The New American Wing Cafe

An expensive cafeteria-​style café located inside The Met. My sister came to the met extremely hungry. This place was the only spot that seemed to be open before 11AM. Even then, they were in this transition of breakfast and lunch items. They had pastries set up and they were very welcoming. I picked up a donut, a cup of soup and a water bottle = almost $ 13. Ahh… classic NY problems.
Donut was delicious, basic chocolate. Broccoli soup was not good, there was no actual broccoli pieces in it. It warmed me up nicely, but I wouldn’t consider it extremely good. Water bottle was not allowed back in the museum, so drink up before you start exploring.
The pamphlet/​museum map says that this restaurant has a view of central park. It does, it’s just not a great one. lol. It’s just a grassy area.

The only reason to eat here is if you absolutely can’t leave the Met. The food is awful and overpriced.

I see a lot of people complaining about the price and I understand their point, but I don’t find find the prices unreasonable compared to the neighborhood. I was in a deli two blocks away and saw peaches selling for $ 3.50 each. It’s just an expensive part of the city to get food, unfortunately.
That said, my roast need sandwich was decent. Certainly worth the three stars (The lemon fruit tart was worth four). The vegetarian sandwich had way too much arugula, but that could have just been the fault of a single employee that day. I don’t know it it’s supposed to be that way. Honestly, for a museum cafeteria, it’s pretty good!
Bottom line; eat your food and leave so that you can get back to the reason that you came to the Met in the first place!

It is probably the most basic of all the cafeterias at the met. Not a large selection of food/​drinks. Basic sandwiches with a little bit of kick, soups, a few nice desserts and coffee. I decided on lunch at about 3:00 in the afternoon and was still greeted with a along line and very lax staff. The guy behind the counter asked me what I wanted, I clearly told him and he turned around to continue making someone else’s latte. Then the woman behind the counter who was busy straightening up behind the counter (regardless that there was a long line) asked me what I would like and clearly I said the Dessert name and she also turned around and continues to do what she was doing before. She came back about 30 seconds later and asked the lady behind me what she wanted… OK, I was not rude, remained patient and asked again for the dessert… why ask if you are going to ignore my request?
But this review is not a rant just a vent. The food was good (turkey sandwich with chipotle mayo on white bread, lemon and coconut pastry) but the coffee was delicious!!!
It’s not as clean as a museum café shoukd be, however, it offers a beautiful sort of tranquil rest from the mayhem of a museum mile café. There are view through the glass of Central Park as well as interior view of one of the MET’s sculpture gardens. It could use more continual cleaning after all the traffic.

Stopped by for a water bottle and they charged like 3.50 each for a normal sized water bottle, suchhhh a rip off. They also charged me like 2.50 for a banana. At that point it’s just high way robbery.
Also the set up of where you pay and order is very confusing, people were crashing Into each other and cutting places in the confusing line. Over all they need a better system.
The seating is in a big pretty great room and there was live music playing when I was there so it was enjoyable.

It’s really a management failure (and I’m quite sure they have plenty of highly paid management staff) that this café and the cafeteria downstairs are both overpriced unattractive and too small anyway places to get something mediocre to eat in a huge and wonderful museum.
Both are just run to extract money from a captive audience with no other choices.
It’s an insult to museum goers to enthrall and elevate them with the incredible collection, then bring them down with a poke in the eye when they get hungry and want to sit down for a few minutes and recharge.

I really don’t know where to begin with this review, there are so many many things wrong with this so-​called «café». First of all, if you are going to have the sheer audacity to stick a dining area in the middle of one of the most beautiful and iconic spaces in the museum, why not design it so that it complements the aesthetics of the space instead of looking like it came out of an IKEA catalog? I think L.C. Tiffany would be rolling in his grave to see that hideous cafeteria counter alongside fragments from his dazzling Laurelton Hall. The café should be designed to look like a dining terrace from a country estate or the courtyard of a palazzo or a hidden garden patio… something that does not look like an afterthought thrown together to placate the masses that require food and drink during their cultural fix! Moving on from aesthetics, let’s address comfort and hospitality. It was excessively crowded when I was there but strangely enough, flanking the several counter-​height tables were people forced to stand to eat their food because of the lack of stools. And I don’t mean to imply that the stools were being deployed elsewhere — there were no stools anywhere to be seen. Worse than that, some people had actually chosen to pull up regular table chairs to the counters and strain upwards to eat their meals. What a pleasant sight to see when you’re contemplating the grandeur of the American wing — museum customers forced to assume such an ignoble and sad posture just to partake in some semblance of comfort of the mediocre offerings of this depressing concession.
The café is a slap in the face to the customers, a slur on its breathtaking surroundings, and an insult to the institution.

This is a glorified snack bar, with everything premade and pretty average. $ 10.50 for a «steak salad» that was mostly kale; yeah, there are so many great places to eat within a few blocks of this place, save your cash and enjoy elsewhere.

Simply stated, «Overpriced Tourist Trap». Cheap food, highly priced! Stay away if you can.

A small café to enjoy a snack while resting between jaunts through various exhibits. Not a gastronomic delight but enjoyable nonetheless.

