TriBeCafe

I came here with a friend and we tried a sample of pastas — mentaiko, uni, and mushroom. The mentaiko was my favorite. Uni didn’t have a strong uni taste and the mushroom tasted like something I could make at home with some soy sauce and sake. The carpaccio was nice which came with a mesculin salad. I’m sad to say that I just went their website to look at their menu and it says they served their last meal on Sept 30^th. That’s unfortunate. For the food, level of service and price point, I would have gone back.

Went to check out their new tapas menu. Food is still amazing. John the server rocks!
Things you MUST get:
green tea soufflé
crudo salad
Things I got this time:
baby octopus in a tomato-​based sauce (not a must)
sauteed bamboo shoots and bacon (yum!!!)
Other things to try:
blue cheese pizza
shisito peppers
chorizo and beans

NOOOOOO! I’m sad to report that the $ 25 prix-​fixe is no more. That’s right. Gone. Why, TriBeCafe, why?! Or should I say, TBC, which is what they’re calling themselves now.
My friends and I were in the neighborhood to catch a fashion show and decided to get dinner nearby so we did a quick Unilocal search. When TriBeCafe came up in the search, I insisted we go there, praising their awesome prix-​fixe deal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until we got there that I found out that the prix-​fixe has been replaced by their new tapas-​style menu as of September 2011 and most items from the past menu are no longer available. They kept some of the appetizers from their old menu, but all the pasta dishes are gone. The new menu is divided into 4 categories: cold plates, hot plates, entrées, and sides. Our group of three ended up picking one item from each category to share.
From the cold plates we had the CRUDO SALAD (fresh fish, soy, ginger, scallions, sesame).
The crudo salad of the day was fluke carpaccio. I’m glad this is one of the things they kept from the old menu. The fresh fluke was seasoned perfectly.
From the hot plates we had the JAMON CROQUETTE (Iberico, Spanish onion) and it came with four pieces.
This was just OK for me because though I liked the flavor, I thought that the center was a little too mushy.
From the sides we had the THREE CHEESE MAC.
It was very creamy and rich, and overall a solid dish.
From the entrées we chose the FRUTAS DEL MAR PAELLA (Chilean sea bass, baby octopus, clams, calamari, chicken, Japanese rice, tomato).
You can get it portioned for two ($ 30) or portioned for four ($ 52). The ratio of rice to seafood was a little off; in my opinion there should have been more rice. BUT the Chilean sea bass was so good that I almost didn’t care that there wasn’t enough rice. The bass was lightly crispy on the outside and melt-​in-​your-​mouth fluffy on the inside.
My friend chose the GINGER MADELEINE (with vanilla ice cream and honey) for dessert.
It wasn’t too sweet and a nice end to the meal. On a side note, I was happy to see that their amazing green tea soufflé dessert is still on the menu, but the equally delicious apple cobbler is gone.
While I enjoyed the food at TBC, I do think that the price point is too high for their portion size. Their old $ 25 prix-​fixe was a great deal, but with their new tapas menu, you should be prepared to pay $ 50+ (including drinks, tax/​tip).

Good service, food didn’t blow me away but was good, a solid meal. They have an awesome prix fixe menu Mon-​Thurs nights. $ 25 for a 4-​course meal. I think it was an appetizer, a pasta, an entrée AND a dessert! I’m vegetarian and they were really accommodating and allowed me to make substitutions. Oh and the green tea soufflé was a big favorite at our table. I wasn’t a huge fan of it but just cause I’m not a big soufflé fan and was also stuffed from the previous three courses.
Our waitress was super, duper nice and patient with us. We were a group of girls, some came in quite late, I had big packages with me from shopping that took up a lot of room so she put them in a corner for me, and one friend knocked over an entire glass of water. Waitress took all of that in stride and was really nice about all our annoyances. Great place, love the cozy décor, and wouldn’t mind coming back for another weeknight meal.

