Renaissance Java Cafe

worst place ever! ordered a bagel with cream cheese and bacon. first off who charges $ 5 for a $ 2.50– $ 3.00 sandwich. asked the worker why it cost so much, he points at the board and said bacon cost $ 2.50 extra. (no bacon price written on board). on top of that it was microwaved bacon. totally sucks. last but not least the bagel with cream cheese was the worst in all of nyc. never knew there was a bad bagel with cream cheese especially in nyc! their plain cream cheese is so sour that it tastes like your eating a lemon with every bite. if i could give them a negative star i would. worst café ever!!! stay away unless you like ridiculously overpriced nasty food. (nyc is known for their bagels, definitely not representing nyc).

Great staff; very informative and polite. They steam all their milk (even soy). Such a different taste! The coffee is AMAZING and all coffee should probably be done with steamed milk: D
Pricing is decent and the bagel I had (really looked forward to it) had the perfect amount of cream cheese (all around the middle, unlike other places that only add in the middle).
Will definitely be returning!

This place is awesome. The coffee is delicious and made even better because they steam the milk, even almond milk. The iced coffee is great too. All the food is freshly prepared quickly in front of you. Service and ambience are wonderful as well.

Sure, I’m pretty hungover when I come here and I’m extremely happy with any food being thrown in front of me, but don’t let that take away from the A-​OK rating here. They can make you some decent eggs in the morning and have a nice selection of tea/​coffee. Eggs will run you about 8 $ and then a few toppings are extra, so it’s not exactly a cheap breakfast. Great for a quick meal on the go though. Beyond the eggs, the bagels… are eh. Skip ‘em if you can. Nothing special and nothing terrible here. If you search the area, you can probably find a better version everything. If you’re to hungover to search, you’ll do just fine here.
Note: They only have one burner, so multiple egg orders will take a while.

Coffee is so much better next door at Brooklyn Fare Bakery. Never wasting my money here again

The coffee has always been terrible but I’d stop in for the the random egg sandwich in the morning UNTIL I was charged a $ 1 surcharge for a ‘Weekend Tax’ (which isn’t written on the menu nor was it told to me until I was rung up) — this is just ridiculous, a bad business move executed poorly so I won’t be going back. There’s plenty of great coffee in this area, I’ll just run to a bodega for a quick bite next time.

I came on a Monday morning prior to one of my visits. I enjoyed a cheese Danish and a cup of coffee. Both were good and I had no issues with service. I love how they played oldies music as well, brought back memories (better then the shit you hear on radio)
One negative is the parking around here is terrible and the parking lots fill up quick. In addition it’s right by Fulton mall (not sure if that is a negative or positive).

I wish I could give this no stars. How on earth this place gets good reviews is beyond me. I live across the street and have really tried to like this place and have been here a whole bunch of times. Every time I leave wanting my money back. They seem to hate taking orders, and I ALWAYS get nothing more than some type of coffee and muffin or bagel. Bagels are hard and chewy, egg sandwiches are soggy, coffee tastes like folgers frozen instant, lattes and specialty drinks are the same, and customer service is a grunt and my change thrown at me. I won’t come here no matter how lazy I am anymore. AVOID unless this all sounds like your type of place.

I always pass this place on my way to Brooklyn Fare– it is decent. Don’t come here for the smiles and friendly atmosphere– you won’t get them.

This place is awful. My girlfriend went in to order a bacon, egg and cheese on a plain bagel for me and a egg and cheese on an everything bagel as she is a vegetarian. They put the bacon on her bagel and not mine. Apparently they do this regularly. So she went back to have them switch it. They sent her back with the same sandwiches. She said they were especially snotty to her and sent me back in her place. I went back and they sent me back with the same sandwiches. When I returned I told them they had done it again and they argued with me that they had changed the sandwiches. Once I requested my money back he forcibly threw the sandwiches in the garbage, yanked open the register and threw down the $ 9 and sarcastically wished me «have a nice day.»
I would strongly suggest eating somewhere else.

