Citizens

What Citizens is

Citizens is a small Australian cafe group that started in Chelsea, Manhattan, in 2016 and now runs two cafes in New York plus outposts in Houston and Austin. The New York cafes are Citizens of Chelsea, at 401 West 25th Street on the corner of Ninth Avenue, and Citizens of Soho, at 201 Lafayette Street near Spring Street. Earlier branches in Gramercy and Greenwich Village are no longer listed by the company.

The concept is the Australian all-day cafe: espresso coffee with the flat white as the default, avocado toast, eggs in several forms, benedicts, toasties, bowls and a big breakfast, cooked from breakfast through to late afternoon. The rooms are bright, with colourful interiors, floor-to-ceiling windows at Chelsea, a communal wooden table and an open kitchen, and both cafes put tables on the pavement in the warmer months.

Citizens is known in New York for two things: generous portions by cafe standards and the Vegemite Experience, a tasting flight of the Australian spread that most visitors have heard of and few have tried.

Who is behind it

Citizens was founded by Justin Giuffrida, from Melbourne, and Andrew Geisel, from the Gold Coast in Queensland. The two met in 2015 while working at a New York coffee shop, bonded over how much they missed Australian cafe culture and opened the first Citizens in Chelsea the following year, in a space that had been a Pushcart Coffee. Giuffrida runs the business side and Geisel the creative direction. The group later added the Soho cafe, then Citizens of Montrose in Houston in 2023 and Citizen All Day in Austin in 2025, the first location with a dinner service.

How the menu works

Both New York cafes serve one à la carte breakfast and lunch menu from opening until close, with no separate brunch hours. You order at the table. The menu is long for a cafe and mixes Australian staples with American comfort dishes, so a group with different appetites can eat together.

• Benedicts: several versions, including a barbecue pulled pork benny and a smashed avocado benedict.
• Eggs: salmon eggs, baked eggs with chorizo, and a big brekkie with poached eggs, bacon, sausage, avocado, chorizo beans and hash browns.
• Toasts and toasties: avocado toast on sourdough with feta or beetroot hummus, and pressed toasties, including a cheddar biscuit brekkie sandwich.
• Shakshuka: the green goddess shakshuka is the vegetarian option that reviewers order most.
• Sweet: banana bread French toast and Belgian waffles, with fruit or salmon on the side.
• Bowls: miso chicken and other grain and vegetable bowls, plus a dragon fruit smoothie bowl and muesli.
• The Vegemite Experience: Vegemite three ways on cheddar biscuits, with butter, with cheese and with smashed avocado.
• Drinks: flat whites and the rest of the espresso list, oat milk on request, matcha lattes, iced cappuccino and fresh juices.

What I ate

I filmed here in June and the reel shows the coffee, the colourful room and a run of the brunch plates: benedicts, toasties, shakshuka and the healthy bowls, with the Vegemite Experience as the dare. The cafe was full by mid morning, which is why I booked.

What it costs

Prices below are from the 2026 delivery menus for the Chelsea cafe, which run slightly higher than the in-cafe menu. New York adds sales tax, and a tip of 18 to 20 percent is expected on table service.

Item	Price
Salmon eggs	about 22 USD
Cheddar biscuit brekkie sandwich	about 20 USD
Banana bread French toast	about 24 USD
Big brekkie	about 22 USD
Vegemite Experience flight	about 8 USD
Flat white	about 5 to 6 USD

One main and a coffee lands around 25 to 32 USD before tip; two mains, a Vegemite flight and two coffees for two people comes to about 65 to 80 USD. Prices move, so treat these as a guide and read the menu on the day.

Do you need a reservation

Not strictly, but on weekends it saves time. Both New York cafes take bookings on Resy and also hold space for walk-ins. Walk-in waits on Saturday and Sunday mid morning are commonly 20 to 45 minutes, while weekday mornings are usually quick.

• Resy: search for Citizens of Soho or Citizens of Chelsea.
• Phone: Soho 347 535 1245, Chelsea 347 554 7496.
• Instagram: @citizen.allday.
• Online ordering for pickup: through the links on citizenallday.com.

Getting there

• Citizens of Soho: 201 Lafayette Street at Spring Street, New York, NY 10012. Spring Street on the 6 is on the corner, Prince Street (N, R, W) is three minutes and Broadway-Lafayette (B, D, F, M) is five minutes on foot. From Washington Square Park it is about a ten-minute walk south.
• Citizens of Chelsea: 401 West 25th Street at Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10001. 23rd Street on the C and E at Eighth Avenue is five minutes away, and the High Line entrance at West 23rd Street is two blocks west. Chelsea Market and the Whitney Museum are ten to fifteen minutes south on foot.
• Parking: street parking is hard in both neighbourhoods; garages sit on Lafayette and Kenmare Streets in Soho and along Tenth Avenue in Chelsea.

Before you go

• Book for weekends. Both cafes fill by 9:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Resy or an early start.
• Brunch runs all day. Breakfast dishes are served until 16:00 on weekdays and 17:00 at the weekend, which makes it a good late lunch.
• The Vegemite flight is not guaranteed. Chelsea reviewers mention it regularly; some Soho visitors report it missing from the board. Ask when you sit down.
• Portions are large. A main is enough for most people; the sides are for sharing.
• Outdoor tables are seasonal. Pavement seating goes up in spring and comes down in late autumn, and it cannot be reserved.
• Dietary options. Oat milk, gluten-free bread and several vegetarian mains are on the menu; tell the server about allergies.
• Kids. Casual and welcoming, with high chairs on request; the communal table at Chelsea is the easiest place for a stroller.
• Pair it with the other Australian cafes. For a comparison, my Banter review covers the employee-owned Australian cafe in Murray Hill, and InCommon is a smaller neighbourhood breakfast near Hudson Yards.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above shows the room, the coffee and the plates from my June brunch. For the rest of my New York picks, open my New York map or browse the New York recommendations.