Not many places can get a 5 star rating — this one fits the bill. I came here on a personal recommendation from a friend.
First of all — this place is somewhat hidden. Without a front sign or anything, you really need to know exactly where you are going. I was meeting a friend there and she said to me that she passed it twice before realizing that was the place we were meeting at… so low low low key.
Once you walk in, however, it’s this modern japanese décor with a beautiful bar, opposite of some nice smaller tables. Towards the back the room is larger, with some more seating, but the whole space is pretty small. While i was there though, it never felt small. It felt perfect! The atmosphere was relaxed, a few people at the bar, a few other people at tables and no one seemed to be too close to another group since it wasn’t busy at 6:30.
We were seated by our waiter and given menus to peruse and disappeared for a moment to bring us water and bread. Then took our drink order (which just happened to be nothing just ice water) and gave us suggestions on the menu. Something he said was amazing was the Fried Duck over Ginger Rice. Man what an amazing dish. Why? The duck has it’s flavor preserved during the deep frying and made crispy, but not oily at all. The ginger rice was wonderfully aromatic and cooked perfectly with a little sauce on the side. The Mentaiko spagetti was the other dish we had. The squid and anchovy flavor was apparent but neither were overpowering. It’s a hard dish to describe to make it sound appetizing… so i won’t, and say — it’s one of the best pasta dishes i’ve ever had… anywhere.
After the meal we talked a little more before the dessert menus were given to us to look through. While I, in genreal, don’t have a sweet tooth, but she did — so after looking she decided, almost instinctively on the Green Tea Soufflé (the one with the *warning 15 minute wait time*) We were having such a great time the 15 minutes seemed to go by fast. After ordering, the waiter mentioned it was her favorite dessert.
Upon digging into it, it was amazing — and blazing hot too! The light green tea flavor infused pastry was light, airy and delicious. Not too sweet, but utterly pleasing. Rarely do i rave about desserts — This was good.
Would i go here again? Yes. My friends mentioned that there was a $ 10 caraft of Unfiltered, Sweetened Sake — upon reading the menu and asking the wait staff they said that bottle had actually increased in price to $ 16 a bottle. I guess it was too popular.
Otherwise. Amazing!

Japanese-​Italian fusion — so worth to try!
$ 25 for 4 course meal. The service is impeccable. The atmosphere is trendy, romantic and upscale feel even tho it’s pretty inexpensive.
Their cocktail menu is very inclusive. Draft beer and wine are of good quality.
I can’t really think of anything negative about this place.
highly recommend it!

Fantastic prix-​fixe menu. $ 25 for an appetizer (half portion), pasta (half portion), entrée (full portion), and dessert.
Appetizers:
–Ebimayo: Light and crispy. Very tasty.
–Sauteed Mushroom and Scallop: Don’t expect to get the big plump scallops… these are the tiny scallops that are about the size of a dime. The broth these come in is so savory, I literally scooped up every last lick with my bread. Delish.
Pastas:
–Meat Sauce Rigatoni: When you want a tomato meat sauce pasta, this fits the bill. Filling and hit the spot.
–Mentaiko Spaghetti: You can definitely taste the fishiness in the sauce, but it isn’t overpowering at all. Not a saucy dish, as it is in a clam, garlic, butter sauce.
Entrees:
–Crispy Tilefish: A bit too fishy for my taste, but my friend enjoyed his
–Japanese «Hamburg» Patty: Hamburger patty with sunny side egg on top, served with mashed potatoes. This was good, but I would have preferred it over rice instead of potatoes.
–Prime Rib: More of a steak than a prime rib, but still tasty. There’s a soy saucey sauce they pour on top of the meat that smells delish when it gets poured onto the hot skillet.
Dessert:
–Vanilla Ice Cream: Not just any vanilla ice cream… it had cereal (corn flakes?) in it! This was surprisingly very good. The vanilla ice cream is creamy and thick, and the cereal added a crunch that you wouldn’t expect to complement the cold, sweet ice cream so well, but it does. I’m tempted to try to combo at home, but I’m sure it won’t taste like it did here.
Overall, a surprisingly filling, tasty, and affordable dinner. We weren’t expecting much because by the name of the place, it seems like it would be a very casual restaurant. However, the décor was japanese modern, and a major upgrade from when this place used to be called Tokyo something. Service (especially from the bartenders) was superb, and I’d definitely be back if I’m in the area.

