Barzini’s Gourmet Market

It’s a good 24 hour place. It’s sooooooo pricy and they are not consistent with food options. I go for organic chicken breast and they only have it sometimes. Same with the salad. The lines are very long and the staff is in no rush to get you out of there. They have a good cheese option and a good place to run in Quickly to get what you may need. It’s a little dirty and cluttered.

Good value. Good range of quality products at reasonable prices. Their range is surprising when you consider modest size of shop but they pack it in. Enjoyed reading fresh baguette — crunchy to the bite

How this place hasn’t been shut down by the department of health is beyond me. A VERY significant portion of the products they sell are past their expiration date. A few months ago I walked in to the store and witnessed one of the workers peeling off the real expiration dates from a package and replacing it with a fake post-​dated expiration date. Unbelievable. I reported it to the DOH, but obviously it made no impact. They’re right back to selling expired, dangerous food. The only thing they have going for them is convenience (open ²⁴⁄₇) and a wide variety of (dirty, expired, misleadingly labeled and packaged) products. Shame on them.

I am so grateful to live across the street from Barzini’s. they are open all the time and have a great selection of fruits, veggies (organic and plain), deli, cheeses, kosher section, nuts, dried fruits and more. The staff there is always super nice, from the owners on down. I have never, in my 25 years of going there, had a bad experience with any of the staff. In fact, I have seen them be extraordinarily kind to customers with disabilities.
I have read many 1 star reviews — and yes, it is a bit claustrophobic, crowded, and a bit disorganized. As for rancid food, I buy all my milk products from them without any problem. It is true — that some of their fancier cheeses are past their prime — I stick with what is on sale, or their goat cheeses or the more mainstream fare. Once I did buy something fancier and it was off — so I returned it and got a refund, no questions asked. This is a true NYC neighborhood store — not Whole Foods — so get over it!

$ 6 for one fennel bulb? Wtf
Yet …
Only $ 1.99 for whole box of excellent French shortbread? Yay
In sum: Good merchandise. Schizophrenic pricing. Caveat emptor.

I just moved across the street from Barzini’s and thought it would be a great and convenient place for produce and gourmet food. Not. Now I walk to 85^th and Broadway to Broadway Farm whenever I need produce, etc. Barzini’s is disorganized, over-​crowded aisles, unfriendly, but worse, they NEVER have enough people on the checkout so it is normal to walk in at 5:30 and find a line to the back of the store. Broadway Farm is so light, bright, clean, friendly and well run — never never a line, and if there is, the managers jump right in. Cheese at Barzini’s is so unreliable, I bought a goat cheese there and it had gone so bad I had to take it right out to the trash. Barzini’s is freezing in the winter and the poor checkout ladies have to wear coats and gloves. But the worst is the checkout situation — I have gathered up a basketful of groceries and had to leave them on the floor because I didn’t want to wait through a line of 20 people. I just avoid it now. Whole Foods at 89^th is fantastic — great friendly service, they are very aware if there is a line of people waiting. And Broadway Farm is also terrific.

Huge selection of decent cheese, otherwise stinks of rotting food. Owner or manager degrades certain young Western looking/​acting women. I saw a woman shooed away with a rude hand gesture after making a significant purchase. The male staff leer at unwitting women walking in front of the store (nothing to do with the food, but on principal, not upstanding behavior for a business). Garry Nulls staff is sweet and professional, so if just for this reason (and that they keep their store clean) a better shopping experience, prices aside.

Never again. I live right across the street and yes, it’s convenient. They change the dates on everything and I’ve gotten everything from rotten milk to stale cereal in the past. I succumbed to my laziness and purchased some prosciutto the other day and when I opened the package… rancid. I know… shame on me. Just please – for your health – no one should shop here.

I live next-​door to Barzini’s so I come in pretty frequently for small purchases — fruit, cheese, ethnic foods, bread, etc etc etc
First off I love the staff, who are extremely friendly and knowledgeable — and miraculously know where everything is! This alone is remarkable because the store has about a billion specialty products packed into its fairly small space.
I was prompted to write this review because tonight, while walking uptown, I went into 5 stores in a row looking for kimchi, the spicy Korean pickled cabbage, which my wife and I had a craving for.
The first 4 places not only didn’t have it, but didn’t even know what it was.
Then I came into Barzini’s, where a helpful employee walked me right to it.
Barzini’s to the rescue once again! Thanks guys, you earned your 5 stars tonight.
:)

This place is a disgusting slop shop which peddles rancid «food». It doesn’t matter if the expiration date is next week or next month, the soup has fermented and the prepackaged food has fuzz growing on it. I’m not talking about some of the food. I’m talking about most of the food. I just opened a box of pasta I purchased yesterday and there were dead bugs in the box. I’m never going there again.

