The Guggenheim Museum Café
Part of the Museum Food
Series
1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street), New
York, NY 10128-0173. 212- 423-3618.
From visiting the Guggenheim Museum Web site, you might
not believe they have dining facilities. It is only
mentioned very briefly in two places, a frequently asked
questions section and the days and hours section.
Neither description offers any usable information about what
kind of food is served. Could this mean that they
aren't proud of their
Café or does it mean that they would rather you didn't
eat there. Even in the museum the Café is hard to
find. We had to ask museum guards for directions.
The Guggenheim Museum is a
spectacular building. As an art museum, the interior
space is mostly wasted on empty space. The structure
might be better suited for a skateboard amusement park where
skateboarders could skate down the spiraling ramps.
Still the middle of the museum would be wasted.
Recognized as an architectural masterpiece that also
attempts to exhibit art, it works.
The Museum Café looks like an afterthought.
It is tucked in around a corner in a room whose decor looks like it hasn't
changed since the museum opened. The food is standard museum cafeteria
fare leaning toward outsourced food service quality. Why is it called
a Café when it is really just a cafeteria. It's better than a fast
food burger franchise, but not as good as many museums of lesser stature.
Quality restaurants are some distance away, so if you are in the museum at
lunch time, plan on eating in the Museum Café. The prices are
reasonable for what you get. If you aren't too tired to walk a couple
of blocks, skip the Guggenheim and go to the
Metropolitan Museum for
lunch.
There are lots of tables and they are rarely all
filled. This is good news for people like me, who use their time in
the Café to read or write. There isn't much competition for tables, so
it is possible to leisurely rest your feet over a cup of tea while reading
travel guides to figure out where to go next.
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