A modestly priced meal considering it’s location, quality of food, superb service and trendy atmosphere. Though the word «fusion» often elicits cringes and reluctance, this place definitely delivered. Aside from the regular menu, they offer a separate weekday and weekend prix fixe menu. Based on the reviews of fellow Unilocalers, this place sounded promising and I decided to call for reservations… it rang, and rang, and rang. I finally went on their website which offered online booking, easy as pie. Arrived for an early dinner at 6:30 and was seated immediately.
I went with their Friday 4-​course, prix fixe menu at $ 25 — started with whitefish carpaccio on a bed of mixed greens and ponzu vineaigrette then onto the pasta course of Mentaiko spaghetti with squid and spicy cod roe in an olive butter sauce. The main entrée was the crisped tile fish on a bed of mashed potatoes and ended the meal with a chocolate cake with ice cream. (for an additional $ 3)
The service was superb; the dishes were timed perfectly and my water glass was never more than half empty. The waiter was polite, professional, but not stuffy. The meal was tasty and, although not the best I’ve never had, the price, service and presentation this place has earned itself a return customer.

What a delicious surprise!
I was on the hunt for a asian fusion restaurant for my brother’s birthday and ta-​da! up popped TriBeCafe.
I made reservations for 8 people at 7pm, unfortunately half of our party ran almost a half hour late. The staff didnt make any complaints, and instead were very accomodating. They were very attentive throughout the night.
5 people from our party had ordered from the pre-​fixe menu. Unfortunately, if you’re a group of 6+ they don’t allow you all to order from the prefixe. They said that it’ll overwhelms the kitchen, a little strange but we didnt mind.
I started with the pototo milanese, which was very good. Mushrooms, fried egg, & bacon all complimented the roasted potato very well.
Then came the mentaiko pasta. This is by all means a MUST. The pasta is al dente and was very good.
For my entrée, I had the prime rib steak. It literally melted in my mouth, it was so yummy.
Now dessert… you CANNOT skip the green tea soufflé. It’s not very sweet, light and a perfect end to this well balance meal.
This is a really great restaurant and I will come back for sure.

Amazing food, atmosphere, people, and area. We were lucky to get reservations here and it was such a pleasant surprise! The atmosphere was very intimate and trendy. The service here was amazing. The servers were very attentive, polite and super friendly. I enjoyed the 4 course pre fixe meal. The carpaccio was amazing, best I’ve had outside of San Francisco. The pasta I had was the Menatiko spaghetti which was absolutely delicious! Lastly was the Crisped tilefish which was pretty good as well! The desserts were absolutely delicious as well!
I would definitely come back here again!!!

Both my friend and I got the prix fixe. On the weekday that means for $ 25 you can get four courses (half portion appetizer, half portion pasta, full portion entrée, and an ice cream scoop for dessert). It was rather quiet and empty-​ish inside, but the atmosphere felt relaxed and our waiter was friendly. I tried the plum-​tini cocktail. Generally I like Asian-​flavor-​inspired cocktails and this was no exception. The cocktail was fragrant, fruity, smooth, and delicious.
The food:
TriBeCafe carpaccio — raw fish slices over mixed greens. Both the vinaigrette on the fish and the one on the salad were yummy. I loved this dish, it might be one of my favorite salad dishes I have had.
Ebimayo — fried shrimp with a mayo-​ketchup (orange) sauce. The shrimp was crunchy and this dish was pretty good.
Ika sumi spaghetti — spaghetti with squid ink. The flavors of the squid and its ink were very strong, and I really liked it, but I can see it being a bit too much for some people since the taste is very specific. Be careful with this dish if you’re on a date because it can temporarily stain your mouth area.
Mentaiko spaghetti — spaghetti with a sauce that’s spicy cod roe with butter and oil. I’ve had this dish at other places and the one at TriBeCafe was good but not the best. The squid was cooked perfectly though and I enjoyed the nori. Both dishes’ noodles were cooked al dente, but my friend said that the last time she came it was cooked softer.
Hamburg — meat patty topped with a sunny side egg. The patty was moist and scrumptious, and I also enjoyed the sauce with the sauteed onion and corn.
Sichimi maguro — seared tuna pieces with string beans. The tuna had spices on the surface, and I thought it tasted delicious although I would’ve preferred it slightly more raw/​less cooked.
We paid $ 3 more each to pick a dessert from the menu as opposed to just getting the ice cream. I got the green tea soufflé and my friend got the chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was dense and it was pretty good. The green tea soufflé was awesome! The center was moist goodness and it was not too heavy or sweet. It was perfect and the green tea flavor also really added to it. It also went quite well with the scoop of ice cream, which had corn flakes on the bottom that added an extra texture. I thought it was one of my top three souffles. I would’ve said four stars, but for the carpaccio and the soufflé I’ll say five.

