SoHo Cafe & Grill

SoHo Cafe & Grill isn't even in SoHo. It is a little restaurant near my Astoria apartment. Situated below "The Rock" fitness center, from what I can tell, it caters to that health-centered crowd with fresh juices and other health-food. Ironically it was the waffle-fries on the take-out menu that enticed me to try it out. I've eaten there s a few times now and am still not sure how I feel about the whole experience.

The first time we were there we tried wraps including the California Shrimp Wrap with avocado, mesculin greens and sundried tomato; and the Sicilian Wrap with grilled chicken, mozzarella, peppers, and lettuce. Both wraps were slightly off in one way or another. The shrimp was little baby shrimp that wasn't particularly appealing, while there was so much chicken in the other wrap we had to take at least half of it out just to eat it, though the mozzarella was very fresh and added a lot to the wrap. Really our favorite item was the black bean salad served on the side.

On a second visit I had a delicious and filling Cobb salad. It had plenty of shredded chicken, a good coating of dressing, large chunks of avocado and a good portion of bacon. It was probably more than I needed to eat, but at least seemed healthy! I saw but didn't try the tuna melt, which looked more like it came from my toaster oven at home than from a restaurant's kitchen - it was on thin sliced plain bread and had what appeared to be process American cheese melted on top. It was served alone on the plate - a little garnish would have gone a long way toward changing my first impression of the dish.

One other complaint about SoHo Cafe is the clatter of the juice machine. On our first visit we were seated right next to it and the noise was understandable but annoying. On our second visit, we were seated almost as far from the machine as we could get and it was still noisy and irritating to talk over while enjoying our meal. I guess I'll occasionally drop in for something at this conveniently located and affordable cafe, but I don't plan on dining-in much more.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this trendy cafe is affordable and has delicious food. it offers a variety of healthy meals for health conscious individuals as well as yummy fried foods for people who want to live on the edge. the juice machine does produce noise but not enough that you cant hold a conversation. i go there at least 4 times a week and i can NOT love this place more. the owners are incredibly nice and sweet.