Bedford Cheese Shop

literally the snobbiest employees, instead of
bashing your customer for their lack of knowledge why don’t you teach what you know?
greenpoint meat and cheese has a better selection anyway.

One of my go-​to places in BK for a grilled cheese.
I haven’t tried any of the actual cheese yet but have picked up some of their gourmet items.
Some of their gourmet items could be a little more high end, for example, their truffle oil could be made from actual truffle rather than just the olive oil and truffle flavor (that stuff is for amateurs! :P)
Anyways, the grilled cheese is actually really good and I love it when they have more options than just one type. Maybe I wish it had a littttle more cheese in it and wasn’t so expensive but it’s kinda worth it.
The service is not bad at all — the people are nice! I just think the layout of the store is a bit odd, and when you walk in you’re a bit confused at where to order food from.

So for the chocolate or cheese question, I definitely lean toward cheese. Don’t get me wrong. I love chocolate. Cheese just owns my heart and omg is it good here.
Asked for brie-​like cheeses bc I’m into that. Who isn’t? Anyway.
Alemar Cheese Company
Bent River
Camembert Style Cheese
Mankato, MN
^in case you wanna stalk them and you should

I have had only positive experiences at Bedford Cheese. Their pantry items make great gifts, and the counter is always well-​staffed. I have never had to wait long for service, even when the store seems overwhelmingly busy.
Ben, who I believe is one of the managers, was especially helpful during my most recent visit, which was made because I was second guessing a gift I had purchased. Even though it was late in the day (I had raced there from work and arrived around 8:15), and the store was reasonably crowded, he was generous with his time and very pleasant! It was a breath of fresh air during a hectic week of last-​minute shopping.
This place is quickly becoming one of my go-​to shopping spots during the holiday season. Would highly recommend!

I came here with my girlfriend with the goal of getting a snack as we were walking around. We had a very condescending experience, from a desk clerk who had his own agenda and had an issue with serving the customer’s needs.
We were promptly helped, but our guy behind the counter had a condescending, bad attitude. We would repeatedly tell him what we were looking for, and he would redirect us to something completely unrelated. We were very clear that we were looking for a small, snack-​size portion of cheese for walking around. Only after chatting for 5 minutes did he say that customers have to buy a minimum of ¼ pound – about the size of a grown man’s fist – which is a ridiculous amount of cheese. They served us a sample of a cheese that we really loved, and we asked for a ¼ pound, and for him to cut us a few slices, but for some reason he refused to do so because «to cut off any more slices would hurt the integrity of the cheese» (…after he just served us sliced samples). Out of frustration, we walked out after that.
Pro-​tip: Go to Campbell’s Cheese Shop. Not too far away, waaaay better service, and FANTASTIC cheese.

I was really excited to go into this store because I love cheese so much! But, I was a little disappointed in the staff, it wasn’t that they weren’t helpful, is just that they didn’t seem very interested in us, there was no hello, or do you need help?, we had to go up to the person behind the counter and engage them, and be pretty forward, where I feel it should be the other way around. Maybe its because probably lots of people go in and just eat and then leave, but even if that was the scenario, why would you be so standoffish? unless you are literally milking the cow and making the cheese, then I don’t think you should care if people ask to try the cheese.
The cheeses are really good though, they have a lot of variety, and I feel that in order to shop here you need to know about cheeses and what would go good with what, or someone needs to help you pick (hence the people who here should be available for questions/​suggestions), but it seems that they are either just annoyed, fed up, or maybe they just hate the smell of cheese? just kidding…
I would go back just because I love cheese, but I know now that I would have to very direct to the people who work there, because they don’t seem to want to go out of their way to help you.

Omg, amazing! As soon as you walk in, or even open the door for that matter, the strong stench of beautiful stinky cheese slaps you in the face, letting you know you’ve come to the right place if you want something more than Brie. I am a lover of soft and super stinky cheeses, and I was in heaven. They give you a nice big bite when tasting, and the folks behind the counter really know their stuff.
They also have dried goods and whatnot, but, you’re in Williamsburg, and you will pay accordingly. I had a couple choices of caramels, one being the goats milk chews. Pretty good, but I still haven’t found anything that beats bequet caramels, their salted ones are my all time fav, but these will do in the mean time.

J’adore le fromage !! La jeune femme qui m’a servi la 1 ère fois était aimable, serviable et souriante. J’ai eu envie de revenir malgré le fait que ce soit très long et assez cher. La seconde fois, le jeune homme n’était pas aimable, pressé, il m’a donné l’impression que je le dérangeais !! C’est terminé, je vais chercher une nouvelle fromagerie !!

