Barney Greengrass

This is a special old school deli/​restaurant. Probably one of the best lox and bagel dish I have ever had. The white fish was delicious — it feels like it’s 1956. I highly recommend this place for breakfast or brunch. Yum!

Yum. Authentic bagels with the perfect chewy-​soft balance bagels deserve. Try the pumpernickel with cream cheese and jam. Dreaming of another already.

A favorite treat once in a while. My favorite is lox eggs and onions, cooked to absolute perfection. Real New York authentic Jewish food. It’s expensive for breakfast food, but the tradition and quality are worth it.

Pricey! But it is the upper westside after all and you do pay for what you get. If you have the time you can find just as quality bagels and lox at some other local delis in the city. But saying that you wont be disappointed in this place.

Il devient hélas difficile de trouver d’authentiques delicatessen sur NYC alors direction sans hésiter chez Barney Greengrass.
Les poissons sont fumés sur place ce qui a fait la réputation entre autres de cette maison plus que centenaire.
Afin de pouvoir dire si je retrouvais le goût attendu, j’ai opté pour la légendaire matzo balls soup ainsi que le bagel au saumon fumé. Wouah !!! Alors là, je suis restée bouche bée.
Le bouillon de poule avait un vrai goût de bouillon que l’on a mis du temps à préparer quant aux matzo balls, elles étaient souples et délicieuses.
Après cette entrée en beauté, attaquons le bagel ! Le pain est croustillant et moelleux et le saumon fumé, il fond littéralement dans la bouche. Un grand moment de gourmandise et de retour dans le temps.
Je reviendrai assurément chez Barney Greengrass !

So yummy! I am from Los Angeles so we don’t have too many yummy bagel places. My oh my was this satisfying! I loved this place so much!!! The food was absolutely delicious. I went here with my dad and we were both very happy. I haven’t been to another bagel shop after coming here.

Our second time here. Staff are awesome and real. Place is usually always busy but always worth the wait.

In New York it is Barney Greengrass or Russ and Daughters. Both are excellent, but my lot is firmly cast with Barney.
To start, you walk in. If you were ever in Ellenville, NY when it was still the Jewish Las Vegas you will recognize the place right away. It isn’t from there, but the soul of a good catskills appy lives in here. You can get U-​Bet! I mean, come on!
The service is the most brilliant form of gruff. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. It is what it ought to be. They aren’t going to be cloyingly nice. That isn’t what this place is about.
I assume that Gary Greengrass has to go home at some point and not be in the store, but I have never been there and not seen him… never…and I have gone a few times to say the least.
It is crowded, it is expensive, it is like controlled chaos at times… I have taken people there and smiled through every minute while they stared at me, befuddled, wondering why I would want to subject myself to this lunacy. My only answer is that while the world is complicated and crazy, the insanity of Barney Greengrass just makes sense.
Finally, the food. Ok, bagels are, I believe, H&H so no going wrong there.
As for everything from the lox or nova (there is a difference people, you should know it), the herring (my personal fav), sturgeon, sable, etc. etc. etc. it is, in my opinion, quite honestly the best in the entire world.
Omelettes. Yes. Which one? Yes.
But I am more simple. Give me a bagel with sturgeon and nova, capers and onions, tomato and scallion cream cheese and a little pickle on the side? What are they charging? I don’t care. Do they want my arm? Fine, here, go get a knife.
Like seeing a young Tyson fight, or Michael Jordan play basketball in his prime, this is the best in the business and you should not miss the opportunity to eat here.
Bring cash. Bring a lot. Don’t ask how much something is. Whatever it is, its worth it.

The end result and update on my former review
I take it all back Gary is a mensch, !!!
Problem fixed
Gary THANK YOU !
Would I order on line again
YES !!!

Classic NY deli. Excellent bagels and lox. I ordered the Nova Scotia bagel sandwich with everything. Enjoyed the ambience. Service was prompt, the way it should be. Two problems — prices were expensive (45 $ with tip for the sandwich, egg platter w/​bagel, orange juice & coffee) and I did not know it was cash and only until I was told after the meal so I had to run over to the ATM. It was only a few blocks away from where we were staying so overall it was convenient. Definitely a place for locals.

