I am opening a cafe in a shopping mall in England. The mall has shops
like; Gap, Top Shop, Starbucks, etc. The cafe will have the following;
sandwiches made to order, hot roast of the day for sandwiches ie
ham,striploin; Chefs theatre with food being cooked to order in front
of the customer; Self service salad and soup section and a cake
section. The feeling of the cafe is "Manhatten Loft" and the quality
and portion size reflects this. There will also be black and white
pictures of 1940's New York on canvas. So far  I have come up with
"Manhatten Cafe" hoping that Manhatten will be taken as a generic term
to encompass the style of food ie a mix of different cultures
(italian,hispanic,jewish etc) freindly staff, big portions and lots of
choice. The name should not be too local like; 'yellow cab cafe' or
'N.Y.C. cafe'. I do not want the name to be too obviouse.

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Request for Question Clarification by adiloren-ga on 30 May 2005 06:57 PDT

Here are some suggestions. Let me know if any of these suit your needs.


Hell's Kitchen (play on the formerly seedy neighborhood in Manhattan)

Gotham Cafe

The River Room (Manhattan is surrounded by rivers)

Hudson Cafe

Midtown Cafe

Carnegie Cafe

New World Cafe

Park Avenue Cafe

Time Square Cafe

The Colonial Cafe

The Five Points

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Clarification of Question by cat36-ga on 30 May 2005 09:53 PDT

The names are too specific to an area. I am looking for something more
generic but points to the type of food that we are offering. The
nearest thing that I can Think of is the "Atlantic Bar" . Although the
Atlantic isn't 100% american, there is an american link in the minds
of the people that go there. I am looking for a name that encompasses
New York Deli cuisine without calling it the NYD cafe.

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 31 May 2005 16:07 PDT

How about:

The Big Apple
The City Cafe
The Melting Pot
Delicacity (delicacy + city)

jbf777

Hello cat36-ga,


I'll begin with a confession...I usually don't do "name my business"
questions, because they're so utterly subjective, that one can never
know if the names will be pleasing or repellent to the client who
asked for them.


But I'm making an exception in this case because I am a New Yorker
born and bred (a Brooklyn boy, actually) and I not only have a special
place in my heart for New York, but that place has its own special
place for NYC restaurants, and even for wanna-be NY restaurants.

So...my list of possible names is below, along with some things you
may wish to think about a bit in making your final decision.

As with all Google Answers questions, the answer is not final until
you are fully satisfied that you have everything you need.  So if my
suggestions don't do the trick, for any reason, please don't rate the
answer until you've first gotten back to me.  Just post a Request for
Clarification to let me know what you think, and I'll be happy to
continue working on the answer.


Best of luck with your venture.  Whatever name you eventually choose,
hope I'll have a chance to visit one day.


pafalafa-ga


===============


Let's start with your working title, "Manhatten Cafe".

First thing to note is that it's 'Manhattan' ... ending in 'an', not 'en'.  

Secondly, the name's not bad.  Not bad at all. When New Yorkers say
they're going to "the city", they mean Manhattan.  The two terms are
pretty much synonymous.  Even though Brooklyn, Queens etc are formally
part of the City of New York, when someone says "the city", everyone
understands that to mean Manhattan.  So your working title captures a
good part of the essence of NYC.


As for "Cafe", that works well, too.  It evokes an image of a
comfortable and stylish but not too snooty sort of an eating
establishment.


But I want to put some other possibilities on the table.  New York
City eateries come in a variety of flavors.  On the informal,
come-and-grab-a-sandwich side of things are cafes, diners, 'bar and
grill' (only if you're planning on a bar), and delicatessens (more
commonly known as delis, as you've already noted).  Though these used
to be fairly distinctive types of establishements, the distinctions
have faded into one another over the years.  The description you
provided immediately brought to mind a NYC deli -- emphasis on
overstuffed sandwiches, ethnic identity (or identities, as the case
may be), and a varied menu, so you may want to consider working that
into your name.  However, 'diner' and 'cafe' could work just as well,
as would 'grill' or 'bar and grill', and its more a matter of how
things sound to your ear, than any adherence to particular sort of
restaurant.

