Flat Top

Just plain stupid customer service! I went to meet a friend for lunch the other day, past the lunch rush hour, there were five or six open tables outside and several more inside. The hostess/​waitperson would not seat me until my friend arrived. I explained she was running late and couldn’t I sit down. No. Really? How short-​sighted and how totally inconsiderate. 1) This would have been both my first and my friend’s first time at this «neighborhood» spot — good potential for two new regulars. 2) If I had been allowed to sit, I would have ordered something while waiting, increasing my tally; and 3) with good customer service, there would have been a nice tip too. Instead, it started to rain, so I moved on to another more hospitable neighborhood spot MAX SOHA where I was welcomed. Just as another example, I went to a Lafayette yesterday, which was packed. I was early and not even half my party was there, in fact they would end up being a half hour late. I was seated immediately and was pampered a little extra while I was waiting. I’ll be returning there, but never to Flat Top, a pretentious sandwich shop.

Average food, spotty service.
It does well in the area because of lack of competition.
Being Korean, I really dislike the Bibimbap here — the cut of beef is wrong (too thin), the «sauce» is strangely watery, the veggies too pickled — making the whole dish really mushy and sour.
I come back here every few months hoping for better, but am usually disappointed.

Closed Sunday nights for summer — I was so looking forward to eating there tonight :(

A small place to eat, but excellent food. Salmon in the entrée and in the appetizer is awesome. Also one must definitely try the bread pudding served with ice cream. The bread pudding is awesome. It is just perfect nice and soft not too sweet and combining with ice cream it gives a really nice taste. If you want to have coffee, try the cappuccino there.
Thumbs up for this place !!!

I recently joined a friend for lunch at Flat Top. I had been there once before, also for lunch, and found it underwhelming (the Banh Mi sandwich that time), but I wanted to give it another shot and the friend really likes it. I ordered the Cobb Salad ($ 14). Our server was pleasant and prompt (though admittedly it was an early lunch and there were few if any other customers). When the food came out, I was surprised to see just how small the proportions were for the price point. The ingredients were fresh, the presentation was beautiful, but this was more of an appetizer than a meal. This confirmed my prior opinion of Flat Top, which is that it offers rather straightforward (albeit tasty) options for far more than what I would consider to be good value. There are simply better options in this neighborhood for lunch.

Cute restaurant with an interesting menu near Columbia University. I love the fish sandwich while my colleague raves about the grilled cheese and tomato soap. We are writing this review because of the wonderful service we consistently receive when Trudy waits on us. She is always pleasant, patient and professional. Thank you!

I had brunch here once. They had the special Halloween decoration back then. It was an interesting little place. I enjoyed the brunch and coffee. The atmosphere is also great to have a nice, relaxing chat with a friend. =) It’s very close to Columbia and it’s one of the nicest dining place near the campus. I’ll probably come more often to try dinner.

The food here was good, but the prices were a little high and the portions a little small. We had the salmon, which was very well prepared and the lemon potatoes were delicious. The kale on the side was some of the better kale I’ve had. We also got the caesar salad which was really good with the fried poached egg.

I’ve worked right next door for almost three years and never come downstairs to try the food offerings at Flat Top. I always wonder, «will today be the day?» Finally made it in to grab some lunch take out a couple weeks ago and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.
The menu is your standard American fare, with a little bit of flare. I ordered my lunch to go, so I could continue working upstairs but from what I see passing by every day, it’s a cute place to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Wooden tables, mason jars for drinking glasses, and I think I once spied gingham table settings, but I could be wrong.
I ordered a half caesar salad and a fish sandwich on a brioche bun. The salad was great– lightly dressed, flavorful dressing, and I didn’t even hate the croutons.
The fish sandwich was served with shoestring fries (I didn’t eat them, but my work wife confirmed they were delicious). The sandwich itself was freaking HUGE! Two large fillets of lightly battered fish, stacked atop one another. Each half of the buttery brioche bun was smeared with house tartar sauce, and the actual bread was soft and definitely praiseworthy.
*I wish the fish had been slightly more crispy, but overall still outstanding. I wasn’t even able to finish this monster of a meal, after eating the salad, but I do appreciate the quality.
I look forward to trying more of what Flat Top has to offer, especially given my location.

