Presto Fresh Cafe

Just had a take-​out lunch from here. I am new to the neighborhood, but saw «fresh» in the window and the place looked new and clean.
I ordered the chicken sandwich and chips w/​guacamole. They also have a custom salad bar, tacos, smoothies etc. The food is made in front of you.
Service was quick and courteous and the food was great! I will be back.

Update: Seems this place was temporarily closed. They seem to be doing work in there the last few days. Maybe a revamp? Stay tuned.
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I think this place is closed. They have not been opened the last few times I walked by.

DON’T ORDER DELIVERY! I live around the corner from this place. It is less than a 5 min walk. I was being lazy and ordered a bacon egg and cheese, an OJ, and a muffin. After waiting for 2 hours I had to call grubhub to cancel.
The food is not bad. The BEC is good and the OJ is great. The muffins are moist and fresh. However, there will be a wait if you order at the café too, but please never ever order!

My food literally took two hours to arrive. I called after an hour and a half and was told that it would be another ten minutes, and it was another half hour. I ordered a Pellegrino, got a Coke. Ordered a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard. Got turkey on a plain roll. Ordered a Greek salad with balsamic vinaigrette, got dry lettuce, cucumber, and corn. There’s a deli next door to this place with a way better understanding of quality.

Rude staff. Took forever. Charged extra for things that should have just come with the order.

Absolutely the worst! Ordered chicken tacos… not only did it take 2 hours to finally get here, after I called multiple times to see where my food was, the man called me a liar saying the delivery guy is there. When I opened the box, the chicken was everywhere, and the tacos were cold! NEVER GO HERE! Horrible food, horrible service!

I want to love Presto, but it’s hard.
Ordered pickup. Waiting the 30 minutes seamless told me to wait and went to pick it up. When I got there the guy checked seamless and marked it as done. Told me the rice was still cooking.
45 minutes later (rice does not take an hour 15) I finally had my food.
It was a work day. I ordered pick up (a salad and a burrito) to be fast. The place is called presto. That means fast.
When I complained the guy at the counter just said sorry, our cook is out today.
Please Presto, kick up the customer service and efficiency. I love having you in the neighborhood and I want you to stay.

Food is actually decent if you can actually wait around for it. Take FOREVER to get anything. Service is awful! Waited about 25 mins to get a chicken sandwich.
I don’t think any New Yorker has the time to wait 25 mins for a sandwich. Absolutely a waste of time.

5 stars well deserved! Love this place! I’ve had both delivery and pick up — no complaints. The salads are always fresh. Even overnight in the fridge. I was impressed. The fruit smoothies are yummy as well. The prices are a bit inflated but i guess that’s expected for organic products. As long as it’s worth my bang, i don’t mind spending the bucks.

Smoothies and juices are good, terrible service, lots of mistakes.
Ordered a smoothie, plain bagel with scallion cream cheese. Total wait time 18 mins.
All their goods are displayed in a deli window, so even though there is a significant language barrier, you can point at what you want.
When I asked for scallion cream cheese, the cashier asked, «What is scallion?» So I pointed to it in the window and she rolled her eyes, laughed, and said, «So cream cheese.» I went ahead and resigned myself to the fact that I would be getting plain cream cheese. 10 mins later, I got a whole wheat (wrong) bagel with plain (wrong) cream cheese. Didn’t want to be annoying, so I took it. When I opened the bagel, I saw such a thin layer of cream cheese that it looked like melted butter. This was $ 3+
THEN I sat and ate my sad bagel while I waited for the smoothie. After a few minutes, I had finished the sandwich, no smoothie. Asked the cashier if she forgot, and she did. Ugh. Couple more minutes waiting, got my $ 4+ small beverage.
I was the only customer there. Now I understand why.

This place is the worst. The sad part is that when they get it right, the food is actually really good! The green juices are great and the sandwiches are great when they get them right. But every time I’ve ordered, in person OR on line, there is a screw up or there is craziness with my order. For example, I ordered on seamless once and they called me back to tell me they didn’t have Mac & Cheese that day. Ok, fine. I substituted fries and asked them to credit me the difference. They then called to say they ran out of hero bread — I’m not sure what sandwich place runs out of hero bread but fine. They said they would go out and buy bread for my sandwich. My delivery came: they sent me a box of about 8 – 10 fries, no exaggeration. Also there was a dollar bill thrown in the bag with a note on the back of the receipt that said, I kid you not, «the difference.» Finally, one of the heroes we ordered was missing about 5 out of the 7 toppings listed on the menu. Awesome.
Second example, the Turkey Cheddar panini that I raved about in my first review — I went in person and ordered it again one day. I get home… no cheddar in the turkey cheddar panini. I got a turkey lettuce panini.
I want to like this place but I can’t give them stars just based on what they get right like 10% of the time. Not only that but every time I go in, the employees are hanging out in the front talking about personal things as if they don’t have a care in the world.

