Cafe Tallulah

Went for dinner tonight and the food was absolutely delicious. Service was slow and while I expect high prices on the UWS, you’ll forgive me if I criticize the price of a glass of house red — $ 17! Really? It was a lousy pour to boot. Sorry, but that’s downright disgusting.

Love this place. Staff is warm and welcoming. Food is consistent and quality. The Chef, Pat is kindest, warmest and takes pride in her work. Great bar. The Bouillabaisse is unbelievable and the Oysters are the best in NYC. I had the best special of watermelon and beets! Desserts are crazy good. Must try! Local and love it

Meh. Food is mediocre, service sucks, many other great local spots much better than this one. Add in that the owner Greg Hunt could care less about his customers freezing. All doors open, everyone complaining and staff won’t close them. They say «it’s our heads if he comes by and sees them closed» let’s not forget it was so windy that garbage was blowing into the restaurant. PASS

The food is good (but not any better than good) but the service, as many other reviewers say, is lackluster at best.
I went with a friend with a Groupon. Now, I get that the waiter might not like folks who come in with a Groupon, thinking they might get a lousy tip on a low check. But the fact that my friend and I ordered $ 30 worth of cocktails to start, cocktails that were not covered by Groupon, should have been his cue that we were not out to have the cheapest possible night on the town.
The first service failure was that my friend and I were given different menus with different prices and items. The woman at the front desk looked at them as if they were from mars, and didn’t know which one was the correct one to use. A minute later, she figured it out, and we were on our way,
The bottom line is that our waiter took our order, brought us our food, and did nothing else. No filled up water glass, no checking on us to see if we wanted anything, no asking if we wanted another cocktail. What waiter in his or her right mind doesn’t want to put another $ 30 worth of cocktails on the check? One who is poorly trained, poorly supervised and simply not into his job or his customers.
Dear Waiters: Please look at your Groupon customers not as a low-​tipping burden. Look at them as a local resident looking for a new place to go to once-​a-​month or so. Don’t give them lousy service, because you think you might get stiffed, give them great service so they’ll come back and pay full price next time.
Finally, all the evidence you need that management doesn’t care at all about the bad service you read about in so many Unilocal reviews is contained in the fact that they have not responded to a single negative post to find what went wrong, and how they could do better in the future.
Unfortunately, unless I start to see Unilocal reviews raving about their service, there won’t be a next time for Café Tallulah.

Café Tallulah has a great vibe, trendy décor, delicious cocktails and friendly staff. Visited with a private party that rented out both floors of the venue.

Over the past few of weeks, Café Tallulah has become my go-​to spot in the neighborhood. I have lived on the UWS for ten years now, and have waited for a place like this. The recent improvements behind the bar have been especially wonderful. Staff is great, and the food is wonderful. You’ll find a pleasant energy in this local’s haunt.

Ganz schlechter Service mit hohen Preisen und durchschnittlichem Essen.
Die Muscheln in Weißweinsoße schmeckten sehr neutral und nicht nach Meer.
Wasser wurde leider nicht unaufgefordert nachgeschenkt.
Es wurde auch nicht gefragt, ob das Essen schmeckt.
Der arrogante Kellner war mehr mit sich beschäftigt, als mit seinen Gästen.
Schwacher Höhepunkt: Am Nebentisch fiel ein Wasserglas um und der Kellner musste auch den Boden aufwischen. Leider vergaß er danach, seine Hände zu waschen!!!
Es gibt bessere Restaurants in der Stadt!

This place is OK — not the best brunch you’ll get, not the worst either.
The Croque Monsieur was nice, the goat cheese «tarte flambee» not so much.
The atmosphere is nice though, and service could get better.

Clean buzzy café UWS… Service polite, friendly and efficient… Food bad, ordered Quiche Lorraine it came out with a thick layer of melted mozzarella, it seemed confused between a pizza and Quiche, accompanied salad, a generic mixed generic greens, for the price of the meal this is lazy! I’m a chef, come on guys it’s not hard to make an easy unique interesting Salad. Step up the food give it a slight interesting twist this could be a great Café!

I was there last night with a party of 7. I picked the restaurant because I remembered that the food was great, but I forgot how crappy the service was.
Both things are still true. The food was great and the service was crappy. We waited and waited and about 45 — to an hour later our food came out.
They sang their apologizes but the damage was done and I couldn’t wait to leave. We always have dessert but we were afraid to order and wait another 30 minutes. It was really unacceptable.
In compensation, they removed the apps we order. I would rather get charged for the apps and be served in a timely matter.

I used to like this place a lot. I’ve had many meals and drinks here. But tonight I just walked out of there. I sat at the bar and none of the bartenders even acknowledged my presence. Too bad for them. I really wanted a good glass of wine or two and a good dinner. But that is happening elsewhere now. I decided it’s not worth sitting there and waiting for nothing.

