Cafe Carlyle

I wanted to celebrate my wife’s birthday in a very special way. Friends of ours who no longer live in NYC were visiting during the holidays (2015) and the Café Carlyle was one of their choices of ‘things to do” while in NYC. Based on their favorable review, I booked an evening at the Café Carlyle. We had a 7;15 seating but arrived at the hotel around 6:15. We were welcomed to the hotel by numerous people and were free to roam through the various public spots (the Restaurant, Bemalman’s bar and the Gallery). Never were we made to feel that we were intruding in any of these spaces. I will say that all three areas were fully occupied with people all seeming to be having a wonderful time. I had a sense that this was a real throwback to what many of the high class hotels were like and I was very glad to see that this still exists in NYC. When the time of our seating grew near, we walked towards the entrance of the café. We were greeted by the host and seated quickly thereafter. Although nearly every seat in the café has a great view of the stage, because it is such an intimate room, we had a very comfortable seat in the corner. It was more akin to a booth seating with pillows and a small but adequately sized round table. Drinks were ordered and bread was offered by the. wait staff. Everyone was very nice and cordial. They treated us like honored guests. Although dinner had to be completed by the beginning of showtime, we were never made to feel rushed.
The drinks were superb as was the dinner. Many who have visited here already know this, but be forewarned that this is a very costly outing but, in our opinion, well worth the expense. This is a truly NYC experience that everyone should have at least once. It was such a memorable time that we plan on going back. On another side note, since this was a birthday celebration, we didn’t necessarily choose the venue. I did check to see who was performing that night and it was Steven Page, formerly of Bare Naked Ladies. I didn’t know a great deal about the band of his solo career but we were thoroughly entertained with his performance so all in all, it was a great evening fill with great food, drink and a wonderful intimate show. I can;t say enough great things about our time at the Café Carlyle.
Update: After reading the not so favorable reviews, I suppose people are entitled to thier perspectives on what is «cramped seating’, what is „mediocre food“, what is ‘too expensive for a drink». All I can says is this. YES. drinks are outrageously expensive. the food was good. not great. and the seating. well we were in the corner left if you’re walking in through the main door so we had no complaints at all. it is a SMALL INTIMATE SETTING. I’m not wealthy by any stretch. Our total bill with tip was around $ 480 (this included the show cover, food and drinks) BTW, they gave my wife a complimentary desert which I;m sure was overpriced but this is an extremely NYC thing to do. I have NO regrets whatsoever spending a Saturday evening at the Café Carlyle. Perhaps some people have unrealistic expectations.

My husband surprised me with tickets to see Buster Poindexter at Café Carlyle as a birthday gift and I was ecstatic. I’ve had seeing a show at Café Carlyle on my bucket list for ages. The show was terrific and the venue is perfect, especially given its history. From that respect, I’d give Café Carlyle five stars when rating it on entertainment, the venue and cocktails. However, we ordered dinner (we had a $ 75 food and beverage minimum pp for our seating) and were incredibly disappointed. My husband had the lobster bisque (which was actually the one pretty flavorful dish) and Bobby Short’s Chicken Hash, a house special. I ordered the Caesar salad and the salmon. The food was lacking flavor on all levels and reminded me of something served at a large event, party or wedding that really just isn’t that good. Also, the prices were quite high and in NYC, there are so many places where you can go and spend the same amount or even less and have a meal that will knock your socks off. I can’t understand why the Café Carlyle is not putting more effort into their cuisine and making this a memorable experience that is commensurate with the rest of the experience that you’re paying for in an iconic NYC restaurant and hotel. Because of the ambiance and the entertainment, I would go back for another show, but would be sure to go to a later show when dinner is not required.

