Picnic Market & Cafe

I/​we have supported this business since it opened. The food has always been very good and the service friendly. The décor and ambience have never been it’s strong suit.
Two weeks ago I learned they were going out of business. Their ten year lease had expired and the rent was to be raised an exhorbatant amount.
I notified some neighbours and friends to go to lunch or dinner and see if we could rally a last minute reversal.
I went to brunch with a friend. The espresso machine had been sent back and they were «trying to stay open» our brunches were okaythere was no bread served with our egg dishes and as we were almost finished, a plate of two slices of rye bread cut in half smeared with a bit of butter was delivered to our table. It certainly was not up to standard and we were the only two in the restaurant.
I returned yesterday with another friend to again lend my support.
It was in a word, awful! The «staff» of three whom I had never seen before seemed to be at a loss! Again, we were the only ones there.
We each ordered a burger. It was very much smaller than usual, it was served on a hard toasted roll. The plate was poorly and penurously garnished. We asked for catchup and a very small ramekin half full appeared. The French fries were cold and over salted and the server could not get the cone to stand in the holder.
They had no ice coffee or tea. They did serve a very nice lime aid and reheated decaf coffee. $ 53.00 without the tip was outrageous!
The straw was the rest room; there was no soap and no toweling! All I could think of was the staff (cooks and servers) using it and then handling food!
If PicNic is to «make it» they have a lot of work to do! The place is worn and tired and dreary and not very clean. Bye the way, their grade was pending.
Please take care of your restaurant, the neighbourhood wants and needs you!
Clean up your act and you will have people coming again.

Disgusting is all I can say! I ordered an egg white omelette only to find it rubbery and no taste. The wait staff was inattentive and rude. There was one waiter and about 6 bus boys. They really are unorganized and pretty nasty.

I really enjoyed my one and only visit (so far) to PicNic. Came to hear live music, which was very nice, and enjoyed a couple of very cold Coronas at the bar. Joined friends at their table for dessert, and had the cookie plate, which was very delicious, fresh, generous for the price, and a nice variety. I missed my opportunity to place a dessert order (not paying attention), but the waiter rushed out my cookies quickly. The hot chocolate cakes my friends were enjoying smelled heavenly.
The color and lighting fixtures and artwork are what sold me on the place. The room is a nice size, with the scale being appropriate to create a warm, intimate neighborhood place while still being roomy. I like the paintings on the south wall, especially.
Another important factor was a truly gracious, friendly staff named Jennifer. Very welcoming, and made me feel at home and want to come back. Everyone who served me at the bar was also friendly.

I was pleasantly surprised by my experience here given the amount of unenthusiastic reviews on Unilocal.
We were seated immediately by a very friendly waiter (who may have also been the bartender? unclear haha). The seats are ridiculously comfy as other reviewers have said and I think in general the atmosphere was very relaxed and comforting.
I ordered the Croque Monsieur with a side salad. The croque monsieur was delightfully rich and crunchy in the right places, and the cheese was melted perfectly. I’m very happy I ordered the salad instead of the fries since it was dressed perfectly and cut through the richness of the sandwich.
The waiter was very attentative throughout our meal and was there to refill our coffee cups three times (we had a long night!).
Overall it was a very enjoyable experience and I will be returning again.

This was a last minute choice late night dinner with a few friends but luckily a good one. The staff was great and the food was good too. this is a small french restaurant. The only negative was that the food could have had a little more seasoning … I will be back to try out more of what they have to offer

Pleasant spot with a nice outdoor eating area in a neighborhood that can sure use one. Prices are a little higher than you would expect but the food is delicious, not your typical diner quality. We stopped in for brunch and enjoyed the omelet, french onion soup and salads. The waiter was a little scatterbrained – only brought bread when we asked for it, then had to ask again for butter but nothing traumatic. I would return.

I like this place because I can sit outside while I dine, but that’s pretty much where the pros for this place end. The food is pretty good, but the service is awful. If you’re not in a hurry and you just want to take your time, enjoy! I’ve been here several times and every time the service seems to get worse! Also, I think the breakfast menu is reasonable, but everything else is overpriced. Come to think of it, sitting outside on broadway isn’t that great anyway. Why do I come here all the time!!!

