Yellow Magnolia Café — Restaurant in New York

My friend and I came to see the cherry blossoms in bloom and decided to have lunch at the cafe to start our trip. We came on a weekday so naturally there was slower foot traffic, so I cannot speak on how they handle on weekends. The atmosphere was nice, guests can look out the window to see pond garden area as they eat, with plenty of natural lighting pouring in.

We started out with the biscuit box. The biscuits were fresh and fluffy, the salted molasses butter was less sweet than I expected but it had a nice color and a slight flavor from the molasses. The fruit preserves was cooked down fruit-- which I didn't mind, it also wasn't too sugary which was nice, but others may want actual jammy-texture preserves so I wanted to make that note.

We also had the pink lentil soup, which had good body to it, the ginger was a nice touch-- I'll have to start adding that to my own soups! I think the portion size was good according to the price.

My friend first had the Yellow Magnolia Fried Chicken, which ended up being a disappointment and she ended up having it taken back. The chicken itself was dry and didn't have good texture, according to her. The wild rice had a weird aftertaste to her (I tried the rice, it was lukewarm and it did have red onions which I think contributed to the aftertaste). It also came with a tiny little thing of the habanero honey, which wasn't gonna be enough to save the chicken 😅

She ended up switching for the house tacos with steak, and it ended up being much more satisfying. I had the Reuben sandwich with beef pastrami, which was a good portion size, with good texture and the rye was nice and fresh.

All of the food we ended up eating filled us up nicely, but I couldn't leave without a little dessert, and ended up ordering the "rhubarb-rose" ice cream-- I don't know what I was expecting but it's most definitely tasted like strawberry ice cream (a very good strawberry icecream though!) I just expected more of the rhubarb and rose to come out in the flavor profile, like basil ice cream does.

I would likely return (again, on weekdays when the garden is slow) and try more of the menu out...

Update*

On April 8th, I was finally given a refund. (soon after I posted my previous one star review on Yelp as well) 🤨🧐🤪 Still really bizarre it took 3 weeks for a refund when I tried multiple times each week to remind them about it. Adding a star back because I was eventually given it. I will stick to my opinion that the customer service is horrible, it's overpriced and the taste of the food is mediocre. The good parts about this place is that the environment and food is aesthetically pleasing and comfortable. Overall, it's not worth the visit unless you're famished at the Brooklyn Botanic and need somewhere to eat asap.

Giving it a one star because the customer service is HORRIBLE! I have only been here once and it will most definitely be my last. Visited on March 18, 2018. The waitress was foolish and broke a plate during the visit, I had only ordered the ancient grain bowl and it took about twenty minutes for the food to arrive. The food was way overpriced but plated nicely. The taste was decent, I ordered it without the egg (same . After I left, I realized I had been double charged. The total being $34.15 when I only ordered one order (without eggs). Two days later, an extra $17 was being pended but later disappeared. I have called the restaurant at least 10 times asking for them to fix the problem, and have spoken to the useless manager several times. It has now been over three weeks and I'm still waiting on these annoying jerks for the refund. Their excuses have been to "wait for a week", "wait until Monday", saying they'll "contact back" (and don't), saying they were "too busy" to contact, now saying to wait another 5-7 days. Seriously? F#%*...

I made a reservation before going (which I HIGHLY recommend doing), and started to get a little nervous when I decided to read some reviews. Some of the most recent reviews were so negative that I considered canceling my reservation. I'm SO glad I kept my reservation, though, because my family and I had such a lovely brunch here today! The food was really tasty, and my mimosa with the candied ginger in it was really good, too. Polenta fries were good, the biscuits were incredible, and the desserts were also unique and delicious. I love that there was a really healthy option for my 2 year old son (scrambled eggs and heirloom carrot sticks) which he ate happily. He really loved those biscuits too. I really felt compelled to write this review, because my experience is a good example of how someone can be almost negatively influenced by some overly-exaggerated bad reviews but ended up keeping the reservation to have a really nice experience. It may be true what they say about how people who end up writing reviews tend to do so out of negative experiences rather than positive ones, so I wanted to balance out some the recent bad reviews with my positive review! When I went today, the restaurant was packed, service was good and food was good, so there are plenty of people coming and having a good time. Don't always be swayed by negative reviews, it pays to have your own experience and draw your own conclusions!! It was a nice end to our visit after viewing the cherry blossoms 🌸...