Café Henri

Sadly, a week ago Café Henri closed.
Yesterday I discovered the great staff went across the street and proposed to run virtually the same breakfast and lunch menu at Abbottega, 14 Bedford St (unfortunately senza the crêpe).
You’ll find the same eggs Benedict and tartine but translated into Italian!
Help these great people make a go of continuing the attitude and service of this West Village café.
Thank you Matteo!

A really cute place, great for brunch! It’s quite small and cramped though, but the price and the food is well worth it. Try to eggs Benedict, it’s absolutely delicious. Only reason the place gets 4 stars is because the service is spotty, but it’s a small place and it gets really busy during prime time, so it’s understandable.

Quaint but crowded place that we had brunch at. Everyone was congregated in one corner of the room because it was so cold outside. This made moving around to get your seat a bit difficult.
I ordered the orange and caramel crêpe but received the chocolate crêpe. I was too excited and hungry to realize that I got the wrong dish. I ended up inhaling it and helping my girlfriend eat her potatoes that came with the omelette she ordered.
Overall, the food was good and the atmosphere was welcoming. Be sure to have cash on you as their credit card machine was not working over Valentines Day weekend.

A quaint little café for crepes and eggs. My wife is a big time francophile and she really wanted to hit up this popular French joint.
We started off with some awesome fresh squeezed OJ (my waiter had a chuckle when I told him the OJ was so fresh, the straw couldn’t handle all the yummy pulpiness), homemade almond croissant and giant cup of joe (literally soup sized cup).
For the main course we had a side of crispy bacon while very crispy, unfortunately was swimming in oil. I had sweet sausage crepes — (full disclosure, I don’t really like crepes but felt compelled to order it… last time I make that mistake, again my wife is a huge francophile). It was a little heavy for me and it had me pining for the safe choice of eggs benedict. My wife had the salmon crepes which she enjoyed.
I would give it a higher rating (3.5) for the awesome service and just all around good time but I’m just not a crepes guy so 3 it is.

Great West Village brunch spot! I came with 3 friends on a Sunday at 11:30 am and did not have to wait. However, about 10 – 15 minutes after we sat down a line started to form. It’s a very small place so it’s probably best to get there before 11 am on the weekend.
Crepes are a staple in Café Henri’s breakfast/​brunch menu, including both savory and sweet. I ordered the Crêpe Henri with goat cheese, mushrooms, and onions. The crêpe was great, very tasty and filling. My friends ordered crepes as well, and the eggs benedict. We all enjoyed what we ordered! I’d like to go back to try some of the sweet crepes. I’m not sure what kind of coffee they brew, but the coffee is great as well. You can get one free coffee refill before having to pay for your refills.
Café Henri has a cute and inviting atmosphere. I like that its tucked away in a quiet block of the West Village, which makes for a relaxing weekend brunch.

tiny little café with delicious tartine (toasted baguette with butter and jam). i wish they gave you fresh butter instead of a little packet — considering it’s one of the more popular items on the menu, but never mind that. it’s still a good choice when popping into café henri.
the french onion soup was a total score.
the croque monsieur was okay — the bread was pretty tough.
the crepes are a solid option — sweet or savory, you can create your own based on your preferences or get one the pre-​made options.
everything is served with a sprig of rosemary. a nice but sometimes unnecessary touch.
and yes… their cappuccinos are massive.
overall a great little neighborhood spot with pretty good food.

A solid place for any meal! They have a pretty standard French inspired menu and this is place is also very affordable.
They have great cappuccinos, americanos, and hot chocolate! The hot chocolate is served in a cereal sized bowl and cupping the warm bowl with your hands around it is an experience in itself. Plus, it’s dark chocolate hot chocolate!
The meals are also wonderful. The soups are flavorful and not overly salted, and the hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict is delicious! The sweet and savory crepes can fulfill any food craving!
Caveat, the place is not very big, expect to become friendly with the people eating next to you!

I’m going to start this review off being a huge snob, so here goes. I try to avoid having crêpes in New York after spending a summer in Brittany. There it is. There are a lot of bad crêpes in New York, and a lot of good crêpes in Brittany, and I don’t want to bother with the disappointment. This place, however, does good crêpes (they’re actually called galettes when they’re savory, kthxbye). I had the Crêpe Henri with mushrooms, egg and sausage, and it had the great crispy bits on the outside of the crêpe. It’s served with salad, because they’re not trying to kill you, and you can also get cider to go with it for the real Brittany experience (but I would have been the only one drinking on a Sunday morning, so I’ll have to come back with my more alcoholic friends). We waited a long time for brunch because the entire party arrived closer to 1pm, but if you get there at noon on a Sunday, you will probably be fine.
I would happily come back, because it’s affordable, cutely decorated like my favorite crêperies in Rennes, and tasty. /​snob

Claustrophobic West Village place with a wait for brunch. I’m not sure if it’s worth it, but it’s pretty good and you do get a lot of food for your buck. Heck, you even get a lot of café au lait for your buck — comes in a massive bowl-​sized cup. (In my childhood years in France, we used those cups to drink chicory, a pretty typical breakfast for kids there.) Service is very, very stretched, and it doesn’t help that they have to work so hard just to squeeze between tables all the time.
The food is good, though, but I feel like there’s many other French places at the same price-​point in the West Village to compete. The chances are pretty good that the other places are a little less cramped, since this place is the size of a large walk-​in closet.
Sometimes you want to bring your date to a crowded place where everyone else is also going on dates. I suspect that this place is like that for dinner.

