Restaurant in New York City, United States
Reliable neighbourhood café, honest prices.
Westville on the Upper West Side is a reliable café pick with three consecutive years on Opinionated About Dining's North American Cheap Eats list, improving from a 2023 recommendation to #491 in 2024. Walk-ins are easy, the price is accessible, and it holds a 4.4 Google rating. Best suited to solo diners and small groups on a weekday.
At a café price point in one of New York's more expensive neighbourhoods, Westville on Broadway delivers consistent, approachable food that has earned a place on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats rankings three consecutive years: #585 in 2025, #491 in 2024, and a recommended listing in 2023. That upward trajectory matters. It signals a kitchen that is improving, not coasting. If you are already a regular at the Upper West Side location and have been ordering the same thing since your first visit, it is time to push further into the menu.
Westville is a neighbourhood café in the practical sense: a spot where the food is direct, the room is casual, and the pricing stays accessible against the backdrop of a city where even a basic lunch can drain your wallet. The 4.4 Google rating across 68 reviews reflects a consistent experience rather than a destination meal. You are not booking Westville for a special occasion in the way you might book Le Bernardin or Atomix, but that is entirely the point. Westville fills a different role, and it fills it reliably.
The address at 2290 Broadway puts it squarely on the Upper West Side, a neighbourhood with plenty of café competition. The fact that it has held its OAD Cheap Eats position across three consecutive years suggests it is doing something right against that competition, even as it has not yet broken into the top tier of that list. If you are comparing options on the same block, Westville is the safer bet for a consistent mid-week lunch or a low-key weekend brunch.
Weekday mornings and early lunches are the window when this kind of café operates at its smoothest. Weekend brunch at Upper West Side spots tends to attract queues, and with a 4.4 rating and a growing OAD profile, Westville is no exception. If you are a returning visitor who has only done weekend visits, a Tuesday or Wednesday lunch will show you a more relaxed version of the same kitchen. The room will be quieter, service will be faster, and you will have more time to work through parts of the menu you have not tried. For groups, a weekday visit sidesteps the weekend bottleneck entirely.
Westville is not set up as a private dining destination, and there is no evidence in its profile of a dedicated group space. For small groups of two to four, the café format works well: the menu is broad enough that everyone finds something, and the price point keeps a group meal from becoming a financial commitment. Larger groups should be realistic: a busy café on Broadway is not the right call for anything that requires a quiet room or a dedicated server. For group dining in New York that comes with more structure, the restaurant options in our full New York City restaurants guide include venues with private dining rooms built for that purpose. Westville's value for groups is in its accessibility and price, not its event infrastructure.
Against comparable café options in New York, Westville holds its own on the OAD Cheap Eats list, which is a more credible signal than star ratings alone for this price tier. Daily Provisions operates in a similar register but skews more toward the bakery and grab-and-go end of the spectrum. Le Pain Quotidien offers a broader café menu with more seating, but lacks the OAD recognition that gives Westville its external validation. Sarabeth's competes for the same brunch occasion but sits at a higher price point and a more formal register. Among the three, Westville is the pick if your priority is value and you want a track record to back the decision.
If Westville is your Upper West Side base, it is worth knowing the wider New York scene. For a more structured night out, our full New York City restaurants guide covers the range from neighbourhood staples to serious destination dining. If you are staying in the city, our New York City hotels guide and bars guide round out the picture. For café comparisons further afield, Flat White in London and The Good Egg in London are benchmarks worth knowing if you travel between cities. Closer to home, Smyth in Chicago and Providence in Los Angeles illustrate how much range exists in the North American dining conversation that OAD tracks. Westville sits at the accessible end of that spectrum, and it earns its place there.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westville | Easy | — | |
| Le Bernardin | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Atomix | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Per Se | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Masa | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
The menu details aren't confirmed in our data, so ordering specifics aren't something we can pin down here. What the OAD Cheap Eats ranking signals is that the kitchen does the fundamentals reliably at a café price point. Stick to whatever the daily specials board offers — at this format and price level, that's where the kitchen usually focuses its energy.
Westville is a casual, neighbourhood café on the Upper West Side — it has appeared on the OAD Cheap Eats in North America list three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025), which is a credible signal for value consistency rather than fine dining ambition. Come expecting a relaxed room and accessible prices, not a destination-dining experience. Weekday mornings and early lunches tend to run smoother than weekend brunch at comparable Upper West Side spots.
Westville operates as a neighbourhood café, so same-day or walk-in visits are typically viable for most time slots. Weekday lunch and off-peak mornings are your safest bet. If you're planning a weekend brunch, arriving early reduces wait times — Upper West Side brunch demand can back up at casual spots regardless of the venue.
Probably not as your headline booking. Westville's OAD Cheap Eats recognition and café format make it a strong everyday option, but the casual room and accessible price point don't support a celebratory dinner the way a tasting-menu restaurant would. For a special occasion in New York, you'd want to look at a structured dining format instead; use Westville for a low-pressure lunch before or after.
For cheap eats with similar OAD recognition elsewhere in the city, the list runs deep — New York's affordable dining scene is one of the most competitive in the country. If you want to stay in the Upper West Side's casual café orbit, comparable neighbourhood spots on Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue are worth scouting. For a step up in formality or a structured meal, the New York Pearl guide covers the full range from café level through Michelin-tier.
There's no documented private dining room or dedicated group space in Westville's profile. For small groups of two to four, the café format works fine. Larger parties should call ahead to check table availability — nothing in the venue data suggests this is set up for organised group bookings, so a dinner party of six or more would be better served by a restaurant with confirmed group facilities.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
