Cafe Pick Me Up

A lovely café. It is closed right now because the corner spot got too expensive for their lease — was my impression. They’re moving to a new place in the area I think at about 8^th between a and b (not sure). I’ll definitely be going back! The service isn’t attentive in the very best way, you can sit here for hours and never be eyed. No one is rowdy and it’s not pretentious. A true Italian café environment! I just moved into the neighborhood and miss the place very much already. Open soon please please :-)

OMG how is this closed??? Effing end of an era

so sad this place is now closed :(I had breakfast here, several times, every year I was in NY… so it’s from 2010 to 2015. I loved this place even if it was dirty and they messed up my order sometimes. I’m not gonna miss the waiters actually… but the vibe, and their amazing croissant and the scrambled eggs with the goat cheese! …and the fact that we lived just across the park from this lovely place… it was so cozy. Bye pick me up ;_​_​;

Can I give zero stars? This is literally the worst place I’ve ever been in my life. The food is mediocre at best (the mozzarella panini is pretty good though). The service is ABYSMAL. The wait staff is extremely rude and slow. Could be a great restaurant but it’s a complete waste of space.

Great location one thinks as they walk by. Step in and you’re suddenly in the seventh circle of hell. It’s usually packed, which is befuddling as their food is heinous (granola is literally a crumbled Nature Valley Bar). The staff has unanimously agreed on a policy of resting bitch face, so at least there’s some consistency.
Fear not, though, because you’ll only experience this if they grace you with your presence. If you’re tired of waiting for the waitstaff and approach the counter to ask for a cup of water, you’ll be barked at to return to your seat and wait (the counter attendant had no customers and was counting money). The only thing I like about this place is that there is a middle aged busser who is always singing some topical jam (last time it was «I’m Too Sexy» by Right Said Fred). He’s relegated to the kitchen, though, so good luck getting ahold of that gem. They charge you extra for ice, by the way and a glass of juice is $ 8. It’s made from the tears of sad customer methinks.
So if you’re into that whole yell-​at-​me-​spit-​in-​my-​already-​bad-​food-​dark-​hellscape then this place is for you. Enjoy.

I live above Café so I go here several times a week. I use the space for a lot of my meetings with new clients and the serving staff is pretty quick at taking care of me and them. My hearing is going to shit, so I like going to ‘Café for the fact that it is mostly quiet. Overall a great staff and good coffee… It sucks that it’s closing!!!
Tip: If you’re hard of hearing, don’t sit by the kitchen. The speaker there is always louder than anywhere else.

I was a bit confused walking into Café Pick Me Up on Saturday. Every other bar we passed was JAM PACKED full of people on what was the nicest and warmest day of the year so far, yet here we found a completely empty café/​lounge with fair prices and decent service.
My group of five grabbed a corner table towards the back on the comfortable couch which was a godsend after a long, long day of Record Store Day hunting.
We ordered some drinks and hung out. The cocktail prices were fair. A mimosa (or bellini) was $ 6.50, and beers were between 6 and 10, if I remember correctly, not bad. There were also many non-​alcoholic options, including teas, coffee, and cold drinks as well. My friend ordered apple pie and enjoyed it, and I shared the meat plate, which was little more than cold cut salami and prosciuto. At least the prosciuto was folded into a flower that I didn’t want to destroy by eating!
The service was fine, the place is quaint and intimate and relaxing. We were in and out in about 45 minutes, and enjoyed ourselves.
I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to come back here, since there are so many other places to unwind in the area, but I was not disappointed.

This place is terrible. I have no idea how it’s still in business.
The food is mediocre at best, the service is truly awful, and the waitress was insanely rude.
Basically, it just all around sucks.

I first came to this place in the middle of one of the glorious blizzards of winter 2015 and I drank lots of delicious loose-​leaf tea (great selection). Since then, I have (like many others) camped out with my laptop and a cup of tea… which sometimes transitioned into a glass of wine. Cozy velvet window-​benches and quaint marble tables. Windows face Thompkins Square Park and outdoor seating is delightful when warm. Cozy all year round. Friendly awesome staff. Don’t come here though (I don’t want to wait to be seated!).

Disclaimer /​Confession: I am that annoying type of person who sets up camp in a coffee shop — laptop, binder, shuffling papers, the works — and proceeds to stay there for about four hours. The wonderful thing about Café Pick Me Up is I can do this without shame.
In fact, I’m hesitant to write this review, as I don’t want to have to compete with more writers like myself, but for the love of art I tell you: if you want to be productive and unbothered in a lovely setting, come to this café.
The secret is this: walk in during any time other than the brunch rush and go to the adjacent room with vintage seating and chandeliers. It feels a bit like an old Hudson Valley motel. A waiter will serve you, but, amazingly, not pressure you to order more. The pots of tea are a very good deal, and the food is well-​portioned yet unremarkable.
Good for students, writers, hermits, ghosts, etc.

