Food: ☆☆½

Service: ☆☆☆

Ambiance: ☆☆☆☆½

Cost: $$$

Must try: Soups

Tartinery in Nolita is a super cool, hipster version of a French bistro cum wine bar.

The space is stunning! The modern industrial-chic décor is just gorgeous with airy spaces and entire walls of slate on which the menu is handwritten. Even the restrooms have containers of chalk with which you can write messages on the walls.

The emphasis of the menu is on Tartines which are open-faced sandwiches served on thin slices of rustic breads. They also offer soups, salads and a few classic French dishes.

For me, the Tartines, which should have been the star of the show fell way short. Though the combinations were interesting – they just didn’t pass more than a “meh” on the taste test. It seemed to me that the ingredients being used were not so great – the arugala had no kick, the raw tuna didn’t melt in my mouth, the Prosciutto was too salty and so on went the rest of the meal.

I do know that they fly their bread in from the famed Poilâne in Paris a few times a week but despite that the tartines still fell flat. When I stack the dishes I tried at Tartinery with a place like Buvette – there is just no comparison in taste.

My favorite part of the meal at Tartinery was the soups, which were excellent. We tried three different soups – all of which were superb.

The staff is really friendly and very good-looking too – now that certainly helps!

Here is some of what we ate: