Café Medina

Delicious sandwiches, friendly staff, huge menu to choose from, and prices are very reasonable. Close to Union Square. I plan on coming here a lot more!

I SO enjoyed my experience here. The staff are just SO FREAKIN GREAT. They were all super friendly, and laughed with me (and maybe at me a little too lol first trip to NYC and I was a bit frazzled).
The chefs made me a delicious pastrami sandwich withe fresh avocado added and arranged it in a heart for me :) and the gal who made my whole milk vanilla latte nailed it, so I ordered a second one before I went back out to brave the cold, and she gave it to me on the house. So sweet.
I do wish they had wi-​fi, but that’s cool. Go for the food. Go for the incredibly warm staff. Go for the soup (if you check in on Unilocal!,there is a current promotion for a free 8oz soup if you buy a sandwich).
When I come back to NYC, I will come back to Café Medina :)

My office orders group lunch from here often. I’ve never actually been in person, so I can’t speak for the ambiance or general service.
I had never really had a complaint about us ordering there until today, when my order was left off the group order. We called, and they nicely delivered my salad. However, upon eating it, I FOUND A STAPLE IN IT. A staple folks! How does that happen?!
Sad to say, no more Medina for me.

In the morass of bodegas with buffet bars with food that’s been sitting out for hours or days, Café Medina is a welcome change of pace.
This place is a go-​to place for me for breakfast and lunch. Sandwiches, salads, etc — all excellent. This place is particularly delightful if you’re into Middle Eastern flavors.
However, what really sets this place apart is the soup. They have homemade soups that you just don’t get anywhere else. While a place like Hale and Hearty may have a larger selection, you won’t get the exotic soups you will at Café Medina.

amazing soups and kebabs. you can’t go wrong. its better as a take out place than a sit down. The soups are prepared there, have great ingredients and are just amazing. Key standout is their best selling pumpkin Corn chowder. Just get it, trust me.
Key way to get discounts: Order Online and get 10%. buy their «gift card» and get another 10%. this is a good deal if you are a regular there, but anyone should do it for the price of their meal

The place is quaint and adorable. Many tables and pleasant waitstaff.
I came here for lunch on a gusty winter day and enjoyed a pumpkin corn bisque and a turkey artichoke sandwich.
The bisque is as perfect as people have described. Hearty and flavorful, one can taste the spices and numerous vegetables puréed in the making of the broth. The depth of flavor and density of the soup is telling. Whole chunks of corn and carrot (?) make the soup more filling and appetizing. It also comes with a chunk of (onion or plain) sourdough bread. The pumpkin bisque is flavorful enough that I recommend plain bread. One small soup and loaf was the perfect accompaniment to a sandwich.
The sandwich was also delicious. Thick layers of turkey were kept from tasting dry by the flavorful artichoke pieces (also included in abundance) and the delicious cheese (I forget what kind).
All in all, the meal was delicious, reasonably priced at around $ 14 (since I shared the soup and sandwich with my mom), and not salty at all! surprising for deli food.
Will I be returning? Yes
Would I travel over an hour for the food? No, but if I’m in the area, most definitely yes.
Do I recommend this café? Yes!
PLEASE listen to me and try the pumpkin bisque! you won’t regret it! :)

Cannot speak highly enough of this place. I go here every lunch break for the amazing corn and pumpkin bisque and sandwhich combo. I’ve tried several sandwiches here, and I am unable to find a bad one. You can taste the quality in their products something that’s hard to find for cheap in flatiron. My favorite is the chicken proschutto, which they shape in a heart. Cheap GREAT food with a friendly, funny staff and amazing quality. Will go here as long as I can. This is a place that deserves much more recognition. GO HERE NOW!!!

