Caffe Reggio — Restaurant in New York

7PM, Reggio. Toby Shooters orders a chai without realizing it's caffeinated. Mr. Product has a Peroni with his cocoa. Tropitius trends penna with burrata, and Yeetgenstein goes ham on that caprese salad. Last week the Last Virtuous Man In San Francisco visited, the gathering was outside, the weather less punishing. Now we can hear classical music on the speakers, oil paintings dangling overhead. Gasda’s nearby with a new haircut, people dropping in occasionally, saying hello. Is his typewriter out? No, he’s switched to a laptop, but preserved the other habits, fernet and wastreldom. Over the din someone screams "My people are pure light! Self-consciousness is the gravity that burdens the spirit! The surpassing of self-consciousness is ‘grace’ or spiritual lightness."

More overheards. —The best Lana album’s Born to Die and it’s very strange no one else understands this. —I’m reminded of something Ginsberg wrote about Arthur Russell, that he transmitted dharma through America’s colloquial language, bubblegum pop. —She’s an intratextual network posturing as a popstar. —Running Fence is the greatest artwork of our time. It took twenty-five years and an army of lawyers to get approval from local governments. —Californians always find each other, there’s something about vibe, they go off to college in some midwest liberal arts school or East Coast Ivy and they’re sitting around in a circle with their freshman year friends, having naturally gravitated, and it dawns on them they're all from L.A... —What’s important important is that the work expands your sense of agency, it demonstrates something’s possible. In this sense, it’s similar to Fitzcarraldo hauling a steamship over a mountain in the Amazon basin. —Ryder is one of the great painters, I feel privileged to have seen his oils in-person. —The only creative freedom Pärt lent himself was selecting the text and the key. —By vibe I mean a sort of generative gestalt. —There’s been a full preference cascade, and one of the Schelling points for the new anti-EA orthodoxy is beating up on MacAskill, who apparently read Power Broker and started swimming in frigid water. —The CIA logo redesign was a hoax I think. —The idea is that the territory is surveyed and mapped, that is, lossily compressed, to the best of the techniques available to the cartographer, and over time, the territory changes, in part as a result of the cartographer’s actions, and this includes changes in what is technically possible and also fashionable. —Did you know Em, from high school? —Guzey’s biggest criticism seems to be that MacAskill’s a smooth operator, a propagandist and a networker and a fundraiser, but doesn’t any movement need this sort of person to succeed? —Moses never drove himself, you know; he was always chauffeured. How different might our highways be, if he'd been...

My first time visiting there, it was a non-busy early morning time. There was an eldely male server who behaved very hostile during my stay. When people started to come I shared that in case more people can come I can change my spot since I am a single person, out of courtesy. And he said stay is limited with 45 minutes already and I was surprised, but asked how long I have been and he answered 3 hours - which was absolutely exrgateated , I stayed probably a bit more than an hour. I left immediately with the uncomfort to the gentleman's exegaration. I can easily guarantee that there are many people who stay in this cafe almost from the morning till the night. I am not a fan of calling people something but I almost felt a racist courage to tell something that would not been told to other customers.

I still liked the atmosphere and visited couple of times with trying to avoid that server. The last time I visited it was unbearablely noisy, dark, catastrophic and I am sorry but the tiramisu was actually really bad. I rushed to finish the dessert and wanted to leave immediately, I had maybe few cent less than total cash and a 100 dollar and I asked if this is okay if not I have a 100 dollar, because I work in the service industry I know that I would never bother my customer for few cents more but the owner still broke the 100 bucks. I understand that if it is the bill, you have the %100 right to take the right amount and I have no intention to pay less or whatever. However, I cannot deny that I would expect some humbleness rather than taking the money go behind somewhere and be absent for some time and make me wait for a really long time for the change for a few cents. Despite the first visit's hostile behavior I tipped considering that I still received a sevice. This time I didn't want to and left with believing I will be never visiting this place anymore.

Disappointed with the overpriced tiramisu, poor service and unkind behavior and felt overwhelmed with the...

I don’t normally review places, but I feel compelled to after witnessing the egregious conduct of Caffe Reggio’s management. As I was eating, I witnessed someone involved in the restaurant’s management scream at a server he was displeased with repeatedly. It was to such an extent that he made the server cry. It was entirely unprofessional, and plain rude. Frankly I was disgusted by his behavior, and I suggest that anyone committed to supporting businesses that treat their employees with respect should skip Caffe Reggio. I would give the establishment zero stars if I could.

I am updating my review in response to Caffe Reggio's reply here. The restaurant claims the following:

"Caffe Reggio does NOT have a male manager. There hasn't been a male manager here for 10+ years. Please do not assume that the alleged male that was screaming is the manager, or a person in position of leadership."

It's true that I don't know with absolute certainty that the person I was describing is involved in the cafe's management. However, I did ask him if he worked at Caffe Reggio, and he told me that he did. Among other things, he brought me my check. He may not have been a "manager" per se, but clearly he was in a position of authority at the restaurant, such that he could berate someone who was identifiably a server without repercussion. I don't know the man's exact identity--and I neither have the time nor the wish to explore the matter further--but I can say I personally witnessed an employee of Caffe Reggio treat another with great disrespect. So even though I don't know who has the title of "manager" at Caffe Reggio, I am being entirely truthful, and the man in question clearly was in some "position of leadership."

Finally, I'm not impressed that Lena is questioning the authenticity of my account. Once again it points to a lack of respect that seems prevalent at...