The original owners are back! The soups and sandwiches here are delicious and the staff is very friendly, especially Ernesto! I always get the soup of the day with a grill chicken panini. Absolutely delicious! I am so glad they are back.

The positive reviews that this café has somehow garnered are absolutely baffling. I work nearby, have been here a number of times and each visit, I’m greeted with the same disinterested, half-​assed service. Now, despite my tone, I can assure you: I’m not a dick. I don’t walk into a restaurant expecting to be called «sir», I don’t need you to be incredibly stoked to be working there and I don’t need my ass kissed. But the employees who work there legitimately seemed to have been lobotomized. It’s one thing to be short, it’s an entirely other story when the downtrodden managers seem disappointed to see you walk in and taking your order feels like a gross inconvenience. All I ask is that people communicate clearly and display some level of attentiveness when interacting with me. Basic Humanity 101. This place fails terrifically at this simple task.
My latest visit is a prime example of the awful attitude the employees have and how it negatively effects their food. A few days ago, I order a large grilled chicken Caesar salad. The woman behind the counter turns to the kid working the kitchen and asks if he knows how to make it. Keep in mind, this conversation is held in Spanish and neither of them think I can understand them. The kid replies, «I think so? I’ve seen you make one» and sets off making my shitty Franken-​Salad. Since they didn’t hear me the first time, I clarified two additional times that I wanted a LARGE salad. When it’s all said and done, I’m handed a tiny ass container filled with a mediocre salad and charged 8.50.
I look at the container and ask her, «This is the large?» Now, I know that she’s given me a small because it’s the only thing I’ve ordered at this god-​awful restaurant… both sizes, numerous times. She turns to the kid and asks him (reassuring since he’s like 15 and I’m pretty sure she runs the place) and he kinda mumbles something and shrugs. She turns to me, and with as much confidence as that pimply kid in high school everyone clowned on, mumbles, «It’s large, yes.» Rather than standing there and getting into it, I decide to count my losses and never return.
As I’m leaving, I watch the manager walk over to the containers and take a large plastic one off the shelf. I watch her through the window as she stares blankly at the container like it’s going to come to life or some shit. I wonder if she finally realized she was wrong or if she was just bored with life.
Their shortcomings surpass the realm of «honest mistakes.» The manager’s awful attitude inevitably results in a lack of care and interest in the food they make. She could have easily walked over and looked at the container before charging me extra and letting me leave, but something tells me she 1) didn’t give a shit and 2) was too miserable to make the effort.
Oh ya, and the Cesar salad I ordered? It had honey mustard dressing in it… I knew that kid was in over his head.

Terrible eurotrash café. Ick. We deserve better in downtown brooklyn.

Nice little coffee shop. I had a delicious cup of loose leaf Fiji green tea here.

As a vegetarian, it is sometimes hard to properly judge a place based on their vegetarian dishes alone, but I do, since that is what I eat when I go out. I had such high hopes coming back to the US of A, but so far they are being dashed by places by Renaissance Java.
The staff was friendly/​responsive enough — when I asked one of the guys to wipe off one of the dirty tables, he did so, putting down what he was doing to take a dry paper towel (not a damp cloth with sanitation liquid, as sanitation code would dictate) to brush some of the crumbs off, leaving the dried up liquids and sticky spots. Great, I suppose i’ll just use some of my water to at least make them invisible, if not disinfected.
I ordered the vegetable panini, which looked to be good, promising an artichoke spread, grilled veggies and mixed greens. What I got was the worst sandwich I’ve ever had: soggy onions, carrots and celery with a tasteless spread and the wilted and spoiling greens on the side topped with canned corn and a watered down dressing. Those are not grilled vegetables, those are the beginnings of a soup and it’s called mirepoix. Did you just cut too much for your soups, so you thought you’d throw it on some bread? Was it too difficult to go to the huge grocery store next door if you were out of grillable vegetables? I ate half because I was really friggin hungry and ran home to eat proper food.
My wife had the calamari soup, which she described as «not so great.» It was salty, the calamari was tough and not fresh (obviously frozen), and didn’t taste fresh. No wonder — I saw them take the large pot of it out of the refrigerator and heat it up in a frying pan. Who knows how long that soup has been in the fridge?
The décor and atmosphere was not comfortable either — though the place was clean overall, the tables were all dirty, surprising since we were the only other people in there, and it was obvious that not much thought had been put into decorating, situating tables in the admittedly small space (hint: move the honking drink refrigerator and give yourself some nice window seating!)
They advertise free wi-​fi which we didn’t use and they offered two kinds of flavored coffee, which we didn’t try. I don’t drink flavored coffee and the cookies didn’t look fresh, so we passed, paid our $ 14 for a small soup and sandwich, and left hungry and dissatisfied. Will not be coming back to this establishment.

