225 Bistro

Mundane Deli with a variety of selections. My order was taken by an unfriendly person at the salad bar, but hey, who is NY is ever friendly? With two protein (grilled chicken and cheese) and the usual extras (tomato, cucumber and onions), the salad came down to $ 8 bucks, which is slightly cheaper than usual salad bars.
Taste test TBA. I will update

The cashier and employee serving me pizza were nice, but the taste of the pizza brought back unpleasant memories of school lunch style pizza and I couldn’t help but cringe. What good is a big slice of pizza if its quality is not up to par? What’s kinda unfortunate about this establishment is that it’s conveniently located next to my bus on the way home from work so I may stop by this place if I’m hungry and feeling lazy despite knowing that their pizza is crummy. Perhaps their other food may be better, but it’s expensive for the FiDi area. Try the many other areas that serve better quality food for a lower price and with a more bright environment.

My partner and I just fnished the long from Brooklyn Bridge. was getting hungry, saw this on the way, we were like why nto give it a try. And I happy we did. This place it look like a big cafertiria, it offered many different kind sytle of food here, from middle eastern, asia buffet to
pizza and so on, sweets, snack and yogurt, they got them all. I just like the concept of this, you don’t nesssary just stay with just one kind of the style.
I tried the buffer, I guess it wis quite common here to set a price with the buffet, and caculate the price with weight of the dish. Just be awared what are you picking. The food actually turned out to be much better than I expected. Usually, this kind of place will be full of people, it was probably out luck. it wasn’t crowdy at all, when we were there. So we could have out meal peacefully.
The price of this place was really alright, not so expensive. The whole place is selfservice, just grab whatever you like to have and go to the cashier, which located at the front, near the entrance. after that, just grab yourself a nice seat and enjoy.

Abysmal service… Got my order wrong and accused me of it being my fault. I apologize that a bagel «on the side» is a difficult order. It doesn’t help that they don’t write anything down… And ordering is a chaotic mess.
Food wise, it is pretty good.

Food was served cold. The chicken lasagna was tasteless and too cold to even eat. The only good thing about this place was they had a working restroom. I would not recommend this place for anyone looking for a decent meal.

Today, I watched the guy behind the counter handle raw hamburger meat and then make a gyro without washing his hands. WITHOUT WASHING HIS HANDS. I will never go back.

Delicious buffet and Turkish gozleme, wide variety of lunch and breakfast. We had beef and cheese gozleme and liked it, comes with side salad or rice.

The food is average and then down, but it’s a good alternative for big parties where everybody has different tastes.
The restaurant is really nice.

When I came in I noticed the person preparing the food not only being rude to someone else but taking a long time to take my order for no reason.
When he finally stopped refusing me service his attitude was tolerable but if down town had more options I would have walked out for being ignored at this point in the experience and also had fantasies of walking out while my food was being heated.
Then comes the worst part the cashier handled my food and in her haste refused to give me a fork and charged my card wrong. Obviously I asked to speak to a manager and was told I can only speak to him after I allow my card to be charge again which I refused.
At this point the cashier took the food away as though they were doing me a favor by selling me food today. I finally got to speak to a manager who did nothing. I will never return here the service is disgusting. I would like to be treated like a human being thank you.

totally disappointed! The staff was so rude and pay no attention to your need, and slow! The salad is not fresh, and you have to pay $ 1.5 for a quarter of Avocado!!! Never go back again!

Lunch time during the business week.
Back to Manhattan after several weeks in the outer boroughs call for something nearby without walking the distance due to sheer utter exhaustion. Staff is downright rude and regard customers as invisible like cellophane when waiting for your order. Ehh? The server appeared incompetent or not focused as I had to repeat my order «two slices of Margherita pizzas, please!!» with affirmation and loudness for his audibility. Two slices of Margherita pizza $ 3.50 each was rather bland and the Mozzarella cheese was surely not fresh. Oliva Gourmet is d/​b/​a 225 Bistro as their storefront said «225 Bistro.» Blah!

I had no idea that they can have pastries as old as seven days old! I have been here several times and often order the tiramisu cup — it had gone bad once and they apologized and replaced it. Recently i had the same experience again — the woman at the reception said that they are allowed to have the pastries AS LONG AS SEVEN DAYS! Instead of replacing or apologizing — she started shouting at me and asked me to leave in front of the other customers. I later complained to the manager and asked him to review the cameras — he said that they are not working. NEVER GOING BACK! In my opinion dessert should not be more than 4 or 5 days old at the most!

