Terrace 5

Free entry to MOMA so treated myself to nice lunch in 5^th floor café. Flavoursome light beet salad. A friendly serving lady very welcoming, catching my Scottish accent straight away.

First the good: My husband said the curried chicken over a bed of wild rice for $ 18 was tasty and the portion size was larger than expected. Now the bad: I generally avoid animal food so ordered the beets and parsnips with goat cheese knowing the cheese would be minimal (which it was). It cost $ 15. It was a smaller plate than my husband’s and I was almost as hungry when I finished as I was before I started. It should be served with some additional starch to bulk it up — like over some wild rice. On leaving MoMA I bought a pretzel from a street vendor to fill me up.

Presumptuous and expensive. Really, what i would expect in Manhattan, but not worth it for me. Waiter was barely attentive. Only reason 3 instead of 2 stars; drinks were tasty and they saved a bag for us that we forgot at the table.

I know museum cafes like to be inventive and be different but this place was way too far out there. My mom and I were visiting the museum and wanted to have a quick bite to eat before viewing the exhibits. The menu is nothing but salads and weird items on toast. No hot soup, no sandwiches. Nothing savory for my picky mom to eat. She ended up eating a delicious peach melba sundae. I had the curry chicken salad. We both liked our meals though my flatbread was a bit greasy. But there really should be more options as not everyone eats salad.
The restaurant was nicely decorated and they had a nice outdoor patio that over looked the sculpture garden. So if you are into out there food, definitely check this place out. But if you want a simple sandwich, its not for you.

Outdoors very nice. Zucchini gazpacho with baby zucchini garnish creative & wonderful. Cheese plate world class, although slightly cool. As if that were not enough, the lemon passion fruit tart was a delight. I am very impressed by the executive chef.
Frances is the penultimate waitress who would do justice to the best of the double 3 star Michelin restaurants. There is no restaurant in which she would not excel.

I met a friend for lunch and we had a mixed bag experience. I ate the tuna salad and she had the curry chicken salad. We both ordered iced tea and shared an orange cake for dessert. I liked my meal very much and the portion was plentiful. She felt that her dish was too sweet and had an overpowering curry flavor. The orange cake with cranberry was tasty as was the coffee. The service was slow but pleasant with free refills. I saved 10% with my membership.

The food isn’t bad, but not too good either. I feel like they used a lot of butter or oil.

I’ve eaten here before, and from what I remember. it was fairly average.
I ate here again the other day as they were closing and had a solid meal.
I ordered the whipped ricotta appetizer and the steak salad.
Both were delicious and left me satisfied.
I agree that the place is on the expensive side and tends to be loud, but it is in MoMA. (what do you expect?)
The isn’t a destination for me, but if I’m too lazy to leave the museum to grab a good bite to eat, this place delivers.

Nice little café. They mostly have light salads and cold entrees, so make sure that’s what you want before going there. Pretty crowded, like the rest of the museum, but the food was good (I really like the hummus appetizer and the curry chicken salad) and the service is fast.

The outdoor view is really what makes this restaurant, but the food was pretty delicious too. One of the drawbacks is that the menu is limited because they do not want to cook with flame near valuable paintings (can you blame them?), but I think they could have expanded the menu a little bit. Either way, my wife ordered the cheese plate and I ordered the Curry chicken, and both were delicious and light. The beer selection was also good. It made for a good way to take a break from seeing the paintings, and recharge before going back in again.

Pistachio strawberry cake — just the right amount of sweet and tartness from strawberries.
5 cheeses — we ordered everything except the queso; looked like there are two types of blue cheese, two types or variants of Brie, and one goat cheese. Better value than ordering 3 cheeses as it’s only $ 3 more.
Lemon chickpea hummus — completely cleaned off the serving dish. That’s how good it was.
Overall, outdoor ambience is nice compared to sitting inside. Our service was a bit slow — they were milking the cows for our cheeses. They didn’t check on our orders until we asked our waitress.
Got 10% off with our MoMA membership!
Wouldn’t come again to see other people eat who sat after us while we wait for ours.
Atmosphere — ⁴⁄₅
Service — ¹⁄₅
Food — ³⁄₅