I enjoy coming to this spot for their grilled chicken panini (with mozzarella and tomato). It’s very tasty and filling, you also get a salad on the side which is a bonus.
I also highly recommend their caesar salad (with/​without grilled chicken). The Caesar dressing is delicious and light.
The service is okay. The men who make the food are more pleasant then management. I will continue to come back for my panini with a side of smiles.
Note: By default you get the mixed green salad with the panini but you can request Caesar.

I agree with Mike P! Having «Café» in the business name throws me off because I expect it to be a cute little coffee shop with comfortable chairs and coffee tables where you can play board games, read a book, etc. Not like a bodega with lots of seating.
I ordered a chocolate chip cookie ($ 1) which was a bit crunchier than I would like, but still yummy. I also got a chai latte which wasn’t the best chai latte I’ve ever had but still acceptable. The workers were super nice though and very friendly.
Overall it’s a very A-​OK place !

A solid stop for a quick lunch, Renaissance offers all sorts of panini, soups, salads and baked goods. The guys behind the counter are unfailingly polite; they put up with me changing my mind about what I want, and they always tell me that I don’t look fat in these jeans.
The turkey, cheddar and sun-​dried tomato panino is solid, but for variety’s sake, I often like to go for the small soup/​half panino combo, which also comes in at $ 7.
Even though it’s not on the board, you can also do a salad/​panini combo. Unfortunately, you can only get a house salad with that, not the Mediterranean one filled with all sorts of deliciousness* ($ 6.50 small, $ 8.50 large) that I get when I suspect they were lying to me about not looking fat in these jeans.
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*I do wish they would pit the Kalamata olives though. It’s hard to look smooth in front of the cute girl getting her iced coffee when I’m spitting out pits. Also, I nearly broke my tooth on one as I was shoveling salad into my face indiscriminately as I read things on my iPhone, which was definitely not my own, stupid fault.

In New York there are two types of «Cafes.»
The first usually never has «Café» in the name. This is the kind of place where they take the time to make the location feel warm, comfortable, and unique. They are proud of where they get their beans, have baristas working that are well trained, and usually charge about 20% more than other coffee locations. These are the coffee shops of Seattle I’m used to.
Then, there is are second kid of cafes. These usually always have the name «café» in the title. Sure, they sell coffee… but they have more of the feel of a bodega than a coffee spot. They usually always have seating with stark tables and chairs set up in a block. The coffee is usually not bad, but nothing beyond what you can get at Starbucks. Also, they always seem to have a Snapple refrigerator and serve pastries on paper plates. Essentially, you get exactly what you are used to from every other «Café» in New York.
Renaissance is the later. They are friendly and the bagel and coffee was fine, but nothing special.

This little café opened up this past year and it is becoming a favorite spot of mine for some fresh breakfast sandwiches and excellent coffee or tea. It is especially convenient because it is located in my bf’s apartment building but, it is the quality that keeps us coming back. They serve a wide variety of tea and coffee as well as iced drinks. On a particularly hot day I tried their blood orange iced tea which was especially refreshing and highly recommended for the scorching Brooklyn summer. On weekends they serve breakfast all day which is always amazing since Brooklyn Fare next door and most places on Smith St. and Atlantic Avenue stop serving after 11.
Renaissance Java Café is nicely decorated and quiet as it is separate from the business of downtown Smith St and Atlantic Ave but certainly provides a convenient spot for quality tea, coffee and pastries.