3. Caffe Reggio, 119 MacDougal St.
With all the new coffee joints in town, sometimes it’s easy to forget the classics. Caffe Reggio has been a Greenwich Village mainstay since it opened in 1927, and not much seems to have changed since then. The interior transports you to Italy, with its Renaissance artwork, wrought-iron fixtures and even quotes from Dante’s Inferno inscribed on the walls. This is supposedly where cappuccinos were introduced to America. The star decoration is the café’s impressive espresso machine, dating back to 1902. If it’s old-school charm that you want, you’ll get it here.