Today was my last day as a customer at State Cafe. When I asked the waitress at 7:00 a.m. if I could wait for a friend to join me, and would have coffee while I waited, she told me in her broken English (my idea was "no good") that if he didn't arrive within 20 minutes, I would need to leave.
I was the only customer at the time, and of the 165 units in the high-rise (Harmony Towers, where the State Cafe is on the ground floor), I rarely see their own tenants dining there.
I've been an irregular customer there for years. Strange that she would give me a 20-minute limit on a dead Saturday morning. The restaurant, in the decades that I've been a customer, has never filled to capacity any time that I was there. I would notice these things.
Coffee to go is available at the State Cafe, but I would recommend the Super Food Mart (formerly the New York Deli on the corner) next door between 316 and 318 North Second Street. The State Cafe waitress prefers cash to cards and will probably ask before you place your order if you're paying cash or card. Card payments are just so much work.
Super Food Mart coffee is cheaper, tastes better, and the cashier is friendlier and doesn't hassle about cash or card.
Maybe the tenants of 165 units are just stressed these days, not knowing for sure if they'll have hot water, lukewarm water, or running water at all. Maybe that's why they're not eating at the restaurant where they live. read more