Excellent breakfast spot — I guess technically a good «power breakfast» (is that a term?) spot. Gets many hotel guests as well as business people looking for a breakfast /​brunch spot combined with a non-​boisterous-​meeting-​area. The service is spot-​on, and excellent menu selections, including a buffet. I would definitely vote for the omelet though — either egg-​white option or the Carlyle Omelet with caviar would be the way to go!
The interior conveys and upscale classy vibe — so I would dress accordingly as opposed to a «just-​rolled-​out-​of-​bed» look — even if you are a hotel guest. I will definitely be back!

This review is for Café Carlyle only (not Bemelmans Bar, which is lovely).
My friend and I came here on a Tuesday evening to see Alexa Ray Joel.
The seating is extremely cramped, and the waiters kept bumping into me as they were walking back and forth, serving food and drinks.
That’s not the worst of it, by a long shot:
I had brought my glass of wine from Bemelmans Bar, as we were told that we could do so.
As the busboy was putting water glasses on the table, he knocked into my wine glass, which was still half-​full and CHIPPED it!
Without a word of apology or an offer to get me a new glass of wine, he walked away and didn’t come back.
I flagged the manager over and told him what had just happened, and he seemed defensive with me (as if it was MY fault).
I asked him for a new glass of wine and he obliged, but I’m pretty sure that I was charged for it, even though I could have been injured with the chipped glass.
The food was terrible. My entrée of Bobby Short’s chicken hash looked like it came from a can of dog food (and, at $ 44.00, outrageously expensive).
My friend’s vegetable risotto entrée looked very ordinary (and at $ 31.00, stupid expensive).
We also ordered two sides, which were nothing special (at $ 14.00 a pop).
At least, Alexa Ray Joel was good, and we had a good time at Bemelmans Bar next door :)
The End.

Please organize the line for the 10:45 show! This is total chaos. Seating was supposed to start at 10:15 for 10:45 show. Instead seating started at 10:45 and it is totally disorganized and people are throwing tantrums. Very unpleasant situation for such an expensive ticket.

yes, the bill gave me a heart attack, but it was one I prepared for. My advice? arrive early and snag choice seats at the bar – a great view if you get the right one, and also a great value. More advice: eat beforehand and snack on lighter fare to get through your food and beverage minimum. otherwise, enjoy a true treat. this place is as decadent as it gets, its walls adorned with beautiful murals, the service wonderful and the performances great. I’ll admit there was something a bit off with the sound during my show, but I’ll just chalk it up to something that just occasionally happens. an intimate, beautiful experience that’s very much worth the splurge

I just have a question. Tried to make a reservation for Alan Cumming, but would not accept a res for 1 at a table.
I was told I could stand in line starting at 6:10 for 8:45 show. Only 7 bar seats.
My question: can I do SRO, or if the 8 seats at bar are gone will I just have to leave?
If you’ve been here recently, please respond.

We came here to see Judy Collins perform. There’s a minimum and we had dinner. This was by far the most ridiculously overpriced food in New York. For $ 37 I had a small piece of fish and a half a cup of mashed potatoes. Our $ 17 salad was greens and dressing and the dressing was way too tart. Ridiculous prices for what we ate. In addition, they seated us at a table that required my husband to move repeatedly to allow the wait staff to get to the table next to us. I am VERY disappointed with this place.

When you think of the Carlye you think of high class, high brow jacket eating style and service that should be top notch.
We went for the Debbie Harry show which is classy already. The dinner show required you spend at least $ 75 dollars before exiting the curtain doors. I figured that shouldn’t be too hard to do here. While excitingly waiting for Debbie to come out to enchant us with her voice the meal was like an expensive amuse bouche. I got the roasted chicken and my two friends got the steak. I also started with the shrimp cocktail and everyone else got a house salad with 3 cocktails.
The cocktails was not bad. The shrimp cocktail looked a bit sadly plated with 5 ‘jumbo’ shrimps. While I know it is only the café, it could have been at least presented better than the diner on 10^th Ave for $ 26. My roast chicken was super moist and tender at $ 39, I hope the chicken had a enjoyable life prior. Able to wander free range in the fresh air of Murrays Farm upstate NY before becoming dinner on my plate. The whole 8oz Beef Tenderloin coming in at a whopping $ 48 was like a Wendy’s commercial of where’s the beef and the 3oz $ 16 green salad plate looked like it came from the 9oz $ 3 dollar salad bag at Whole Foods. The $ 17 New York Cheesecake was well cheesecake. We could barely get water at our table which we asked for 4 times and finally just gave up. I know, this review is beginning to sound like the Visa/​Mastercard commercial.
And yes, when the lights dimmed and Debbie took stage and spending time with friends was priceless. Dreamin’ is free. Dreamin’, dreaming is free until we got the bill.