Another vacation in NY, and another stellar PicNic experience. Went there twice for dinner, and another time solo to have a cool glass of rose at the bar. I was so happy that the duck breast with spaetzle was still on the menu… I dream about that dish. Sad, but true. As usual, excellent, friendly service, scrumptious food. I truly don’t understand the negative reviews on Unilocal.I also don’t understand people who review restaurants based on brunch (as mentioned elsewhere here, please read «Kitchen Confidential»).

Impossible service, mediocre food (if it arrives…)
Very difficult to describe the service here. The waiter either totally ignores you — no menus, no bread, nothing for 20 minutes (and the place is not full), or treats you with a sullen, annoyed attitude. Went twice — got each version once. Never again. The first time, we didn’t wait for the menus to arrive (after 20 minutes, no exaggeration). The second time, the food was less than ordinary. Soggy quiche crust, flavorless filling, dreadful coffee. Can’t understand how it stays open, especially after reading the concurring opinions here. And never a response from the owner.

First time to Picnic, and can’t say I’ll be going back — here’s why:
I ordered a mimosa to start and the croque madame, which is what I order the first time I go to any French café. My mimosa arrived warm. Immediately upon sight, I could see that the food I was served wasn’t a croque madame and called the waiter over.
FYI for everyone — a croque madame is a croque monsieur (grilled ham and cheese sandwich) with a fried egg with a runny yolk on top. The ultimate comfort/​hangover/​indulgent food.

I politely asked the waiter if I received the wrong order since the sandwich contained turkey instead of ham and was missing the standard egg on top. He raised his eyebrows, looked at me like I was an idiot, and snottily and loudly argued that I received the right order and that if I wanted ham in my sandwich I should have ordered a croque monsieur and that they only put an egg on top when requested.
I was so turned off and taken aback by his bad attitude and response that I just shut my mouth and said it was fine. The obnoxious waiter ignored us for the rest of the meal and when it came time to get our check the bus-​boy actually had to step in to take care of us.
Message to Picnic: First impressions are everything. Don’t employ uneducated wait-​staff who don’t have any problem-​solving or customer service skills. Additionally, if you market yourself as a traditional French café, you should educate yourself on what these dishes actually should be and serve the traditional versions or the titles you give your food.

Mostly great food
Cool place
John is one of our favorite waiters in the city
Brunch is awesome
Some of the best bacon and burgers around.
Only knock the food at times can be inconsistent …
Still though, one of our favorites

Have been here a few times and it’s always been fine — not anything spectacular, but perfectly nice. I live in the ‘hood and it’s convenient, too. HOWEVER. Today’s visit was so ridiculous I will not be going back. Allow me to chronicle this for you, fellow Unilocaler. (This review is going to be long, I fear.)
We arrive after a rainy walk and a long Saturday night, eager for Sunday brunch. We are greeted and told to sit «wherever»; we pick a table by the window. I get a mimosa, he gets a Diet Coke. All is well. (The chairs, by the way, ARE very comfy, as several reviewers have noted.)
We order: two omelettes. Another party comes in and sits at the table next to us. All is still well.
Maybe 20 minutes to half an hour later, the other party’s waiter brings them their food. We are still waiting and sniffing their fries. All is not well.
Ten minutes after that, the other party’s waiter comes over to their table and explains that he got one of their omelettes wrong because it was «for another table.» They laugh it off. We hear this, assume this was our order, and figure ours will be out soon. No biggie; we’re sitting by the window just enjoying the day. We do start kind of looking for our waitress, figuring she’ll be over soon to tell us what’s up. She is nowhere; never appears.
Fifteen minutes after THAT, I get up to go to the bathroom and stop on the way to ask the waitress (who is, like, lurking in the back of the restaurant) where the nelly our food is. She’s all, «Oh, see, what happened was, this other waiter like totally took your order, but don’t worry, it’s coming now, I think I just saw it.» I go to the bathroom and return to the table. No food.
Five minutes after THAT, a guy comes by with a bread basket. I kid you not. We’re like, um, thanks. (Actually, the bread was pretty good; we started discussing whether we should just cancel our order and have bread and coffee.)
About ten minutes after THAT, our food arrives. It kind of sucks (his fries were good, though; I should have gotten fries instead of a salad).
THEN (yes there’s more), we sit for like 15 minutes with empty plates (while the other waiter clears tables all around us) until I finally decide to go ask for the check. I say to the staff member I find, «Hi, we’re really annoyed by some bad service and we just want our check, really quickly, please.» He says OK (nothing else) and I go back to sit down.
Shortly thereafter, our waitress arrives with the check and says, «Oh, here, I tried to make sure you could read it.» We could not; it was totally illegible, with stuff scratched out and written over. She had, helpfully, circled the total for us. She had also charged us for tap water.
We handed a credit card to the other staff member, not wanting to wait for our waitress to screw that up too, and got the heck out of there. No «sorry» from anyone, not even a «oh, sorry about the wait» from our waitress. Totally ridiculous.
I’m just gonna add that I’m usually a pretty patient person, and that we were not in a hurry or anything. It was just annoying and insulting to be treated that way when we just wanted a nice afternoon. Yuck!

