Eli’s Essentials Cafe & Beer Bar

Eli’s always has great quality, and they’re prices usually match. However, I went to buy a juice that had $ 3.50 on the label, and the cashier brought the total to $ 8.00. So I’m really not sure what happened there.

I dropped by this new ELI’s. It was early and I had a hankering for a scone.
It was like a dried out brick. Even the average-​at-​best coffee they sold me couldn’t wash it down. I couldn’t possibly have been fresh. I thought this Eli guy was some great bakery dude, but I clearly heard wrong. And hello, the coffee needs to actually be hot. That was a disappointment too. And it was all overpriced to begin with. Sheesh!
So dry and gross. I had two bites and threw it away in the trash in the street. The coffee I choked down.
I won’t be back to this very expensive place.

DISCLAIMER: I’ve only tried the pastries here and am only commenting on that.
I am a SCONE connoisseur. I love sweet scones, savory scones, buttery scones, dry scones, moist scones, etc. Every time I walk by a bakery and I see a scone in the window, I’m a sucker and will stop and pick up a scone (to eat then or for breakfast the next morning). I’ve walked by Eli Zabar a million times in NYC because there are several of them, and the pastries always look so appetizing in the window so of course I had to stop in to pick up a couple of scones.
Big disappointment. The scones are $ 3.50 each which I suppose is pretty standard pricing for the Upper East Side. But the scones are TERRIBLE! They are way too dry and overly sweet. They are not flaky or buttery at all. It tasted like a really heavy hard biscuit with a couple of pieces of fruit thrown in. Such a bummer.

I met a friend there for lunch and since it was a chilly raw day, I opted for a bowl of soup. My first choice was a tomato basil soup which was way too spicy. If they want to prepare a spicy version, then It should be labeled accordingly. I exchanged it for chicken noodle which was fine. But to my astonishment, paying $ 8.00 and change seemed quite expensive for a small bowl of soup which does not come with even one slice of bread. The cashier commented that when the café opened a few weeks ago, they were serving bread with the soup but decided it was too costly. Really!!’ A slice of bread!!! It cost pennies. As they say, penny-​wise, pound foolish. So much for the welcome spirit. I suggest Eli take a trip to the west side to see how the real professionals at zabars manage their café!

Wow, what an overpriced rip-​off this place is. I’m not sure why I even bothered. Eli’s are all overpriced. I honestly don’t know why people would shop here. Even the simplest item is literally twice to three times what anywhere else in New York City would charge.
I advise you to avoid, unless you won the lottery.

Another branch of Eli’s where you can pick up their popular food items. This is a small branch, but they do have a nice layout. During warmer days they open the side doors which make an enjoyable open air café experience. As well as all the usual bread and prepared food this location has beer on tap.