Circa-NY

Considering the already low level of service from certain kosher restaurants who know that they will always have a built-​in clientele, Circa is impressive in its incompetence.
Even if you place an order when you first wake up in the morning, they start cooking it around 11 AM and deliver it around 1 PM. Apparently they have a catering department of higher priority, which is odd since the catered cooking can be scheduled in advance. That is assuming that they don’t run out of things, which happens with unsurprising regularity no matter when it is ordered.
I would highly recommend that you place the order on Seamlessweb, since their phone operators sometimes have difficulty understanding the orders. Seamless takes their cut, but at least you’ll get the right food.

I order from this place 1 – 2 times every week for my colleague and they are very rude on the phone and they also do not accept American Express (which is ridiculous and very inconvenient). Delivery always takes over 1 hour. I am always in a good mood at work until I have to call them to place an order. Learn some phone manners please!

Breakfast: Food is great, staff is friendly, but they are too cheap to turn on the air-​conditioning, so it’s sweltering inside!
Lunch:
Pizza is always a good solution and on Mondays and Fridays they have 2 slices with a can of soda for $ 5 The salads are expensive and no big deal. The mains are just too expensive for me given the cafeteria atmosphere.
In short — go with low expectations and you’ll be happy.

Sushi — MOLD
epic fail.

2 cheese slices for $ 5 during lunch hour
Sushi is gross.
Clean place & alot of options for sandwhiches.

Place gets very busy and the food is meh. i don’t understand how they are still in business.

This is by far the worst place to order from in Midtown. They are rude and incompetent and the food tastes like dog poo. They don’t tell you over the phone that you have to wait 1 – 2 hours for your food delivery… what about if you are ordering for meetings?! It’s sad that there aren’t more meatless kosher places in midtown.
Shame on you for being the worst and not trying to improve! You should be called «Shiesty’s»!

Great tasting kosher food for a good price here. Dosent get better than that

Circa is an amazing caterer. They just catered our outdoor wedding in central park — and the food was soo good. They provided beautifully wrapped picnic baskets with a choice of four sandwiches, a quiche, a salad and petit fours. It was glatt kosher (and pas yisroel) for my religious family and sophisticated enough for everyone else. Work with Maria, she can help you with any event!
So while the restaurant looks like a regular pizza-​salad joint the catering is phenomenal!

Circa-​NY might have the worst customer service on earth. I ordered catering for a meeting in my office and after they delivered everything 3 hours early (1. Should’ve called first, 2. We don’t have a full-​size fridge so some of the food could go bad, 3. The hot coffee will not be hot in 3 hours), they called to tell me I owed them more than the invoice because the prices were listed incorrectly on SeamlessWeb. In what universe would their menu being incorrect on SeamlessWeb be MY fault or responsibility? And they told me there’s a delivery fee too — but neglected to mention that in the three phone calls I had with them, or via email, or on SeamlessWeb. Really? Unless you like being screamed at for their incompetence, go elsewhere.

Always packed during lunch time, so get here early. Cafeteria style. Grab a tray and head over to the station of your choosing: salad bar, soup bar, pre-​made wraps and sandwiches, hot food, pizza. My favorite was getting a falafel. You can order from the window outside when it’s nice out. They always have many vegetables and dressings to put on top. The falafel wasn’t the greatest. In fact, they keep it under a hot lamp unless you should up around 11:30 — 12:00 and get it while it’s fresh. It usually satisfied my craving. The prices are astronomical, but it was convenient next to my last office building if I felt like having another option. My boss loved the fact that it was kosher and came here every day.

Poor poor choice for the midtown lunch crowd. The falafel they love hyping in the windows is room-​temperature and lacking in flavor. The sushi rice is ill-​prepared which ruins the sushi roll experience. One of the olives in my salad still had a pit in it so I risked cracking my teeth.

I really don’t get it. This place is always packed. The one time I ate here I was sick with food poisoning afterwards… Never again.

I’ve only had a sampling of their sandwiches and pastas — mostly veggies and some fish. Healthy & kosher, looks great on presentation, but somewhat lacking in the taste department. Haven’t tried the pizza yet.

Pros: really good pizza and salad
Cons: the people that work here are jerks and it is $$ for what you get
I get cravings for the salad here ALL THE TIME. They have a huge selection of stuff to put in it as well as dressings, but my last experience here was upsetting. I came in around an hour and a half before closing and they put all the salad stuff in plastic wrap and it was on a shelf maybe 2 inches above the floor, which was kind of gross. Anyway, they had not even half of the selections that they usually do, but the worst thing about it is that the guy that worked there seemed pissed that we came in and that he would have to work. whatever. And then when we sat down to eat, he actually sat a table away from us (the place was empty) hawking us to finish so that he could close– even though there was over an hour left. It’s so sad because my roommate and I like this place more than others like it, but that experience sucked.

