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i recently ate at the smile after friends recommended this place and was totally disappointed. the ambiance was lovely and the service pleasant but the food ranged from mediocre to awful. for dinner we started with the frisee salad w/ quail eggs, dates and bacon, the sugar snap peas and the marinated goat cheese. the salad had hardly any of the mentioned dates or bacon and was totally under-dressed. the sugar snap peas were awfully bland and not seasoned and the goat cheese seemed store-bought w/ sub par olive oil poured over it...not to mention the basket of over-toasted dry bread that was so dry it would not pick up any olive oil. for entrees it got worse. the lamb meatballs were totally dry and filled with a chalky nut mixture. they were smothered in a canned crushed tomato sauce with a leaf or two of basil thrown on top. the haddock in parchment paper was bland, fishy and bland. they promised the fish to be cooked with mushrooms, scallions and ginger but the flavor profile was under developed. there was a good vegetable medley dish that was topped with ricotta and a fried egg and this proved the most redeeming thing on the menu by far. while the decor and ambiance were clearly well-designed the food was amateur and poorly conceived.

That wasn't a smile; it was a yawn. Your mom in Nebraska can cook this well from The Joy of Cooking. Nothing is technically BAD... it's just boring. Actually, the fish was somewhat overcooked, the broccoli undercooked with virtually no hint whatsoever of the described garlic butter and brown sugar... it was virtuously steamed broccoli. The scant mushrooms in the parchment baked haddock were sliced into anonymity, seemingly to make them appear more abundant, but instead rendering them missable. A fennel salad was a little sharp; nothing more than an assemblage of ingredients. Minted snap peas, while totally generic, were lovely in comparison to the rest of our doused expectations. You can get fed here, and for relatively less dough than elsewhere, but don't expect to love anything besides the quaint decor.

cute little rustic place in noho. went there on a weekday evening with friends from out of town. Was about 85 degrees outside and 99 inside. a/c only cooled half the place--the back half. I'd go, but in the winter. food was good. service acceptable too.

cafes are a dime a dozen in nyc. only tried tea, but it was delicious. aesthetically pleasing, amazing cozy atmosphere. felt like i was transported into another time & place.

Packed with people discussing screenplays and booking event spaces at 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon = uber sceney. The food was fine, coffee was really good, but there was one waitress for the whole space with every table full which led to long waits for the check and eventually me just leaving instead of getting change. Not the waitress' fault of course, but lack of sufficient staff is a poor reflection on management. All in all, it's a place I'd bring an out of town guest to show them a 1900s-chic mixed-use cafe, but It's more see-and-be-seen than neighborhood staple.

so comfortable. food was also delicious. had the beef salad and chicken sandwich. will go back for sure.