaurant is the names of the dishes? Because that’s what it is.
This restaurant is so misguided that it makes me angry. Really angry. To think that the owners wanted to draw from their memories of New York City so much as to name their restaurant A TASTE OF TIMES SQUARE and stack their menu with eggs, hash browns, cold cuts, paninis, and catfish. But hey, you can serve cold cuts and still make it kinda New York-​y, right? Maybe draw from the rich Italian history of cured meats, or maybe from the Jewish delis for which the city is known.
The «Little Italy» sandwich at ToTS: ham, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, black olives on French bread.
The «New York Yankee» at Jason’s Deli: corned beef, pastrami, and mustard on rye.
The «Italian Combo» at Panera Bread: Seared steak, smoked turkey, ham, salami, Swiss, pepperoncini on ciabatta.
The «Italian B.M.T.» at Subway: Genoa salami, pepperoni, and ham with cheddar cheese. Presumably you’d throw some banana peppers and oregano on there, too.
Why are all of these chain sandwich restaurants providing a more Italian experience than ToTS? Words have meanings; specifically the words «taste of Times Square» implies that you might find food FROM TIMES SQUARE.
«Let’s see here. I just finished working in a pizzeria, and am getting ready to move to Wichita to open a restaurant. There is literally no New York-​style pizza in this city. Yep, generic pancakes and French toast is definitely the road to success here! Better yet, let’s serve it less than a mile away from one of the best and most popular breakfast restaurants in the city! That will definitely help us break the streak of the half dozen failed restaurants who’ve come through this space in the Petroleum Building.»
The fries are fresh cut, but are Wichita standard: soggy and limp. The bread is fresh-​baked, but probably from a frozen proof. It was good, but not great. Really, the sandwich was completely fine for what it was, but I can get cold cuts at maybe half of the restaurants in the city. The owners were nice, too, which is why I hope they come to their senses and realize how little of a taste of Times Square this restaurant actually provides before they sink any more money into the business.