Two words: Never again! What I ordered was disgusting and not worth what I paid, could have gone across the street, better quality food and pay less. Yes, it’s kosher, but that does not make up for lack of quality or the fact that they overcharge. I will not be returning.

overpriced.
very cafeteria feel.
The service wasn’t bad and I suppose the crowd was interesting (pretty jewish girls, wisecracking older jewish men) but I spent wayy too much money for my lunch there.

THE GOOD
The food is good, fresh, and tasty. My fave is their portabella and roasted pepper salad. The personal pizzettes are perfect for two, with generous toppings.
THE BAD
Terrible service, worst service I ever witnessed. And delivery takes FOREVER… but I don’t think it’s the delivery man — it’s the service.
On one occasion I ordered the portabella salad w/​o walnuts — it came w/​o PORTABELLA and with walnuts!
Friday, Dec. 7^th, I placed an order over the phone, around 1:50pm, for two pizzettes with toppings on each, two soups, and my usual portabella salad. Three o’clock came and passed and my office still hasn’t receive our order. I call Circa and there’s no answer.
I know Shabbat starts earlier now, but %$&#$*. Did they just close on us after taking our order and c/​c info?
Monday, Dec. 10^th comes and we receive our order from Friday. WTF, should we be please with them that they came anyways? Better late than never??? Fuck no! I’m going to complain.
Friday’s order:
portabella salad — made right;
two pizzettes — all the toppings on each pies slid to one side;
two soups — room temp.
I called back to have another order of the pizzettes delivered, and also placed another order of one plain pizzette and two more soups. They specifically told me the orders will be delivered together.
When the over-​an-​hour-​wait delivery came, it was WITHOUT the two pizzettes instead it was the new order I placed. Okay now we are dumfounded at the incompetance of this restaurant. I call to speak to the manager. He hears me out, yells at some workers in the background, then gives me a refund. No, no, no… I want a refund and my original order of two pizzettes at no charge. We been waiting too long — technically we been waiting since Friday — a refund will not statisfy our hunger and patience (well for the guys bc I already got my salad). The manager agreed to a refund and delivery of two pizzettes.
So now we wait… … … … …
It finally came, I tipped the deliveryman good bc he was the same one making the trips. Delivery probably takes long bc of lack of deliverymen. He also had other orders in his insulated bag.
I thought I found a decent Kosher place to order from. What a huge disappointment.
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Dear Management/​Owner,
I really love your pizzettes — freshly made and toppings are delicious. Unfortunately, I despised your service! The phone takers are horrible; they are clueless and unprofessional. They don’t remember orders within the span of 5 minutes. They have not memorized the menus, albeit working at Circa for quite some time now. The pizzettes arrive cold, toppings slipped off, or mushed on the top of the box. The mixed-​in salads, 2x came with wrong add-​ins. And once, I placed an order on Friday, way before Shabbat, and received it on Monday. It arrived with no apologies or comps. Your establishment is not new; therefore you should have worked out the kinks by now. I am truly surprised you have not rid all of the incompetence from your business. Have no one complained? The service is really horrible. I have been patient and giving the take out department the benefit of doubt. But, I am sad to say this is the last straw.
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Friday, May 9^th, ‘08
Two slices were missing from two pies.
The assistant manager personally delivered two fresh pies, also wanted to inspect the already eaten pies.
We should of noticed when the first delivery came that there was no kosher tape on it, but still.
Horrible.

This is a good place if you want to be seen, or see people, It is the JET SET of kosher Dairy Dining. The food is OK, but not fantastic and their prices are a little high, but considering that their stuff is mostly fresh, and they have to cover Manhattan rent and pay the rabbi to keep it all … kosher… you cant blame them for the prices. But don’t expect to come at 12 – 3 pm on any given weekday and expect it to be a fifteen minute experience. this place is always busy, a social scene, so sometimes people just STAND AROUND, when all you want is your food.
Go at night for dinner if you want to taste the food. if u go during the lunch rush, don’t say i didn’t warn you. (and if you meet your future wife there, congrats)

Circa is dairy-​veggie kosher variety time with pizza, sushi, salads, and wraps. This is my sister’s favorite restaurant and kinda girly in general (looking to meet a nice jewish girl?).
They are best known for two things: (1) personal mini-​pizzas, where you get to pick all the ingredients and it’s made to order, my pick at Circa, and (2) make-​your-​own salads where you also get to pick all the ingredients. It’s basically a salad bar; I don’t know why people get so excited. It’s also not make-​your-​own: there’s a guy behind the counter with the salad parts that makes it based on your directions, but he chooses the amounts. Once, I tried to swipe some extra croutons and got yelled at. Not cool.
It’s also way too expensive. Somehow this salad comes out to $ 10. I just don’t see it, but maybe that because I have an adam’s apple (side point: are there rules for anatomical descriptions on Unilocal?I’m keeping it clean, just in case).