NY Mets Games Guide: Where to Eat, Best Seats & More to Know Before Going

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to the Better Together Here podcast with your host,
Devin. And Ashley?
Helping you make the most of your time in New York City,
everyone. And welcome to today's episode
of the Better Together Here podcast.
My name is Devin. And my name is Ashley.
In today's episode, we are goingto tell you all the things you
need to know before you go to a New York Mets baseball game.
And if you're thinking I don't like baseball, I don't like

(00:23):
sports, let us tell you that they are an amazing experience.
It's a fun time to see a different part of the city,
interact with some real New Yorkers and have a somewhat
cheap activity to do at night. So let's get right into it.
Today's episode we're talking about the New York Mets.
Our next episode we're actually going to talk about the Yankees.
This was a request from a listener named Austin, who is

(00:44):
coming in to New York and is heading to a Mets game and was
hoping for some insight. So if you have ideas for
specific topics or places that you like us to cover, send us an
e-mail, hello@bettertogetherhere.com,
and you'll maybe get an episode like Austin's getting OK Brief
history of the New York Mets. They're founded in 1962.
They're based in Queens. They won two World Series in

(01:05):
their history, the most recent in 1986.
Their team colors are blue and orange.
You do get a lot of New York fans who are Knicks fans and
Mets fans, which is great because the colors are the same
and so you kind of get dual purpose there.
Citi Field has been the Mets home stadium since 2009 when it
replaced a very iconic Shea Stadium.

(01:26):
It's located in Flushing. It was designed as a tribute to
Brooklyn's old Ebbetts Field, which is a very kind of classic
brick architecture style building.
And Citi Field is kind of built to mimic that.
The stadium has a capacity of about 41,000 people.
It's known for having this awesome exterior Rotunda that is
kind of just this amazing spot. You come down the stairs and you

(01:48):
just are kind of hit with the stadium in front of you.
It's beautiful. There's great seating throughout
the stadium. And they have a home run apple.
When the Mets hit a home run, there's this apple in center
field that rises up kind of out of nowhere and comes back down.
It really is like a beautiful stadium.
I've been to a lot of baseball stadiums in my life.
And Citi Field, it's updated andit's modern, but it still kind

(02:10):
of has this charm because of thebrick feeling and because of
some of the kind of old pieces of Shea Stadium that they've
tried to incorporate. Yeah, it definitely has that
like older, like nostalgic feeling, but it's set up in a
very smart way. Like I've never waited in line
to go to the bathroom. There's tons of food vendors.

(02:30):
It's very easy to get from levelto level.
There's elevator options, very accessible.
It's a very well laid out stadium.
One thing that I love about CitiField is that you get to see the
planes taking off and landing because you're right by
LaGuardia Airport. So as the game's going on, you
see the planes and you're close enough that you can see like,
oh, that's a Southwest or a Spirit Airlines or a Delta

(02:52):
plane. It's just kind of this fun piece
of the game experience. The stadium itself from certain
areas also has really cool viewsof the city off in the distance,
so you can see One World Trade and just see like the New York
City skyline from a different perspective.
Yeah, 'cause you are out in Flushing, which is a pretty far
out spot in Queens. So to get there, generally

(03:14):
speaking, you are going to end up taking the Seven subway,
which connects in a ton of different places, starting all
the way in Hudson Yards with, you know, places to get on in
Queens and different parts of Manhattan.
But most subway lines have a spot that connects into the
Seven. So you'll probably end up taking
public transportation there. In regards to getting tickets
and some of the best seating options, there's not a bad seat

(03:37):
at Citi Field. We went to a game just a week or
so ago. We got the cheapest tickets we
could, which I think we got in for what, 10 or $11.00 a person?
It almost might have been cheaper, it might have been like
7 or 8 bucks. It was pretty.
Cheap, very fairly priced, especially for like a New York
City experience, right? If and if you went and didn't
like buy food or buy a beer likeyou could have between the cost

(04:00):
of the ticket and the cost of a subway ride, like 10 bucks to go
have three hours of entertainment.
And that was after fees we. Sat in the ultimate nosebleeds,
like as high up as you can be and it was still a great seat.
We we were in like right field and so part of the right field
fence and center field was slightly obscured where we were,
but still like you saw most of the action.

