Franklin Station Cafe

My wife, my sister and I ate here while on vacation in NYC last Thursday. Overall it was good.

This place bills itself as a French/Malaysian restaurant, but I would say the menu is probably about 90% Malaysian and 10% French, which is fine. But I went there wanting to order French and there wasn't much of it.

I ordered the lemongrass fish (cod), and it was good. The sauce was very flavorful and complemented the fish perfectly. My wife had some sort of fried chicken dish which she said was good (I tasted it and thought it lacked flavor).

Then came my sister's order. She ordered the "Mozarella Hero" with basil and tomato. There was no description in the menu of what that actually is, but she assumed it was going to be some sort of "hero" sandwich, with some sort of meat or something. No. What arrived was a slab of mozzerella cheese with sliced tomatoes inside a hard, baguette-like bread. Needless to say, cheese and bread as an entree was not what she envisioned. It was dry, tasteless and just weird, really.

Anyway, it's at a great Tribeca location, nice little vibrant neighborhood. And literally right across the street from the Franklin St. subway stop, which is convenient. The wait staff wasn't bad, but wasn't good either.

In general, I would recommend the place. But just make sure you know what you're ordering before you order it. And don't go there expecting French.

This cafe is cute and the food is good, but the wait staff has too much attitude. If you intend to order a full meal, you'll probably enjoy it and you'll be treated politely enough. But if you're just going for dessert or splitting an appetizer, the staff will become incredibly rude and condescending--even if they have almost no customers at the moment and there is plenty of room for other customers who might want to spend more money. So don't bother going unless you plan to order a full meal.

I had two of the dishes recommend by other reviewers- the mango squid salad and the chicken curry noodle. The mango squid salad was ok in flavor, it was also small-portioned. The chicken curry made up for it with very strong flavors. The cost of a meal here is very reasonable and makes it a good lunch spot. I will be going back to try other dishes.

Any time I'm within 10 blocks of Franklin Station (and often when I'm nowhere even close!), I make a point of stopping in for a bowl of their chicken curry noodle soup. PERFECTION. Get a nice cold Sierra Nevada to go with it and you're sitting pretty.

One of my favorites in NYC.

Franklin Station is one of New York's best values. Delicious, well-prepared food, served in an airy cafe space where most entrees cost less than $15. The cafe is very close to the 1-9 Franklin Station subway stop, and has a pretty terrace for warm-weather dining. And the staff, reputed to be rude, actually greet regulars by name and with a smile.