Lovely, elegant interiors.
But it’s ridiculously expensive. Ordered a Benedict and juice today and walked out $ 50 poorer. And hungry.

This is the third time we’ve stayed at the Carlyle hotel and the second time we’ve seen entertainment in Café Carlyle.
The hotel is very nice and the rooms are usually comfortable. On our visit this week (March 8 – 11, 2015) the heating/​cooling system in our room did not operate properly. The room was uncomfortably warm, even with the system turned off. We called engineering who came up to check the system. The maintenance man thought he’d fixed it and it actually felt cooler for a while, but when we returned to our room later in the evening it was back to the same malfunction — uncomfortably warm, throw the sheets and comforter off, what’s wrong with this thing, how much did we pay for this room? HOT. Not good.
But before I go too far, let me say we love NYC. We come here from California about once a year. We always stay in a nice hotel — Plaza, Pierre, Carlyle, Waldorf. We know NYC is expensive. We aren’t rubes. We eat and drink in the best restaurants and bars when we visit. We aren’t snobby, demanding, obnoxious tourists. We just like good food and a good bed. We also enjoy the dives and the «local» things to see and do while we’re in town.
But, $ 745 for dinner and a Woody Allen show is overpriced, even by NYC standards. We didn’t go nutso on the meal — we split an appetizer, we each had an entrée, we split a dessert. Couple cocktails each. Seats to see Woody, dinner, drinks…$ 745? Cmon. And a room with bad heating/​AC on top of that? Hmmm. Back to the Pierre next time.

I saw Woody Allen perform at the Carlyle Café last night. It was wonderful! My hub and I flew in from Florida, dropped our bags and taxied to the Carlyle. Standing room only was perfect! Great band. attentive waiters. Bonus was Tommy Lee Jones passing by within a meter as he slipped out the back door. No confusing his voice with anyone elses. Well worth the $$$. Great birthday gift!

Café Carlyle is a great place to see a musical act. We had the great fortune to see Bettye Lavette and she and her band gave a great show. We bought the $ 100 tix with the $ 75 food minimum and we didn’t find our table to be cramped. Every seat in the house has a good line of sight to the stage. The food is just okay and very expensive, even for NYC prices. The service was old school (older white men with a little gruffness) and it was similar to banquet style service, meaning if you order something out of (their) sequence, it seems to throw them off their game. Case in point: we ordered a nice bottle of red just as our appetizer course came and it wasn’t delivered until we were halfway through our entrée. The hostess was very gracious and helpful, practically walking me to the Ladies room and offering to disperse a group of people who were blocking the hallway to the restrooms!
Next time, I will skip the dinner, sit at the bar and use the minimum on drinks!

Great music/​sound & lighting? Check.
Gracious hostess? Check.
Comfortable bar seats? Check.
Great professional, warm bartender named Pedro? Check.
Prices consistent with the brand-​and not unreasonable in terms of portion AND quality?
Check.
All good.

