Taste of Times Square 2026: Date, Hours, Food Prices, Location & Transit
Taste of Times Square returns Wednesday, September 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. with more than 30 neighborhood restaurants, live music and Broadway-related performances. The 2026 event stretches along West 46th Street from Seventh to Ninth avenues and onto the Broadway Plazas between 45th and 47th streets. The useful planning details are simple: arrive by transit, understand the wristband payment system before joining food lines, and leave enough margin if you are pairing the festival with a Broadway matinee or evening show.
Wednesday afternoon and evening in Times Square.
Times Square Alliance says most tastes cost $5, with some $10 items.
West 46th Street from Seventh to Ninth avenues plus Broadway Plazas between 45th and 47th streets.
Taste of Times Square is Wednesday, September 9 from 4 to 8 p.m.
Times Square Alliance lists the 2026 festival for Wednesday, September 9 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. This is a change from the event’s recent Monday pattern.
The Alliance says the Wednesday timing is designed to sit between Broadway matinees and evening performances, making it possible to combine the festival with a theater day without treating it as a separate late-night event.
If you have a fixed curtain time, set your own food cutoff well before the show rather than relying on a final taste at the last minute.
The 2026 footprint returns to Restaurant Row and the Broadway Plazas
The official 2026 announcement places the event on West 46th Street from Seventh Avenue to Ninth Avenue — the Restaurant Row corridor — plus the Broadway Plazas between West 45th and West 47th streets.
That is a compact but extremely busy Midtown footprint. Treat the event as a walking zone once you arrive rather than trying to move a car between individual restaurant locations.
More than 30 Times Square restaurants are participating
Times Square Alliance says the 2026 festival includes more than 30 participating restaurants spanning Mexican, Caribbean, Cuban, Italian, Indian, American and other cuisines.
The current list includes a mix of Restaurant Row institutions, larger Times Square restaurants and newer neighborhood operators. The Alliance explicitly says the restaurant list is subject to change and additions, so use the live official list rather than building the day around one vendor weeks in advance.
Most tastes are $5, with some $10 items
The organizer says most food tastes cost $5 and a smaller number cost $10. The official event page publishes menus by participating restaurant, which makes it possible to shortlist a few dishes before entering the busiest part of the festival.
This is a tasting event rather than a flat-price all-you-can-eat ticket. Your final spend depends on how many tastes you buy.
The event uses a wristband payment system
Times Square Alliance says participants can register a wristband with a credit or debit card at the event and then use that system to buy tastes from participating restaurants.
Advance wristband sales are also available through the official event page, with the organizer advertising a 20 percent advance-sale saving. Recheck the official checkout terms before buying because event purchase rules can change.
Use the Times Square Alliance page as the purchase source rather than an unrelated ticket reseller.
Public transit is the simplest arrival plan
The event sits in the Times Square / Theatre District transit core, with multiple subway lines and the Port Authority complex within walking distance. That makes rail plus walking a stronger default than driving into the event footprint.
Use NYC Dayline’s live MTA Subway Status page shortly before leaving, especially if your plan depends on one specific line or a tight Broadway curtain time.
NYC DOT has a Taste of Times Square construction embargo through September 9
NYC DOT lists a special-event construction embargo from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 5 through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, September 9 around Broadway and nearby West 41st–48th Street blocks.
The embargo includes Broadway between West 41st and West 50th streets plus several cross streets and Seventh/Eighth Avenue segments in the event area. A construction embargo suspends non-emergency permitted street work; it is not a complete traffic-closure map.
For a time-sensitive car trip, check current NYPD/DOT traffic information rather than interpreting the embargo list as a guaranteed set of closures.
A Broadway pairing works best with a strict time boundary
The festival’s 4–8 p.m. window overlaps the space between Wednesday matinees and evening Broadway performances. That is convenient, but Times Square pedestrian density and food lines make precise timing less predictable than walking directly from dinner to a theater.
If the show matters more than the festival, choose two or three target tastes, keep the theater address saved, and leave the festival footprint early enough to handle security, restrooms and finding the correct entrance.