Really lovely for brunch. Someone else’s review perfectly described the tiny, quaint restaurant as the ideal place for a «staycation.»
We couldn’t decide what to order and thus ordered much more than we could eat. Do yourself a favor and start with the toasted baguette. It would be enough just to eat this bread with a café au lait (the large is LARGE, by the way). The savory crêpe and eggs benedict were delicious. I’ll be back for the french onion soup and a sweet crêpe.
Filled to capacity, they may be able to squeeze 30 people into the room. One waiter works the floor at brunch. He is busy, but it’s enough to handle all of the tables. It’s on a quiet street in an attractive part of the West Village. We waited a few minutes for a table of 2 around 1:30 on Sunday.

I adore Café Henri. It’s so very French and the tiny location on a side (ish) street makes the trip to Café Henri an instant staycation. You are sort of transported. The food is phenomenal. The care for the meal as an experience reminds you that there is another way to live beyond New York. It’s the mustard on the slightly wobbly table, the still bubbling french onion soup, the tasty crepes, and the tartine starter at brunch. And the obscenely huge coffe in a bowl… yes bowl… as it should be served. I’m back in Paris and forgetting about life for a while, and remembering what standards truly are.
Enjoy this place for brunch or dinner. Though I had a good time there for an early brunch/​breakfast.

I went here with a huge group for brunch and we were seated decently quickly. I ordered the Eggs Benedict to eat. While I was looking at the drinks menu, I noticed they have Lilllet, which I had heard of before, but never actually had. It’s an apertif wine, made with a blend of multiple wines and macerated liqueurs. I was curious, so I ordered one. It was a bit small, but it is, in my opinion, the best brunch drink you can order. Wow, you really need to try it. About halfway through my Lillet, our food came.
Now, I’ve had Eggs Benedict plenty of times in my life, and it’s always been really good.
I have to say, this was, by far, the best Eggs Benedict I’ve ever had in my entire life. My, oh my. Our table went silent once we started eating, because it was just so incredible.
The place was a bit expensive, and my order came to about $ 17 total, but it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent. COME HERE, you’ll love it.

Loved this place!
My friend and I originally wanted to go to brunch a place a few blocks away but the wait was almost 1 hour long and we were starving, so a quick Unilocal search let us to Café Henri and Im so glad it did.
It’s a cozy little place with NO WAIT and delicious food. I got the crêpe and my friend the eggs benedict and both of them were delicious. Prices were reasonable and service friendly.
Would definitely be back!

I was taken here by surprise.
Café Henri is a small and cute spot for brunch. Known for their large, and I mean humungous cup of lattes. A lot of people come here for the Eggs Benedict and let me tell you, it’s probably the best you’ll ever taste. I ordered it with bacon, as you can choose from that or smoked salmon or ham; comes with a side of salad and home fries. Delicious!
My boyfriend ordered the Crêpe Henri, with goat cheese, mushrooms and spicy sausage. Excellently done and it taste incredibly healthy but with great flavors.
We also ordered Les Escargot for appetizer. The escargot was fuming with spices and garlic, came with 3 large toast which was perfect for dipping. After all that, we still had room for dessert. To end the meal, we decided on Crêpe de Marron — which was crêpe with chestnut paste. Definitely tasted different and a little getting use to but it was good, not too sweet and didn’t have that overly bearing chestnut taste.
Highly recommend Café Henri. Staff was quick and attentive, food came out at a reasonable amount of time. Lovely place!

A great find by my friend. This is a great small cozy french inspired café to have brunch while reading your newspaper or magazine — in my friend’s case… studying for the bar.
The place doesn’t get busy in the sense of being packed and loud. You can slowly enjoy your meal while catching up with your friends, who you haven’t met in a while. The lattes are huge and delicious and they made mine with soy (for a small charge). I ordered the salmon eggs benedict — egg was poached perfectly on a bed of lightly toasted english muffin and smokey salmon ($ 2 extra).
I would definitely come back here another weekend just to eat brunch by myself while reading my new yorker magazine.

