Fairway Cafe

A great find in the neighborhood. You can be casually dressed, have a nice meal and then do your grocery shopping!

Unbelievable servings and menu! This is a good find after doing all errands by 72^nd. Try it and you will enjoy it too!

So this place is good, not great. The value here was the starting price $ 21 prix fixe dinner which included app, entrée and dessert. They got rid of the prix fixe option — now just the entrée costs $ 21. That’s still not expensive for NYC but no thanks. There are better options in the immediate area.

My favorite brunch spot in New York. We stay nearby and thoroughly enjoy this laid back hole in the wall atop a grocery store. Food is excellent and you definitely can tell you are in a place enjoyed by every day New Yorkers.

In the late morning, the café was not crowded so I thought I would have breakfast.
I finally sat myself. The staff completely ignored me. No water, no menu.
I finally got my own. The crêpe was dry but okay. I could tell overall they have high quality food but I suppose service is not their strong point.
I have been there many times and 90 percent of the time everything is a problem. I enjoy their fresh food but I think the stress caused by poor service outweighs the benefit.

Excellent. Apparently they have a new chef. I have been here numerous times and the food is always stellar.
They now offer desserts from the Little pie co which is a plus! I had the lamb chops and my son had the salmon. Don’t let this place fool you because it’s above fairway! The food is delicious.

My first time at the café was more than ten years ago. I remember that the food was great, so I was hoping to come back. But reading the Unilocal reviews that the food isn’t as good anymore, I didn’t come back until last week.
Overall, I didn’t think the food changed one bit — I had the waffles and it was great! I also liked that the waffles came with a bowl of fruits. The bowl included not only the regular fruits like cantaloupe and pineapple, and blueberries, but also raw pomegranate.

Wasn’t busy on a Thursday morning. Service was fast and polite. The coffee was kept refilled. The pancakes were quite light and fluffy. There was a good variety of menu choices. Prices are in line or just a tiny bit above typical sit down breakfast places.

This was our second Christmas in New York City in 3 years and we had to go back to the Fairway Café for breakfast since we were spending the day in Central Park and it was as good then as it was this year. I recently read the negative reviews and couldn’t figure out why they were so bad, because we had great service, with a great breakfast. Everything we ordered was good especially the pancakes which we split among 3. As far as I am concerned, this is still a great little spot for breakfast.

Fairway’s café is a brightly lit diner-​cafeteria with huge windows overlooking Broadway on one side, and on the other a set of flatscreens silently playing things like the Wizard of Oz and old cartoons. One morning here, I noticed all the kids around me staring zombie-​like at me, and started feeling uncomfortable until I realized they were looking past me, watching the TVs. I turned around to see Woody Woodpecker committing acts of unspeakable beak violence.
The weekend day crowd is mixed – old Upper West Siders, families, lots of kids, couples, pretty much as you’d expect at a diner – and the menu is like a diner’s but with a lot of gourmet touches, e.g. their fruit crisps look like they were homemade, maybe in a barn, maybe in France.
I’ve heard service here can be poor, sometimes, but in my experience it’s been friendly, often perfunctory but also, sometimes, going beyond the call of duty.
Things eaten:
— Omelet with new potatoes, cherry tomatoes, cream cheese and scallions — fluffy and perfect.
— A toasted bagel was half untoasted, half burned. But the salmon on top was swell, and when I asked for scallion cream cheese, they told me they didn’t have any, and instead offered me a ramekin of fresh chives. Yes, please!
— If you get the salmon sandwich (as opposed to the salmon board), your bagel will come sliced in three, triple-​decker style. This was revelatory to me, the first time I saw it. I cut my bagels in three now, at home. Thank you, Fairway.
— French press coffee was strong, bold, and had an undercurrent of elderberries. (No, it didn’t, but I don’t know how to describe coffee. It was nice coffee. I’m not sure it’s worth the surcharge over the plain drip coffee they serve, but fiddling around with a French press is kind of fun in and of itself.)
— Fairway has a beautiful selection of bagels downstairs in the market, but here in the café, the selection is limited to the usuals. No onion bagels on offer. There are so many problems in the world that seem intractable, but some littler problems are so easy to fix. Please, Fairway, make the world, or at least the Upper West Side, or at least your menu, a bit better: offer your onion bagels upstairs at the Café.

Yes, there’s a secret café on top of the Fairway. No, it’s not worth the trip.
Rude service, deafeningly loud, unmemorable food, and overpriced.

We were surprised how nice this place is for brunch. Nice view, very kids friendly. Good smoked fish and pancake. Have gluten free options too. Will have to go back for the dinner menu.

