Important Reminder:The City Guide app will be sunsetting on December 15, 2024, with the web version to follow in early 2025. Please visit our FAQ to learn more or to download our Swarm app.
Mish and Rob: Walk all the way through to the back "garden" area for fairy lights and a lovely laid-back atmosphere. The hot mud is the best, but the lemonade and iced tea are also great.
165 Avenue A (btwn E 10th St & E 11th St), New York, NY
Bagel Shop · East Village · 350 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: We've tried many a bagel, but Tompkins is our favourite (so far). Skip all the specialty sandwich offerings (which are a bit stingy in servings) and go for walnut raisin cream cheese or roast beef.
Noodle Restaurant · Chinatown · 170 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: A tiny little spot that's always busy, and rightly so: the soup noodles are incredible, and everything's good value. Get the roast duck noodle soup and steamed pork & veg dumplings.
Coffee Shop · Greenwich Village · 323 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: SUCH a beautiful location - and it's nice and quiet too. There's a surprising amount of seating, plus outlets and good wifi. The cold brew is out of this world.
Sandwich Spot · Flatiron District · 284 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: The pastrami reuben is far cheaper and waaay better than some of the more famous sandwich shops around - and the chopped liver w/turkey is crazy good too. Lovely, old-school diner atmosphere.
American Restaurant · Williamsburg · 65 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: This place needs to be on more "Best burger in NYC lists". It looks a bit nothingy from the outside, but the burgers are superb, the sweet potato fries are incredible and the owner is lovely.
Mish and Rob: Underwhelming iced tea, surly staff and iffy wifi are rescued by a great location (opposite Tompkins Square Park), plenty of seats, and the world's best brownie.
Mish and Rob: Grumpy's is on par with Stumptown when it comes to coffee quality. There's lots of seating at this branch, but still strictly no laptops.
American Restaurant · West Village · 89 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Underrated (or else very much under the radar)! ToJ has superb chicken sandwiches, delicious burgers, and super-lovely servers. Such a nice, laid-back atmosphere too.
Mish and Rob: It's right in the middle of the city, there's a big green lawn for sunbathing on, plenty of chairs, free wifi, outlets, events, classes, readings... it's wonderful.
147 1st Ave, (at the corner of East 9th) (at E 9th St), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · East Village · 126 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: The coffee is meh and the wifi is horrendous, but there's a nice big table for laptop users, plenty of air-con, and a PRINTER! If you can tether, this place is great for getting work done.
21 E 27th St (btwn Madison & 5th Ave), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · NoMad · 486 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: This new location is nowhere near as good as the last one (it looks a bit half-finished), but perhaps it'll get better in time. The cold brew is just as good as always.
Ukrainian Restaurant · East Village · 649 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Come on a weekday morning for breakfast in nice, unhurried peace! The pancakes are huge and delicious, the oatmeal is superb, and the coffee is topped up frequently. Need to go back for lunch/dinner!
Mish and Rob: Much smaller than their other locations, but the coffee's great and so are the brownies. There's no wifi, but plenty of people on laptops.
73 8th Ave (btwn W 13th & W 14th St), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · West Village · 206 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Huge! Great wifi and great coffee. It's a shame it always looks a bit messy and dirty, but nevertheless it's a great place to hang out and work for a few hours.
Coffee Shop · Greenwich Village · 231 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Absolutely everyone here is on a laptop - even though there's no wifi at this particular location. It's big, always busy, and serves great coffee.
Falafel Restaurant · Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village · 20 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: HUGE portions! The laffa bread is amazing, and the falafel is nice and crunchy. Get takeout: while there's plenty of seating, the atmosphere is a bit dull.
Mexican Restaurant · West Village · 178 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: While we LOVE the burritos here, we get that they're probably not so great if you're a burrito expert! Still, this place is so much fun and you should go anyway. The frozen margaritas are a must.
59 Grove St (btwn 7th Ave S & Bleecker St), New York, NY
Piano Bar · West Village · 133 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: The best place to go if you're feeling down! There's always someone playing Broadway classics on the piano, and at least a few others singing along at this cute little bar in the West Village.
Coffee Shop · Alphabet City · 110 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: FRRRR-EEZING! They really like the air-con in this place! It's a nice spot to work from if you happen to be in Alphabet City, but the coffee's a bit lame. Bring a jacket. And scarf. And mittens.
Mish and Rob: There's a Stumptown next door for coffee, and - as long as you're able to grab a space on one of the comfy sofas - you can sit and work from the Ace's lobby area for as long as you want.
Coffee Shop · Gramercy Park · 101 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Stumptown coffee plus lots of tables and decent wifi. It's not the most vibetastic place on the planet, but it's a solid option for this part of town.
335 E 6th St (btwn 1st Ave. & 2nd Ave.), New York, NY
Coffee Shop · East Village · 37 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: This very minimalist coffee shop has seats that are as uncomfortable as hell, but it's a surprisingly peaceful and relaxing place to work from - with friendly staff and big mugs of coffee and tea.
Mish and Rob: One of the loveliest cafes we've ever been to. Amazing coffee, loads of comfy seats, outlets, friendly staff, fast wifi, great air-con. The best.
Mish and Rob: It's a bit pretentious, but it smells amazing and the coffees are perfect. We just stopped here for a quick break, so didn't try the wifi.
Mish and Rob: Great for people-watching. Kids play football in the middle while people run, rollerblade or push strollers around the track. Then there's the outdoor gym and everyone hanging out on the grass.
300 Bedford Ave (btwn Grand & S 1st St), Brooklyn, NY
Coffee Shop · Williamsburg · 164 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: The servers couldn't be more up-themselves and annoyed that they have to serve you (we're talking worse than 9th Street Espresso). But the coffee's good and there's plenty of space to work.
Mexican Restaurant · Bushwick · 16 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: Lovely new place with the most eager-to-please owner we've ever come across! We tried our very first cemitas here so we have nothing to compare them to, but they were delicious.
Mish and Rob: What's with the servers here?! They're all so darn rude. But the space is lovely and it's open until 9pm. We haven't tried any of the crazy coffee concoctions, but they sound good.
Mish and Rob: Surprisingly quiet (considering Think and Bean nearby are rammed). A great place to work with a lovely backyard. Reminds us of the cafes in Bangkok/Chiang Mai.
Mish and Rob: A cafe with a real estate office at one end... interesting. There are plenty of seats here, the carrot cake is amazing, the coffee is great and the music is joyous Chinese pop (we think)!
Mish and Rob: Chocolate chip pancakes and oatmeal for dinner: one of the many things we love about NYC (and the server didn't bat an eyelid at the order - and asked if we wanted the oatmeal as a starter).
French Restaurant · Williamsburg · 279 tips and reviews
Mish and Rob: BEAUTIFUL restaurant - both the downstairs and the roof deck with twinkly lights. Surprisingly reasonable prices. Amazing chicken sandwich.
Mish and Rob: A great place to work from during the day: it's quite empty, there are lots of tables and outlets, the wifi is great and the owner is lovely.