Food, cocktails and bartenders all great! Bar area of the dining room was a touch bright and hopefully they add hooks under the bar (but job well done on the USB ports and wifi). Can't wait to try the Tavern part downstairs! Much needed addition to Murray St. — Katie on New Kid on the Block: Washington Market Tavern

Thanks, Marc. — KP on In the News: Verizon Building Makeover

KP, For a restaurant where you can hear your dinner companion, try Tutto il Giorno on Franklin. My wife and I keep bringing friends and relatives there since they really managed to control the noise so well. And food and drinks are consistently good. Haven't been to Batard yet, so can't compare! — Marc on In the News: Verizon Building Makeover

Is it noisy? — KP on New Kid on the Block: Washington Market Tavern

Glad to hear that about the soundproofing for Bâtard, though Suzanne F reported it here way before Gael Greene. I will wait to hear from Suzanne as to whether the soundproofing made any difference before I consider going there. I'm so sick of yelling in noisy restaurants. — KP on In the News: Verizon Building Makeover

My building is wired for TWC only. We've tried to get fios but keep getting a runaround. Can't figure out how to get Verizon to wire our building. When TWC broadband is working, it's been OK, at least this past year. But every single summer there are outages, and it's hard to get them tell you that that is why you're internet is so problematic. They like to blame it on your modem, but right before your scheduled appointment, they give you a robot call telling you it was an outage in your area and you should cancel your appointment. Then the problem starts up again a couple of days later.\ This has been happening over the past month. And like Eric, I must call in to get a refund. As someone who runs a business from home, this is extremely disruptive. Oh, I only get 30 mps down, and 5 up, FWIW. I don't have cable TV and also got rid of TWC phone service because it went down a lot. Alee, how much do you pay for 100mbs down? — KP on How Do You Feel About Your Broadband?

RCN isn't available at my location. I called the company (because their website couldn't find a city in NY state called "New York", not kidding). They don't serve my block and the representative said that as far as he knows, it's a "block by block" thing. — David G. Imber on How Do You Feel About Your Broadband?

I used Time Warner Cable for a year and a half and my internet service would go out on average for 5 business days per month. It took about 45 minutes on the phone each time to find out that there was "an outage in my area" and for Time Warner Cable to tell me there was nothing they could do about it other than proceed according to their regular schedule (they would provide no estimate as to how long the outage would last) and I had to make at least two additional phone calls each time to get reimbursement for the time of the outage (most of the time they argued with me over the timing of the length of the outage and would pay me less than what would constitute reimbursement for the full time of the outage). I switched to RCN, which, while not incredibly fast, has not gone out once in the last 9 months. — Eric on How Do You Feel About Your Broadband?

Thanks @alee, the tech stuff is very meaningful to me. I'd heard from friends in Astoria about the 50~100 mbps jump, and that was part of what prompted this general inquiry. That service has improved was something their report did not include, and it's encouraging. — David G. Imber on How Do You Feel About Your Broadband?

Currently in a TWC and FIOS enabled building, and have had both (and for a while had both simultaneously). As a bit of a tech artifact - in an older building like I am living in, FIOS is fiber to the basement (MDU - multiple dwelling unit) and VDSL (Very high bitrate DSL) or coax from the basement to the unit. So basically Verizon runs a massive fiber connection to your building, and some hardware in the basement, and the last mile is all traditional copper-based DSL or coax riding over your old legacy phone lines or cable. Newer buildings that are wired for fiber are able to get fiber to the premise (FTTP). With FIOS the speeds were some of the fastest I've experienced with some of the lowest latencies out there. It also never went down where my TWC connection used to drop a lot, so I used my FIOS a lot more. Of course it's 2014 now... and TWC has fixed all my issues as far as I'm concerned. Internet has never gone down. My Ultimate package went from 50mbps to 100mbps downstream for free, and they sent me a little card letting me know. And my upstream at home is 5mbps which is better than the 2mbps VZ was prepared to offer me. Customer service has improved, and most of the annoying things that used to require a truck to come are now self-service -- I can pick up CableCards and self-install, I can buy a cable modem on Amazon and call in the serial number and MAC address and stuff just works. I'm moving in a few weeks, and have decided to keep TWC. I called them earlier today to move my service, got a normal person on the phone in 5 min during lunch, who gave me a lot of flexibility in terms of truck roll hours, and reminded me that a truck roll may not be needed -- if I connect my stuff and it works, then I can cancel. The old TWC was never like that. — alee on How Do You Feel About Your Broadband?

