My son and I were in SoHo to meet a friend and enjoy an espresso.

We had a very good one at Aroma Espresso Bar.

It is not so much in SoHo as on SoHo, being located on the south-side of Houston itself. Thus, it loses a lot of the SoHo charm by facing north across what may be one of the widest streets in Manhattan.

The café itself was refreshing and crisp. A modern/futuristic 50s diner with long communal tables and plenty of bar seating.

I would put Aroma in a small category of NYC cafés that appear to, either have aspirations or just look like they could, become local contenders to Starbucks throughout the city. Throughout London, there is Caffe Nero and Costa presenting strong local competition to Starbuck’s. This competition is surprisingly lacking here in NYC.

If they maintain the taste of their espresso, the sharpness and cleanliness of their espresso bars, then Aroma could be one to present this challenge. If they do not, someone else will.

Address

Aroma Espresso Bar – 145 Greene Street, New York on Houston Street. BDFV Trains at Broadway – Lafayette. RW Trains at Prince Street. 6 Train at Bleecker Street.

Music

Serge Gainsbourg – 69 Année Érotique

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 18:42 and is filed under SoHo, SohoKind Cafe, New York. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.