Their tomato soup is absolutely delicious!
Beyond that, this place confuses me. It’s supposed to be French but the décor looks like a contemporary hotel lobby, in a bad way. It’s usually somewhat empty which adds to the convention vibe. Not exactly the most relaxing/​friendly atmosphere for a meal.

I did not enjoy this very much. This food was just ok, and our waiter was so rude. He actually confronted my boyfriend and i about why we chose to split our check and said in france that is considered rude and he didnt understand why Americans do that. It was really uncomfortable and awkward…
The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars is it was nice to sit outside in the late spring.

‘Twas fine.
As one reviewer posted below, the seats ARE rather comfortable!
*ahem*
The salad was borderline horrible, honestly. Wilted lettuce, the spiny white-​green plant parts you never want to eat, and obviously canned grape tomatoes on top? No thank you. I ate it because I was hungry. I didn’t eat it because I necessarily wanted to.
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, it’s Steak & Frites Night: a steak, French fries, and a (horrible) salad for $ 19 bucks. Not too shabby! The steak itself was quite fantastic, if not a little overly peppered on the top. It was cooked to a perfect medium-​rare temperature, and it was so plump and juicy. The French fries stole the show, admittedly. (Yes, I liked the fries better than the steak! Then again, the Irish in me craves potatoes in an almost unholy way…)
Be prepared to shell out for other items. Thank goodness for the good deal on Steak & Frites Night; your average entrée of fine French cuisine is in the $ 24 — $ 35 dollar range.
I wasn’t overly impressed, but the service was friendly and the steak was a steal. Guess that’s all you can ask for sometimes.

Cute for a casual date, if you want to be left unbothered; the staff are not going to fawn over you. I live a block away and there have been several times when I was out for two hours and saw the same people at the tables on my way back, still happily chatting away.
Memorable dishes I’ve had here include frisee salad with poached egg, and beet salad with with goat cheese. A friend once ordered the croque monsieur, which I would recommend after a night of heavy drinking.
More casual and free-​spirited than Café De Soleil (equally good food) a couple blocks up.