I’m one of those cheese lover so this place is like haven for me always satisfied my cheesy adventure side every time I went there I don’t know what to toke home, because I want everything so is one day you feel like eat real cheese now you know where to go

This place really rubbed me the wrong way when I strolled in this past weekend. I know it’s a classic and I probably just had a one-​off bad experience, but here’s what happened:
I cruised in with my boyfriend as we were casually walking by, because we’d heard a lot about it and we both would have definitely bought some cheese if someone were interested in selling us some cheese. There were like 3 other people browsing and 3 people working.
The people working basically just stare at us, maybe give us a vacant «hi» and we approach the counter. The cheeses all look like they’re in some sort of museum display: all wrapped up, no samples, nothing interactive at all.
The cheeses are all obscure sounding at first glance, don’t really have any particular organizational structure (like «cheddars are here», «bleus are here», etc) and pretty expensive (like $ 25/​lb). We stare at some different cheeses and I don’t recognize most of them, at least not enough to be like «AHA THAT’S THE ONE!» and the lady doesn’t offer any sort of help. If she had been like, «what kind of cheeses do you like? Are you looking for a special occasion? No? Here are some good ‘everyday’ cheeses» or even just «let us know if you want to try anything» then that would go a long way. I’m not just going to point at some random $ 25/​lb cheese out of 300 cheeses available and be like «EUREKA THAT’S THE ONE!» and buy it.
I’d never been there before, but I got the distinct sense that they got so tired of helping people and giving out samples and things like that that they just decided «f— it, if you don’t know what you want, you don’t belong.» And whether or not they meant to, they got their point across.
So we left. Goodbye, museum of overpriced cheese.

I really want to like this store but the staff ruins it time and again. The past four or five times that we’ve been in here we justify the rudeness of the staff, «It’s Sunday and it must be a long difficult day.» «They must get a lot of people who take advantage of the free samples so are jaded when giving them out.»
At some point dealing with rude staff becomes too much and it’s time to say that I’m done with the store.
While they have some great cheeses, it feels like such a burden to order them that I often end up with something that I don’t really want.
The store has a lot of potential but there are too many great stores in NYC to waste any more time here.
This said, I’ve had success with the Irving Place location.

Bedford Cheese Shop is a staple of Bedford Ave. Go there for all your cheese, meat, charcuterie, imported candy, and canned/​preserved fish needs.
The staff is super friendly, and will gladly hand out large samples of their cheese, of which the options are many. It becomes a bit hard to read all the labels (they’re so incredibly detailed), so don’t be afraid to ask for help! They had my favorite cheese, Manchego from Spain.
I ended up picking up some ‘nduja, canned sprats, anchovy paste, and a bunch of random candies/​sweets from Europe.
If you love cheese, this place is a must. A bit pricey, but it’s all quality stuff!

As soon as you open the door, you are hit with the delicious smell of strong, stinky cheese! I am a huge lover of cheese, and the place is the best! They have so many different selections of cheese and meats, and the staff is super knowledgeable. We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon, and it was definitely crowded. The place is super tiny, so even if there aren’t that many people, it feels pretty tight. We had to wait a bit for someone to be available to help us. We bought a pound of jamon and then asked for a cheese recommendation to go with it. We picked up another wheel of cheese and bought a baguette too. We loved the jamon and cheese pairing. Bedford Cheese Shop is on the more pricier side, but you pay for the experience of a knowledgeable person selecting cheese that you will absolutely love! It’s definitely a splurge kind of place for us, but we love it!

Bedford Cheese Shop was an interesting experience to say the least. I passed by here around 1pm on the 4^th of July and was surprised that, not only were they open, but they also sold a variety of sandwiches. I made a mental note of this since I knew I was going to be running around that day and this looked like a good place to stop for lunch, esp. considering most other places were closed.
At about 4pm I came back and ordered a sandwich. The gentleman behind the counter went to the back for a couple minutes and then reemerged to let me know they were out of that sandwich. In fact, they only had two sandwiches left, neither of which I wanted. I looked to my right and saw bread on the shelves. I looked below that and saw meats and cheeses in the display case. A little confused, I asked him if he could just make another sandwich with the fixings I wanted. He told me no because they only use a specific roll. I thought this was a little odd and disappointing but, fair enough. I was there later than lunchtime and missed my chance. I was ready to say «thanks but no thanks» when the gentleman behind the counter spat out the following: «But, you know, you COULD buy all the ingredients and make it yourself. We even sell the spread!».
There are several things wrong with this scenario, so let me try to be concise.
1. All the ingredients needed to make the sandwich were mere inches away from this person who was supposed to be helping me.
2. The cost of all the items to make said sandwich myself would easily be twice or even three times as much as the cost of the sandwich and the service to make it.
3. If I’m paying you, I’d like all my money to go toward all of your service.
In other words… F*CK YOU!!!
Seriously?! You think it’s okay to tell customers that you won’t be doing your job but they can feel free to do it for you??? For at least double the cost??? Gee, thanks a lot. This would be like me hailing a taxi and then having the driver tell me «I won’t take you home but, if you want, you can buy the car from me and drive home yourself.»
If there’s a dumb policy in place that prohibits the employees from making more than the allotted daily sandwiches, that’s fine. I don’t care. But don’t be a raging d*ckbag and suggest I pay you an exorbitant amount to do zero work. I won’t be coming here again purely out of spite.

