Cafeteria Food

I went to Cafeteria last weekend in Chelsea with PJ. I had always heard about it but had never actually been. When we walked in, it seemed to be chic-ly posh, especially for a place that bears the name of a somewhere that represented something very different to me in grammar school.

It was like a warm summer night and we were very excited to sit outside amongst the city streets. However, once we got out there it started to storm. And let me just tell you, it really started coming down pretty heavily. We were all dressed up for our Memorial Day Eve night on the town. The waiter came over in a frenzy, after we sat for about 20 minutes and helped us pull our table closer under the awning. But it didn't do much (and I was now sitting on top of an older gentleman), as the wind blew the cold rain onto our backs. He walked away and didn't even take our drink orders! He finally came back 10 minutes later to take our dinner and drink orders. We then attempted to get a table inside. The tall, leggy waitress said she'd help us right away but we found ourselves sitting in the rain for a good while longer, while parties that continually arrived were accommodated before we were. That was frustrating.

As we sipped on our drinks (I had a very yummy white peach margarita, PJ had the wild berry mojito, which she explained as a bit too sweet) we were finally moved inside to a corner booth. We got our food (a turkey burger and a hamburger, both served with fries) and continued the conversations of our lives.

As I looked around, I saw various individuals there. You could note the pretentious older crowd at one table, as they slowly judged the rest of the world, whilst sipping on their wine and nibbling on their salads. The couple next to us was obviously on a first date because she ordered a salad and he was nervously sweating and chuckling in an uncomfortable manner. He finished his meal with a vanilla shake (who orders a vanilla shake at a posh restaurant? The waiter was even confused, but he made it happen). And then, in a table not too far from ours, there were two couples. They couldn't have been more than 17. They began making out hardcore at the table. They were definitely drinking more than they were eating and they finished off their meal with tequila shots, as they continued to make out. Finally, they stumbled out of the restaurant.

We ordered another round of drinks to kill some time before we left to go to the bars but the waiter was very insistent on giving us the check and having us pay. He obviously wanted to get out of there, as his shift was likely over. We paid, but were not rushed out of the table. Though he wanted us to pay, he told us to enjoy our drinks at a leisurely pace, which is exactly what we did.

All in all, the restaurant experience was a moderate one. I would probably go back for the food and drinks. The service was a bit slow and not always polite, but it may have been the crowded restaurant. I'd give Cafeteria another chance. It was average in price, as you can definitely find places that charge more for burgers and drinks. Four drinks and two burgers plus tip came to about $75. A pretty normal night out.