Toda mi vida soñé e imaginé con estar en el Café Carlyle, en pensar como sería el lugar o como impactaría tal momento en mi vida, ya que una de mis metas personales hacía muchísimos años era poder estar en entre esas paredes ¿por qué? Bueno, ahí es el sitio dónde toca Woody Allen y su banda de jazz y yo siempre había querido poder conocer a mi máximo ídolo, al más grande de todos los tiempos. Por suerte, hace un poco más de dos años, mi sueño se cumplió y realmente todo superó mis expectativas.
Recuerdo que tuve que ir con mucho tiempo de antelación, este lugar es un pequeño barcito de un lujoso hotel y los lugares en las mesas se agotan con bastante anterioridad, por los que solo quedan ocho lugares en la barra que es para los primeros en llegar, obviamente, yo tenía que estar entre esas personas. Una vez logrado ese primer objetivo, la experiencia fue muy amena, recuerdo varias horas hablando con gente muy copada de distintos países del mundo acerca de Woody, el héroe de todos nosotros y realmente la situación fue sumamente enriquecedora.
Una vez adentro fue un momento genial, el lugar es muy bonito, mucho más chico de lo que imaginaba, onda que sentado en la barra estaría a unos pocos metros de Woody y su banda. Sinceramente estaba emocionado y ni hablar cuando apareció el gran Allen en el escenario. Fue algo sublime que jamás voy a olvidar, el día que conocí a uno de los genios más grandes que dio la historia del cine, en tanto que –por cierto– él y su banda también son grandes músicos y debo decir que el show fue espectacular. Realmente es bastante caro, tanto el acceso al espectáculo como los tragos y la comida del lugar, pero sí que vale la pena, es algo maravilloso. Como plus, cuando terminó el show pude saludar e intercambiar alguna palabra con mi ídolo, fue algo hermoso, irrepetible.

Afternoon tea. Old world ambiance. white glove service. Feel like the king for the world for under $ 20.
Walk past 2 door men and 2 NYPD security, enter to find 2 more doormen. No riff raft are getting in. Enter the dimly lit café to your left. or use the side entrance directly to the café.

3.5 Stars.
I want to give this place more stars. But between the prices and the cramped quarters, I can’t.
I bought my husband tickets to see Woody Allen and The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band as a gift. When I purchased the tickets through Café Carlyle, I was informed we had to dine there as well. That wasn’t really my original plan (I thought some jazz and drinks!), but okay, we love food what could go wrong?
We walked in right on time for our reservation and were seated at a tiny café table in a corner. We shared the booth. It was close quarters, which at first was romantic and sweet. But three hours later feels a little cramped. All the tables were this way. I actually think we were some of the lucky ones. Things could have been much, much worse.
The venue is very intimate, I would say there probably isn’t a bad seat in the house, unless you are one of the unlucky patrons who is seated with your back to the stage. There isn’t really room to turn your chair around, so you are sort of just stuck.
Anyway, that wasn’t the case for us, so I was happy. We had a pretty good view of the stage, from the side. Not too bad, not great. Like I said, it’s small so every seat for the most part is a decent view.
We started with the Artisanal «Roof Top» Garden Greens salad. At $ 18 it wasn’t worth it whatsoever. It was tasty I guess, but a complete rip off. We actually split it, thank goodness.
I ordered the Bobby Short’s Chicken Hash which was advertised as a Carlyle Classic. It was okay, not incredible by any means, but they get credit for it being an unusual dish. Basically pieces of chicken (there was a lot of chicken, it was hearty) and quite a bit of foie gras in a light sherry cream sauce with truffles. When it arrived, I thought it was on a bed of potatoes, but it was not. There were whipped potatoes all around the edge almost as a garnish, which was a bummer. The sauce was good, I would have liked to finish it up with extra whipped potatoes.
We shared the creamed spinach side, which, while tasty wasn’t the right consistency. It was very watery and seemed as though the spinach had been pureed. More credit is given for the large portions, my husband’s beef tenderloin was enormous, and the creamed spinach side was too much for us to finish.
The waiters were very professional and kind, they were excellent at squeezing through the almost nonexistent spaces to get to your table. We never had to wait long for another drink, which are worth mentioning: They made a killer martini. Probably one of the best I have had in the city. Right ratio of vodka to olive juice, large enough to keep me happy for a while, a tiny bit of ice on top… perfection.
We also got coffee, not the best cappuccino I’ve ever had, but alright I suppose. We happily watched Woody Allen and his band as he played for about an hour and a half, which was really why we were there. They were very good, especially the piano player. Woody is a complete loon and it shows, we found the show entertaining. I liked that you could continue to get dessert or coffee/​more drinks as the night progressed. We took advantage of this by ordering the New York Cheesecake (very well done, I couldn’t even eat half the piece, however) and the Vanilla Valhrona Crunch, I didn’t try any of it, but my husband smiled while he ate.
When we got the bill I was absolutely shocked. With a tip, everything was about $ 375, which is insane regularly, but sometimes worth it for the best meal of your life. I just couldn’t see the justification for it on this meal. It wasn’t mind blowing, it wasn’t something I would crave to come back to. AND: this was ON TOP OF the Woody Allen tickets at $ 150 a pop!
Not an evening I would hate to repeat, we did have an excellent time, and the food was not bad at all, but not worth the price tag. I would love to go back on someone else’s dime, or as a gift to someone special (a mother in law, perhaps?)
All in all you definitely get that upper crust old New York feel in there, the service is excellent, the food was okay, the music was a blast.
If you have the means or want to save up for it, it’s an experience for sure. Once in a lifetime, I’d say.