Barney Greengrass is the reason why any bagel shop outside of NY can’t possibly live up to NY Bagel Standards. Ever.
Whenever I have been abroad, yearning for the taste of a sumptuous bagel, lathered lovingly in scallion cream cheese and the most delectable of smoked fishes, served with a slice of the crispest, most savory half-​sour pickle in the universe, I automatically think of BG, the Sturgeon King of my Heart.
I have been coming here for over 15 years now and cherish the entire dining experience, from enjoying the amazing décor to interacting with the owner/​BG descendant and heir/​cashier when I get bagels to go. They have been in this location since 1929 and the entire interior is done up art deco/​old NY deli style, seriously the real thing, with mirrors and wood inlay, and black and white tile. They have some of the best matzoh ball soup outside of grandma’s soup tureen. What else can I possibly say to hype this place that, quite honestly, no one can do justice to in a 5 star review? The stars at least would have to go up to 11! Oh yes, my co-​worker just told me that they serve latkes fried in shmaltz on the weekends, which is what I’ll try when I’m next there. Go! Then keep on going there until the next generation takes over, and then send your grandkids.
The End.

El lugar no es muy llamativo y es bastante chico. El mozo no le pone mucho entusiasmo (ni saluda). El café te lo van rellenando a medida que se termina. No tiene wifi. En cuanto a la comida es rica y abundante. Los Bagels son abundantes y ricos. Todo lo que es pescado se ve fresco, yo solo comí salmón rosado y estaba perfecto.

Needed some last minute latkas for the first night of Hanukkah & my friend recommended this place for me.
It’s very old school inside when you walk in, I loved it. There must have been a Hanukkah rush because the guy I ordered from seemed very frazzled. He kept apologizing & was very nice.
The place is cash only, my biggest pet peeve.
The latkas were FANTASTIC. I am not a latka fan & these were so good I ate my annual 1 latka & even went for more.
I can’t wait to try some more foods from this place

This was the highlight of my last trip to NYC. Don’t go here if you need clean, spacious, modern spaces, or polite waitstaff, or trendy menu items, or young hipster clientele. But if you want some delicious, authentic Jewish deli food, this place is among the top spots in my book. Make sure you have the sturgeon in some form (my family just gobbles it down by itself but I like it in the scrambled eggs). The black and white cookies are excellent (although I thought the rugelach was mediocre). Bagels are on the sweet side but I really liked them, as did my sister (and she knows her bagels!). I thought the pumpernickel bagel was heaven. Cream cheese is not the best here (Zabars and R&D have better), and the lox isn’t as good as R&D, but the scrambled eggs, sturgeon, whitefish salad, and bagels were among the best I’ve had. Bring cash if you’re going on the weekend.

With just a couple of weeks left living on the Upper West Side, I had to get my hands on a Barney Greengrass bagel. After an expected long wait (nearly an hour), we were seated and ready to devour some smoked salmon. After all, the restaurant was a living and breathing smoke house! No seriously… we could barely ingest air comfortably.
I quickly admired this classic UWS establishment and the overly friendly waiters. I ordered a toasted onion bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. It was perfection in all its glory and by far one of the best I’ve tried in the city! If only I could afford to eat a $ 20 breakfast sandwich every morning…

Old-​school Jewish deli type of place with all the chopped liver, matzah balls, babkas and cured fishes that you could ever want. This place is an institution (check out the photos on the walls while there) so their prices are STEEP. This means I won’t be back anytime soon but it certainly was fun and delicious for a one-​time treat.
There is a takeout counter on one side of the restaurant and a sit-​down area on the other. The menu transported me to another era. I am a sable lover so I had scrambled eggs with nova and sable on the side served with a bagel and cream cheese ($ 20). Again, seriously, unbelievably expensive, but worth it once for the upper west side experience. Waiters are all real New York characters in the obnoxious yet amusing way.

Awesome, old-​school New York joint. FYI CASH ONLY
I really enjoy BArney Greengrass for both the food, and it’s old school, gruff charms.
The menu is extensive and a little confusing. The «Appetizing» portion on the left is enough for one person. In this case appetizing doesn’t mean appetizer, it means smoked fish.
The nova is like butter, so good to taste!
This is a great place to try new things. Don’t be scared of teh Whitefish or the Sturgeon. Both are delicous.
LEO or Sturgeon ommellettes are good. The bagels are very fresh. Love the pumpernickel. Good bialys.
The décor looks like your grandmother’s apartment.
The waiters are friendly, but brisk and efficient, no chit chat.
Bring Cash.