Nice view. Iced brew coffee is awesome. It’s my first time seeing pure black ice coffee (5.5 dollars) in a bottle and my latte (4.75) is great.
Tips: fifth floor and the outside seats are nicer

I was quite surprised by this place — pleasantly so. I mean, you go to a museum restaurant and you expect monopoly prices. After all, they got you cornered. Where else are you going to go?
But it was affordable and, despite that, quite tasty. I had a beef miso salad and my friend had the chicken salad wrap dish. Both looked all gourmet with a nice presentation. They were also very tasty. I won’t say substantial though. The dishes were just shy of being big enough, but it was just lunch, so we were okay with that.
Apparently there is a view off the terrace, but I couldn’t see it. It was yucky outside so we sat indoors and couldn’t see a thing. The place is tiny, but looks tidy enough. Very modern, with utensils that look like some artist designed them. Luckily they still work, though the fork tines are dinky!
Still, quite nice. I’ll go back when I go to MoMa again.

Nicely thought out MoMA-​esque interior and iconic modernist utensils.
Unfortunately, the food is quite mediocre. But when I’m at MoMA and all of a sudden I feel I’m starving after viewing an exhibition on the sixth floor, I simply end up sitting at a table here. But this restaurant has hardly ever left a memorable impression on me other than, well, it’s in MoMA and it has a terrace.
For example, I remember the curry chicken salad on the morrocan m’smen bread. The chicken salad itself was fine (nothing miraculous), but attempting to orchestrate it with an extremely thin, flat, buttery, greasy yet not soft-​enough sheet of bread using a knife and fork is not a pleasing experience per se. Unless it is meant to be performance art intended to be documented. Seriously, the whole menu must be reexamined in order for the restaurant to serve its purpose. Otherwise it seems to be a bit of a joke. Oh, and the lettuce, mint, parsely, etc. that came with it had whatsoever no dressing or connection to the chicken salad, making the rest of the plate totally pointless and unsavory. Or was I supposed to create my own sandwich or wrap or something? If that’s the case, no thank you. I just don’t get it.
Next time I am going to walk a couple of blocks east and have a decent brunch at my favorite Brasserie underneath the Seagram for a salmon nicoise salad or a fantastic famers omelet! Can’t MoMA chefs learn a practical lesson from a real New York restaurant such as The Modern or Brasserie or Odeon or Bottino… ?
The MoMA itself deserves five stars as a museum of modern art. But the menu of Terrace 5 needs to be totally revised.

Mom, aunt and I stopped here one pleasant summer afternoon where the friendly hostess found us a nice table outside on the patio. The view was great and the weather perfect.
What struck me as surprising was how wonderful the service was. This was a mere museum café! Most other places just care about slinging overpriced mediocre (at best) food for people who are basically stuck in the museum but just want a snack. Instead, when I informed the hostess if it would be alright that we just had dessert, she replied «Absolutely!» with a smile and led us to our awesome table.
Likewise, our server was a very nice and accommodating person. He was always cheerful, prompt and friendly. He didn’t think I was weird for wanting ice cubes for my water (brought a tall glass of it with a long spoon) and immediately offered more salad dressing when my aunt wanted more (she always does — she’s a dressing freak).
The food was surprisingly delicious and it went well with our overall mood that afternoon. We started with the whipped ricotta appetizer which was served with wonderfully thin and crispy flatbread. Mom and aunt ate a buttload of that.
Instead of desserts, we did end up having another meal there just because none of us was really ready to head back into the jungle of MOMA.
Both mom and aunt ordered a salad. Portions were large (not huge) and the ingredients used appeared fresh. I decided on a cheese plate for a snack and have to say that the selection was very well-​curated, just like the rest of the museum.
All in all, we had a wonderful time here, a brief respite from the rigors of trying to decipher modern art.