ALERT! Pre-​fix meal for $ 23. Who would have thought?!?
ATMOSPHERE:
I didn’t expect much coming to TriBeCafe. Since the name of the restaurant had café in it… I was expecting a café, not a nice little dimly lit romantic restaurant. Definitely exceeded expectations in that department. The owner of this place may be selling the place short by having the CAFE in the restaurant name.
Came for my younger brother’s birthday dinner with a large party. They sat us in a nice round table in the back of the restaurant. Very cozy. Nicely done!
PRE-​FIX MEAL:
While they don’t do pre-​fix for large parties, our waiter was able to accommodate us since the kitchen was fully staffed. He did advise that the food would take longer in which our table was willing to wait. YES!
Here’s how the Pre-​Fix Meal works. During the weekday, you choose any appetizer, any pasta, any entrée off the menu. For dessert, it also comes with a scoop of ice cream. During the weekend, the deal is still the same — however, actual selections are limited.
Here’s what I ordered based on the choices available:
1) TriBeCafe Carpaccio — daily fresh raw fish with soy-​ginger vinaigrette, sesame seeds scallion, served over mixed greens dressed in Japanese «ponzu» vinaigrette
Our fresh raw fish was tuna. The flavors were exactly as described on the menu. Did wish that the tuna was cut a bit more thin.
2) Mentaiko Spaghetti — squid, spicy cod roe, olive oil butter sauce, topped with shiso and nori seaweed
YUM. I liked this pasta over the Mushroom Kinoko Spaghetti. The Mushroom Kinoko Spaghetti was good but compared to the Mentaiko Spaghetti, it seems ordinary in comparison.
3) Japanese Hamburg Patty — grilled beef & pork patty with mushroom demi-​glazed sauce topped with sunny side egg, served with mash potatoes, sauteed onion, and corn
According to friends, this is what Japanese people eat in Japan. No joke. I liked the Hamburg Patty. Be warned that it’s always just mentally odd to eat a Hamburger Patty with a sunny side egg on top on a sizzling plate in a nice romantic restaurant. It just doesn’t fit together.
4) For dessert, I upgrade to a Green Tea Soufflé for an extra $ 3. And I didn’t regret it.
Their ice cream comes with a few corn flakes on the side for crunch.
COCKTAILS:
Their cocktails are very light in alcohol and mostly sweet… not my style… but GOSH DARN REFRESHING. The TBC Mojito (green tea liquer, yuzu, soda, and mint) as well as the Yuzu Apple Martini (yuzu citris, apple, lemon, sugar, 7UP) are great.
SERVICE:
Our waiter was initially a bit snotty… but turned nice. My attitude of drowning people with niceness always works except for those completely miserable people. What I did was ask for his name. =)
I think it was also my ordering of multiple drinks… plus a sake tasting which consisted of a unfiltered sake to start, a clear clean sake for second course, and a sweeter crisp sake for third course. Well, I suppose it was when our whole table started ordering multiple drinks.
I generally think its rough to be a waiter/​waitress. Lord knows that I’ve had my share of it (7 years of it). My share of crappy customers that don’t tip at all to those creepy guys that are just way too friendly. Even though the pre-​fix meal is relatively cheap here, think about the effort and the amount of work that the waiter/​waitresses have to do. 4 courses. 4 separately dishes to serve. If only they worked at a more high end restaurant, their tips would just be higher. Remember that when you’re paying for the bill. Be sure to tip extra for the amount of work they put in because your pre-​fix meal was already so cheap!
CONCLUSION:
Food is good considering the $ 23 price tag for appetizer, pasta, entrée, and dessert in a nice romantic looking restaurant. Seriously can’t beat the price. The flavor profile is a bit mixed… and it’s always hard to judge an Asian fusion restaurant, generally speaking. Do you judge it based on Asian standards or in this case, Italian standards? What is Asian fusion standard anyway?
I wouldn’t call this a foodie place to eat at, but overall, still a nice good comfortable place if you’re looking for a nice sit down dinner that’s relatively cheap place. Just don’t forget to tip extra if you’re going to get the pre-​fix meal. It’s more work for the waiter/​waitress serving you!
Tip: May want to have decent clothes to wear. I saw a guy at another table that wore a sweatshirt with a baseball cap. He stuck out like a sore thumb. I know the restaurant name has café in it, but gosh darn…