Café Medina didn’t live up to its 4-​star rating for me. I came in souper-​excited to try the much-​boasted about Pumpkin Corn Bisque, particularly the check-​in deal where you get a free 8 oz soup of your choice with the purchase of a sandwich or salad. So I thought to myself, epic soup fo free? I’m in! Very quickly, I learned that this check-​in deal is only applicable AFTER 3:00 PM so my full lunch cost me $ 15 (ouch for deli-​quality food).
I blocked out time on my calendar to pay Café Medina a visit during lunch. Due to allergy restrictions, I couldn’t order the mouth-​watering (looking) Tarragon Chicken Sandwich. Per the clerk’s recommendation, I went for the Turkey and Artichoke on Sourdough sandwich instead and it lacked real taste to me. Maybe if they threw in some avocado or something, it’d taste much better. The Pumpkin Corn Bisque also isn’t amazing. It’s good, but I like my tomato bisque from the local deli nearby my work place much more (which is included as part of a lunch special with a salad/​sandwich for only $ 8).
I feel like I got jipped man, paid twice my usual outing meal and didn’t even have anything special to prove for it. A return trip to Café Medina isn’t completely off the table, but I’m not jumping up and down for joy at the thought either.

This is one of my fiancée’s favorite places to have lunch. I’ve had the pleasure of joining her from time to time and I have to say, I can see why she keeps going back.
The soups are always on rotation and are all very good. The sandwiches and salads are great and always from great, fresh ingredients. The place is always packed during lunchtime, but it’s pretty dead after 3, which is perfect for me.
If you’re on the area and can’t decide where to eat, I recommend giving Café Medina a try.

A great lunch option in the union square area – although I’d suggest taking your food to go (small space, too many people, welcome to new york).
GF, so I skip the sandwiches, but the soup and salad options are great. I’m a particularly big fan of the soup & DIY salad/​hot bar in the back. Gets pricey really quickly if you aren’t careful, but has a great selection of rotating options. I like that they tend to have some unusual options – avocado soup in the summer, curried lentils in the winter, etc. Nice to expand beyond the old standards of chicken or tomato soup.
Keep an eye on your take out container so that you don’t break the bank, but otherwise, enjoy.

I ordered food two hours ago, its still not here.
food might be good, i wouldn’t know…

Café Medina is the place to be for delicious, healthy lunch. The soup section alone is worthy of 5 stars. Today I sampled their gazpacho and literally screamed, «That is so damn good!» Like a page out of ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ the woman who was next in line said «I’ll have what she’s having!» All the salads are yummy too. I really like the poached shrimp, rare tuna or salmon salads. So good and so healthy.
Oh and I almost forgot to talk about the soup guy– he is super sweet and will let you sample all of the soups.

3.5 stars…
I have to go back here asap as everything looked really good. Unfortunately they’re only really open for the lunch crowd and close early in the evening. Café Medina like countless café’s in the city in that it has several stations (soup, sandwiches/​salads, baked goods, and fresh fruit juices). Soup is about $ 4.50-$ 6.50, sandwiches are mostly about $ 9 and both had amazing looking options. The baked good also looked great. My first visit was just to try the pumpkin corn bisque that so many reviewers have raved about.
The small was about $ 4.50 and the portion was small but because it’s such a thick and hearty soup it was a decent value. They call it a bisque but it was really a chowder (the difference being a bisque is blended to a smooth consistency while a chowder is lots of chunks). This is a vegetarian soup so the only chunks were the corn, every bite was full of kernels, it almost had too much corn. The pumpkin flavor was great and well seasoned. It had a just enough kick to it and a touch of sweetness. It was definitely worth getting. All the other soups looked equally as good and right now if you «check in» on the Unilocal app you get a free small soup with any sandwich purchase, how can you go wrong?
UPDATE:
I went back for one of their many sandwiches and to use my check in deal (which is only available after 3pm btw). I got the #14, roast turkey, cranberry pineapple chutney, grilled onions, arugula, and honey dijon on brioche (about $ 9). I also got a small seafood chili to go with it. Like my last soup here, the chili was fantastic. The sandwich was missing the grilled onions, the brioche was dry, and the sandwich was disappointingly small for such a high price. The value just wasn’t there.

At the awakening hour, Café Medina is a sun riser relief. This is the first café I’ve encountered who carries Bialys. It is a cross between a bagel and an English muffin with deep roots from Bialystok, Poland serving as a staple in Jewish communities. The Bialy at $ 1.25 with butter was baked fresh as its shelf is very short.
Their designer sandwiches (aka Artisan version) and salads are excessively priced high at $ 8.50+ while their baked goods are much more moderate under $ 5.00. More baked goods are at the counter to entice patrons’ senses as I opt for one Ginger Snap cookie at $ 1.95 which was hard rather the Chocolate Chip cookie as it is tainted with nuts. I wanted the classic Chocolate Chip cookie WITHOUT nuts! Café Medina sits below street level. Seating is ample and atmospheric conditions are clean and inviting. Service is efficient and courteous.