I have been living in this neighborhood for about 3 yrs, and have passed by picnic plenty of times. Aside from ordering delivery from there once, a chicken breast with mash and veg w/​truffle oil once, which was nothing special, I had never really eaten here. My general impressions were that the reviews were good, and they looked to have pretty exciting specials, but just a little too expensive.
I walked by on home and saw they had a paella on special tonight, I thought maybe I’ll come back for that. So I decided to come back, it was $ 25 for the paella with chorizo chicken mussels clams and shrimp, that sounds like a pretty good value to me!
So I walk in, completely empty. The décor seems fine. Greeted warmly by an ethiopian gentleman who sat me and would be my server. The menu and specials sounded fine, but I was there for Paella. So I ordered a glass of Sauv Blanc and all of a sudden my friend called and he said he’d join me.
When he got there, we ordered a bottle of
Malbec and waited for our food, the chef gave us a complimentary bowl of tomato bisque, it was creamy and warm, but missing something for sure.
Our food came out pretty quickly, again we’re the only people in there, it was really rainy out. It looked fantastic! But it really wasn’t.
Paella: the chicken was on the bone and kind of good, could have been a little more juicy. Clams were not bad, the mussels were WAY overcooked, and filled with TONS of sand, not cleaned out properly. The shrimp was rubber, the worst part, my god that rice was AWFUL. Chalky in the center, VERY dry, in a Paella?! How? It felt like it was old, maybe even from a day prior or longer. So sad
Steak Au Poivre: literally NO flavor. They developed this gorgeous crust on it, and it was raw in the center, which I actually like but my buddy ordered it medium, which it certainly was not. It was also reallllllly under-​seasoned, almost no taste. The sauce Au Poivre was just really sad, he said this is about even with A1. Au Poivre is a BEAUTIFUL sauce, and not even that hard. Whaaaa happened?
The waiter was the only saving grace, he shot it w/​us a bit and asked about where we were from and our backgrounds, nice guy. But the foooooood, WTF?

This place is not good at all. Stopped in for a drink, and paid $ 7 for a bottle of Corona. Once the unfriendly waiter found out we were just having drinks he ignored us the rest of the time we were there. The place was empty and we were never checked on to see if we wanted more drinks. Server was rude when we paid with credit cards. Even paying the check took forever!
Do not go here if you want good service or good drinks.

Avis en Français, pour un VRAI restaurant Français à NY
Étant seul lors du réveillon de Noël, je suis rentré un peu par hasard dans ce restaurant, sans même savoir qu’il était français.
Et ce fut une excellente surprise !
Repas à 50 $ pour le réveillon, mais qui laisse un choix varié de l’entrée au dessert.
Pour commencer, le chef étant Alsacien d’origine, je me suis dis qu’il serait bon de gouter à sa tarte flambée (flammekueche). Et je né m’attendais pas à manger la meilleure tarte flambée pendant mon séjour aux États-​unis, mais ce fut pourtant le cas !
Suivie d’un filet mignon merveilleusement tendre, une purée délicieuse avec le côté croquant des oignons fris, et des légumes bien cuits, un délice.
Pour finir, mon dessert préféré, c’est dire si je suis pointilleux de ce côté là: le fondant au chocolat
Il était très bon, fondant comme il faut, rien à redire !
N’oubliez pas, si vous êtes Français de passage là-​bas, de saluer le chef, qui se fera un plaisir de vous recevoir !

*** brunch review**
I heard this place is great for dinner, so I figured it’d be great for brunch. We all left feeling like we could have made these brunch dishes ourselves. Furthermore, our waiter was very weird… mumbled a lot and made minimal eye contact. Lastly, we were squashed into a little space by a column, where I couldn’t move my chair.
Honestly, I like giving places second chances, but I am not at all compelled.

While in New York this past weekend, moving into my new place, we decided to try this place for father’s day brunch. We did actually get there before the father’s day brunch special menu, but the regular breakfast menu was still quite nice. Being a French place, I had to figure they would make a great omelette… I was right.
For starters, the place is very charming, small, and did have a small patio section outside, which is perfect for a nice morning brunch. They had a chalkboard filled with the daily specials, all of which sounded amazing, including a cucumber and avocado soup. I’ll be back for lunch.
Anyway, I opted for an omelette with goat cheese and spinach. They only come with toast, but we did get an order of frites which were excellent. The omelette was fluffy, moist and perfectly cooked, exactly how it should be. Definitely one of the best I’ve had in this country.
My only complaint was that the food took a while, when it wasn’t too busy. The prices however, are too cheap (though I shouldn’t complain). Brunch for four of us was only $ 10/​each. Some places you cant get a meal for 2 people for under forty. Anyway, this is a great neighborhood place and I’ll be back for the delicious omelette again.