First of all this place has my name written all over it because they are Asian Fusion but have pasta dishes so the whole being half Italian and half Chinese thing works out perfectly for me :) Sorta reminds me of Basta Pasta but better.
Anyway, the food here is awesome! I asked the waiter his reco and he suggested the Mentaiko spaghetti. It is a very strange combination of flavors over pasta: seaweed, roe and a butter sauce?! But they make it work and it was good. I also tasted the Japanese «Hamburg» Patty with fries. It was delicious as well. Lots of great flavors with the whole Asian flare.
Then, I was totally embarrassed when I asked our waiter if he was Japanese since Unilocalers said waitstaff was Japanese and he answered «No I’m from Queens» haha. I am only half Asian, please forgive me but I am ashamed.
Anyway, I would totally go back and try some more appetizers like that shrimp toast.

Came here for the restaurant’s 1 year anniversary party where they offered all you can drink wine and beer from 6pm-​1am for $ 10. I came with a friend planning to only stay a couple hours… but the best intentions always go wayward… turned into a 6 hour happy hour.
Very cute and cozy spot, I absolutely loved the quaint antique-​y light fixtures. It’s a tiny restaurant but still never feels too packed. Service was super happy /​friendly, including one server who insisted he could guess whatever number we were thinking. Since was preoccupied with the drinks deal, didn’t have any cocktails but I have heard they are excellent. Half of the restaurant is covered in stacked booze bottles so I would assume they are well adept in mixology… especially since its operated by bFlat which is a favorite live jazz bar I love to go to (sister bar of Angel Share which means fabulous Asian inspired cocktails)
Only could order from the bar menu — LOVED the shrimp toast with honey chili sauce, I have no idea how they make these lil guys but whatever they are doing I hope they keep doing it. Chicken satay was promoted but I didn’t love it, mainly because it was deep fried. The veggies with this yuzu spicy something dipping sauce was amazing. Defo will come back for dinner!

I was invited to Tribe Café’s 1 year anniversary party and for a $ 10 open bar and $ 5 apps we had a nice time.
Awesome things: the house wine was pretty yummy as was the house beer. The shrimp toast was off the chian (translation: delicious). It comes with a sweet chili sauce and melts smoothly in your mouth. I got two orders. And only $ 5. Yum.
Not so awesome things: Google maps sucks and told us to go to chambers street and walk over. Turns out we work about 5 blocks away.
It’s a small entrance and next to a underground bar. Interesting and confusing when finding the front door. The space is super small and back tables were for resy’s only. The celebration party was confined to the long and wide yet kinda small bar area.
I think 3 stars is fair for my first experience here. If I was in the neighborhood, i wouldn’t mind trying it again for a full dish

Tribeca Café? Tribe Café? Whatever you call it… this place is pretty hard to find. Be prepared to walk past it a couple of times as the entrance to this place is a small wooden door with no numbers and a small sign.
Potato milanese — (³⁄₅) potatoes were a little undercooked and the prosciutto was wayyy overcooked — kind of tasted like the bacon bits they sell at the supermarket.
Japanese hamburg steak (²⁄₅) — Tasted like a hamburger patty. With mashed potatoes. And an egg on top. In fact, a lot of the meat dishes came with mashed potatoes and an egg on top. My dinnermates had the other steaks and they looked EXACTLY the same. Patty was dry and tasted really onion-​y. Hello altoids.
Mentaiko spaghetti (⁵⁄₅) — Loved this! Got my boyfriend to get it. Way worth it for $ 9 and it’s a really unique take on Japanese and Italian food. Kind of fishy, though. This dish and the dessert were truly the saving graces of this meal.
Green tea crème brûlée — pleasssssssssssse get this. You’ll want to order another one, but you’ll decide it’s not worth the excruciating wait of another fifteen minutes. It’s not too sweet, and it has a wonderful breadiness to it.
Don’t bother getting the pre-​fixe. Just get the spaghetti and crème brûlée and you’ll be set and happy with a $ 20+ dollar meal.
Service was a little too attentive (marginally annoying). The waiter would sometimes approach our table, fix my fork placement, and leave. It’s also uncomfortably dark in there.

