Cafe Tallulah

Not quite sure what the bad reviews of this place have been - unless it was a case of them ironing out the kinks in their first few weeks. But I've been a number of times now - to eat at the bar, have dinner, and also enjoy the lounge downstairs - and it is a welcome and needed late night addition to the neighborhood. Classy without being pretentions (none of the fake velvet rope attitudes), the wine list is also a welcome addition to the UWS - great choices that won't kill the bank. Anything with truffles on the menu is worth it, and the tartar is my new late night fav. The signature cocktail is a lovely twist on a sazerac, and the lavender infused gin cocktail whose name I can't remember after three of them was also tasty. The upstairs bar has almost a deco meets steampunk/post-modern red velvet thing going on - not quite sure what era it's supposed to be, but it's a great French /Euro cosmopolitan vibe without feeling eurotrashy. The lounge downstairs seems destined to be mobbed, but for now is a great late night, post date hangout. Highly recommend it as a antidote to stuffier west side haunts.

What a wonderful addition to the UWS! We live only a few blocks away from Cafe Tallulah and were so thrilled with our first dining experience. We arrived early for drinks at the bar; the cocktails were AMAZING! I had the Gilbert and my husband had the Tallulah; the bartenders created a wonderful experience (super friendly and gracious). We were then seated for our reservation. The food was fantastic and the services was wonderful! For an appetizer we shared the Steak Tartare and for dinner my husband had the Boeuf Bourguignon and I had the Salmon. For dessert we had the Creme Brûlée and another round of cocktails. We will definitely be back often and have already recommended Cafe Tallulah to our friends. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Went here last night as I heard great things, but overalI was not impressed. The Maitre D was super sweet and a complete delight, but thats where the positive vibes end. My wine had sediment in the bottom, either from the cork or wine and there were three items not availble on the menu. The venison was cold and the fries, tasted old to me, the mussels and octupus were good, however it was a little odd to have pepporoni in the mussels broth. We were offered something after dinner.. but no desserts were available...so not really sure what we were being offered. coffee perhaps. I hear that the vibe downstairs is awesome and will go again to just check out this, but not for the food, I was really disappointed.

Upon arrival, this place looks pretty unappealing from the outside, and the side entrance kind of confuses the appearance and impacts the charm of the place. Inside, they have done a relatively good job and it's appealing and stylish. We were seat at a table near the bar, very busy (as you might expect) and the table was also wobbly. Unfortunately, the food was tragic. I would have gone for the duck, but it had sold out (by 7:30pm!) I opted for a pate appetizer and decided to wait on ordering a main until after that - thankfully! The pate was gritty and too pungent. The toast was room temperature and burnt to a crisp. I sent it back....and received the same thing! The waitress didn't seem bothered and clearly was not going out of her way to try and improve the situation. There did seem to be very poor communications between management staff (lots of them!), waitresses and the kitchen. A lots of staff wandering around, looking pretty despondent and distracted. We complained in a polite manner and they seemed a little surprised. They were apologetic, but to be serving such poor food is just not acceptable....forget the fact it was Valentines evening too! Someone mentioned it's just what the UWS needed, and you're right, however it's so poorly executed that I don't think we'll ever go back. In short, this place wouldn't last a week in West Village or other more hip parts of town. Why should and do we accept such poor sub-standard on the UWS!

It was Valentines day and we were in a great mood before we came here. This was our first time trying this place. First off, the items we wanted to order on their limited menu that day were not available. Then, they offered to bring bread and didn't bring it. When we asked about it, they said they ran out of bread. They brought soup with no spoon. After asking several waiters for a soon, it finally arrived after 15 mins by the time the soup was cold. They poured tap water into my glass of sparkling water and when we asked for a new glass, they said they don't have an open bottle of sparkling water and asked if we wanted to BUY another! When the food arrived, it was not tasty. Never have we had this kind of poor service anywhere.

I almost didn't try Café Talluah based on the reviews here. But I’m glad I didn't pay attention. Had the Steak Tartare and fries, Boeuf Bourguignon. My wife had Octopus and Veal. Food was amazing. We loved everything. Service was spectacular even though the place was packed. The drinks were superb. Pricey, yes. But worth it. We will be going back and often.

I looked forward to going to Cafe Talullah. I live one block away. For several weeks it was hard to get a reservation. Tonight it is a snowstorm, so somehow we were able to get a table. The waiter was nice. Everything else was poor. It took forever to get appetizers and main dishes. We returned two soups. My steak au poivre was cold, cut and not tasty at all. Why people go to this place I have no idea. One of the servers forgot to put white chocolate in the dish. Out of 4 people in our party - not one liked the place. I will never go back there.