Cornelia Street Cafe

(212) 989-9319

29 Cornelia St
New York, NY 10014 40.7316 -74.0017

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Neighborhoods: West Village, Downtown

Cornelia Street Cafe

Cornelia Street Cafe

What People Are Saying About Cornelia Street Cafe

The Editor

Contributor

Citysearch

In Short – The downstairs performance space hosts a packed calendar of poets, novelists, storytellers and musicians. On Saturday evenings, a multi-cultural reading series features work by writers from the Arab-American, Italian-American, Russian-American and Greek-American communities. Unlike its ritzier neighbors--Po, Home, etc.--Cornelia Street Cafe remains true to its humble beginnings, offering such contemporary cafe fare as grilled portobello sandwiches and fish and chips.

2 Star Rating: Below Average

08/21/09

Came highly recommended, but I was totally turned off

by sweet1105

This place came highly recommended so my 2 friends and I made a reservation for 3 people. I arrived and since they wouldn't seat us until our full party was there, we sat when I arrived. Party of 3 reservation, 3 sitting.... We ordered a bottle of wine for the table and after a friend called and said she wanted to join us, we held off on ordering dinner til she got there... Well the rude host came over and didn't even ask us anything, rudely said "you guys have to move to the bar, we have parties waiting for a table", after we had already bought a $50 bottle of wine and were just taking our time!!!! And there was a full table behind us and in front of us open!!!!! We were basically forced to order dinner right then and there otherwise we'd have to be kicked out of our table that NO ONE was waiting for. the whole rest of the time we were there, the table sat empty. Being in the service industry myself, this was very rude, especially after we had already ordered.

Word of advice - tell your friends to get there on time, even if they were not part of your reservation, otherwise you will be scolded and rudely treated. The food was good, but this guy ruined my experience, and I will definitely not recommend this place again.

  • Pros: Good Food, can't complain there... but...
  • Cons: Rude host, blah service
5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

04/29/09

Love it

by RestaurantReviewer234

Went there for lunch. It was about 80 degrees out, they had the windows/walls at the front open. My table was almost outside. It was great ambiance, like a nice European cafe.

The lunch menu wasn't very long, but everything they had on there looked good. And it was good! I've had better of course at much more expensive restaurants, but this was still pretty good, and definitely worth going back.

And if you're a poet, apparently this is the place to be.

  • Pros: Pretty good food. Great ambiance
  • Cons: n/a
1 Star Rating: Poor

08/14/08

snubbed at cornelia street cafe

by iamed28

A quick exit at Cornelia. It was 5pm on a summer Tuesday. Looked over the menu, and they had a pre-dinner menu posted with light appetizer style food. We told the waiter/host that we would like to sit outside and eat light. He basically said no, these 'empty' tables were for people ordering full course dinners. Since I am not a tourist, and I know Greenwich Village has a lot of other places, me and my date simply walked to another restaurant, relaxed with a few glasses of wine and some light food. NYC is filled with restaurants, if Cornelia Street Cafe doesn't want me, I won't go back.

The Details on Cornelia Street Cafe

One of New York's Best:

Nominated for best reading series for hosting one of the city's long-running and most convivial reading scenes.

Category:

Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Visa, MasterCard

Restaurant Special Features:

Date Spot, Outdoor Dining, Bar Scene

Cuisine:

Traditional American

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