Cafe Zaiya

Cute Japanese bakery.
Nice place to grab a quick bite to eat. Lots of snacks, desserts and ready made lunch items available. Prices are reasonable as well. Little indoor seating in here, about 3 small tables. Service is quick and friendly. Their baked goods are delicious and reasonably priced.

I love their 42^st location :) when I saw there was one in east village, I was soooo happy.
They have lots of bread (melon pan is oishii and so is the choco cornet) as well as packed foods like sushi and … yeah I don’t remember what other packed foods sorry v. v
Let’s get down to it: I love their onigiris. I’ve tried others but I keep coming back here! My fave is the spicy tuna and it’s delish :) u should definitely try it
Pretty good experience :)
Oh there are tables and a microwave (?) too

This place is smaller than the Café Zaiya on 42^nd street. Less Options as well.
I typically get the onigiris (spicy tuna, shrimp)
I also really like their almond cookies. It’s flat, round, and super crunchy.

Best onigiri in the area. $ 2 – 3 for each but it’s almost like you’re at a convenience store in Japan. They’re that good.

The ladies are nice, and the bread is good. Japanese bakeries are slightly pricier than Chinese ones. I tried their curry pan and other bread with sakura and azuki beans. Both were delicious.

I love Asian pastries, so I love coming here for a snack or even a meal! I’ve only tried to ham and cheese sandwich and a few of the pastries, but they’ve all been good. I like the mochi doughnuts. The honey toast is delicious, so it sells out really quickly. I also love getting their green tea/​matcha frappé and the iced matcha latte!

Whenever I’m in the area, I make sure to pick up some onigiris. All their breads and bento boxes are fresh and delivered the day of. Their cakes are sort of dry though. If you’re here in the summer, make sure to try the sesame frap! It’s literally heaven if you’re a sesame person. Towards the end of the night before they close, you can buy breads in bulk for $ 5 (but this was in the past. Not sure if they do this anymore).

Service is good, and food is okay, but personally, I think the price should be $$ rather than $. I usually come here for the sushi, bento boxes, and cookies. It’s a bit pricier for my high school and college constrained budget, but compared to the other places in the area, I can’t really complain. The flavor of the sushi (a.k.a. The rice) can be more flavored. Usually the bento boxes and miniature sushi boxes cost $ 10, but the bento boxes don’t actually have a standard amount of meat or salmon.
This is the only place I can find those chocolate checkered cookies. The checkered cookies are around $ 5 ($ 4.92 to be exact, without tax). The cookies are okay, but I get these occasional cravings for them and I really can’t find them anywhere else.
Also, the place charges you for tax.

Came here to kill some time with a book (appropriately, a Murakami novel). It was quiet, quaint, a bit dingy, but overall pleasant. I only had tea (when I had come in the riceball selection was a bit lacking), but the café seemed like a comfortable spot for both regulars and first-​timers. The seating was extremely limited (maybe 2 or 3 small round tables?), but it was just what a needed– a quiet, inconspicuous indoor space to read.

I’ve been here over ten times for the onigiri, so it’s about time I give it a review. This nondescript café also has Japanese baked goods, bento, coffees, and some Western dishes like sandwiches and spaghetti in the cooler. But onigiri is clearly the specialty: made fresh, the rice often still warm, with the seaweed wrapped in plastic so it won’t dry out until you unwrap it (pull off the tape in the center, pull the red center strip of plastic down, take it off of both sides, then fold the corners down just like you found it.) I mostly go for salmon, spicy salmon, and occasionally tuna but make SURE you read the ingredients on each sticker before you decide which one you want. The spicy tuna actually has some mayonnaise and other vegetably-​stuff in it so I once got surprised with a spicy tuna cole-​slaw like mix inside which I really didn’t like.
Almost all are $ 1.95 each; this is the best price I’ve seen for onigiri. Lots of places, even groceries like Sunshine Mart nearby, sell them for $ 3 and above.
I also get the UCC coffee if you want a relatively cheap canned iced coffee to give you a little midday caffeine buzz. Japanese canned coffees are usually a solid choice: never bitter, sweet but not too sweet. As for baked goods, I have bought green tea and strawberry roll cakes for friends before and received positive feedback; I personally recommend the mochi donut if you really like something sugary and delectable to finish off your mini meal!

Café Zaiya has three locations in Manhattan: two in Midtown, one in East Village. I love all the Japanese bread, snacks, ice cream, and savory food from Café Zaiya. The price is just right, and everything tastes so good!
I’ve gotten the Oyako Don from here. It’s a bowl of white rice with cooked chicken and eggs on top. There are sprinkles of seaweed, onions, and scallions on top as well. It would have tasted better if the egg was a bit on the runnier side, and higher chicken/​egg to rice ratio.
The real highlight at Café Zaiya is the baked goods. I love the Yakimochi and everything green tea flavored. I have ordered the Matcha Tea Cake, and peopled LOVED it. Unlike most American cakes that are very heavy in cream with dense/​dry cake, the matcha green tea is made with lighter, sponge cake that is perfectly fluffy. The cake has red bean cream filling — so good! It’s topped with real strawberries and white chocolate shavings.