Last minute Unilocal reference for brunch based on location.
The food was simple, fresh, delicious, and of great value. It is now one of my neighborhood go to spots!
We ordered:
1. salmon eggs Benedict (it was one of the best I’ve had with a nice crispy English muffin — must of brought it out as soon as it was done)
2. Mushroom, bacon, & mozerella omelet was tasty & simple
3. Fruit crêpe with strawberry jam was perfect.
A surprise was their table Dijon mustard: it was amazing. Fans of horse radish or wasabi will love this mustard. we ate it with the potatoes & egg dishes we order… i wanted to take some home. wonder if it’s home made?
The service was normal nothing extraordinary…

Now here is a little gem, truly a small slice of Europe tucked away into a small section of the West Village. The place is dimly lit, small, and a trifle cramped, as my back pressed into the cool front window overlooking Bedford Street, but the charm was just as intoxicating as their food.
Luckily, at 6:45 p.m. on a Tuesday, Lori and I pretty much had this place to ourselves. A quick peruse of the menu boasted an array of crêpes, salads, sandwiches, and a few French stapes, such as Coq au Vin. In a crêpe mood, I went with the goat cheese and leek, and Lori went for the tried and true Croque Madame. When I think «crêpe», I think of a large sloppy, yet delicious, crescent. What I got were two small gorgeously formed and fried crêpes, speared with a sprig of fresh rosemary. The inside was more leek than cheese, which I actually enjoyed, and the leeks tasted as if they came straight from the garden. The side salad I had also boasted the same garden freshness, and the sprinkle of chives on top was the icing on the cake, absolutely!
Though not a fan of eggs with runny yolks, Lori’s Croque Madame looked nothing short of divine, just thick, buttery, and perfectly fried. Though not advertised on the menu, when asked, she was given a side of roasted red potatoes and button mushrooms. If you can cook a potato right, I’ll love you forever. Café Henri, I will love you forever.
Stories of cramped brunches make me nervous, so I am glad I was able to enjoy this establishment in the «calm before the storm», so to speak. Their food, service, and ambiance are top notch, indeed.

Love this place.
Went here on a recent visit to NYC where I was staying the West Village. I found this place online and was not disappointed in the slightest.
The place is small, but on a quiet side street. The décor is very authentic old-​world Paris – very simple.
The crepes were delicious!!! I had the ham, egg and cheese crêpe with the side salad (delicious), and the café au lait in the standard issue large bowl.
I ended the meal with one of the dessert crepes – to pair the savory with the sweet.
All in all a great experience and I will be back!

Café Henri is exactly what I expected – a very charming little creperie that does a couple of things really, really well – crepes and eggs. As a lover of both, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Luckily, I came hungry, so I got a chance to try both the omelette (yum – and ratatouille was a filling option) and a banana and chocolate crêpe. Honestly, they could have stuffed that crêpe with anchovies and durian, and it still would have been good. The shell is soft and velvety, melting in your mouth upon contact.
Foolishly, I skipped the Eggs Benedict, but my accomplice did not, so I tasted that awesome little dish (literally, don’t get ideas). Definitely get the EB if you go eggs. The only shock was that my large café au lait came in a handle-​less bowl (I have since been led to understand this is a French thing). Just beware of the giant hot bowl of coffee if your hands should you choose this route.
The only drawback here is the cramped quarters. It’s so small you probably won’t even have enough room to twist your neck and check out the simple French café décor. But if you’re with good company, or French (as half the place appeared to be), you won’t be getting up much. And, with its very unpretentious prices, how can you not love this place?

I absolutely Café Henri. One of the gems I discovered once moving to SoHo/​West Village area.
I’ve come here at least 2x a month since September… again, at least.
Every time I go, I ALWAYS order the French Onion Soup. I either only order the soup or add it onto a crêpe. I used to love Le Grainne (a French café like Café Henri) in Chelsea until I discovered Café Henri. Café Henri’s soup is richer, has a giant fresh sprig of rosemary on top that I like to tear up and eat with my soup, and has more ingredients in it. Le Grainne’s French Onion Soup is a little lacking on its staple, onions.
I read reviews on various dishes before going to Café Henri and I wholeheartedly agree that the Eggs Benedict here is exactly what Eggs Benedict should be like. It doesn’t say it on the menu but order the Eggs Benedict with salmon… it’s delicious.
Another favorite of mine is the Saumon Fume, Crème Au Basilic crêpe (smoked salmon, grilled vegetables, fresh basil cream). Everything is perfect together and just melts in your mouth. Usually when I have a crêpe with cream, the crêpe becomes too rich to eat halfway through but every bite of this crêpe with its basil cream is delectable.
I love the ambiance of this place too. It’s very cozy and cute. There are two main servers here, both whom are quite attentive and make sure my water glass is always full.
Lastly, the coffee here comes in a gigantic cup and is very good. I’m not a big fan of coffee so I’m quite picky about it. I get coffee here every other visit, which is quite often for me.
Note: they use organic ingredients and for organic foods, the price is great!