I know, you’re probably thinking, “why did he go to the NBC cafe?” I actually went based on a recommendation and on the fact that it was recently remodeled and was supposedly “very cool.” Well, I traveled up to Rockefeller Center and braved the swarms of people, tourists, and Midtown employees to find myself standing in front of the NBC Experience Store (as a brief tangent, if you haven’t been here yet, you MUST check it out, especially if you’re obsessed with TV the way that I am). Located right in Rockefeller Center (near where the Christmas Tree is every year) at 49th street between 5th and 6th avenues, the msnbc.com digital cafe is an incredibly easy find.
Walking through the revolving doors of the Experience Store, quite the…experience…hit me. TVs showing NBC programs were found everywhere. Paraphernalia from every show imaginable adorned the walls, floors and every nook and cranny. Before I headed up the spiral stairs to the cafe, I took at look at some of the products the store had to offer. I was thrilled to see for sale: Golden Girls T-Shirts claiming “Blanche is my Nana,” Saved By The Bell cheerleading uniforms, The Biggest Loser scale, Heroes lunch boxes, really everything you could ever want from any of your favorite TV shows…this store had it. I finally made my way to the stairs and climbed to the second floor where my digital cafe awaited. As I walked up the stairs, check out the pictures of both the stairway entrance and the cool digital monitors that packed the walls. Quite the sensory experience. Clearly I’m fascinated with not only coffee, but also TV and electronics.
Once reaching the top of the stairs, a great surprise awaited me…Red Mango! If you aren’t from NYC, you probably aren’t aware of the yummy frozen yogurt goodness that is Red Mango. Check out their website and learn more. As a direct competitor to LA-based Pinkberry, securing the location inside the NBC Experience Store and the msnbc.com digital cafe is a great move. They will get many tourist eyes on them and get the word out about their brand. In addition to this yummy yogurt was a great seating area off to the left. As you will see from the picture, the view from up here is spectacular. It provides a view of the flags of the world and in the winter months of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and the ice skating rink. 
There is also plenty of seating available to relax and chill out. In addition, there were two interesting games out on the floor. Do you remember the old school Pac-Man and Galaga games? The ones where you would sit across from your opponent seated at a flat-paneled game playing with joysticks? I know you remember it. Well, this cafe had the digital touch screen version!! Amazing. You must go check it out.
Any coffee crawl wouldn’t be complete without a mention of coffee, right? Well like I mentioned before, I came to the cafe for the experience and not necessarily the cup of joe. However, they were brewing Seattle’s Best, which comes in many flavors, so it couldn’t be too bad! I had a small cup of Cinnabon-flavored coffee and it was pretty good, smooth just like you would expect this brand to be.
At the end of today’s crawl, I knew that I would recommend this to my readers. The atmosphere and environment are definitely worth the trip to Midtown. Check them out. Let me know what you think (and make sure you play on the touch screen video games!)