Yummy. Nice servers. Sometimes slow so go when you have time to spare.

Finally a good place to order breakfast from. Got a breakfast sandwich and some coffee. Really good and fast delivery. Delivery guy spilled a little of my coffee; barely noticeable I didn’t mind at all. What I did like was he was very sincere and apologetic towards this. I don’t think businesses value and realize how much a delivery guy can effect their business. I recommend this place.

*****Based upon delivery*****
I have walked past Presto several times walking home from the train and from the outside looking in it looked like a clean and inviting café. I noticed they were online with grubhub so one morning I decided to order. I ordered a smoothie and two breakfast sandwiches. Grubhub stated that it would take about an hour for me to get my food (which never makes sense when the establishment is only 2 or 3 blocks away). I waited patiently and they food didn’t arrive with in the hour. I called grubhub and they stated the food was running behind. I got the food about 30 – 45 minutes after the estimated time. BUT WHAT I WILL SAY IS THE FOOD WAS HOT AND THE SMOOTHIE WAS STILL COLD. So for that I am thankful and appreciate. The breakfast sandwich was perfect. Smoothie was delicious as well.
Next time I will probably just order for pick up but you got a new customer Presto. Can’t wait to explore the rest of the menu.

I’ve been going in to Presto café almost everyday this week! Lol ! Happy to have a healthy option finally at the Harlem neighborhood, noticing I’ve been healthier with more energy since coming in to buy my natural vegetable juices, pure natural etc. The restaurant is very very clean. They have plenty of fruits and other healthy meal options for those who want to slim and maintain ! Very pleased. Excellent customer service!!!

This is a mixed review. It’s great because this area desperately needs a fresh fruits and salad place for lunch and dinner. So I’m so happy it’s here! A little pricey but a very welcome change!
Now, the issue was that the service was just ok. The lady was polite and friendly but she was extremely slow and my order wasn’t great. I ordered an iced coffee and watched 3 buses go by on a Saturday morning while I waited for it to be made. I was the only customer in the place and she was not multitasking. I just saw her move around and take her sweet time. Also, the coffee had so much cream in it, it was eggshell-​colored.

Oh! This place just opened, no wonder. I couldn’t believe I’d been missing out on such a great place. I ordered here for the first time, and boy is it delicious. I ordered the florentine omelette w potatoes and wheat bread. YUM! It was the perfect portion size and price and super flavorful. I also ordered a salad for later and it looks perfectly fresh and plentiful. Thank you for moving into the neighborhood and bringing fresh eats with you!
One request is to stay open later until like 9−10pm?! I usually don’t get home until after 8pm on weekdays.

It’s a really small, clean, friendly shop great for take out. I am glad that they are in upper Harlem and have reasonable prices… unlike the other new shops popping up. The ingredients are fresh, the wait is a little longer than expected but the food is not bad. I ordered a small crispy romain salad with tomatoes and cheddar… It taste very fresh and was crisp. I also ordered a veggie panini which came with eggplants, onions, I think zucchini and pepper jack cheese… It was a big panini and they don’t skimp on the ingredients however it was missing some flavor to that sandwich and was a little oily. I will be back definitely… I just have to alter their signature sandwiches to my own likings.

Got a large salad and they were ridiculously stingy with the ingredients. If you want a salad, go to island salad, or at least don’t come hungry. Didn’t taste badly, even though they were out of salmon, but I’m just still so damn hungry.
I would give it another chance though. Just never when I’m hungry and want a salad.

Wanted badly to like this place. The area where it’s located is in DIRE need of healthy food. The ambiance is charming and the menu is great. I ordered a veggie cocktail juice and a veggie panini. The panini was not on panini bread but it was tasty. Unfortunately, the juice was terrible and just overwhelmed with the taste of garlic. Worst juice I’ve ever had in my life. I also had to go back and get a straw since the cashier forgot to give me one. I hope since this is a new place that they will improve.