Manhattan Cafe

They seem to have now shuttered the business unfortunately. And the phone is disconnected

I try to go here for lunch at least once a week. The bagels are huge and perfectly crunchy outside, chewy inside. They will make your sandwich to order with no problem and you get a nice small fruit cup or other side. The bagels are so much better than Bruegger’s across the street. Eggs for the bagels are fried on the griddle … mmm. I don’t think they are doing huge business due maybe to Bruegger’s but they deserve to! Total hidden gem. They also have bialys, which northerners tell me are hard to find around here.

Love, love, love this café! So much better than brueggers, paneras, dunkin donuts, you name it this place beats it for breakfast and lunch. I cant believe I didn’t find this café sooner.
My husband and I each got a breakfast sandwich. The choices for meats, cheeses and breads are almost overwhelming they offer so many wonderful things. I got a sandwich on a kaiser roll with american cheese, egg, and sausage. It was delicious and reminded me of breakfast sandwiches I use to get in New York when we lived there. My husband got the same but got chipotle cheese and his was just as good. We also ordered a sandwich and Cesar salad for that night and got all the dressing on the side. Both were great. We ordered our food to be delivery. The food came quick, warm, and they even brought us 2 – 3 dozen of bagels that baked that day that didn’t sell.
I will be back soon!

This place didn’t live up to my expectations based on the other reviews. It was definitely not the worst bagel I’ve had since moving to North Carolina from New York, but it didn’t even compare to the bagels back home. What was also frustrating was the fact that I came in for lunch at around 1:00 and there were only 3 bagels left. I’m not sure if this is common, but it just felt like poor planning since they’re open until 3:00. The people working here were very friendly, but I don’t think that’s enough for me to want to come back.

Manhattan Café is a family favorite for bagels, and that isn’t an easy title to achieve. We are bagel snobs. We love bagels. We eat bagels from all over, and are very picky when it comes to what we like. If there were a bagel reality show, we would be the really hard-​to-​please judges that everyone loves to hate. And, all that being said, we love Manhattan Café’s bagels. They’re fresh, fluffy, and larger than the norm, and they come in a nice variety of delicious flavors. (Chocolate. Chip. Bagel. Need I say more?)
The location is fairly small, but offers good indoor seating and clean restrooms for customers. The employees we interacted with were friendly and helpful, and put up with our agonizing family-​wide bagel-​choosing debate. There are also scrumptious-​looking desserts for sale, but I have yet to try one. (Just give me time… just give me time.) Just be sure to come early – the bagels start to run out fairly quickly. We came at around noon, I think, and blueberry was already almost gone.

We come here all the time. One of my favorites. Great sandwiches. The pastries are yummy, but you have to get there early when they are fresh. The prices are very reasonable and if you get the homemade bread you get a massive sandwich for the price.

Decided to try Manhattan Café since I had a
offer for it. Wasn’t expecting much when I stepped in (place looks kind of hole-​in-​the-​wall), but the food was delicious. I had the grilled chicken sandwich with bacon on a focaccia (forgot what they call it) and it was quite good. «Large» fountain drinks are enormous (wife and I shared one and probably only drank half of it). Also grabbed a half dozen bagels to go to round out the minimum purchase on my coupon, and those were quite good as well. I’ll have to try this place again for breakfast sometime.

This café is my new favorite café located in Cary. This is no cookie-​cutter brunch shop like a Bruegger’s with their cute franchise-​based menu selection. Manhattan Café is there to satisfy their customers and can tailor the menu to meet the needs of the consumer. The bagels are fresh and drink selection is great. Last Tuesday, I had a delicious triple egg white omelette with pepper jack cheese, spinach and turkey! Yum.
The only thing I was dissatisfied with was their empty coffee canisters. They did have a great selection of coffees on the side bar and fortunately took no time for an employee to start up some new brewing.

It’s the best to take out some bagels and eat them at home. Forget coffee. It says they are from Crema Coffee and I’m wondering how it’s possible to have such a taste. If only for the bagels, I would give them 3 stars.
They need a face lift. At least, thorough cleaning. The main glass case looks dirty and unsafe to keep any food in. I don’t want to know how old those cannoli are. Egg salad looks even scarier.
On Wednesdays, they sell Japanese pastries. Not every week. Price is reasonable. If you don’t want to miss them, pre-​order is a must. They are unpredictable and unreliable, though — even with your pre-​order, you can’t always get them on time. If you just drop by, sometimes they have plenty, sometimes they have nothing to sell. The quality is not stable, either. Sometimes way over risen, baked or fried.
They put pastries in styrofoam take out boxes. It’s really a pain to carry out bulky boxes because each box only carries 1 or 2 pieces.

This place is ok. Just ok. The staff is really nice. My big problem? They literally have kept the same ‘birthday’ cake in the display counter for TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT! It is the same cake. I am a regular and I first noticed that cake and thought I’d been seeing it for a couple of days and thought I must be mistaken so I took notice of where the decorations were on the cake. It’s been more than two weeks now and it’s the same cake. In the same position. How can they sell that thing? Disgusting. I don’t know if I can keep going there.

Just updating my review to say the Japanese pastries are only on Wednesdays now. Give them a try! I recommend the anpan (sweet yeast roll filled with sweetened red bean paste) and the curry pan (roll filled with spicy brown curry sauce and veggies then deep fried).

I bought bagels this morning for a work function. They were warm and absolutely delicious. We tried three cream cheese flavors — low fat, veggie, and bacon and scallion. Everyone wanted to know where the bagels and cream cheese came from because they were so much better than the ones we usually get from Panera. I personally had to restrain myself from taking a spoon and eating the entire tub of veggie cream cheese.