Best cheese shop in the neighborhood. Maybe except for Campbell Cheese and Grocery.
Have you ever read the descriptions of the cheeses here? I just bought one that apparently has «the odor of a Roman orgy, and the rich buttery flavor of a naughty Portuguese shepherd.»
I can’t believe I’m actually going to eat this cheese.

Distinct odor as you enter and a great selection of cheese and other edibles at the OG location.

This place is great. I feel like they carry a wide enough range of cheeses & snacks to accommodate however much you’re looking to spend. I’ve never shopped for meats there, but there also seems to be a good selection of those as well.
Are the people that work here called «cheese mongers?» I don’t know, but they’re all super knowledgeable & never fail to give great recommendations (even when I only have the faintest idea of what I’m looking for & adjectives fail me).

This gem of a store is located in Williamsburg. I absolutely love the specialty chocolates they have inside, that’s basically all I’ve bought there. However, they have so many choices for cheese I plan to go there and purchase some. They also have a big salami selection, but I don’t eat pork… so boohoo.
The service is friendly. The décor is lovely.

Technically, this is a 4.5 star review — Let me explain.
I was recently treated to a gift card for Bedford Cheese Shop, (my man knows my weakness) and was pleasantly surprised by the variety in this small corner shop. They earn 4 stars automatically for the ambience, variety and high quality of their selection.
Noticing that I was a little overwhelmed by the options and I have to admit by the sheer strength it was taking to keep from drooling onto the floor, one of the friendly staff guided me to some of her favorites and listened to my tastes. I was able to taste as many as I liked and managed to select 4 favorites before I cut myself off from tasting. I constantly suffer from the paradox of choice… fomo.
BCS earns another star for the friendly, patient and insightful staff, but drops half a star for their prices. Why does artisan cheese have to be so expensive? Of course, one of my favorites was one of the most expensive BUT a MUST try: Rogue River Blue. It is wrapped in grape leaves soaked in pear brandy and it will punch you in the face with flavor!

I came here as part of the Brooklyn Food Tour and discovered one of favorite cheeses at this shop: wavrement cherie (I think that’s how you spell it). It’s a type of goat cheese from Belgium (at least that’s what the tour guide said).
Pros:
–the store is small but they have a lot of delicious/​exotic snacks, cookies/​crackers, sauces
–their sample sizes were very generous
Cons:
–the prices are a bit high but that is expected with all specialty stores
I plan to stop by this store again and check out their snacks and other delicious cheeses!

They don’t seem to be too interested in customers here, and after the upteenth time of dealing with their snotty staff, bedford cheese officially no longer has to worry about my business.
I came in with a group, we wanted to sample a few slices before buying. They don’t do that. (If they expect us to pay these prices for cheese just based on an employee’s recommendation, then I’d suggest hiring a better trained staff.) So we ordered the cheese tray for a picnic in the park. It took around 10 minutes for the guy to cut the cheese, so one would assume he was cutting it into bite-​sized pieces, right? Wrong. Found out after, I walked back, and asked that he cut it. He refused. I asked for a cheese knife, and he argued with me that the plastic knife he gave me would suffice. It broke cutting through one of the harder cheeses, and he continued to argue with me. Then he asked me to please not cut my cheese in their store, like we don’t cut cheese here, if you’re going to do that, you need to go outside! I ignored him at this point.
Regret every dime I ever spent there. Regret telling my friends and colleagues it was a nice place. Regret EVERYTHING! DO NOT GO!

I absolutely love this place, but I’m pretty sure I could put a serious dent in my paycheck at the same time. It can get pricey. I stick to buying just the cheese and meats (the other stuff is insanely expensive). The place can get crazy crowded, but their selection is worth it.
The staff is super helpful… even with the most random and vague descriptions of what you’re looking for. Who doesn’t want to be a cheese monger? This is my go to for cheese and meats… their quality is also awesome, so you can’t go wrong. There’s soo many options!