Perhaps I made a poor selection, but I got the grilled rare tuna salad for lunch and was underwhelmed. Barely any tuna, overpowering dressing, and skimpy on the greens. Definitely not worth $ 12. My friend ordered what she calls the «slaughterhouse» sandwich– AKA an assortment of Italian meats and cheeses on a hero, and she enjoyed every last crumb of it.
I took a peek at their soup station but could not bear to jam myself into the already packed area. There must’ve been about 6 people tasting and ordering soups at the time.
The layout of this place leaves much to be desired– a long narrow hallway with the soup section tucked away in the far back with the refrigerated section jutted up right next to it, and the salad station «across» from the cold foods. Dining area is to be expected: TablesTooCloseForComfort.

Lunch time is crazy in Union Square are of NYC. People running around, bumping, shoving, I liken it to wartime feasting. I head to Chop’t my new jammy jam. The line is 13 miles long, or what seems to be that length of forever. I’m going to miss my spicy souvlaki salad. I venture on. Café Medina always has been a solid choice. And it proved itself solid yet again.
Definitely not as crowded, I order the $ 9 greek salad. Great salad, super fresh, great toppings just one small err. The feta chunks. They were the size of my head. Well close to it. Crumble those bad boys. I couldn’t enjoy the mounds of feta solo so I just pushed them out of the salad.
Since the salads at Chop’t are at about $ 9-​$ 10 — I think I still have eyes for a good Chop’t but, Medina has amazing soup and sandwiches. Decisions, decisions.
* They had a great check in offer — one free small soup with purchase of a sandwich!

I used to work right by Medina, and dined here numerous times.
Super crowded during lunch time, but the food is pretty good and the line moves quickly.
What I like about this place is that the salad ingredients are fun and fresh (like smoked Gouda and marinated artichokes), and that it is cheaper than chop’t. The soups are also worth trying — especially the morrocan lamb and italian wedding. The sandwiches and hot food is just okay, so I would stick with soup and salad.
Also, the breakfast is really pricey.

Pssst… hey you. Yeah you. C’mere. Want a sandwich? No, don’t look away. Step inside. Trust me.
After a few visits to this subterranean lair of sandwich nirvana I am surely a fan of Café Medina. When you enter this lower level shop off the street you are immediately drawn to it’s menu board behind the counter that features literally dozens of sandwich and salad options. From designer sandwiches, to hot grilled pressed sandwiches, salad platters, mixed tossed salads, coffee, tea, baked goods, omelets, juice and smoothies, this place has it all.
Oh yes, they have soups. There is usually a selection of homestyle soups to try out —
chicken noodle (farfalle), pumpkin corn bisque, vegan tuscan tomato bread, vegan organic green split pea, vegan Spanish gazpacho which is seasonal, among others. The pumpkin corn bisque is orgasmic! Sweet and savory it’s almost like slurping down dessert!
My last visit here I decided upon a Tarragon Chicken Salad sandwich with dried cranberries, apples, and pecans on seven grain bread. Thick, tasty, piled high with ingredients, and filling. Along with a small cup of the pumpkin corn bisque I scored a table to sit at and enjoy my feast. Funny, is that some sort of Mediterranean pop house music combo they are playing? Sounds cool and makes for fun background music.
Sure, it has become a popular lunch spot in the area and can get crazy crowded at times, but it’s worth the hassle to get a quality sandwich and soup. Not the cheapest lunch as it will cost you in the $ 13 — $ 14 range for a soup and sandwich combo, but it’s worth it for a once in a while treat.
Café Medina is kind of going the extra mile when compared to a chain like Hale and Hearty Soups with their combo of sandwich varieties and outstanding soups. Lackadaisical customer service aside this place makes a terrific sandwich. Go for the food, ignore the staff, and you will be in sandwich utopia.

Boy, is this place intimidating around lunch time or what?
It can be a bit loco with crowds and maddening shouts from every corner of the room during prime time lunch hour, but they turn and burn with the best of ‘em in the Unions Square area. Tasty soups + salads, and regardless of the queue, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be in-​and-​out in less than 10 minutes. Outside of Seamless, there’s not a faster wait anywhere in NYC.