(04:22):
Yeah, Every time we've gone to the Mets Stadium, we've sat in a
different place and I truly justfeel like there's not a bad seat
in the house. Also, like, if you're down for
this, if you're a little bit more by the book, love to follow
the rules, maybe you wouldn't beinterested in this.
But occasionally if you go, especially on a weekday when
it's not completely sold out, you could get in for like less

(04:45):
than $10 and get a Nosebleed seat.
And then throughout the game, you can kind of look at where
there's open seats and usually you can go and move down to like
a closer spot. I've never had anyone check my
tickets when I've gone to a closer spot.
I haven't tried to go like rightbehind home plate.
They'd probably check there. They probably would check there,
but we got pretty close down on right field and nobody checked

(05:07):
and we were down at like the bottom level.
So now Ashley is encouraging ourlisteners to commit crimes.
It's not a crime. Everybody does that.
We're going to go to. We're gonna go to podcast jail.
Yeah, Podcast jail is coming forus.
Don't tell anybody. Here's The thing is like most
baseball games, and this is kindof what's nice about baseball is
like it's never super crowded unless it's for example, the

(05:28):
Mets versus the Yankees or the Mets versus, you know, maybe the
Dodgers or something like that. But generally speaking, it's not
super busy. There's so many games you can
kind of, and what we did too most recently and what I
recommend is just really kind ofexploring the stadium, walk
around on the different levels, see the different food options,
Just go see the views from different places.
Even if you don't sit down, if that's not like your style to

(05:50):
sit in other people's seats potentially, like you can still
just kind of walk around and view different pieces of the
stadium. And on the note of like getting
tickets, really I would just scour the different ticketing
apps, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Ticketmaster, and just find
whatever's cheapest, especially if you're going on a weekday.
If you go last minute you can probably snag tickets for less

(06:12):
than 10 bucks. So just kind of price shop.
One of the benefits of going to a baseball game in New York City
is that both the Mets Stadium and the Yankee Stadium are
conveniently located right off of a subway line.
To me, like, this is a benefit because especially if you're not
super familiar with, like, how to get around in New York City,
it's decently easy to just hop on the subway, get right to your

(06:33):
baseball game. And you can also generally
follow other people, like if you're going to go to the Mets
game, once you get on the seven train, you're going to find a
bunch of people in Metzgear all going there.
So you can kind of just like follow along with the crowds for
the most part. Obviously, you should probably
look up the general direction ofwhere you're going.
But or ask. Or ask, but it's not hard to get

(06:55):
there, especially if you plug itinto Google Maps.
The directions are pretty clear.And that leads us to this
episode's New York Know how we have a saying when we're at a
subway and maybe there is, for example, you're at a platform
where there is an express on oneside and a local on the other,

(07:15):
where in theory, the local is going to take more time, but the
locals coming in one minute and the express says it's coming in
3 minutes or four. And there's often this quick
debate we have of like, should we do this?
Like, should we wait for the express?
It might be faster. And we have found our own
personal experience. And what we always say is take
the train in front of you. Reason being is that even if the

(07:37):
boards in the subway station, say the express train for
example, is coming in 4 minutes,that might not actually happen.
So if there's a train in front of you that is going to take you
to the place you need to be, even if it's maybe a few more
stops, get on that train. Because a train that is running
and moving is faster than a train that might not ever show
up or might not show up for 10 or 15 minutes.