It’s simple done great. Traveling to visit the area I always look for a local bagel joint. I had a bagel and egg sandwich with bacon and it was under 4 bucks! The owner seemed nice and the customers all knew her.
I would definitely come back the next time I’m in the area. Planning on coming back again tomorrow.
J

Locally owned. Source quality meats from Boars Head. All breads and pastries made in house and the best bagels south of NYC. I eat here regularly for breakfast and recommend the classic on a rye bagel.

I had to drive nine miles from my hotel to find a bagel that was not from a chain, and although they were not quite Manhattan-​true (a bit too dry and not dense or chewy enough), I will give these guys the benefit of the doubt as one of the only promising outfits in town.
For breakfast they sell bagel sandwiches in all the possible configurations of eggs, cheeses, and oinks. They have a satisfyingly wide selection of bagels and about eight cream cheeses. There was a limited assortment of sweet pastries, all wrapped in plastic on the day of my visit; I was hoping for more and better, but it’s not the end of the world to skip the sugar for one meal.
From the interior, it looks like this joint could be in New York City; the place is not dingy but it’s not bright and slick either – it strikes the perfect tone. They open at 6am to serve you some solid breakfast fare, with a smile, for a good price, without a lot of bells and whistles. Hmm, well maybe the smiles and the bagels are not quite authentic, but the format and the setting sure are. I approve.
For helping to scratch my itch while on vacation, I’m rounding up from 3.5.

We go to Manhattan Café for lunch at least once every weekend (and sometimes for breakfast during the week). The current owner bought it from the previous owners a few years ago and, while she’s kept the NY theme and the original menu (hearty breakfast and lunch sandwiches, delicious bagels), she’s also added quite an extensive list of her own dishes– some new and creative sandwiches like the Jerk Turkey B.L.A.S.T. (jerk turkey, smoked gouda, bacon, avocado, chipotle mayo), omelets, quiche, wraps, and salads such as the spinach salad (with bacon and boiled eggs). The salads take up a full-​sized dinner plate and the sandwiches are big as your head. Oh and did I mention she’s Le Cordon Bleu trained? There’s always a choice of either homemade white or wheat bread (I recommend having it toasted). The homemade focaccia is to die for when it’s warmed and spread with a nice big slab of (real) butter. The bagels are twice as good as the place that starts with B and there are delicious flavored cream cheeses available in tubs. And the croissants. Oh, the croissants. Ask for yours warm with a side of butter and her homemade strawberry preserves and you just bought yourself a ticket to food paradise. She keeps the front case full of all sorts of goodies like muffins, doughnuts, cookies, and cakes. I have loved every single thing I’ve tried. Moist, buttery (no Crisco here), flaky… close your eyes and pretend you’re in Paris. The crumble cake is a particular favorite (and big enough to be shared). Ask for it warmed.
Not only are the recipes and techniques wonderful, but what really amazes me is the consistent level of freshness in the food. Especially for such an extensive menu. Ive been there at least 50 times and never once eaten anything stale or brown. The bread is always made that day and the vegetables taste like they were picked that day too.
And let’s talk about price. There are certain establishments in this town (the French-​themed place across the street comes to mind) that are charging a good 30 – 40 percent more for this type of fare. And IMO, Manhattan Café tastes better. Most meals run somewhere between $ 6 and $ 7. You would pay that at Wendy’s.
I love this place and intend to be a customer as long as I live in Cary. The owner and staff have come to expect us (she even gives us free cookies sometimes!) and it’s like seeing friends every time we walk in. The variety, freshness, and care that are put into making each dish is what makes Manhattan Café so much more than just a sandwich shop.

This place is awesome. Lived in Cary for a year or so and stop by whenever I’m back in town. The owner is extremely nice, the staff is great and the bagels and sandwiches are also very good. It isn’t the easiest to find a good Sandwich shop, especially one that sells pastrami. There isn’t a better place for a pastrami sandwich in town!

Been there tons of times now for breakfast and lunch with my better half. and we both love it!
We’ve tried the chicken and lamb sandwiches and wraps and can’t wait to go back.
Their fresh bagels are what I prefer for my breakfast sandwiches.
And the lady who owns this place always greets us with a smile!
Not a full bakery. but that wasn’t what we stopped by for.

We’ve walked over for breakfast bagel sandwiches a few times now and it’s safe to say that I’m a fan of the whole experience! I love being so close to a decent bagel and a hot cup of coffee, especially on a Sunday morning when all I want to do is stay in my PJs.
We’ve tried the bacon, egg & cheese and the sausage, egg & cheese — both on plain bagels and they’ve been spot-​on deliciousness. They remind me of the bagel sandwiches my friends and I used to get in NJ before heading into school late for final exams. The bagels are crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside, just as they should be. The eggs are cooked to order (I know this because I saw the guy actually pick up whole eggs to be brought to the grill after I ordered)!
The coffee isn’t too much to write home about, but it tasted hot and fresh; our only prereqs most of the time! Manhattan Café also has trays upon trays of yummy looking coffee cakes, cupcakes, danishes and so on. They’re only open until 3p, so you better get over there early!

Now that I am safely back in NJ I can talk a little about my experience at this place. For one, it’s not a bakery by any stretch of the imagination. There were a couple of cookies and muffins. Is that what constitutes a bakery these days? If so, my kitchen can be one as well. Their bagels are ok. CC was eh. The guy at the counter is pretty funny but had a grudge against Jersey which didn’t sit well with me. They do not have Taylor Ham anymore (play the sad music in the background). Good coffee though…