So consider names along the lines of:


Manhattan Deli

Manhattan Diner

Manhattan Bar and Grill

or simply


Manhattan
A New York-style deli


Of those four, just calling your restaurant "Manhattan" (with or
without the sub-title) has a lot to say for it...you can even style
the typeface for the name to resemble the NYC skyline, perhaps with
the Empire State Building as the first letter 'A' in Manhattan.

You can also reverse things.  I think:


Cafe Manhattan


has a good ring to it.  


New York City is also known worldwide by its nickname, The Big Apple,
which could also serve as a stand-alone name for your restaurant, or
you could make it:


The Big Apple Diner


(I don't really like the sound of either deli or cafe with the Big Apple name).   


I know you don't want to get too local, but there are certainly some
place names that invoke the essence of Manhattan and shouldn't be
overlooked:


42nd Street Diner

Broadway Bar and Grill

Times Square Deli

Brooklyn Bridge Cafe
(or just 'Brooklyn Bridge')

Broadway & 42nd Street


and there are also some names which -- don't ask me why -- are just
very NYC-sounding:


Max's Diner

Joe's Bar and Grill

Ray's
(this is a famous NYC pizza shop, but the name works for other types
of restaurants as well)

Schneider's Deli (if you're looking for a bit of an ethnic flavor)


Other possibilities are NYC's formal name -- also the refrain of its
unofficial anthem:


New York, New York


or simply use its universally recognized initials as a name:


NYC


or an old fashioned NY name, with a sports link:


Knickerbocker's


or anything with 'skyline':


Skyline

Skyline Diner

Skyline Cafe

etc.




I'm going to halt the list here...for the moment.  I could go on, but
before doing so, I think it makes sense to give you a chance to look
these over, and see if anything makes a light bulb go off for you, or
alternatively, if the list is so unappealing that you're feeling a bit
ill right now!

Whatever your reaction, please remember my suggestion, above -- just
post a Request for Clarification to let me know what you think, and
what else you might need, and I'll be happy to oblige.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- reflections of my boyhood, and many happy dining
experiences in cafes, delis, diners, and chino-latino, mulit-culti,
tex-mex, and innumerable other assortments of NYC restaurants.

Spike Cafe' "Let's go down to the Spike!"

The Sandwhich Shack

How about calling it, "Long Island"

What about the workd famous connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn?
To encompass the "whole" New York scene, simply call it, "Brooklyn
Bridge"

Then again, perhaps you'd like to name it something chic and unsual.
Since the most famous landmark in Manhattan is the Empire State
Building, might I suggest you call it, "West 33rd"  or "33rd & 5th"
(the famous adress of the Empire State Building, as everyone in
Manhattan knows, is West 33rd and 5th Ave in Manhattan). It's a very
cool name if I do say so myself. And if nothing else, curious people
will speculate why you named your cafe the name you chose. An old rule
of marketing is that it doesn't matter WHY they talk about you, as
long as they talk about you.

What do you think?

tutuzdad-ga

"A Nosh Above."

A couple notes that I have had in mind since this was posted:

1) Nix the Cafe
The Google answerer touched on this one: think about skipping the
"cafe", "deli", "grill", etc. entirely.
I like Manhattan better than Manhatten Cafe. 

Here's some "proof", or as close as we can get in such a subjective
field. Take a search of the top 10 restaurants as rated on
EPinions.com - only one has the type of establishment in the name
("brewery and grill").
http://www.epinions.com/rest-Restaurants-All/show_~top_sellers

Since we're talking NY, let's look there. On restaurantrow.com, it's
one out of 10 ("club"). On Citysearch, it's also 1 of 10("Cafe Grey").

What's the conclusion? Today's top restaurants don't feel the need to
put cafe, grill, diner, etc. in their names. Be sure you are open to
the option of leaving it out.

2) Other Possibilities
I have a few other NY inspired names to throw out.

"Bronx"
That's a good name, right there. No "cafe", no nothin'; just "Bronx". 

"Kings County", or "Queens County"
These are the traditional names of the Brooklyn and Queens boroughs.
They also have a strong English connotation, making them good names
for a NY-themed cafe in England.

"Boroughs" or "5 Boroughs", or even "5 Boroughs Cafe"
Again, NY origin with English connotation. 

Like em? Please let me know what you think. I really like the idea of
possibly having something to do with the naming of a cafe half way
around the world.

Cheers,
_Dave