Franklin Station Cafe

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davidmoser7

Joined 10 years ago

Good food, but where's the french?. My wife, my sister and I ate here while on vacation in NYC last Thursday. Overall it was good.

This place bills itself as a French/Malaysian restaurant, but I would say the menu is probably about 90% Malaysian and 10% French, which is fine. But I went there wanting to order French and there wasn't much of it.

I ordered the lemongrass fish (cod), and it was good. The sauce was very flavorful and complemented the fish perfectly. My wife had some sort of fried chicken dish which she said was good (I tasted it and thought it lacked flavor).

Then came my sister's order. She ordered the "Mozarella Hero" with basil and tomato. There was no description in the menu of what that actually is, but she assumed it was going to be some sort of "hero" sandwich, with some sort of meat or something. No. What arrived was a slab of mozzerella cheese with sliced tomatoes inside a hard, baguette-like bread. Needless to say, cheese and bread as an entree was not what she envisioned. It was dry, tasteless and just weird, really.

Anyway, it's at a great Tribeca location, nice little vibrant neighborhood. And literally right across the street from the Franklin St. subway stop, which is convenient. The wait staff wasn't bad, but wasn't good either.

In general, I would recommend the place. But just make sure you know what you're ordering before you order it. And don't go there expecting French.

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tcon1891

Joined 6 years ago

Good food but rude staff. This cafe is cute and the food is good, but the wait staff has too much attitude. If you intend to order a full meal, you'll probably enjoy it and you'll be treated politely enough. But if you're just going for dessert or splitting an appetizer, the staff will become incredibly rude and condescending--even if they have almost no customers at the moment and there is plenty of room for other customers who might want to spend more money. So don't bother going unless you plan to order a full meal.

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Cozy digs and a sure-fire standby dish make this Asian-inflected bistro a Tribeca favorite.. The Scene
Couples gather at the diminutive tables over spicy bowls of curry chicken noodle soup, one of the single best interpretations of comfort food in Manhattan. It's difficult not to love the restaurant's quirks, such as the diagram-filled menus (the drawings look like the work of an eager-to-please fifth grader) and the unpredictable slide shows (during one visit, a series of verdant shots taken at French wine chateaux).

The Food
Though the curry chicken noodles alone make Franklin Station worth it, many of the daily specials and eclectic menu items also warrant a look. Watch for citric appetizers such as a salad of mango with shrimp and cilantro as well as more ambitious seafood preparations utilizing rainbow trout and Chilean sea bass. Wrap it all up with homemade chocolate chip cookies and an espresso.

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judibean

Joined 9 years ago

Great chicken curry!. I had two of the dishes recommend by other reviewers- the mango squid salad and the chicken curry noodle. The mango squid salad was ok in flavor, it was also small-portioned. The chicken curry made up for it with very strong flavors. The cost of a meal here is very reasonable and makes it a good lunch spot. I will be going back to try other dishes.

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blisterfoot99

Joined 9 years ago

Chicken Curry!!!!. Any time I'm within 10 blocks of Franklin Station (and often when I'm nowhere even close!), I make a point of stopping in for a bowl of their chicken curry noodle soup. PERFECTION. Get a nice cold Sierra Nevada to go with it and you're sitting pretty.

One of my favorites in NYC.

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kajejo

Joined 10 years ago

Excellent. Franklin Station is one of New York's best values. Delicious, well-prepared food, served in an airy cafe space where most entrees cost less than $15. The cafe is very close to the 1-9 Franklin Station subway stop, and has a pretty terrace for warm-weather dining. And the staff, reputed to be rude, actually greet regulars by name and with a smile.

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iqy3834

Joined 10 years ago

this spot is hot. except for the generically bland decor, this spot is a first class restaurant, serving up authentic and absolutely delicious malaysian food. They also have great coffee and regular breakfast food, as well as tasty sandwiches. All this ensures that even if ur tryin to go with someone that doesnt like malaysian (or is afraid to try) they can have stuff that they def will eat. The afformentioned bland decor is more like super nice when compared to the dirty malaysian spots in chinatown too. Try the creamed spinach chicken and the mango squid salad, 2 of my favs. Yeah the service is curt, but its quick and accurate, which is all i care about.

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judahzachery

Joined 11 years ago

Great food, not so great desserts or..... appetizers, and the selection was too small. Next time I go, I'll skip these courses. Nice selection of entres. The food was very good. Portion size was adequate on some entres, but skimpy on others. I had the Mango Curry Shrimp, and it was delicious!! And, the portion size was very good too. The Chicken Istimewa was also very good, with good portion size. I would NOT recommend the Papaya Boat or the Terenggaru Shrimp; not worth the price, especially if you're hungry. I went with 3 people, and they all enjoyed their meal.

Doesn't Recommend

DrewPisarra_Citysearch

Joined 11 years ago

Crude and Quirky. I had heard that the waiters here are curt. (They are.) They act as though they were working at one of NYC's most exclusive fine dining establishments. (They're not.) I kept my interactions with them to a minimum and focused my energy on the company and the food. The curry chicken noodles are flavorful without being too spicy; my friend enjoyed the mango curry shrimp. Making the experience unique and compensating for the rude waitstaff was a makeshift sideshow. I'm guessing that the washed out, thematically unrelated images would act as a perfect icebreaker if you were on a first date.