Second time here. Most amazing mea I’ve had in the city and very reasonable priced. If you don’t get the roast duck you haven’t been here. Wine and beer selection was fantastic (Anderson valley grapefruit goze is a must have). Wait staff was friendly and attentive.
Bone marrow — simply amazing
Salmon and potatoes — done perfectly and a large portion
Roast duck — the most succulent plate I’ve ever had. Amazing reduction and sides.
Apple Pie– pies are fresh daily from Petty’s in the LES. Must try

In the heart of Columbia’s food area, you can definitely tell that this place focuses on delicious food for less cost and not at all on service. The place was packed with people waiting out the door, so I knew it was going to be good food. But the hostess (and I assume owner) was running around clearing tables and didn’t attend to groups wanting to put their names down. Also, her estimates for wait time were grossly underestimated. I’d at least double anything she says, especially during the height of the lunch/​dinner rush.
Once seated the waitress didn’t come to take our order for a good 20 min. Most people already know what they want when coming to Flat Top because the menu’s pretty limited (again, college kid restaurant). &while I liked it, she didn’t ask for a drink order. I guess they’re used to people saying no to extra costs. The kitchen was on point! The burgers came out extremely quickly and everything was delicious, just as the line out the door portended. In typical NY fashion, they overcooked the burgers 1 beyond what was ordered (ie. medium rare order was cooked medium).
It took a while to flag the waitress down to ask for the pie menu. She immediately ran away and came back 5 min later listing the options. I guess they don’t have an actually menu? All of them were served with vanilla gelato, which I honestly could’ve gone without. The plate had just come out of the dishwasher, melting the gelato and wetting the bottom of the pie.
I felt like I was back in undergrad eating here. Great place for college kids, but I think I’ve grown out of those days.

So, since my son’s classes have resumed at Columbia University, we’re back to our weekly city brunching. I found Flat Top on Unilocal and the reviews looked promising so, we headed right over without calling up for a reservation.
As soon as we entered, we were seated at a 6-​top table and the hostess informed us that we only had forty minutes to dine since they had a reservation coming. I figured that would be enough time for us to eat. I assumed that considering the fact that we had limited time, we’d be hounded to make our orders quickly but no one came and I had to holler at the hostess to ask her to send someone to take our order since we were being timed; my exact words.
One of the servers came quickly after that and we ordered everything at once. Hubby had A Coconut Oolong Tea with his Granola and Yogurt, my son had a Tarragon Limeade with his Lobstah Roll and I had a Bellini, a Latté w/​Almond Milk and Shrimp & Grits w/​o Lardons.
While we waited, our drinks were brought to the table as they were ready. Once we ordered, the service improved immensely. They have way more servers than you would think, helping with all the tables which makes it easier to grab someone. They give mini Cinnamon Rolls in lieu of a bread basket, so I was super happy about that. Most of the food was ok. Hubby’s granola was good with fresh fruits and everything was served separately so that he could mix it how he wanted. My son’s lobster roll was on the small side but was seasoned very well with big pieces of lobster meat. The side of fries were crispy and seasoned really nicely. My shrimp were seasoned well with a sauce that was slightly sweet and I’m sure if I had the bacon pieces, it would have tasted really good because of the salt aspect but unfortunately, I don’t eat pork. Half of the grits were topped with the shrimp and sauce and the other half were topped with two sunnyside up eggs. Everything that had the sauce on it was tasty but the eggs and the grits that had no sauce needed a heavy hand with salt because they were bland and I’m assuming it’s because the kitchen didn’t make up for the absence of the salty Lardons. Also, the grits were a consistency I didn’t care too much for. They were ok but I’ve definitely had better.
I would definitely come back here with better preparation and make an actual reservation so that we don’t have to feel so rushed.