I've been staying at the Smyth since July of 2009 and like it just as it is, although I look forward to trying the new restaurant when it opens. Hope the fabulous red chairs remain after the refresh of the guest rooms. If not, I want to be first in line to put in a bid for one. — Linda on Seen & Heard: The Smyth Hotel Is Getting a Facelift

Had a fantastic meal there last night... Food was delicious. Very relaxed vibe. Great cocktails. — TomB on New Kid on the Block: Washington Market Tavern

Nice jeresulem cruisers.didn't kniw it was picture day? — dkip on New Kid on the Block: Washington Market Tavern

Re: Tribeca historic district expansion... Seriously? Now? After new construction every fifteen feet. The barn is wide open and the horse is long gone — Rohin on In the News: Expanding Tribeca’s Historic Districts

Can not WAIT to go here!! — Two Bridges on New Kid on the Block: Washington Market Tavern

As one with very little imagination, I am always amazed by the power of renovation. I have been in that Doctor's office and will admit that it was unappealing to think of a café there, but it looks lovely, and between your review and the comments, I look forward to going. — Andrea on New Kid on the Block: Macaron Café

Why doesn't the NYPD get rid of the fake handbag vendors all together? they are selling illegal merchandise on the street without a license and make crossing Canal street a horrifying experience. — HH on Seen & Heard: One Vandam’s Funky Curtain Wall

we've been there twice already (we live very near by!) As expected, the macaroons are delicious, but the salmon sandwich was also excellent with a really nice dill sauce and great bread. The coffee snobs I went with also liked the coffee, I liked the orange juice - real, fresh squeezed. Next time we go, we'll try the salads! — Liat on New Kid on the Block: Macaron Café

marilyn monroe question: i seem to remember learning somewhere that marilyn used to be a customer of the plant nursery in the ex-gas station that used to be where the tribeca grand is now. can anyone verify that? — josh on In the News: Marilyn Monroe Photos

jeez, i better start wearing clean clothes when i take my kid or dog over there. i had no idea i was in such esteemed company! — josh on In the News: Marilyn Monroe Photos

When I was there and they were nearly out of croissants, Arnaud told the kitchen to bake more. That said, it's possible the croissants are made uptown (or elsewhere) and simply baked on site. — Erik Torkells on New Kid on the Block: Macaron Café

Does anyone know where they get their croissants and pastries? — Karen on New Kid on the Block: Macaron Café

I'll be interested to read the review of Racines. I had an absolutely horrible experience there in late June. I tried to contact the manager by phone later that week to discuss our experience privately but my messages were never returned. I had never posted on Open Table or any similar review site before but this was so bad and the attitude so arrogant I went ahead and posted. — SW on Seen & Heard: Demolition in Northwest Tribeca

"Even the pier’s Eurocentric playground has become a place to see-and-be-seen, thanks in part to the celebrity parents. Ed Burns and Christy Turlington, Karolina Kurkova, and Leelee Sobieski have been spotted there. They are joined during the day by the freshly blown-out TriBeCa moms, with their Céline bags and their Valentino Rockstud sandals, who transform the playground into a Concours d’Élégance of high-end strollers, with displays of four-figure models by Bugaboo and Stokke almost de rigueur" I am impressed that the playground has actual "TriBeCa Moms" and not Tribeca Nannies... — Sheila on In the News: Marilyn Monroe Photos

What a great collection of old signs, love the ghost signs they're my favourites. Also love the Morgan's Market sign, my fave breakfast place when I visit. How fab they are on display on Jean's door. — Di on The Way Tribeca Was