Well, for everyone stating this place is overpriced… it’s New York, asshole, EVERYTHING IS OVERPRICED!!!
with that out of the way — While leading a group of high school students on a tour of the city, we had a day at the met. This place was great, in that fact that I didn’t have to march 13 students down 5^th AVE to find someplace to eat. — We went to the Met, explored, reconvened for lunch at the AWC, and then explored some more. Very convenient.
Nothing on the menu will blow your mind — It all seems to be pre-​made, sitting in a cooler, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for you to pick which sandwich/​salad/​etc you want.
I picked out a mozzarella/​roasted red pepper/​arugula sandwich and a macaroon for dessert. After sitting in the cooler — the bread was stale. Bread goes stale about 6X faster when refrigerated, than at room temperature. (Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory taught me this… or maybe it was Alton Brown… Either way, they’re the same person in different bodies). The mozzarella was definitely not of the highest quality either.
The macaroon, however, was very good. In fact, if I had it all to do over again… I would just buy myself a plate of macaroons!
Bottom line — you go to this place for convenience, not quality or price.

Waited in line a long time for a $ 4 cappuccino and a $ 3 diet coke. I knew we were gonna be ripped off, but i was so thirsty from all the walking :(

While the beau and I explored the Met for the first time, we were a bit hungry in between our discovery of the place. We decided to get a quick snack inside the Met.
I looked around the place and saw a sitting around, then as I got closer, i noticed that it was a café. Snack location had been decided.
We ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich ($ 9.50) and soda ($ 2.50). Total came up to be $ 13.50 ish with tax, I think. Over priced much? Yes, indeed. Did I pay for it? Yes, sadly.
The beau and I only ate here because:
1. it was raining outside, I didn’t want to go walking out in the rain to find food when I am not familiar with the area
2. we were at the Met and we didn’t know if we could go back in or not after leaving
There was a line when I go there, some what of a long wait. The beau was send to find us a sitting area as I waited. As I got closer to the counter, I realized that the line is long, only because the staff is SUPER slow. They take their sweet sweet time to take orders.
The girl after me, paid for a $ 3-​$ 4 cappuccino, that was made straight from a machine with a press of a button. All i know is that if I am going to pay for that price it should be made fresh, it has to be made fresh! So expensive!
1 free thing was water, hot or cold. Ha ha, kind of sad. He has to look, study into my cup to make sure there was nothing hidden inside my cup. Really? Water is clear, can you just look, why do you need to study it?
Set up for the counter is kind of weird, sandwich desserts on the left, drinks on the right. You kind of lose your place after standing in line for awhile. People just walk right pass you.
Note: you have to finish everything before stepping back on to the museum floor.
which is totally understandable.
Next time, if i were come back to this museum, FOR SURE, i will not din here!

As most other reviews state: overpriced (but expected in my opinion). $ 9.50 for a slightly below average turkey sandwich and a bottle of water.
— coffee is self serve
— fruit cups /​yogurt parfaits available
— bottle water, snapple and bottled sodas available
— pre-​made salads
— pre-​made sandwiches (you can request for you sandwich to be toasted/​warmed up)
— pastries available
— hot dogs available

So, I went to the MET to do research for an art history paper. The boyfriend surprises me by offering to treat me to lunch at the New American Wing Café. He thought the view of Central Park, and the art next to the café would be romantic.
The total amount comes to $ 30 for the both of us. Boyfriend had the turkey sandwich and coffee, I had a salmon salad and a cup of red wine. Make that a small plastic cup of red wine. I mean, this is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At least humor me by pouring the expensive house wine in a plastic wine glass. Like, don’t use a basic cup that looks like something you use to rinse out water with at the dentist office. We’re paying for the atmosphere enough as it is; can’t you at least just add to the illusion? Presentation counts, you know.
So we sit down at a table, about to chow down on our overpriced food. Right before the first bite, a dirty mouse runs across the floor.
Was the mouse part of a modern art exhibit, or did I miss something?

Went in expecting overpriced, but edible food. The food was not very good. But — the service was very nice and expectantly helpful. Other museum café’s can serve great food, why cant this one?

Well, of course the New American Wing Café serves hot dogs. For $ 3.75 each, no less (see photo). God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her… through the night with a light up above. Too bad they taste like they’ve been in constant rotation on those greasy rollers since Memorial Day. OK, I exaggerate… but not by much. It really get packed in the space where sophisticated art lovers turn into yo’ mama-​my-​ass bullies gunning for any available table.
I saw a particularly ugly confrontation between a skinny young French woman and a couple of bluehairs from Queens, one with a walker. The Frenchwoman snapped at one of the bluehairs for stealing «her» table. Yes, the one with the walker. Go back to France and act rude to your own bluehairs. Brule en enfer, salope… but pass me the mustard on your way out. At least the art in the Charles Engelhard Court is pleasing to the eye while you chew on your wiener.
FOOD — 2 stars… lukewarm dogs at the Met
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… the surrounding art is lovely, the café space not so much
SERVICE — 3 stars… you stand in line, you get the dog, you take your tray, you try to find a table… oh no, there’s that French salope!
TOTAL — 2 stars… comes down to those dogs that made me bark from some part of my body I was not aware of

Overpriced coffee in a nice setting. My friends who study/​work for Columbia — this is where they write and congregate.