This is probably a dumb article because everyone wants to go to NYC including the people that already live there. This city manages to captivate and attract most of the world to visit it via the fame it receives via music and reputation that it has garnered since as far back as I can remember.
What makes the big apple so captivating to people I wonder because although I like it there I don't think it is any better than any other massive city with a huge population. In many ways I think it is not as good.
I fully expect to catch some flack for these words and I want you to understand that I am not saying them purely for the sake of being provocative or to get attention for saying it; this is truly my opinion: I think NYC is entirely over-rated.
For one thing, it is filthy. The place is just dirty as can be and this is most evident in the subways which from a global standard-perspective are just disgraceful. I mean they are really bad. Do the people operating the NYC subway not have access to cleaning products or do they just not give a damn?
this is not an abandoned station that only a select few photographers are allowed into, this is one of the major terminals
Having been in the subways and skytrains of many of the world's cities I can say without question that New York City has the worst one that I have ever seen. This doesn't mean that it is the worst on the planet because I haven't seen them all, but I have seen 25 or so and NYC is the worst out of that bunch. It is so filthy that when i do see a rat (and this happens all the time) I feel bad for the rat.
food
New York is home to any food you can imagine in the world. Many of these places are highly rated and sought after by people from all over the world. That being said - be prepared to pay an absolute fortune for anything that isn't pizza.
I went to all manor of restaurants while I was there and paid anything from $1 to $500 for something to eat (in a group, let's not get crazy as I am NOT rich) but from the cheap to the super expensive I have an overall "meh" impression about what i had to eat (again, pizza excluded - NYC has the best pizza in the world.) I honestly have no idea how it is that person will pay as much as is being charged for what they eat here (aside from pizza.) The people I know that live here get really excited about food items that I join them in eating and after they are elated and i am pretending that the food is even good at all I wonder if they are pretending.
A bone-in tomahawk steak can set you back a hundred dollars but if the person cooking it doesn't know WTF they are doing it is a waste of money. I had such an experience while eating at an absolutely packed steakhouse and then later that week had an $8 steak at a friends backyard that was much better.
too crowded
This probably comes as a given, but there are going to be masses of people everywhere you go all the time. Unless you are a bazillionaire you are going to be eating in a loud and crowded environment that has shifting temperature by the hundreds of people that are constantly coming in and out of the place.
Look at those tables. The tables of 4, for the most part, are 2 separate groups of people that were likely thrilled to have a place to sit despite the fact that they are going to be bumping elbows with a complete stranger for the next 2 hours.
I have never experienced this in my life but at one point in a restaurant that was overpoweringly loud and crowded, i had to go outside because I was losing my mind from the experience inside. It was literally driving me to lose my mind. At the end of that meal every single one of us owed $100 to the restaurant in question and the food was average at best.
My friends in NYC sometimes laugh at how much I enjoy a $6 sandwich from Subway or some tacos from Taco Bell but this is the alternative? Give me the cheap stuff - at least then I can get the hell out of there in 10 minutes.
This could likely go on and on and it is not specific to NYC I just focus on that because it is constantly admired by people who most likely have never been there. Going and being there is a pain in the butt for sure and then unless you are going to pay serious cash you are always going to be packed in with loads of other people all the time.
Feel free to disagree with me but I have been there MANY times and each time I walk away with the same opinion - it simply isn't worth what it costs to be there and I can't understand why people do it. The place is dirty and crowded and the food is NOT better than other place (other than pizza.) I know that if it weren't for the fact that my friends live there and this is where my plane lands anyway, i would never return. Sorry New York!