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First Impressions: Josephine
Let’s try something new with these First Impression articles. Have you been to Josephine, the bakery/café/wine bar that opened last weekend in Independence Plaza North, at Greenwich and Harrison? What did you order? How was it? How was the overall experience? I’ve been twice now. I’ll share my thoughts in the comments in good time….
UPDATE: I had to turn off comments because the spam was overwhelming. Feel free to comment about Josephine in the Tribeca Citizen Restaurant Guide.
Recent First Impression articles:
• Birdbath Bakery
• Mehtaphor
• Franklin Café Buon Gusto
• BLT Bar & Grill
15 Comments
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Ambiance: warm and welcoming
Service: a tad slow but very pleasant
Food : had the standard Quiche Lorraine, very light and tasty.
Prices: a little high.
A nice replacement for the Bouley coffee and that is no more.
Had the quiche (salmon and spinach) for lunch yesterday. Very good with a nice dressing on the salad. The pastries all look delicious but the quiche was filling enough that I just couldn’t. Ambience–quite nice. Pretty space. Service maybe a little slow but I wasn’t in a hurry. Will go back.
We seem to be racking up quite a few pastry places, don’t we?
I’ve been twice.
Takeaway – excellent value (I really do think they undercharged me, but I double checked and they seemed confident) but service was confused… they don’t know what they are doing quite yet.
Second time we sat in. Service was good, food was fine, not to die for but fine. I didn’t like the coffee which was way too strong for me, but loved the orange juice which was a genuine fresh press… i saw the oranges being squashed! We sat undisturbed for a couple of hours and were very happy with the ambience.
Conclusion: perfectly fine lunch time space (not to die for or amazing, but really, perfectly fine) and we will definitely go again.
Stopped in Saturday AM for breakfast. Service was pleasant but terrible. they just don’t have their act together yet. Food was pretty good.
Place has potential. Unfortunately service was slow and staff definitely not thoroughly trained. Also need to clean the windows when you walk in (still almost looks like under construction). Also should have a stanchion outside otherwise hard to tell they are open.
Service was slow and server seemed like he had never waited tables before.
Food was OK, I ordered quiche Lorraine. My expresso was terrible, bitter tasting filled to the brim (too much water) and came without a saucer nor a spoon! It wasn’t like they were too busy, there were many open tables. Just untrained servers.
You would think for a place just opening up they would try even harder…definitely not the case here. The prices were also little high
I’ve had the same experience as (most) everyone else. Here’s hoping the service gets more proficient soon.
I’ve been there 3 times (take-out every time of coffee and a pastry) and each time I’ve been disappointed.
I agree with all the comments above about the service. It’s slow. The first time, there were too many people behind the counter, each one getting in the way of the other. The second time, two different people took my order and then I got the wrong thing. The third time, they were just slow.
The coffee has been mediocre. My lattes are always lukewarm. And I tried 4 pastries with poor results – an eclair (OK), a muffin-like tart (horrible), a chocolate chip cookie (not great) and pound cake (horrible.)
I’m not sure I’ll go back…I want to like them because I’m all about supporting local businesses but they really need to iron out their kinks, quickly or they’re going to lose people. With so many good bakeries in the neighborhood now (Takahashi, Birdbath, Daisy something or other, Le Pain) they really need to step up their game.
You would think being a new restaurant, the owners would welcome you, circulate and ask if everything is ok, and thank you for coming. They totally ignored each and every customer and left it up to the waitress, who was trying very hard. The owners sat with friends. Ordering a bagette w/ ham and cheese that was on the menu and recieving 2 small olive bread rolls with ham and cheese is not acceptable. Three of us went for brunch..$57.00 and $3.00 for each regular coffee refill??