Let’s face it, if you come here on a Monday night, you are not here for the jazz or the food, you are here to see Woody Allen. In case you are telling yourself that it’s not true, that you actually like New Orleans Jazz and that the food and drinks must be great considering the prices, let me rate it on all categories.
CROWD (⁴⁄₅)
The audience was more amusing to observe than Woody. There were quiet a few balding men in their 60s and 70s with women less than a third of their age. Then there were the rich families with their overprivileged kids who are aspiring actors and artists. There were also some true fans of Woody for whom it wasn’t easy to afford the experience and they stayed away from expensive drinks and entrees to keep the costs down. Besides, you are almost guaranteed to meet someone famous and/​or ridiculously rich.
FOOD (⁴⁄₅)
The food wasn’t anything fancy, although very expensive. I liked my medium-​rare filet mignon with a side of mashed potatoes and string beans. The drinks were the most expensive I’ve ever had. $ 25 for a blini!
BAND (²⁄₅) (⁵⁄₅ without Woody)
The music is basically «roots» Jazz. I liked it, and the band was great except for Woody. I think he was having a particularly bad night with his instrument because he was constantly changing and wetting the reed of his clarinet. The notes were not coming out clean and overall he wasn’t very good. I do have to commend him on not quitting the performance and sticking with it till the end of the show.
WOODY (¹⁄₅)
This is probably the category you’re most interested in. You want to meet Woody. Well, that’s not going to happen. Leave you pictures and markers for autographs at home. He did not say a word or make any eye contact with the audience at all during the whole performance. He was quickly escorted in and out with his head down to avoid any contact with the audience. If you are a fan, you probably knew that that was going to happen because Woody is apparently not fond of public appearances. He does this more as a hobby and perhaps to fight his agoraphobia.
VALUE (?/​5) —
The cover charge ($ 155 in my case) is only about half of what you’re going to pay after ordering a dinner (which is required) and one or two drinks. Ultimately that’s up to you to decide if the experience is worth the money. For me it was, but only for one time.

