Local Eats: The New Nutella Cafe on University Place
The door is shaped like a jar of Nutella!
After much anticipation, the Nutella Cafe opened its doors today at 116 University Pl., making it the second Nutella Cafe location in the country, following the Nutella Cafe in Chicago.
With a line wrapping around the block (which, luckily, moved relatively quickly), the Cafe’s grand opening was certainly a success. Upon entry, it turned out that the Cafe was just as bustling inside as it was outside, with every one of their numerous tables filled. The Nutella Cafe is by no means a study spot, or even a cute, quiet coffee shop, but rather an ideal destination for tourists or visitors to the West Village who will visit the Cafe once, just to say they’ve been there, and never go back again.
The interior decoration was admittedly adorable, though, with warm-toned lights in the shape of flowers and Nutella (plus Nutella-related products, like mugs and personalized Nutella jars) lining the walls. In the back, there’s even a white Nutella sculpture wall, which, once the place settles down, I’m sure will become a popular motif on tourists’ Instagrams.
As someone who certainly enjoys Nutella but isn’t necessarily obsessed with it, I found that the Nutella Cafe provided a well-balanced menu of dishes that focused heavily on Nutella, like the frozen Nutella pop and the Nutella fondue platters, and dishes which merely featured hazelnuts or dollops of Nutella here and there, such as the overnight oats with almond milk and berries, or the grilled banana bread topped with toasted hazelnuts and fresh banana slices. The menu lists the calories in everything, too, so you can keep your sweet-tooth in check and halt your gluttony.
At any rate, the menu certainly provides variety while still focusing on the sweet, chocolate nuttiness that the brand is known for. Some of the most interesting dishes include a grilled baguette topped with Nutella and chopped hazelnuts, a seasonal fruit crostata with toasted hazelnuts, a sourdough toast with ricotta and seasonal fruit, and a brioche gelato sandwich.
I opted for a buckwheat crepe with Nutella and strawberries and a Nutella hot chocolate, and while I wasn’t disappointed in the least with any of my choices, I don’t know if I’d go back.
While the food was delicious and the service was quick despite it being so busy, it was something that you could easily find at virtually any other cafe or restaurant in New York, and probably without the wait, too. The prices were decent, with the most expensive items on the menu — a pound cake, shareable fondue, or Nutella sandwich cookies — being $10.95, and my crepe and hot chocolate totaling to about $12. It’s what you’d expect from the Nutella name brand itself, and the experience was fun, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to reorder a meal I could have made myself. In fact, if it weren’t for the proximity to campus, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the Nutella Cafe at all.
If you’re a Nutella junkie or you just want to go for the pics and the experience, the Nutella Cafe is a great destination to visit — once. With it’s hazelnut-oriented menu and cute Nutella products scattered across the store, the Nutella Cafe certainly has its appeal, but in the end, it will probably end up being another underwhelming tourist trap with few, if any, regular or local customers.