Love this place! They always have the freshest Nova Scotia Salmon and Sturgeon. Bagel’s are always great and perfectly toasted with a flavorful doughy center and a golden, crispy crust.
Front end of the the place is a quick service store and the towards the back you have some not so flashy dining, but it puts your bum in a seat and you gullet will thank you when the experience is over.
I came with my girlfriend and brother for breakfast. They are pricey, but it’s well worth the fare. Portions are belly filling large. We are from Florida and, I kid you not, they had some of the best & freshest OJ I’ve tasted. I ordered the Nova Scotia Salmon toasted everything bagel, cream cheese, and added onion (white) and tomato ($ 15). Comes with a salty brined pickle and a wedge of lemon. We also ordered a side of cheesy eggs, which were seasoned well, fluffy, and delicately delicious.
Been run by the same family for decades and it’s been consistent for the past 20 years. Sit down and enjoy the fare. You won’t be disappointed.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. The food was delicious, and I’d love to give them a better review. But prices are on the heavy side for what you get, space was cramped, and service (for me) was insulting.
I was excited to try their lox, as they had been slicing it in the back all the while, and their bagels (after all, this is New York). The menu specified that their lox was salty, and I was looking forward to having some fresh, salted fish. I soon settled on the Lox Scramble ($ 15), which comes with a bagel. $ 15 seemed a little steep – but I was totally willing to pay that much for some fresh lox!
Soon after ordering, I get my eggs and bagel. The bagel was fair: toasted just right, though slightly heavy on the butter. It was chewy in the center, but not as firm on the edges as I’d hoped. A good bagel, but sub-​par for New York.
But what quickly jumped out at me was that they made me a Nova Scramble (cooked salmon), as opposed to a true Lox Scramble (raw cured salmon), as I had ordered. (They have both on the menu, for the same price, but I strongly prefer lox to nova.) Ok, no problem. I tell the waiter that I believe there was a mistake, and that I wanted the lox. His response:
«You don’t want lox. You ever had our lox before? I didn’t think so. It’s way too salty for you. You’ll like this better.»
Huh? It wouldn’t have been so bad if he’d just’ve admitted that he screwed up my order. I respond that I actually prefer my fish salty, and he scoffs at my retort and walks away.
So, I try it, and it’s darn good. Much better than it looks. The eggs were fresh and just soft enough, and the onions added an irresistible sweetness. But MAN would it have better with some real lox!
So I pull the waiter aside and ask if I can at least TRY the lox. He begrudgingly goes to the back and gets me the minutest slice of lox possible, and gives it to me saying «you won’t even be able to tell how salty it is from this small a piece.»
Anyway, I was pressed for time, so after eating, I just left my $ 20 on the table, and after seeing my tip, the waiter gives gives me one of those «you’re ok in my book kid”-curled cheek type of grins. As if I was the one indebted to him!
Darn good eggs though. Just wish I could have had it with lox. I usually avoid reviewing places based on just one incident, but their sharp unwillingness to please the customer was very off-​putting. Perhaps you’ll have better luck!

This is an NYC institution located on the upper west wide. Over 100 years in business, this is classic old school Jewish deli that specializes in sturgeon specifically and most of the white fish. I would save the Nova smoked salmon for Russ and Daughters and order white fish here.
There is a slight sticker shock as the very delicious bagel sandwich with sturgeon, tomato, onion and cream cheese with a pickle is $ 19.50. It’s extremely delicious but not a bagel sandwich I would be eating on a regular basis. The fish is fresh and exquisite. The eggs with smoked sablefish was also $ 19.50 and they charged us $ 2.25 for the bagel so that was very pricey for not a lot of food. I would stick with the sturgeon bagel sandwich.
The large freshly squeezed orange juice is $ 5.50. Also the latkes are a skip for me — I prefer crispy thinner latkes There latkes are more dense and uses matzo meal. $ 11.50 for 3 — it comes with sour cream and Apple sauce.
The mini black and white cookies are 1.25 each are probably the best I’ve had in NYC! Perfectly soft cookie with a good chocolate icing and a subtle hint of lemon. I could have downed about 5 of those cookies.
Space is tight there so you wait outside for your table. Service is very quick and can be quite daunting when you try to read through massive menu. But the server was good in guiding and narrowing down choices for us.
CASH ONLY!

Barney Greengrass
NY: Manhattan: UWS
11am BagelSunday 21^st June 2015 (Father’s Day)
Five Stars
There was a huge line because today was the hallmark holiday to honor our fathers. We went straight to the counter and ordered some bagels Togo. I had the Sturgeon with Tomato, Capers, and plain Smear on Toasted Everything Bagel ($ 21). Grant ordered a Lox, Tomato, Onion, and plain CC on Toasted Everything bagel ($ 15). The clerk warned me that it would be over $ 20 which was thoughtful but I am totally willing to splurge. The bagel was delicious. The bread was delightfully chewy, crusty, and filled with carbs. The seasoning was more garlicky than most. The sturgeons was tender buttery with just the right amount of salt. The Tomato was pretty lackluster like they had been sitting in a icebox too long. The capers added that extra wow factor. The cream cheese was very nonexistent.
We sat on the steps outside which seemed to be the move.
Maybe I will try brunch sometime here.