First of all I really want to like this establishment. I was looking forward to Josephine’s opening… I’m very disapppointed. Ordered Quiche Lorraine. Simple French staple…right? Wrong. A soggy piece of butter dripping toast sized mystery they call quiche… (I always thought quiche was deep dish and round) that was terrible (wish I could think of another word) with a few greens for a salad. $12. This is my second meal here…the first when they just opened….had brunch.. which became a 1.5 hour ordeal…the service was appalingly slow…with the wrong order to boot.. Yes the service has improved and the wait staff are nice and friendly…the decor looks good but in a neighborhood of eateries this isn’t enough. I would recommend Josephine hire someone who knows how to run a restaurant. She hasn’t a clue. The only saving grace is their pastries and coffee. From now on that’s all I will order…and only to go. Sorry.
We were a little worried going there for brunch based on the reviews above.
However, we were pleasantly surprised. I ordered a quiche Lorraine and my girlfriend ordered eggs Benedict. Both were served pretty promtply and were delicious, especially my quiche. Freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice were just perfect (even had that little bit of a foam on top which i loved). The cappucino was great and i did not feel the service was all that slow. The total for 2 people was $45. Great ambiance and great brunch! Will definitely come back again!
I write this without anyone at Josephine, the relatively new Cafe Francais & Bakery at 40 Harrison St (corner of Greenwich St) asking me to write. I used to pass this place where I paid my rent once, thinking it was related to Chez Josephine’s in midtown, and thus, too expensive for me. Then a girlfriend, coming to visit for Xmas, commented she didn’t know I had a “chocolate bar” in my neighborhood. I wish more people knew about this cafe/restaurant. It has great coffee, amazing desserts (half the price of Whole Foods tarts) and is run by the nicest French woman.
I don’t know why Josephine isn’t doing better business and I don’t know what it takes to get a restaurant up and running (I think it opened last fall). It breaks my heart, however, to see this place empty all day long when there are crummier restaurants further south that people crowd into. There are real homemade bagettes, and I know I sound like an ad, but I just don’t think we’ve welcomed this restaurant into our downtown neighborhood properly (Tribeca). I’m not a big restaurant goer, but it’s comfortable at Josephine’s, big soft chairs, nice music, good art, fab bathroom! I feel tempted to put fliers under everyone’s doors, but I wanted to try my local paper first. Josephine is long and kind of uninviting on the outside, but so kind and delicious on the inside. And “they say” the French are unfriendly. I wish we could embrace this affordable cafe!
SIncerely yours,
Jane Goldberg
310 Greenwich St 13K
NYC 10013
I want to like this place but every time I give them a chance they let me down. I always come here to buy baguettes (which I thought was made there because that was what I was told) only to see the woman behind the counter pulling out baguettes from a bag from the bakery down the block!
I stopped buying their pound cake because it is never fresh. You’re better of getting the croissants these are always good.
Their prices are very expensive. $4.50 for a small hot chocolate? And the taste is nothing special. I once ordered a chicken panini and had to wait literally half hr and it had PAPER STUCK TO IT!
I’m sorry Josephine clean up your act because for these prices your service is unacceptable.
Had lunch there again this week and there were no other customers in the place. It was unpleasantly cold and when I went to the pastry counter to pick out a (rather strange chewy) cupcake I saw the outside door propped open, so I closed it, thinking someone had done it accidentally. It continued to be very cold and when we left I realized they had re-opened the door! They are doing it on purpose to drive customers away. What is that all about?! No wonder it’s empty! BTW service is not any better when it’s empty. Very French I guess.
i just love this place! I went for brunch and had a croissant (still warm by the way), some eggs benedicts and a cup of coffee.. everything was delicious.
The service got improved: French waiters all over the place.
The terrace is just fantastic and face the sun for breakfast time. I don’t know why some comments are bad because yes, it’s a business and sometime there are some bad days like no paper in the printer or a supplier who forgot to deliver flour for the bread.. They are human beings like us! But anyway, I like the place a lot, it’s a little Paris in Tribeca! Also, they just opened for dinner recently and the cheese plate is just amazing. I’m definitely going back!