Root Hill Cafe — Restaurant in New York

Root Hill Café is what happens when you take a genuinely charming space, cute art all over the walls, the kind of light that makes your coffee look like it should be in a Kinfolk spread, and then hand the keys to a staff who treat organization like it’s an optional elective they never signed up for.

The menu has lots of different coffee and breakfast options. Unfortunately, the coffee tastes like someone steeped brown paper in lukewarm tap water and called it a roast. Still, the staff smiles while serving it, so you almost forgive them… until the shouting starts.

Ordering is less of a transaction and more of a social experiment. They take your order, forget it, and then stand in the middle of the café asking, “What am I forgetting?” as if the customers are contestants on a game show where the grand prize is just getting the food you paid for.

I asked for avocado toast (because Brooklyn), but alas, they were out of avocados. Not to worry, the cashier brightly suggested that if I could hang out for a bit, she’d run to the grocery store and buy some. Admirable hustle, but I wasn’t trying to bankroll a bodega run, so I pivoted to the chia seed pudding instead. Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste—one I didn’t acquire.

Eventually, they remembered the other part of my order: a frittata. By this point the barista and the chef were in the back yelling at each other like siblings forced to share a bedroom. Something about missing ingredients. Something about not writing things down. By the time the frittata arrived, it was slammed onto the counter so hard that the silverware went airborne like shrapnel. Very classy.

And here’s the kicker, the frittata was actually good. Genuinely good. Which makes the entire circus act even more maddening, because the kitchen clearly has talent hiding somewhere between the chaos and the missing avocados.

Most of the online reviews are glowing, and I can see why. The space is inviting, the menu reads well, and the staff isn’t mean. But dig a little deeper and you’ll notice a pattern, buried among the praise are complaints about the exact same thing, disorganization so profound it could be studied as a case at Harvard Business School.

Root Hill Café, come for the art, stay for the frittata, but don’t get too attached to your order actually making it out of the kitchen...

This is, by far, my favorite coffee shop in the area. While on the overpriced side, their sandwiches and salads are wonderful, and the pastries aren't too bad, either. It's a small space, but when you can score a seat (late weekday afternoons are your best bet), it makes for a great study spot. The wifi is free and relatively fast, and the decor is friendly and cozy. The staff are all really, really, nice, and don't seem to mind if you stay there for awhile. The coffee is okay - tasty though nothing to write home about. I keep coming back for the friendly vibes and the fact that they don't kick me out for doing work here, as long as I keep...

I'm slowly becoming a breakfast sandwich and chai latte aficionado. We found this lovely place on an early Sunday morning.

It wasn't too busy or too crowded. There were a few folks sitting inside and outside the cafe. We opted to take our order to go since it was raining.

The egg and cheese sandwich on a brioche bun is tasty. My sandwich was hot, cheesy, and coupled with the best fluffy eggs. The chai latte had great flavor too.

This quaint space was designed for mingling, so I suggest hanging out for a bit. They've got a deep menu, so we'll be...