Garden Court Cafe

Great service and wonderful ambient atmosphere. This is an upscale restaurant. Most customers come dressed in business atire or sunday best. The food is delectable and its presentation is impressive. The menu selection is concrete, concise, and easily readable; accompanied by a historical map indicating the origins of each dish. This allows the customer to not only enjoy the food but appreciate why the food came to be.

I’m afraid to reveal the secret of this hidden upper east side gem because only clever locals know to find it tucked away in the Asia Society.
Pros– It is a calm, relaxing ambience the menu is delicious, seasonally sourced and reasonably priced for the quality, the servers are generally friendly and attentive. The curry chicken salad is worth trying and coming back for. Overall experience was excellent.
Cons– only open for lunch and closed on Mondays. Tables and chairs are chipped and in need an upgrade.

Great food friendly environment in an area with not a lot of restaurants. Chicken liver pâté was delicious!

PRO: Beautiful setting, with high skylight ceilings, large windows and lots of light, nice trees and very friendly staff. Decent food.
CON: Cafeteria-​quality tables and chairs, too many of them makes it feel cramped, lack of atmosphere.

The staff is friendly, the ambiance is unexpected of a museum. The food is good it has room for improvement. Is far from a techy hangout like a Starbucks guess that’s why there aren’t as many reviews. But I would definitely recommend it, and come back again.

Amazing that I’m only the 2^nd person to review this place. It’s apparently still a secret to the Unilocal crowd (read: under 55 crowd).
Open only for lunch, this place books quickly and you need a reservation to nab a seat. If you’re reading this review, you’ll probably be the youngest person in the dining room, but don’t let that sway you. Located on the first floor of the Asia Society Museum, the décor is beautiful and warm, with lots of natural light and a huge open space.
Entrees are wide-​ranging, from bento boxes to seared salmon, and all are fantastic. Amazing tea selection, too. As stated by Hootie H., the Chicken Curry Salad is really really good. But I don’t think you’d go wrong ordering anything off the menu.
Everyone else will be wearing business attire as they’re usually taking a break from work. Not that there’s a dress code, but it’s worth noting you’ll stand out a little in a t-​shirt and jeans. Also, gray hair helps if you’re looking to fit in. Also, food here isn’t cheap. Expect ~$ 30/​pp for lunch.

A hidden gem. Who would have thought that inside a museum on the UES there is a beautiful atrium café that serves delicious brunch? I didn’t either until I became a member of the museum a couple years ago.
Reservations are highly recommended as the hours and space are pretty limited (which is why I removed a star), but the service is friendly yet not overbearing and the vaulted glass enclosure is truly unique. Crowd is as expected — Park-​Avenue-​Ladies-​who-​Lunch (or brunch), but if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.
The menu (which can be viewed here:
) is seasonal but there is one mainstay of the menu that is NOT to be missed: the Chicken Curry Salad — it’s truly divine.
Also, they have a great selection of teas from different parts of Asia.
Note: if you are a member of the museum you get a 10% discount on your bill.