(07:57):
You literally never know with the New York City subway system.
Almost like 7580% of the time that we try to plan it and take
the express, like we'll wait like one or two minutes longer
and get the express, the expressalways has an issue.
Yeah. Like it'll be running more
slowly than the local or it'll be late or just like won't show
up at all. So just take the take the train

(08:19):
in front of you. And on that note, obviously it
needs to be a train that is getting you to your destination.
And if you're not sure how to navigate that, remember we do
have a full New York City navigation and transportation
Guided is completely free. All you have to do is sign up
for our newsletter and you get access to that transportation
guide for free. You get access to a list of
curated Google Maps list breaking down restaurants and

(08:42):
bars by category and things to do, all that good stuff.
So make sure you sign up for that.
And that's this episode's New York know how Take the train in
front of you. All right, back to Citi Field
and the Mets games. All right.
A lot of people want to know where to eat or drink before a
Mets game. One of the best parts, in my
opinion, of a sporting experience is to go before and,

(09:06):
you know, go to the local bar and eat and drink with the
locals and just kind of like rubshoulders with the people who
are the fans of those teams. Interesting thing about Citi
Field is there is not much rightnext to it.
It's like it's a Sports Complex.There's Citi Field, there is
where the US Open is, so a big giant tennis area, there's a big
massive park, but there's not a lot of food when it comes to

(09:29):
right around City Field. So what most people do is either
eat or drink wherever they're coming from in Manhattan or
Brooklyn or other parts of Queens, or they go to Corona or
Flushing. So Corona is known for Latin
food, Flushing, which is one stop further on the Seven.
So it's the very last stop of the Seven Train is one of the

(09:50):
best spots in the world for Asian food and specifically
Chinese food besides China, of course.
It is unparalleled Chinese food in New York City.
One fun fact about Flushing is when we did a food tour in
Flushing a couple years ago, they taught us that Flushing in
Queens, NY has the highest population of Chinese people

(10:11):
outside of mainland China, whichis really interesting.
Like you'll walk around Flushingand every single sign is in
Chinese. It feels like you're stepping in
to China, like we we've been to China and like it.
It definitely feels like you aregetting off a subway and
entering a new country in many ways, in the best ways possible.

(10:31):
And let's be clear too, that like this is an opportunity to
try new cuisines that you maybe haven't had before and just get
a wide variety of things. So like, if I were coming to New
York City, knew I was going to go to a Mets game, I would
probably try to give myself a couple hours before to go to
Flushing and just explore all ofthe food that is there.

(10:52):
There are so, so many good options.
We're going to give you a few ofthem.
My opinion is if you're going togo all the way out into Queens
on the seven train, you might aswell just take one more stop and
go have like a very unique cultural experience in Flushing
and then go to the Mets game after.
Agreed. That's definitely what I'm going
to do every time we go to the Mets game from now on because we
just did this and it was not that out of the way and was

(11:14):
really fun. Yeah.
So some of the great options, wemight get some of these names
wrong, but one that we really liked is called Nan Zhang
Longbao. I definitely said that wrong.
I'm so sorry. Phenomenal sit down Chinese
food, kind of similar vibes to Din Tai Fung, but not as like
fancy and frankly like I wouldn't say the Bao is quite as

(11:37):
good as Din Tai Fung. It's like a soup dumpling.
Dumpling. Yeah, they also have great
noodles, great appetizers. Spicy cucumber salad was great.
Pretty fair prices, too. Couple other places.
There's a food court in the basement of what's called the
New World Mall. It's crazy to think that like
we're recommending a food court in New York City, but it is

(11:57):
phenomenal. It's massive, and there are
dozens and dozens of different options.
So it's like a great place if you were going with a group of
three or four people where everyone could go grab a dish,
be back up at a table, and you get to try just a bunch of
different things. I will say 1 cool thing about
this food court is if you've been to Asia, you might be
familiar with a lot of the food courts that are all over Asia.

(12:19):
Like I did a study abroad in Taiwan and in the lower areas of
the subway stations, they would have like these huge food courts
where you could find anything that you wanted.
And so it felt kind of like thatwhere it's just a one stop shop
to try a whole bunch of different types of food that are
very good and very authentic. Another place that we have tried

(12:40):
out in Flushing is pecking duck sandwich stall, which they have
these phenomenal pecking duck sandwiches.
It's kind of like a hole in the wall type place.
So, so good. We also went to a place called
Chengmu, which is Korean food, and they had homemade kimchi
that we actually bought a big thing of and brought home with
us. Like super, super good.
Arguably the most popular spot in Flushing when it comes to

(13:03):
authentic Chinese food is also this episodes you'll have to
check it out segment. The next stop is white bear.
So white bear is the definition of a hole in the wall.
It we're not 100% sure on this. We there used to be seating
indoors like maybe 6 people total.
But when we went most recently post COVID, there was no indoor

(13:26):
seating and I don't know if theyeven have it anymore.
We're not 100% sure on that. Even with that being said, they
have some of the most phenomenalwontons you'll ever have.
It's they have a wonton in Chileoil.
It's called the number six. If you go online and just search
like white Bear flushing like you'll just see all these
articles about the number six. Like it's pretty much what
everyone orders. It is the thing to get.