Service has gone way down hill. The last few times i have been here service has been bad & food has not been as goo as well as small portions. Too many places to eat in NY for bad service however ill probably give it one more try before i decide whether to never go back. They have a good brunch & the dollar oysters at happy hour are good too!

Café Tallulah is your basic brunch place located in the Lincoln Square/​UWS vicinity. While the ambience is great for a nice sunny weekend brunch date, the food here is just medicore. Make sure you get a seat by the windows for maximum natural light and people watching!
Service here is lackluster, if anything. I kept having to ask for hot sauce and coffee multiple times and it was very difficult trying to make eye contact with or track down a waiter/​waitress.
He got the burger, which he said was definitely not one of the best burgers he’s had. I can’t say much else other than that.
As for me, I ordered a brunch — eggs benedict. I feel like eggs benedict is not really something you can mess up, or at least most places don’t. Usually, the poached eggs are runny and here, they were almost cooked all the way through. More cooked than a ramen egg! I found that a bit odd. Their English muffin was also not crispy and tasted like it came straight out of the bag. The fries were crispy and were actually pretty good. I also enjoyed the greens my dish came with, especially the lemon dressing — can I buy a bottle?
Hot coffee here is bottomless, costs $ 3.50, and is actually pretty decent brewed coffee.
Standard brunch place — not sure I would return given there are so many other good brunch places in the city, but worth a try since it’s in the neighborhood.

$ 25 for subpar brunch pancakes and coffee, with tip and tax. Either I’ve officially lost my mind or I need to move out of NYC. Or both.
1 star for the hardworking staff.

I got the $ 34 groupon of dinner for 2, which comes with an app and two entrees.
In a recent Top Chef episode, Gail Simmons poked fun of the ubiquity of crudos nowadays. Granted, it is a safe dish, as long as the fish is fresh and the chef gives it a good amount of acid. And I’d never had a bad tartare or crudo, until I tasted the one at Café Tallulah. The tuna tasted dead and mushy and food-​poisoning-​inducing. The dish was also overly fishy due to the lack of acidity. Garnish of plain cucumber and radish didn’t help. For entrée my dining companion complained about the flavorless bouillabaisse. My pan seared branzino was successfully cooked and seasoned, but I don’t understand why the chef would want to put a hot filet of fish over raw baby arugula, as most of the greens wilted immediately.
Service was very slow since one girl was handling 10 tables at the same time.

Definitely not my cup of tea.
My friend and I came in with a Groupon deal for two entrees and an appetizer. We ordered the beet salad, the bouillabaisse, and the moules frites. The seasonings with everything were off — unfortunately both our dishes were incredibly salty, while the frites lacked salt. The butter that came with the bread tasted somewhat stale as well. The seafood was actually pretty decent though, but we just felt it was such a shame they weren’t well prepared.
Service was great and the place was adorable though. Hopefully they can get their seasoning act together.

The food is fantastic, the ambiance is trendy yet romantic and the experience was wonderful.
All of the negative reviews are on service but I would say that they have overcome this and their management is on top of it.
My fiancé and I will get gilt city to try new places in the city so we don’t go to the same true and proven spots. A lot of times staff will treat you poorly when they should go above and beyond for new customers testing the place. I will say they made this a fantastic experience, the lounge downstairs is a hidden gem and I will definitely be coming back.

A freezing cold night and we were walking up Columbus Avenue after seeing Star Wars. It was a bit late and we only wanted a mellow setting to have a drink and talk. Relieved to find a place open, we were greeted by a friendly hostess and found seats at the long, mostly empty bar.
The bartenders ignored us. No greeting, no nod — nothing. They stood chatting and examine their cell phones. When one finally came over, after about 12 minutes or so, I commented politely (I thought) that I wasn’t sure if he saw us, he made a nasty comment. Had he apologized or smiled or made any sort of friendly gesture, it would have been ok. But he was rude so we left.
The hostess asked us if there was a problem. We told her and she apologized.
I don’t dig unfriendly bars! We went to a place across the street and it was just right!

Came here for brunch on a really cold day. Was nearby and didn’t want to wait an hour somewhere else. Sat down immediately near the window and was a great people watching space.
I ordered the salmon Benedict, French toast and there yummy cappuccino. Overall a nice place for brunch.

This place is something else! Stumbled upon it randomly and I couldn’t be happier that I found it.
Staff– INCREDIBLY FRIENDLY, seriously. We were welcomed by a very nice hostess and a short while after our waiter introduced himself and he was very accommodating even though it was very very busy while we were there.
Menu– typical brunch menu. They had a few daily specials which sounded amazing but we ended up ordering from the menu. I went for the eggs Benedict, which came with a side of greens and french fries, and was not disappointed.
Atmosphere– this is a place you can take your family for a nice Sunday brunch as well as a place you can go with your girls for a boozy Sunday brunch. This place is perfect for both.
Overall– A+. Will definitely be back for brunch soon.

They’ve switched to a new larger mussel, and promoted my favorite server, Ivanna to management!
Café Tallulah can do no wrong.
UWS Best Bet!