We came here after a brutal workout and was a bit disappointed by what this place had to offer. We were hoping they would serve the same kind of food as their location in midtown. Since we were looking for a place that served lunch around 11am on a weekday we opted to stay here. We were able to get the pork katsu curry, a salmon bento box, spicy tuna onigiri, and a curry bun. The pork katsu and spicy tuna onigiri were the winners here. Staff was friendly.

I love thier tuna sandwiches. Its not like any other I’ve ever had before; Crunchy and tasty. Their riceballs are also good. Great place to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea/​coffee with some cake. The price is reasonable and the staff are nice.

I love going to Café Zaiya for the green tea frappes and the baked goods. This is a smaller location than the other two Café Zaiyas in midtown, and seems to have less selection.
I heard they are known for their onigiri here, so I have yet to try it out! This is my lil secret but I’ll go ahead and say it — they make the best green tea frappes!

this place was adorable and warm and ideal except for the food. all the options had a great concept, it all sounded delicious and totally worth the price (all cakes are around $ 4-​$ 5), but they were all made I guess the only word is weirdly.
I got a plain cheesecake slice and it was ok up to the bottom of the slice where there’s a bread component. my friend got a strawberry shortcake and it was very appealing to the eye but just eh to stomach. the coffees were definitely lacking in that strong kick and aroma but it was warm to hold for the cold day I came.

I’ve heard so much about their Onigiri. They were priced at $ 2 each and they come already prepared and wrapped up.
I got the Shrimp tempura one and I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I was expecting at least one nice crispy jumbo shrimp. What I got instead was one small soggy shrimp towards the bottom of the rice ball. I ate about a little more than half before I even got to the shrimp.
On the brighter side, the rice was nicely flavored. I personally prefer Yaya’s better.

Cute little Japanese bakery I found on the way walking to a yoga class. I popped in to just grab a bottle water the first time then realized there are a ton of fresh pastry goodies and lunch treats to enjoy so I stopped by again the next day. Staff is really friendly and the foods are budget friendly affordable. They have a couple of two-​seater tables if decide to eat your food there or if you’re deciding to do some homework or work as you eat. They take credit (Visa and Mastercard) and cash. Open early enough for the commuter and students.

When did Zaiya open a location in the village? I always goto the ones in midtown and was pleasantly surprised that one opened up in this area.
I came here with my husband and 2.5 year old son this past weekend. I came to buy some Onigiris to bring home. As I was browsing, my husband held my son, and they were both looking at items on the shelves. Suddenly, my son chokes and cries and then proceeds to throw up all over my husband. The owner came running in from the back with paper towels and a look of oink concern, and another worker came rushing over to assist. The owner offered my husband to use their bathroom facilities and kept reassuring me that it was not a problem, as I kept apologizing to her while trying to clean up my son and change him out of his dirtied clothing.
What could have been a mortifying experience was made bearable by the owner and worker’s reassurances and genuine caring attitude.
Thank you, Zaiya, for being so accommodating.
BTW, the Onigiris are just as good as midtown.

I come here because it’s right next to Hairmates and also because they have the best Onigiris. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re a Japanese grab-​and-​go snack that consists of sticky sushi rice, formed in a triangle, wrapped in nori, and filled with something, such as spicy tuna or tuna. They’re also very inexpensive for such a filling item, at only $ 2.50.
The rice is always spot on, which to me is the most important part of the onigiri. It’s soft, tacky, slightly sweet, slightly sour. The entire triangle is wrapped in crisp nori, which gives it texture and saltiness. Then, when you get down to the middle, you’re welcomed by the flavorful filling. It’s not too much nor too little. It’s a perfect sized surprise greeting. I personally enjoy the konbu (kelp) filled the most, because it has the most moisture. The one I like the least is the tuna, due to the fact that it’s pretty dry.
Back in the day, Café Zaiya would have Bear Papa cream puffs, which made this place beyond awesome. But, those days are long gone and are no longer in the cafes.
Anyway, if you’re in a rush and want something filling for really cheap, stop by and grab a few of these and you’ll be set. Unless you’re on Atkins or something.

A homely off white wall and tiled shop seems barren at first but slowly the zen elements emerge crystalizing a bargain $ 6 power lunch in midtown manhattan: 2 onigiri, 2 wonderful thin nut cookies and a diet coke.
It’s all about substance, zero flash here, or in this case sustenance. These fresh rice balls wrapped in seaweed came in a variety of about 10 flavors from the usual, like tuna and salmon, to the more rare, like konbu and cod, from $ 1.50 to $ 2.50. I wanted to buy 10 as bike bag snacks but decided to be rational.
I didn’t ask what the non refrigerated shelf life was on these babies but I’m sure they’d
Tell you.
If you havnt had onigiri — nows your chance.
Summary
Bakery with a small selection of Japanese take out meals makes for a budget foodie meal in downtown.