Bad Cafes


The internet, Instagram, and TikTok are full of articles on "Top 10 Cafes to Work At" or "Hidden Study Spots in NYC". The cafes that they list look good in a staged photo or short video with someone pretending to read (while smelling a cup of coffee with their eyes closed), but the many of the recommended cafes are not good for working. Many cafes that they list are missing wifi, outlets, or bathrooms, while others have a no/limited laptop policy, or have shut down since the article was posted. Below is a running list of cafes and coffee shops that will not work for long-term laptop use.


& Cafe (Midtown East)

  • Permanently closed

75 Degrees

  • Permanently Closed

550 Madison Public Atrium

  • No outlets

ABC Eats Food Hall

  • Permanently closed

Barnes & Nobles (Union Square)

  • No outlets

B Cup Cafe

  • No outlets

Borris & Horton

  • Closed February 2024

Cafe Kitsuni

  • No laptop policy

Capital One Cafe (Union Square)

  • Permanently closed

Felix Roasting Company (Park Ave South)

  • No outlets, except for a fake one by the front corner table that does not work

Whole Foods Cafe & La Colombe Coffee Roasters (Bowery & Houston)

  • No outlets

Whole Foods Cafe (Greenwich & Warren)

  • 2 hour time limit
  • Purchase required


Devoccion (Lexington Ave Location)

  • No outlets

Charlotte's Cafe

  • 90 minute seating limit

Muse Cafe

  • Laptop free zone

Food Hall 38

  • No wifi

King's Street Coffee

  • No outlets

The Roost

  • Laptop free zone

Shakespeare & Co

  • Laptop free zone

Slate Cafe (Midtown)

  • No outlets (they purposely put a plate over their 2 outlets in 2023)

Semicolon Cafe

  • Laptop free zone

Public Hotel

  • No wifi (they started charging $7 for wifi in 2023)

Think Coffee (8th Ave between 13th 14th St)

  • Unreliable wifi

Think Coffee (Broadway & Leonard St)

  • Unreliable wifi

The Sisteryard

  • Closed March 2024

Unicorn Glow

  • 2 hour seating limit
  • Everyone in party must make a purchase

UT47

  • Coffee shop is now a restaurant

Vanilla Gorilla (15th St Location)

  • Temporarily Closed


P.S. The initial photo from this blog post was from a cafe in Brooklyn. If you follow the sign and go to the communal table, you will see the following sign. Because of the time limit, this cafe did not make it onto the map