I was here on Saturday with a friend as one of the last things I did while living in New York. I lived down the street for a year and had never been. I wish I had known how wonderful it was a year ago (though it’s probably better for my wallet that I didn’t). The Nova Scotia lox was probably one of the best I’ve had. My friend doesn’t like smoked fish and even she said she’d come back and order it. She had the corned beef omelette which looked good but I didn’t try it. We accidentally were given latkes. I had never had latkes before and these were delicious. I definitely recommend having them. Overall it was a wonderful Saturday lunch well spent.
Oh and they’ll ship anywhere, so for a special occasion, I may have to order some Nova Scotia lox to Hawaii!

Arrêt obligatoire chez Barney à chacun de mes trips à NYC !
Ce delicatessen spécialisé en poissons fumés est juste une institution new-​yorkaise. Certaines scènes de grands films (récemment Revolutionary Road avec Winslet et Di Caprio) ou de séries (30Rock par exemple) y sont même tournées régulièrement.
Le lieu est séparé en deux, avec un coté traiteur à emporter et l’autre salle de restaurant. Le cadre est plus qu’authentique (certains diraient même «un peu défraichi» j’avoue) avec un papier peint kitch et des tables en formica, les serveurs taquins, et la nourriture délicieuse, dans le style deli.
J’y ai mangé, à chaque fois :
— une soupe matzo ball,
— un bagel au cream cheese et saumon fumé, avec des pickles maison. Juste une tuerie !
Foncez y !

ich kann Jude D. zu seinem 237. Beitrag zu Barney Greengrass bei Unilocal (
) zu stimmen und übersetze mal ein paar Zeilen von ihm: einige Menschen kommen mit New York nicht zu recht. «Barney Greengrass ist eine alteingessene New Yorker Einrichtung. Nicht die Kellner sind Arschlöcher, Sie sind das Arschloch, wenn Sie denken, dass diese zu Ihnen nett sein sollten. Die Bedienungen sind bei der Arbeit. Außerdem haben diese hier gearbeitet, lange bevor es das Bewertungsportal Jaulen gab, und damit daß jeder die Möglichkeit hat, die Kellner in aller Öffentlichkeit schlecht zu machen. Die Bedienungen können mich wie Scheiße behandeln, so lange das Essen gut ist und wie der Blitz kommt, und das tut es. Wollen Sie wahrhaftig wissen was der richtige Test für einen guten Service ist? Ich verrate es Ihnen: «Es ist ein mit Bravur bestandener Test, wenn der Service es schafft, dass Sie nach dem Hineinkommen in weniger als zwanzig Minuten satt wieder hinaus gelangen. Das geht mit Freundlichkeit nicht.
Gehen Sie nach Kansas zurück, wenn Sie Freundlichkeit wollen «
Ja, ich muss Jude recht geben, in alt eingesessenen Delis in NYC, wie Barneys herrschen ungeschriebenen Gesetze, wie z.B. in alt eingesessenen Äpfelweinwirtschaften in FFM. In einer Äpfelweinwirtschaft ist es z.B. ein Affront gegenüber einem Kellner, andere Worte, als Pur oder Gespritzt bei der Getränkebestellung zu verwenden.
vor dem zweiten Schoppen etwas zu Essen zu bestellen.
sich zu erdreisten nach dem Kellner zu winken, wenn man ausgetrunken hat.
(der Kellner weiss immer genau über die Füllstände aller Gläser Bescheid, kümmert sich nur gerade um wichtigeres)
Nach den Besuchen einiger Delis, meine ich einige von deren ungeschriebenen Gesetze herausgefunden zu haben. Es ist angebracht vor dem Betreten des Restaurants bereits zu wissen was man essen möchte. (Das man die Speisekarte gereicht bekommt ist mehr ein Ritual, länger als 2 Minuten hineinzuschauen ist unhöfflich.) Die Frage: Whatdoyouwant? zeigt, wie effektiv hier der Service ist, man kommt ohne Umschweife auf den Punkt. Man ißt zügig, ohne unnötiger Weise Messer und Gabel abzulegen und ist maximal nach 15 Minuten mit dem Essen fertig. Ein Tipp unter 15% geht so wieso nicht. 20% sind angebracht, wenn das Essen in Ordnung war und der Service flott (ca. 20 Minuten, in out. Ein guter Deli-​Kellner serviert in einer Stunde 3x alle Gäste an den Tischen ab.) Genug Theorie:
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Barney Greengrass on the way menue choice from Internet
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Barney Greengrass left delicatessen store
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Barney Greengrass orange juce, plain bagel, with butter and smoked-​salmon in mind
home made, white cheese blinis, with bluberry marmalade in mind
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Barney Greengrass orange juce, plain bagel, with butter and smoked-​salmon 4 minutes
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Barney Greengrass orange juce, plain bagel, with butter and smoked-​salmon 8 minutes
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Barney Greengrass home made, white cheese blinis, with blueberry marmalade 14 minutes
Food was good. + In and out in 20 minutes!