The Café Carlyle is old school upper-​crust New York, alright— this is a place with history and provence… The walls are literally teeming with it, as Ludwig Bemelman’s legacy lives on, surrounding the clientele every evening with his whimsical illustrations. The A-​list patrons of the bar and hotel is a mile long… so it’s no surprise why the place is always teeming with patrons every evening.
Important to note that the Café has live jazz every night, but the cover charge is nominal; the «named» acts play at Bemelman’s, which is on the other side of the hotel.
You pay for what you get — to immerse yourself in classic UES New York history, prepare to spend over $ 20 per drink. However, you do get impeccable service in return for that privilege, as well as a unique and memorable experience.
We always go here with couples — 4 people or 2 is ideal. The music serves as a fantastic backdrop to your conversation, though the crowd here (which is a show in itself) can get really into it towards the end of the night– frequently breaking out into song or dance. The crowd itself is composed of all ages and walks of life, though a LOT of folks 50 and above stake their ground here and you can tell they are «regulars» of the establishment. I personally love that element to the experience — these are people with stories, energy, charisma and life. The things you can learn by hanging out with these folks is priceless!
Take your parents, take your guests, take your significant other for a special evening out… or just go by yourself. You don’t need a good excuse to come here. Just do it at least once while you’re in New York!

From September 9^th until December 16, 2013, Woody Allen & The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band will play at The Carlyle Café every Monday night at 8:45pm.
Does that seem insane to you? It shouldn’t because he’s been doing it every autumn for years now. Is this something you should go to? Heavens, yes.
This was something that I’d wanted to see in New York for eons. Why did it take me so long to finally go? Well, because of money. Anytime I’d come into a little bit of cash, I usually tend to throw that away on beautiful steaks and/​or frivolous items that I’ll never need.
And then one beautiful day, my boyfriend Nathan told me that he was taking me to see the Wood as my Christmas present. (Also note: I had never mentioned to Nathan how much of a dream this was of mine. So when I lunged at him and asked, «How could you possibly know that this would be the best gift of all time?! I never mentioned it before! How could you know!?» — he responded with, «You talk about this man a LOT.»)
So we finally went one lovely December evening in 2012 and since it started at 8:45pm, I wanted to get there for 3:00pm. Seriously. We were getting bar seats, and those are first-​come, first-​served so I really wanted to make sure we were there as soon as possible. We, of course, were the first ones there — but people did start to trickle in by 4:00pm. So… if you’re intending on sitting at the bar? Get there when I did.
Anyway, the wait was fine and even a little fun since I was anticipating the evening so much (also, we saw Mick Jagger walk through the lobby, which was something), we ate dinner at the bar which was ridiculously good, of course — and the show? Man. Perfect. The music was good and it was the neatest thing in the world to see that man bust out a clarinet. He seemed to enjoy the hell out of it, too. Definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I love that man.
Anyway, this isn’t even a great story to read or anything — I get that. But if you’ve ever had any doubts about going to see this, please just do it. Or talk about this man endlessly to your better half until they take you to go see him.
The tickets are $ 195 per person for a real fancy/​good table, $ 145 per person if you want to sit at a table and $ 100 per person + $ 25 drink min if you want to sit at the bar (which is extremely limited seating). Go here (
) for more information on online reservations.

I am a little surprised how few reviews this high end restaurant got on Unilocal.I realized when I dined there. We were surrounded by rich and old folks! I suspect they even know what Unilocal is?! But anyway, Café Carlyle deserved a great review because the service is superb and the food is excellent.
My husband and I came here for our Valentine’s Day celebration and it is definitely a romantic and upscale restaurant to take your sweetheart to. The interior décor is expensive looking and the wait staff is all running around trying to please customers. I noticed a lot of older rich folks dining and talking business.
I started my meal with jumbo shrimp cocktail. There are about 6 on my plate and they are very fresh and tender. My husband got the steak tartar and it is unique and very tasty. I have never had a beef tartar done this way but it is amazing. For entrée, I got the lamb chops and they come with this awesome sauce on the side. The chop is cooked to perfection; it is tender, juicy and fatty. My husband went for their lobster dinner and it is a full size big lobster cooked in butter sauce.
We were both really full after entrée. Still, we went for our dessert to close the dinner on a high note. I really like my berries crumble; it is slightly buttery but fruity. Therefore, it is not overly sweet and heavy. My husband tried the crème brûlée and it is a great choice too if you have enough room for it.
We ended our dinner happily and glad we discovered the restaurant thanks to TravelZoo coupon!