By the BEST bodega on the UWS. I don’t know how they pack so many amazing things into such a tiny space but this store has everything I need. Very reasonable prices and I don’t have deal with the headache that accompanies a trip to whole foods, food emporium or gristedes.

You can find everything you want with so many options and the best quality. Compere to other grocery stores in this neighborhood the prices is much cheaper than everywhere else.
We also should know that Barzini is part of the history of this neighborhood for many years and we all have to support our small businesses in the neighborhood.
BTW its open 24 hours.

If you like Whole Foods, FairWay or Zabars you will absolutely love Barzini’s. They have specialty foods you can’t find anyplace else and their overall selection is great. And unlike Whole Foods, Zabars and Fairway, Barzini’s is open 24 hours which is fantastic. I’ve never been disappointed

Okay lets be honest — barzinis isn’t the CLEANEST store in NYC but its 1) open all the time 2) has plentiful cheap produce (even if you have to check for mold and bruises) 3) cheese samples! As long as you know you should only buy prepackaged food and you’re prepared to navigate skinny aisles… You’re good to go at barzinis!

Barzini’s is horrible, from the initial stinky cheese smell when you first walk in (that smell worsened by the fact that many of the cheeses are expired and have fake expiration dates on them), to the cramped isles stuffed to the brim, to the dirty floors and dust filled products on those isles that have been jacked up in price. What once might have been considered a New York charm or authentic neighborhood market is really just a disgusting rip off.
I made the unfortunate decision to go there the other day, after i had boycotted the place for months. Laziness and below freezing temperatures got the better of me, I’m just around the corner. The fruit I bought (that was a couple of dollars more expensive that most other places) went off a few days after I bought it. The milk went off just less than a week before its due date. The overpriced honey was solidified at the bottom of the jar. The only true deal was the soup that I bought, 3 cans for $ 8.
I left the checkout feeling taken advantage of because of the cost and within days I continued to feel like I had just been shyster-​ed because of the quick deterioration of the products.
In the end there are SEVERAL grocery stores in the neighborhood, directly on Broadway just a few blocks from Barzini’s that sell quality products in a clean environment that is not overpriced, go to those! If it’s too cold, order in with enough for leftovers, what it costs you to order in might even be less than a solitary bag of groceries at that s&!thole.

Just had the worst experience with the bitchest cashier. Took out 3 pints of ice cream from the fridge and asked the cashier who was standing the right side of the cashier block (the fridge is on the left side). Asked her to reach and move 2 pints so I can take one pint and a package of banana. Refused at first ordering me to move everything by myself. Couldn’t believe what I was hearing (no one was in line. Just me and the cashier) asked twice more. She ends with the attitude saying «please!» and giving me a lecture that she’s a customer anywhere else (once I said, why can’t she help a customer) and all. Just about the worst cashier experience in NYC and I’ve lived here more than 25 years. Hate the store. Just the worst.

Never really had a problem with this place although it seemed unkept and clostrophobic. However, the other day I was in only to get a can of beans and just as I approached a make-​shift shelf to get it, a massive rat ran out from underneath the shelf across from it. I’m no stranger to rats but this one was a heavy weight! He was heading for the cheese, watch out!

Terrific Upper West Side grocery store!

Gross. Just say no. Their problems are fixable but they don’t seem to care. Until they clean up the place, discard the old cheeses and produce and then hire decent help, Barzini’s is a waste of time and money.
Go to Zabars.

I have been meaning to write a review for this grocery store for some time now. After I purchased a bundle of bananas ($ 2.75) the other night and came home to find they were completely rotten (couldn’t tell from the outside of the bag), I felt it was time. As another reviewer said, it seems it takes one day, if that, for whatever you buy there to magically expire. I bought a pre made salad one day and checked the date to be sure it was still good, which it was, but upon opening it up to eat, I literally found white out in the salad! I returned it to them and they gave me my money back but to my surprised, they didn’t even seem bothered or shocked by the paint in the uneaten salad! This market, while closest to my apartment, is not good for anything except maybe their iced tea or cold and closed drinks. Food is moldy, tasteless and often just poor quality. Bummer.
STAY AWAY!