The Financial District is full of people working, and almost none of that happens in cafes. Most of it happens behind badge readers in office towers, which means the neighborhood has fewer laptop-friendly tables per block than, say, the West Village. It also means the tables that do exist are quiet after 10am on a weekday, and close to empty on a Saturday.
We get asked about this a lot, usually by guests who are here for a work trip and want to get out of the room for a few hours. So here's what we actually tell them: two cafes on our own street, one big public atrium a walk west, and the two rooms downstairs if you'd rather not put on shoes.
One thing worth saying up front. If you're on back-to-back calls, a cafe is the wrong choice, and that's what our Conference Room is for. Cafes are for heads-down work, email, writing, the stuff where background noise helps.
The comfort of home, with the service of a hotel.