Not really sure what you want for lunch? Then Medina’s the place to have your taste buds try something new.
I had the turkey with brie and a tomato soup. But they dont call it tomato soup here, its some really long name. Chicken soup and potato soup also take up some other world far in a distant galaxy behind a castle wall folk lore magical name. But its all delicious.
The panini was toasted just right, and the cheese was melted enough to not be a mess but gooey to really compliment the turkey. The tomato soup was slightly thick with chucks of tomato or toast? I couldn’t actually tell, but it didn’t hang around long enough on my plate for me to find out.

Go-​to quick lunch spot in the ‘hood!
Café Medina has come through on more than one occasion, so despite the fact that I dash from the office, grab whatever looks appealing (a lot), pay and dash back out… I think I owe ‘em a review.
First of all: Their soups? TOPS. Definitely make your way to the back for a hearty sampling of some succulent looking soups and stews. Today I tried the organic mushroom barley. They are all made from scratch, served lickety split, 3 different sizes, hot and ready to go. No muss, no fuss! The soups are my favorite.
I’ve also tried the soups and salads, all of which passed the test. My tarragon chicken salad today wasn’t quite up to par (the bread and chicken salad a bit dry), but had a lot of flavor. The salads I’ve had ranged from «make-​my-​own» but typically I pre-​select from one of their many options listed on the chalkboard. There’s surely something for everyone.
A few tips if you are short on time:
*don’t order an espresso or smoothie. Especially during lunch rush. Adds 10 – 15 min.
*Get your food then get in line to pay. It’s a small space and can be confusing.
Why 4-​stars? Their checkout staff is a little grouchy. However the soup guys are by far the friendliest, makes sense… they are slinging the best thing at Café Medina. Salad/​sandwich guys are OK. Overall they could use a little fine tuning in the smile dpeartment, but the food is fresh, fast and ready to go within minutes… so all good in this ‘hood~!

A few more visits and a different strategy have raised this little deli into fan-​favorite status for lunchtime in Union Square. Sure, it’s still busy and cramped — but they really just are incredibly ambitious in their offerings so it’s packed wall to wall with either food or people. With space sectioned like this, people lose in the square footage dept. But with food this good, who really cares?
What truly won me over was their soup selection. They offer a variety of about 10 different concoction, all homemade, fresh and interesting — plus plenty of vegan options if you’re into that sort of thing. My favorite: Thai red curry chicken soup. DANG! That stuff is seasoned with sweet and spicy crack, I swear. Throw in green beans and juicy chicken pieces and you’ll be licking the lid.
Their salad/​appetizer bar is small but high quality. The chicken swarma placed on top of a bed of greens hits the spot.
I’m sticking to the soups and salad bar from now on, but for those two things they sure know how to serve up a satisfying — and healthy — midday meal.

We’ve recently moved to a new office that is down the street from this joint. It’s going to become a staple because they stock all sorts of choices when it comes to the three S’s of lunch: salads, soups and sandwiches.
Salads:
OK, so I haven’t had a salad yet, because I’m me. While it’s true that CK didn’t really like the salad she got, she admitted she chose poor ingredients. And let’s face it: nobody likes CK.
Sandwiches:
They have a huge board of what they call «Designer Sandwiches,» that can be quite overwhelming and has an unpleasant glare reflecting off of it, all of which led me to panic one time and get the «Poached Chicken Pesto» option. Which sounds delicious, but this sandwich no pesto on it. Perhaps they are confusing pesto and mayo.
That said, it was still sizable, fresh and tasty. Needed a bit of hot sauce, but doesn’t everything? I’m looking forward to discovering what other sandwiches are misnamed, but still excellent.
Soups:
This is where Medina wins me over. First of all, you can taste as many as you want. And they don’t even care, because they know one taste is all you need, and then you’re buying at least one of these delicious things.
Secondly, the Yemenian Chicken is DOPE.
Thirdly, they have like 5 different kinds of bread that you can grab to eat with your soup for free. Do you want to offend people with your breath after eating it? You can get an onion roll AND a piece of garlic bread. Both of them! NOBODY will want to talk to you after this.
Medina’s soups are looking like a strong contender for my most-​eaten meal this winter.