A word about Smooch Cafe on Carlton
After a recent round of tennis at Fort Greene Park, we were jonesing for some nice java to start off
the weekend morning. My suggestion of Tillie's was met by our fellow hitting partner's reply that
'the only thing you get at Tillie's is bottled water.'
Fair enough. Where should we go? Hitting partner replied, 'the best place is at Smooch Cafe,
around the corner on Carlton.' There we went, to get a muffin and a coffee. Granted, the coffee was fresh brewed like in other serious cafes we've been to in Europe. And sure, it took 5 whole minutes to do it and it cost us the short side of change on a $10
bill..
We bring this topic up because a recent chowhounder posed the question of the best coffee in Brooklyn. One reply was at Smooch Cafe on Carlton, but the writer also rued the over-the-top hipster/gentrification quotient.
5 Comments:
Hey! I am not a hipster, and I LOVE Smooch!
The coffee is great, the worker-people are great, you can hang out, talk, read, and the music is always great.
Plus, it is NOT Tilles, which is not only dirty, but for some reason only rude people are allowed to work there.
Smooch is best if you want a decent but not great $6 muffin. Coffee is okay. Nice vibe and all, but for an equal price I can get a full breakfast at Academy diner.
The muffin's are $3 bucks not 6, and they're wheat-free, and filled with yummy fruit. A nice change from your standard run of the mill muffins. It is a great place to relax and meet people from the neighborhood, you wouldn't otherwise meet. Its a place where the vibe is always friendly and its nice atmosphere to seek a breif respite from the hussle and bussle. As an anti-hipster, who steers clear of trustfund hipster joints common in norther brooklyn neighborhoods, i find Smooch to be a chill place to get some quality food. plus the entire establishment is devoted to sustainablity and consciousness. peace
Mate, i'm an Aussie and live in Sydney (beach central) but work in Europe and travel to NYC just to see my mate, Basquali, for the finest coffee in the Apple, plus a toasted muffin with lashings of real butter and real toe-tapping cool music (i know it's not hip cool to tap your toes but if you're cool enough not to care then you just can) and if you have to wait three or five minutes for a real coffee instead of a cuppa mud then you can just chill, chat to Basquali and i can guarantee you'll leave with a smile and crema on your upper lip and that's how it should be
As a new resident to the area I am taken aback by how welcoming and positive Fort Greene's inhabitants are, save this joint. The employees of Smooch are nothing short of pretentious, lazy assholes. I asked for a sandwich and they were out of bread (on 3 out of 3 visits), and when the bread showed up nobody bothered to remember my order. On one occasion everyone around me was being served their food/drink, while I had to retrieve it at the counter one item at a time. They make you take off your shoes for the little carpeted lounge area, and expect you to run after them for service. No water brought over as the half-empty carraffes seem to suggest happen. No smiles, no thanks yous, but plenty of FLIES.
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