Tartinery Café - Bar | Columbus Circle — Restaurant in New York

I’ve had this place bookmarked since it opened last month, and I finally got to go yesterday to try them out. Located on the third floor of The Shops at Columbus Circle, away from the hustle and bustle of the first two floors, Tartinery offers fast casual dining with wonderful views of Central Park. The café has mostly high café table seating but there is also a separate section called The Bar, with linen covered tables and small bar, assumingly serving alcohol. Since I do not really drink, I immediately went to the café section to order my food.

The menu offers lots of French pastries, salads, smoothies, craft coffee and desserts, but the main focus of this little café is the tartine, or the open-faced sandwich. I ordered two different tartines, one savory and one sweet.

I got the Smoked Salmon tartine ($18.50) with crème fraiche, capers and radish. It was really delicious, ingredients tasted fresh, and they definitely did not skimp on the smoked salmon.

And then I also ordered the Nutella tartine ($9) with caramelized bananas. This was actually my favorite of the two. I thought the Nutella with the warm caramelized bananas on sourdough bread was a great combination.

The food is here really good, but you definitely pay for location. I would recommend coming anytime from 11am to 5pm when they offer the lunch combo. For $12.50, you can get your choice of soup and small tartine. If you go after 5pm, the full sized tartines...

Last night, my friend and I were there, and we had a sweet tooth. We went up to the cafe with the intention of sitting down and getting a quick dessert. The lady informed us that they were closing in 5 minutes and that we were unable to be seated. I inquired if they offered food for take out and she directed us to the to-go counter, which was located nearby. We requested two "Warm Apple Tarts" when we got to the register. The lady then handed us two fully frozen tarts, to my bewilderment, to which I asked if she could reheat them. She hands them to her coworker to heat them up. The coworker puts them in the oven for like a minute and then gives us the apple tarts, which are still entirely frozen. At this moment, they are hustling us out and stating that they are closed. They declined to assist us further, and as we were leaving, we noted that the cafe's dining room was still packed, despite their assertion that they had closed 5 minutes before. There wasn’t any food on any of the tables, and everyone was just hanging around without anyone rushing them. Overall, a terrible and rude experience, my first and last time...

I too have had this spot bookmarked since it opened and was so excited to try it out. Yesterday was the day... until it wasn’t. The staff was terribly understaffed and overwhelmed. I get this happens but there seemed to be a training issue as well. Lack of coordination, organization, etc. For the price point, you expect just a bit more.

The cherry on top was getting a hot drink when I’d ordered iced- again, this happens and is fine. However, instead of making it fresh, the employee simply dumped the hot drink over ice, waited about 2-3 minutes, added more milk and handed it back to me. What? It would have been faster- and better tasting- if she’d just remade it, instead I had a very milky and watery drink with a hint of chai. Bad? No. Worth $5? Definitely not. Our food was as expected, good not spectacular.

I so, so wanted this spot to work out given how easy it is to enjoy their treats in Columbus Circle or even Central Park, but it was such a miss I don’t...