This place is great for absolutely everything. My girlfriend and I have become regulars. We’ve been there any both busy and slow times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While the wait staff might forget to fill up my coffee cup, the service and food is excellent. If you read the other reviews and don’t want to come, that’s fine. This leaves more room for us!
On a recent lunch meal, we witnessed an unfortunate event with a couple that clearly did not have any class. They had ordered three dishes but only wanted to pay for two because the third person did not show. As they left, the guy spilled his shake out on the table. The head chef, the floor manager and waiter did their best to explain and control the situation. Since we were seated next to them, the manager offered us a dessert because of the situation. My girlfriend and I appreciated this, as it went above and beyond.
Plus, we’ve meet Timothy Schmit from The Eagles there!

Want to impress your friends who complain there’s no good pizza on the UWS? Tell them you know a secret spot, then take them to this humble café inside Fairway. They might roll their eyes, but once the pies hit the table, any skepticism will vanish.
The pizzas are of the Neapolitan-​American fusion style found at NYC’s most famous spots, e.g. John’s of Bleecker and Lombardi’s, the only real difference being the personal size. Seriously, as far as this style of pizza goes, Fairway’s version is a solid 4 out of 5 stars. Spread the word!

Fairway Café&Steak house did it again!!! I’m so in love with the the food i can eat it all day and lucky for me they serve breakfast/​lunch and dinner lol. The serves is GREAT and the staff are amazing service with a smile you couldn’t ask for anything better.

I had a chance to try this place while waiting for a friend. Me and my ladies enjoyed a light 5 o’clock sandwiches that are served at this place. Portions are big and more than enough. The place is not posh or alike, however, if you want to eat delicious food — highly recommended.
Smoked salmon on a bagel is speechless!

The café is pretty roomy but crowded. It has lots of big windows, so it was nice and bright, with mostly red brick walls which gives that nice cozy feeling. They are open early, and offers pretty good food. Service is ok, they are super busy and so they move really quickly as well.
Their silver dollar pancakes are really great, and it seems to be their famous item.
Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my food blog, foodlovergirl.

I don’t understand the mixed reviews, but the night I went to the café, on a whim, with a friend, we discovered a very nice, intimate restaurant with tablecloths and flowers on the tables and dimmed lighting. The place was transformed into a real restaurant compared to the madness I would see during the day when it was diner-​esque.
They sat us immediately, and the server was very attentive. I chose something very simple, and something I’ve had a million times… a red wine, a wedge salad, baked potato, and a medium rare rib steak. I have to say that that was THE BEST rib steak I ever had in Manhattan, and I’ve been to all the steak houses in the city, and payed a fortune doing so. My friend ordered the NY strip with fries and red wine. He loved it. All this for a little over $ 100 (we had dessert and a few more wines). Now you can’t beat that with a big stick! Who knew that was sitting in the eye of the hurricane that swarmed around us that is Fairway?

I love Fairway. I really do. BUT please do not serve a burger that is still uncooked. I understand it can get busy, and you want to get food out, but don’t get sloppy.
I spoke with management and they said they’d get the burger cooked. So what did they do? THEY COOKED THE ALREADY PARTIALLY EATEN BURGER AND SERVED IT BACK TO US. ISN’T THAT A HEALTH VIOLATION!!! What’d they do? Nuke it? Sorry but that’s disgusting.
Waited around 45 minutes for the burger to begin with. Drinks were never served and I had to talk with management.
I was fighting the urge to just leave. They offered us a free dessert for the trouble, but I just wanted to get the bill asap and get outta there.
…I mean, I’ll come back for the crab cakes, but this didn’t sit well with me AT ALL.

Un buen lugar para desayunar en un ambiente muy neoyorquino. Es un restaurante en el que no hay tantos turistas y poco tiempo de espera. La comida es muy buena y los platillos son vastos.

Attended a PR/​Blogger event and enjoyed a terrific cooking demonstration and dinner event here last night.
The main grocery store is downstairs and the upstairs features the café. It’s a nice airy spot, a bit on the small side, but with large windows overlooking Broadway.
The staff was very attentive and the cooking demo was taught by Fairway’s chef Vincent Olivieri and wine guru Joshua Wesson. We were treated to a full roasted leg of lamb dinner with appetizer, salad, multiple Australian wines, and dessert! It was a pretty awesome event and the food as prepared was delicious. I also learned that it’s not too hard to prepare and cook lamb. I was never a huge lamb fan but after this meal I might have changed my mind. Just wow!
Also, proceeds of this event went to The Common Pantry which is a great cause. I stumbled out of this event fat, buzzed, and in a lamb coma thanks to my blog. Might have to come back here to check out the café during a regular night and sample something else.