Primo’s Cafe

Came here this morning and had a bad experience. The customer service is definitely lacking here and that’s not OK.

A new option for breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, salads and coffee has arrived to the western Harlem area — giving the established businesses in the area some competition in the breakfast/​burger /​diner area for West Harlem)
I’ve been watching this place come together during the past year after moving to NYC — all while coming to or leaving from another established breakfast-​burger joint.
I might have never tried Primo’s except I was looking for a better pancake experience. While the established breakfast-​burger joint’s pancakes are relatively fast and cheap, they are a bit on the doughy side and suck up a LOT of syrup.
Seeking a better pancake, I checked out Primo’s…and was rewarded with a better pancake AND turkey sausage AND some damn good coffee to boot.
The atmosphere is clean and fresh. Primo’s features displays of their salad bar, patisserie, pizzeria, bagel bar, and soup center. They also have open displays of their soft drinks — mostly standard fare soda’s and Snapple.
Primo’s feature a coffee and smoothie area with espresso bar so they can make a variety of hot and cold coffee drinks and smoothies (the smoothie machine is an Oasis, so I’m not sure about the integrity of the smoothies, but at least it’s an option).
The dining area is relatively open (compared to the breakfast-​burger joint’s counter area) and features wood tables with rattan seats. The dining area also features a 46 inch flatscreen TV.
The menu is classic café/​diner type with salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, and breakfast items.
Dining in feels more like a cafeteria than a café; they give you plastic utensils, plates, and cups on a plastic tray. I had to ask for butter with my pancakes (they should have known). My syrup came in packets, so there was no option to have hot syrup.
All in all, Primo’s been around for three weeks. They have some kinks to work out, but they have location (caddy corner on 125^th and Amsterdam) and a larger dining space working for them. They don’t deliver and they’re not 24 hours like the breakfast-​burger joint does, but can compete in other ways.
Like making a pretty good pancake, turkey sausage, and damn good cup of coffee.
I’ll be back.