Squarrel Cafe — Restaurant in New York

My friends and I came here today, excited to play board games, but were met with difficult staff from the start. I ordered a drink and my friend got a pastry, and then we asked to buy the board game pass for three. Id like to think we were being quite polite and understanding, despite the cashier addressing us in an extremely curt manner and giving little explanation as to why walk-in board game tables were unavailable. We were confused but looked through the games to try and make the most of our time.

The cashier quickly came back and told us we weren’t allowed to touch the games and could only sit to drink. While I understand that was store policy, her tone and lack of communication made the experience feel unnecessarily hostile.

Having worked in customer service myself, I understand it can be tough sometimes, so I brushed it off. However, what really pushed me over the edge was the way she asked us to leave. We had been sitting, minding our own business with a deck of our own cards, when she came over and said, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” in the nastiest tone, as if we had done something wrong. I thought that there was a misunderstanding and that she thought we were using the cafes cards against her instruction, so I explained, “Oh these are our own cards,” but she quickly snapped back, “Yea but another group is here so I need you to leave,” then stood over us while watching us pack up. That was extremely uncomfortable.

Icing on top - while we were standing at the entrance to figure out where to go next, we noticed other tables being politely asked to wrap up soon, with the barista apologizing for the inconvenience. Where was that polite treatment for us? I don’t understand what we did wrong to be treated in such a disrespectful and inhospitable manner, despite being paying and undisruptive customers. Really quite shameful because the drink and pastry were both good, but we will definitely not be...

Atmosphere: This cafe is great for playing board games or doing work on a laptop in peace w/ free wifi. It's also nicely air-conditioned and the employees were really nice.

Food: I ordered two drinks, the popcorn chicken and a teriyaki chicken onigiri (rice ball). To be completely honest, all the food and drinks there were disappointing, but one of the drinks were especially abysmal (this fizzy lychee lime drink that's only on the physical menu in-person, as far as I'm aware). That drink came with some random herb (didn't taste like mint so I'm still not sure what it was), even though it wasn't in the name of the drink, and it made the whole thing taste like fizzy dirt water. I know I can't be the only one who thought it was gross by the way, two people ordered it after me and we all sat in the same vicinity and threw it out...

Cozy cafe with board games and coffees/teas. You could pay $5 to play all day, and you could also just grab a drink and go. Theres a drink that has coffee and tea (yuan cha I think is what it’s called, but I could be wrong). The drink was ~$5 and very warm and comforting. It was also tasty - it was like a milk tea mixed with black coffee. If you check in on yelp you can get 10% off your order. We luckily got the back private room which also had a space heater so that it was warmer. We played exploding kittens for multiple rounds and just hung out enjoying each other’s company plus our drinks. The staff was super friendly and accommodating. There is a gender neutral bathroom that you can ask the staff for the code. There’s plenty of board game options and it’s a chill vibe. It’s a good activity for a rainy day or for a lazy...