This place deserves zero stars.
I went here with my father, who was visiting New York City for only the second time since 1980.
Normally, I would not go to this kind of place and spend money, as I have been living in Manhattan for a while now, and usually try to find more affordable places to eat. But my father was here, and I thought it would be fun to do something touristy! Boy, was I wrong.
We ordered two plates for lunch, and two kinds of deserts. The food was pretty decent and tasted clean.
Here, however, is the issue…
When my father tired to pay the check by credit card, the waiter asked for his signature.
My father is old, and he has a health condition. Also, this is only the second time that he has been in the United States for a really long time.
He was confused, and asked the waiter where he should sign it. The waiter treated him very badly, being very disrespectful and rushing him to sign, grabbing the receipt out of his hand before he had even finished signing.
I was shocked by the way this waiter treated his customers. This was a first time experience for me, even after having lived in NYC for quite a while now.
We paid over $ 66.00 for the food, plus a decent tip, but even after that he treated us like dogs.
I was extremely angry and wanted to complain about it, but I didn’t want my father to have an even worse experience during his short visit to NYC, so we just left.
Overall, our experience here was extremely horrible. We just came here as a family. Hoping to have a nice time.
I was really sad that somebody who works here would treat my dad, who is obviously old and in poor health, in this fashion.
I was so heart broken.
The waiter was an older Caucasian gentleman, with white hair and a small tattoo on his hand. He is disturbing. Be careful if you have him as your waiter.

Viewing modern art is hard work, and MoMA’s admission fee is insanely high, a combination that means that you’ll need to refuel sometime during your museum visit – without leaving the building. Terrace 5 is not great, but it’s here and you’re cranky.
This café is really best for drinks and snacks, not a whole meal. I wish there were more small-​plate options to share, but what we tried were tasty and attractive. The satisfying hummus and ricotta spread were both served with a super-​thin kind of flatbread. Cocktails and wines by the glass are pricey but good; the options even include flights, which is a nice touch.
The décor is stark white (obviously, it’s MoMA), and the bareness does nothing to alleviate the noise. The namesake terrace is not in use when it’s cold, but it looked inviting. Service is pleasant and efficient.

Three years later and I still like this place. If you have a MoMA member, 10% will come off the bill. It’s still kinda pricey but it’s so nice to spend a morning at the museum and then stop in here for lunch. To avoid waiting on line, be sure to go on the early side (before 1 p.m.).
My friend and I were on a budget so we shared a hummus appetizer, which was plenty big for two people. Very fresh, came with some really super-​thin, crispy sheets of something made of flour. Haha. Have no idea what to call it.
Our main courses were very nice and rather ladylike. Not miniscule but not huge either. I could’ve eaten a bit more. Mine was a salad and my friend had a quiche.
Dessert was a masterpiece. Make that «liquid desserts,» as they’re called on the menu. We had what amounted to a very fancy (and smallish) white Russian: kuhlua and and cream. Nice.
For $ 60 plus tip, we got the hummus appetizer, two main courses and two liquid desserts. Not cheap but still lovely. The room was airy, service was good, location was convenient. Much better than the packed dining spots downstairs.

I disagree with tvham. I don’t really understand why it was a problem to pay the charge service. Is it because it was added automatically on the bill? Well, never mind.
I also ordered the vermicelli salad, it wasn’t over dressed, actually, maybe not enough. It wasn’t a small portion neither ! I ordered hummus, very tasty, I guess the best hummus that I ever ate, with a pinch of a very good olive oil. And then, I ended with a blueberry pie and whipped cream. Not so bad at all: crunchy with shortbread.
(See photo below) (See photo below)
Well, the service is very quiet and discret, but also quick and smiling. Finally, I enjoyed my meal. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a place for me on the terrace, meanwhile is better to eat here instead of Café 2.

Good for a pick me up when you are at MOMA and has a great view with nice outdoor seating. But a little pricey. The draft beer was $ 9 and nothing special. The watermelon gaspacho ($ 11) was pretty good as was the lobster vermicelli ($ 22) and the cauliflower blue cheese tart ($ 13). Portion sizes were average.
Service was difficult to get. No one checked on us during the meal and I had to really work hard to get the check. Which is kind of a pain when you are trying to get back to MOMA.