(13:49):
And what's great about White Bear as well, It's a small
single family operation that's been there for decades.
And when you go there, you can see like the guy taking your
order, like might have flour on his hands 'cause he was just
busy making wontons, right? Like they're kind of just this
small group doing it all and just making phenomenal food.
They truly are some of the best dumplings I've had in the city.

(14:12):
They're so delicious. They come out piping hot.
They're super fresh. Great, great spot to check.
Out it's open from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM daily and it is cash
only so be prepared for that. And that is this episode's
you'll have to check it out segment White Bear in Flushing.
All right, And now back to the Mets games.
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.

(14:36):
OK, we're going to talk about some food options that are
actually at Citi Field because if you go and read online or
talk to different people, like, yes, going to Flushing is our
option. But you might still want to try
some food. And a lot of people think, you
know, stadium food, like you're just getting a hot dog or a
pretzel. But Citi Field in particular has
amazing food. It was voted best stadium food

(14:58):
in 2023 and best baseball stadium food in 2024 and 2025 by
USA TODAY. They have dozens of different
food options, most of which are from like local New York spots.
So there's, for example, like Fuku, which is spicy chicken
sandwiches. There's Pat La Fritas, or you
can get a surf and turf sandwich.

(15:19):
Like there's tons of good like local options that are
available. One place that we checked out at
our most recent Mets game is we went to the Hudson Club food
hall. They had a few types of food in
there and they also had a halal option that looked really good.
One of our favorite staples to get when we go to the Mets game
is they sell ice cream in these souvenir helmets.

(15:40):
It's like soft serve ice cream. You can get sprinkles and you
get to take home a cute little bowl in the shape of a baseball
helmet, which is fun. And the most recent game that we
went to, it happened to be a Tuesday.
And we found out that on Tuesdays they have a $5 per item
deal. So it was $5 for a hot dog, $5
for a 12 ounce beer or pretzel. I think they had a few other

(16:04):
items, but it was just a really good deal.
Typically a beer like a 24 oz like Tall Boy Beer is going to
cost you almost 20 bucks and so to be able to get a 12 ounce
beer for 5 bucks it was much more affordable.
No that most of the stadium foodit it's going to be expensive.
Like, think prices at an airport.
That's maybe. A little bit.

(16:24):
More I'd say like 15 to 20 bucksper item.
I think the full price hot dog was like $7.50 which isn't
terrible. But it's stadium prices, just be
prepared for that. A couple other options that
people noted online, Goya nachos.
You can get a big souvenir cup as well.
And then there's a good hot pastrami sandwich.
Really, we would recommend goingto the Mets website.

(16:46):
We'll try to add a link to the show notes.
Going to the Mets website, looking at all the food vendors,
seeing what sounds good to you, noting where it is, and just
exploring Citi Field and just seeing all the different food
options, seeing all the views, just taking in the ambiance that
is Citi Field and the New York Mets.
We hope you enjoyed this episode.
Like we said, this was a listener requested episode.

(17:07):
We love doing things like this where we know someone
specifically is hoping to hear about it.
So if you have an episode that you'd like us to cover, send us
an e-mail hello@bettertogetherhere.com.
As always, please sign up for our newsletter e-mail once a
week. No spam, no BS, just real
actionable items that are going to make your trip to New York
City so much more enjoyable. Just go to
bettertogetherhere.com back slash newsletter.

(17:30):
Remember, in two weeks we'll be publishing the same type of
episode about Yankee Stadium andall things New York Yankees.
And other than that, we'll catchyou on the next episode.
Everyone please thank you for watching.

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