This is a great spot to park yourself and relax. You will find a lot of patrons on the laptops sipping some tea and getting work done. Its a simple concept: get a cup or a pot of tea, sit down, relax. I actually came by here when I was waiting to get into Please Don’t Tell.
I bought some lemongrass tea. You can taste the quality. I won’t hesitate to come here again if I am in the mood.

Many people seem to bring work or schoolwork here since there’s a nice atmosphere, free Wi-​Fi, and reasonable prices. The servers are probably used to people sitting around and not wanting to be disturbed, which is why they weren’t so attentive. It was still a little upsetting to not have water by the middle of our meal though.
Food is pretty good, but nothing too memorable. I had the gnocchi, which was maybe above average but very plain. I got bored of it by the end. Other people’s dishes weren’t that sizable, which explains the prices.
They have a lot of interesting beverages: freshly-​squeezed juices, herbal teas, etc. Quirky tidbit: our table got the piña colada tea, which tasted like hot water (even after a while) but smelled like piña colada and was purple. Not expecting that.

This is my go to spot for answering emails and writing. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The side room is romantically lit and has comfortable bench seating with matching velvet pillows that allow you to get comfortable for the long haul, whether it be grad school applications or working remotely. Being past 1^st avenue Café Pick Me Up is never overcrowded in the way that you see other cafes going towards Union Square.
I love the vast offering of teas, organized by degree of caffeination, served in teapots. Though I’d say to avoid a few of the items on the menu (the Greek salad is quite soupy and their cake can be stale) there are some stars, particularly the different carpaccios (bresaola being my favorite) and their tiramisu! Both are delicious, well executed, and like the entirety of the menu, reasonably priced.

Lovely café with lots of sunlight! I came for the outlets and wifi and was not disappointed. And my pot of tea was more than up to par.
Docked a star because they had zero vegan options for bagel schmears — no hummus, no peanut butter, no nothing.

Café Pick Me Up is A quaint spot for coffee overlooking Tompkins Square Park. Brunch was pretty good however they ran out of every bagel but, cinnamon which was a bummer. My americano was okay not great.

I spent really relaxing Saturday afternoon here at Café pick me up. The server was really nice and coffee and pastries were decent. I like that the café was really open and breezy breeze was coming inside. There were also outside seating looking over Tompkins Square Park.
We decided to go get food elsewhere, but it’s a really nice cozy café.

Café Pick Me Up is a great place to stop by if you’re looking to get some work done, or just hangout around the Tompkins Park area. The café is set up with a mixture of table service and order at the counter. There’s ample seating inside and 10 or so tables outside, with larges doors that open when it’s warmer.
The main selling point of Café Pick Me Up is the combination of free wi-​fi and the availability of outlets (they’re not necessarily in the most convenient locations, but they’re generally accessible). The coffee itself is just OK, especially with some of your other options in the area, but this is a fantastic place to spend a casual Sunday afternoon.

A quaint spot for coffee overlooking Tompkins Square Park.
While we had arrived too early to enjoy breakfast, it was wonderful to sit outside on the patio enjoying a delicious cup of coffee on a beautiful spring morning.
What can I say other than pastries, coffee, cute rustic interior, and kind service? Oh yeah, they take cards, that’s what!

Beautiful little tea spot with victorian like furniture. The windows open to a view of the park. The waiter was very sweet and food arrived quickly.
The menu is very affordable and the Veggie Burger was phenomenal.

My good friend Carlos lives in the Lower East Side, so befitting as the fully converted Manhattanite he has become, he was the one who suggested meeting up at this place so we could hang for a couple of hours in his edgy-​cool neighborhood. It’s a super-​casual place where laptoppers rule the roost (photo:
). Consequently, finding an open table can be a bit challenging, especially when it’s raining. But Jamie W. and I managed to grab a small marble-​top one in the middle of all the foot traffic. It’s hard at first to figure out whether they provide table service, but apparently they do once the waitress shows up for her shift. I wasn’t even aware they offered food until a couple of plates passed by with pasta on them.
We were truly between meals when we met, so I just went for the heaping $ 3.95 cup of Chai Latte, which was particularly satisfying with a mix of sweet spices that was the ideal balm from the inclement weather (photo:
). Jamie was less satisfied with his $ 2.50 glass of Pomegranate Fizzy Lizzy since it was just too sweet to enjoy (photo:
). Carlos just had a cup of herbal tea, and we spent a good hour dishing and updating each other on our harried lives. Yes, it’s that kind of place. Nobody’s rushing you to give up the table, and since we didn’t have any urgency to hit a hot spot on St. Mark’s Place that afternoon, we just kept sipping our drinks. Imagine that at the Starbucks at Union Square where you’re gunning for any empty chair. Yeah, I can’t either.
CHAI — 4 stars… genuinely satisfying but Jamie says to skip the pomegranate juice
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… laid-​back vibe fits the neighborhood like a glove
SERVICE — 3 stars… slightly nonexistent but that’s OK
TOTAL — 4 stars… definitely an ideal pit stop to meet old friends