Food: 3.5 stars
Service: 2 stars
Details:
The food has been very good here in the past. However I’m noticing the quality varies pretty greatly from time to time. One day the salmon is spectacular melting in your mouth. Other times (like our last visit) the same dish was subpar. So know that when you go, it is sometimes somewhat of a Russian roulette. The skirt steak seems to be pretty stable, but at $ 26 per steak, and the extremely small portion, your dinner will end up being $ 45 a person, since you will mostly likely have to order an additional dish to fill you.
The service much like the food, varies quite a bit. These details will be for the last visit we had, but as a caveat, I have been here and had decent/​normal experiences with the service, so consider this a worse case scenario. My table ordered medium skirt steaks. The steaks arrived, with the serve staff telling us it was medium well. We mentioned (and at $ 26 a pop we thought it was fair to ask) that we ordered medium, and the staff responded with a curt «well this is what I have for you». Knowing that a pissed off staffer could just do horrible things to the food, we meekly accepted the medium well, $ 26 a pop, sub par skirt steak. The fun with the staff continued, as our appetizers would just disappear (we had ordered the mussels and were dipping the bread into the sauce when, oh my god, where did the mussels go?!) as well as other incidents with our food continued.
Long story short, if you catch the wait staff and kitchen on a good day, then I agree with the general consensus of the 4 star rating. Just be warned that the restaurant has variability in both the food and the wait staff. It’s really too bad, I really wanted to like this place, however due to the extreme variability (and my god, risking a «this is what I have for you» when you order $ 26 skirt steak) in both the food and the service, I don’t think I’ll be coming here again.

I had the banh mi. It was excellent and our server was friendly.
I can’t say much about the other food but if I’m in the area I will certainly go back again.

Best coffee in town!
I have been here several times and it has been a great experience every time.
I highly recommend their biscuits and gravy!

Was not impressed with this new brunch spot. My wild mushroom brunch dish’s bread was impossibly to cut even with a serrated knife. The egg white was half raw, which was super-​gross, and the hunk of mozzarella was watery.
The only redeeming quality about this brunch is coffee. I usually prefer brunch in NYC but this place pales in comparison to Philly spots.

I can get used to this.
Nice brunch spot to enjoy with close ones on a Sunday afternoon. Staff is very friendly and the place is nicely decorated.
I love pancakes so of course I had to try out there blueberry ricotta pancakes and I wasn’t disappointed.
Eggs Benedict was also enjoyed here and we were very pleased. Good prices, good food good for 2!

This place definitely has one of the best décor and atmosphere of all the brunch places in the area. Such a charming, cute little restaurant.
Came at 12:30 on a Sunday and had to wait around 20 minutes, but that was to be expected. They have 3 wooden chairs outside the restaurant so people can sit while waiting to be called. We were seated at a community table, but it was fine. I loved that even though the place was packed, the restaurant’s noise level wasn’t high so you could hear your friends without having to strain.
Water is served in cute little mason jars with handles. I got an Iced Americano with Shrimp & Grits while my friends got hot black coffee with the Lobster Rolls. The Americano was pretty standard, though not the best I had. I loved the bacon pieces in the Shirmp & Grits, the shrimp were all fairly plump, and the grits, not too heavy. You won’t get a true Southern experience with this dish (I lived in Atlanta for 4 years so trust me on this!), but it’s still quite good. I had wanted the Lobster Roll as well but the waitress informed us that the restaurant only had 1 left for the day– so I’m guessing they’re super popular. If you’re gluten free like me, you’ll get the lobster roll without the roll, no free substitutions :(
The reason for not giving this a five star review is because of the prices. Given brunch, it’s a tad too pricy to make this place a regular. Also, food took what seemed like 40 or so minutes to come out (this might have been because the restaurant was packed though)? Otherwise, I’d recommend this place to friends and visitors!

The service was good! The mushrooms in the mushroom Risotto was not enough! They should have put more mushrooms inside! It was quite disappointing…
The red sangria was good and the portion size was very generous in NYC.
I wanted to give the no-​mushroom mushroom Risotto 3 stars but the sauce was good and the atmosphere in the restaurant was great, so I decided to go with 4 though.

Delicious food. Great service. Lovely ambience. Generous portions. Reasonable price range.
If you are in the area, it’s worth the try.

Hatte leider mit meinem letzten Burger Probleme, da der Koch offensichtlich nicht wußte, dass ‘medium’ nicht schwarz und durchgebraten bedeutet. Bekam aber anstandslos Ersatz, und daher war die Sache dann auch schnell vergessen.
Da ich keine Desserts dort mehr esse, gibt’s den einen Punkt Abzug jetzt für die zu große Lautstärke.