I was looking to review this place but I was looking for 225 bistro which is what it said on the store sign and on my receipt. I was here yesterday after having been downtown earlier. It was around 3 P.M. and I hadn’t eaten lunch so I thought I would step in because I used to work in this building way before this place was here.
I was thinking a about soup but I didn’t see any by the hot and cold food bar. So I looked at their selection. I got some roasted Brussels sprouts, yellow rice, pepper steak and teriyaki chicken. I would never usually get the Brussels sprouts but I always hear they are better if roasted on high heat which is how these looked. When I tasted them I confirmed my suspicion that they were indeed roasted. The chicken was good. The steak was a little tough but for cooked steak at $ 8/​lb. you can’t go wrong.
About one third of the store area is for dining in which is good thing, especially since I had no where to eat. You just have to pay before you go to eat there.
I saw the soups behind the counter when I was exiting. They have maybe 6 or 7 types. I’ll have to remember if I come back here.

I am giving Olivia 5 stars for the Turkish section. The lamb gyro is authentic, the gozleme is delicious and the kebobs are fresh, juicy and tasty. The Turkish rice is perfect and the bulgur pilav is delicious. The rest of the place is standard salad bar fare, the price for the Turkish selections is very good considering what you are getting. Huge portions of very good quality food. $ 10.95 for gyro or kabobs is very fair for anywhere in the city. You cannot compare this price to helal cart prices because the carts are not serving real gyro or quality products. I feel safe to say that most carts serving gyro are serving a gyro product made with bread and flour, not just meat which is what it should be. I also have to add that the Turkish selections are certified Helal and there is a 10 percent discount for city workers and students.

This place is «okay». Nothing amazing. They have different stations with food, a salad bar, hot food at $ 8.10 per lb, and they have a sandwich station. I picked up some penne vodka with breaded chicken and Caesar salad from the hot food bar. It came out to about $ 7.00. They also have a dessert bar. As I was walking by a noticed red velvet cupcakes which I love and I couldn’t resist! The pasta was pretty good. The cupcake which was about 4 bucks not so good. It was really dry, I was just not feeling it at all! I hate when something looks amaZingly delicious and it taste like… I’ll let you fill in the blank.

Now known as 225 Bistro.
Had a chicken kebab plate with rice and grilled veggies.
Not bad, not bad at all. But the price was a bit steep, $ 11.95 plus tax.

I’ve worked in the area for almost two years and have never visited Oliva Gourmet. Maybe it’s the unceasing construction and scaffolding? These barriers, along with the clots of tourist traffic on that block probably kept me from doing anything more than rushing past to another location. Today, I stopped.
Oliva is handy place, it turns out. They have a little of everything: sandwiches, hot food, buffet stations, salad stations, and more. It’s not readily apparent while standing at the entrance, but there’s a lot going on, and you see more the further back you go.
After making a mental note of what’s available, I headed over to the sandwich area and chose the Lamb Adana wrap. At a pricey $ 10.80 including tax, this isn’t much of a bargain. Yes, the flavors were good – it seemed to be lamb sausage, and there was a mix of crisp vegetables, all kissed by the flavor of the grill on which they heated the meat and wrap. While watching another shopper get far more food on her chicken kabab, I realized I probably chose the item that was the worst value on their menu. Fortunately it had good taste, though the folds in the wrap unraveled before I could finish, forcing me to reach for my fork.
I’d say that Oliva has potential for those days when I can’t decide what I want, and would rather browse until something strikes my stomach as worth trying. Unfortunately there are others equidistant from my office that could fit that same description, so I’m not convinced I’ll return. Still, if you’re in the area, you could certainly do worse.

Although I like their middle eastern section, and the pressed Panini’s section, but the overall condition of this place and the food makes me give it 2 stars.
It looks kinda shabby. The salad bar, and the hot foods bar looks tired to say the least.
Another blaring example is the ‘sushi’ section. I would never trust a sushi bar & its sushi which look like this. since it is one thing which needs to be absolutely fresh.
I’d honestly suggest the owners up their game. just labeling all sections & dishes more accurately than any other similar place I’ve ever seen will not make this place better or more popular.

Absolutely random encounter. I got the Turkish lamb gyro here for lunch today. They’ve got quite a selection: American, Italian, middle eastern and sushi.
My lamb gyro was ok. This is another touristy spot in FiDi, but on the better side.

We ate lunch there almost five years ago. It was a few days after Christmas and therefore the place wasn’t very crowded. The owner (?) was standing in the doorway saying amusing things and the hot food bar & salad bar had some decent options. We sat in the (back) seating area, which is certainly different than any other deli-​type place I’ve seen; it looks like a grotto. Also, there was a man playing the piano and the overall atmosphere was relaxing.
I ate a late lunch there three days ago and thought the hot food bar & salad bar options were lackluster. Also, it was very pricey ($ 7.99/pound). The cashiers were o.k. and gave me tap water without an argument, and the other workers seemed pleasant enough. I arrived at 1:30 p.m., so the piano player wasn’t there (or perhaps he no longer works there). The seating area was really crowded and the conversation noise was deafening. And; the food tasted blah, so I wouldn’t bother returning.