Smilow Cafe at NYU Langone Medical Center

I’m kind of surprised by all the hate for this place. It’s not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not awful either. The food is reasonably priced, there are varied daily special lunch options from Indian to American to Latino, and the service is reasonable.
Despite it being open to the public, I wouldn’t make this a destination. But the options for food on 1^st Ave. are pretty slim, and if you’re at the Medical Center, it’s certainly better than some junk food.

Not sure why everyone is so hard on this place… it offers good food for very reasonable prices. I’ve had the sandwiches and soups… and they have both been delicious. Very convenient if you are in the medical center looking for a meal.

quiet possibly the only restraunt/​café or dinning establishment completely employed by handicapped or developmentally disabled people. I give them credit for trying. But it is also sad. Like watching Christopher Reeve attempting to go up a flight of stairs. Their service is horrible. Employees talk to each other while ignoring customers. Then when they do acknowledge you– they give you a look as if you knocked on their door on a Sunday trying to convert them to the Church of Latter day saints. After they take your order, the employees finish their previous conversation. Only when their conversation is complete do they start to fill your order. Here comes the amazing part. They move at a rate that is so slow it is as if they are not moving at all. If it is getting you a cup for coffee or a slice of pizza, be prepared for a WAIT. And be prepared for the employees to constantly stop what they are doing to participate in another conversation with their equally retarded colleagues. Even though you over paid and waited 5x times longer than it needs to fill an order your are left with a conflicted feeling. You are a little proud of these people for over coming so much, like putting on pants and working a cash register. But that feeling goes away and you are overcome with pure sadness. And below average food. Go anywhere else and save yourself the misery. The convenience is not worth it.

I wouldn’t necessarily give this 5 stars if it were outside of a hospital, but for inside a hospital I only have two words: Top Notch.
While the wait was occasionally not short, the staff is very precise when taking your order and the seating area more than makes up for the wait. The chairs and the tables must be brand new or else they just keep them really clean.
The breakfast on the weekdays is hot and the eggs taste like the really healthy ones. The sandwiches they offer also seem pretty healthy to me and considering this place was recently hit by a crippling hurricane I think they are doing a stand-​up job.
Oh, I thought of three more words: Thank You Smilow.

Absolutely appalling that a hospital of all places can offer probably what is the worst food offerings in history. As a leading medical facility you would think that for the love of all that is holy they would have a menu of healthy and nutritious options. It is an abomination that Smilow Café located in the NYU Langone Medical center has the nerve to be run and promoted by what this place calls their «food and nutrition» services. Nutrition? What a joke. I wish Jamie Oliver and Food Revolution would do a show here. It is utter garbage.
We were stuck in this hospital all weekend when my fiancée’ had to have a procedure done and I just wanted to grab a bite to eat without having to leave the facility. The coffee/​snack carts that are in the lobby by the elevator area do offer nice tasting Green Mountain coffee so at least that was ok. A few fruits, a whole lot of buttered rolls, high calorie pastry, and a bunch of super sugary powdered doughnuts are pretty much it. I asked if there was a real cafeteria and I was told about Smilow. Problem is that it’s almost impossible to find and there is no signage anywhere for it. When I found it on a bottom level I was treated to a bleak looking seating area overlooking courtyard construction junk piles. The food offerings here were pretty much junk too. Lots of pre-​made processed bagels, sugary cereals, candy bars, brownies, chips, muffins, and a limited menu of sandwiches. Some hot and mainly cold. A basket of mini-​looking bananas was on the counter that looked a few days over ripe. Not appealing at all if you are stuck here all day and need a good hot meal. It’s also a reason why there were a bunch of food trucks parked outside that people were using, and even those were not offering anything too healthy.
Total fail that this place does not offer a healthy and diet conscious menu.
It’s also an ominous sign that the nurses on duty here that we spoke to bag their own lunch from home and said they would never eat anything from here.
Pure. Garbage. NYU should be ashamed,