Fiat Café is a lovely, small spot in Nolita. It seats about 30 people at a time and the tables are very cozy to say the least. You shouldn’t expect to keep any conversations private from your neighbor, but it’s really a charming atmosphere nonetheless. It’s rustic and quirky, with framed pictures of Fiat cars all over the wall. The café offers mostly Italian cuisine with a bit of French influence, but seems to be run by French management.
We went on a weekend for brunch and had reservations. The place was packed with several people waiting for a table. I doubt it’s like that during the week, but weekends are a different story. Because there are so few seats, make a reservation. They also do an unbelievable amount of delivery and takeout orders. You can see the kitchen churning out the take out packages, but it doesn’t at all affect the service you get in the restaurant.
Our server was a very nice, calm, and charming French woman, who may have been the owner or affiliated with the owner. She was patient, never rushed us, and answered our questions, allowing for us to customize anything we wanted. During the week, breakfast and brunch is served until 4 pm and on weekends until 5 pm.
We ordered a pressed vegetable (eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, caramelized onion) panini with goat cheese and pesto sauce on ciabatta as well as a tomato and goat cheese egg white omelette with toast. Everything came out perfectly. Vegetable sandwiches can be incredibly generic and bland, but this was super flavorful and not too oily. Every ingredient was well seasoned and cooked on its own such that they blended very well together. The omelette had great texture, was fluffy and flavorful, and had a ton of goat cheese inside, which gave it a nice creaminess.
Fiat Café is really just one of those quintessential, under the radar, cozy café spots that NYC has so many of if you know where to look. It’s a neighborhood spot that you’d want to go to over and over again. Very warm atmosphere, the food is homey and cooked very well, the people are friendly, and the prices are great. I’d highly recommend the place if you’re in the area.
