Visited the WWF restaurant and shop a couple weeks before Christmas. Well, first off, you can’t miss the place. If the huge over head advertisement for Man on the Moon (Hi, this is Andy and this is my sign), you can’t miss the big WWF logo and also even though the scaffolding is up outside, its covered in black and has written on the Broadway side of the place (WWF New York open- There goes the Neighborhood).

As is the case with most “theme restaurants”, the first thing that hits you when you walk in is the merchandise. A wide selection of WWF shirts available with emphasis though on Rock, Austin and Mankind. However, every superstar with a shirt is represented and there is even now a Torrie shirt. The site-specific WWF New York merchandise is plentiful as well. Shirts, caps, polo shirts,  t shirts, mugs, glasses, golf balls, denim jackets, leather sleeve jacket, hockey jerseys and even golf balls sporting the WWF NY logo. Great selection of all of those and pricing is what you’d expect to pay for shirts and jackets, etc at live events. The staff is very helpful and friendly. You can see them in their staff shirts and even in special shirts for “restaurant staff only” WWF New York- Come smell what we’re cookin”. Due to it being Saturday 2 weeks prior to Christmas, the place was packed. One good thing and I hope it keeps up, while I was waiting in line with my purchases, a staff member jumped on a register and rang up my purchase.

The restaurant itself was of course busy and were informed it was a 15-20 minute wait. It was just about that. Were seated promptly and the friendly wait staff presented us with menus.

The restaurant itself still needs some work on the physical aspects of it. Unfortunately, the steel cage section of the place was full, so we got seated in another area by a WWFNYTron<?> and several monitors. It was certainly a bright area and the ceiling panels weren’t in as yet. Nice to see that WWF has such nice ductwork. On the big screens ( WWFNYTRON) matches were aired from No Mercy- it was the Rock/Bulldog match, the footage from that Sunday Night Heat in which Jerry Lawler interviewed Terri as she made her way up the ladder and the match of the year- the ladder match between the Hardys and Edge and Christian.
Now those are all great matches, but- during the hour or so of the dining experience that set of matches kept getting looped over and over again. There was another bank of monitors that kept looping a computer-generated image of the statue of liberty doing the DX crotch chop. I am not sure what is up here. I guess that the average dining time is being checked and then they can gauge times accordingly of showing things on the monitors. Saw the match set three times.

The waitress we had was very pleasant and helpful letting us know about the specials and then telling us about the drink of the day, the “SmackDown” I joked if they had anything stronger, a Stunner and was told yes and its very close to an Alabama Slammer.Beverages arrived quickly. Only had soda as did my guest and we had those very soon after ordering. Free refills on the sodas and they’re right there with those too. Its funny how the first drinks come in the WWF New York glasses and then any remaining ones are served in plain glasses. My guest was quick to note that “Damn, well there goes the chance to boost some <j/k>”

I had the chicken Caesar salad and my guest had a grilled chicken sandwich and French fries. Major reccomendation—the Fries are awesome. I recommend them highly. The salad I got was huge and quite yummy. The chicken on the sandwich and the one that was in the salad had a bit of a sweet taste to it. Several flavorings are offered, I should have perhaps asked for a different seasoning. But all in all, it was good food and a lot of it at a good price and a good, friendly, attentive staff. Lunch for 2 was $35 including tip.

Upon leaving the restaurant there is another smaller gift shop, with an arcade and nice air hockey table. There’s even an attendant in the men’s room.

With any New York restaurant, especially one in the New Times Square, you have to let people know you’re there, so there is someone outside hawking people in with a sample of some of the fine desserts offered there and a bacon cheese burger that even being a few hours old sitting outside looked good.

If you’re going to NYC for some holiday shopping, to celebrate the New Year or even up for the Royal Rumble, I suggest stopping by the WWF restaurant and checking it out, having a meal and let the great staff help you out.