What a neighborhood gem! Many thanks to Unilocal for introducing me to a place in my ‘hood that I probably would never have found on my own! The place looks very unassuming on the outside and does not have a large sign or any distinguishing feature so it’d be very easy to walk right by if you didn’t know it was there.
Inside, the ambiance is very dimly lit and cozy (a little too dim as I had to hold my phone next to my menu to read it!). The prixe-​fixe was way too good of a deal for me to pass up (appetizer, pasta, entrée, and dessert all for $ 23!) but next time I may try going off the prix-​fixe and try the curry!
For appetizers me and my friend had the carpaccio and the potato milanese. They were both fantastic but I liked the potato milanese better with its delicious truffle-​y flavor and lightly crispy texture. Our pastas were the gratin and the mentaiko spaghetti. In my opinion the mentaiko spaghetti was better as the gratin got to be a little too creamy after I took a few bites, luckily for me we were sharing!
Our entrees were the striped bass and hamburg steak. I was very happy with my hamburg steak but was having a little trouble finishing it at this point! However, we had to try the much-​praised green-​tea soufflé for dessert and boy were we not disappointed! It was possibly my favorite part of the meal, SO GOOD! If you are a fan of green tea desserts at all (as I am) it is a must-​try!
I left full and happy and will definitely be back!

**2 stars for the company + 1 star for ambience — 1 star for the douchey waiter**
Japanese-​Italian Fusion. I guess Asian and Italian doesn’t work in the end.
Douchey waitstaff.
Although the prices are alluring with an «I can’t believe it is $ 23 pre-​fixe menu,» you better believe it sucked. We ordered appetizers, pastas, and main entrees. Why did they forget to serve half of the pasta dishes? And they didn’t even apologize. The waiter tried to play it off, and I didn’t like that. At least own up to your mistakes.
Douchey food.
The fluke carpaccio was decent. And that’s about it. What was up with the vanilla ice cream and frosted flakes?
The best part of the evening was the bathroom experience. Yes, they have one of those Japanese toilets that spray, massage and dry your bum bum.
Maybe when I was in my 20s I would have been somewhat impressed with this place, but I have now moved on into my comfortable 30s and this place just reminded me of those days of when I was a broke 20 something trying to look cool. God, memories can be such a bitch at times.
**Addendum: 2 stars means the company was good. That was the only redeeming part of the experience (and the Japanese toilet).

Firm 4.5 stars. This is one of those places that i’m trully thankful of Unilocalers who wrote reviews. My friend and I were in the Tribeca area but did not know where to go for dinner, that’s when we pulled the Unilocal out and found this.
I have to say i was impressed the moment i walked in the restaurant, it’s totally chic, trendy, modern, and romantic! i just love the whole ambiance, dim lighting and subtle yet artful décor of the restaurant. we ordered from the prix fix menu and Tribecafe Gratin along w some drinks. The prix fix appetitzer and pasta’s half size, with a full entrée and a dessert. For appetizers, I love potato milanese, it’s got a very pleasing citric and starchy tastes at the same time, it almost woke up all my half-​asleep taste buds, then two pastas we tried were meatsauce rigatoni and Tribecafe Gratin, the later is one of my very best pasta so far. Though the entrée selection are limited, I was told by a friend, that’s how they keep their price reasonable and foods fresh so i’m not gonna complain about it. I have to say the service is very attentive, i almost felt like i was in japan where everyone was so polite and respectful.
The only downside is the drink, I’m a hardcore mojito fan, but their special mojito w green tea liquor is way too light and blant for me. however, they also have wide selections of wine, sake and sochu lists. it’ll be even better if they have happy hours!

Ok!
Sister place of Greenwich Grill which made ever lasting impression on me.
This place:
Super friendly and funny service, great bread, yummy small plates, we had :
Small plates:
Potato Milanese
Gambas
TribeCafe Carpaccio
Pastas:
TribeCafe Gratin
Thai Red Curry
Mushroom Spaghetti
Entrees:
Salmon Teriyaki
Prime-​Rib Steak
And to top it off really good mojitos that were on the citrusy side. TBC mojito with green tea liquor (my first) and yuzu juice!!! YUMM LICOUS