Eli’s Essentials

are most items weirdly overpriced? yes. but the coffee is cheap and delicious – $ 1.65 for a small – and the decorated shortbread cookies are worth it. come for those two alone.

Questionable pricing for the quality and portions, but DAMN that chicken liver sandwich is good.

We bought a small $ 17 lemon cake for a dinner party and it was inedible, so dry you couldn’t even swallow it. Total waste of money. $ 4 from the grocery store would have been 10 X better.

I had 2 ham and cheese croissants, yes, two, because they were freaking amazing. I sat in the window sipping the house coffee and doing a bit of work. This place gives off good vibes and I am glad i didn’t settle for starbucks or something else commercially bougie and overvalued.
The prices here are pretty acceptable, even by non-​manhattan standards. The manager constantly walks around and makes sure customers are happy.
This place made my Thursday.

Most expensive scramble egg one can buy for breakfast. Does not list price. Charging ppl ridiculous amount of money

Costly for certain gift items. Fresh every day. Something for everyone! This location has a couple tables to sit. It’s really grab and go. Great food buffet daily for prepared meals to go!
Too bad this wasn’t here when I lived two doors from this corner! I still make it a point to stop and shop when I walk by!
Love all of Eli’s products. I especially love the bread!

2 bland Chicken salad sandwiches (pre-​made), 1 chicken Florentine (pre-​made), and 1 soda = $ 30.
They don’t post their prices — probably because they’re so overpriced.
Be forewarned — go one block down to the bagel store and better food at ½ the price.

Obscenely expensive. Fifiteen dollars for the salad bar. Thirty two dollars for roast tu

Super expensive …
2 oz babka for 3.81 $.
1.63 for boiled egg (insane).
But i guess this is just flagship store… they have massive wholesale business …
Plus they are depend on super whealthy focus.
Make story short.
I will get better value for my money somewhere else.

My friend picked up two sandwiches at Eli’s on Labor Day. I found a nickel-​sized piece of rock hard plastic in my mozzarella and prosciutto sandwich. So I shared the other, tomato mozzarella sandwich with my friend and we both ended up with food poisoning which cost both of us a day of work.
As a result, I’m very concerned about the food preparation practices of this store, and urge caution to future patrons.

A wonderful little place to get reasonably priced basked goods and coffee.
It has recently become my place to pick up chocolate croissants and cheese danishes to bring to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then I have them with a cup of coffee there

The breads are so good, it’s like being transported to Paris! The staff is awesome and take tender care wrapping the bread! The fruit is too over pricey and the salad bar is too! So just stick to the bread and maybe one or two lettuce leaves!

Dropped by this place a few days ago. All I can say is, wow! The window display of fresh breads and pastries is what sucked me in, but the packaged sandwiches and self-​service bar is what sealed the deal for me. Everything looks delicious! I had a tuna sandwich, and the rice pudding was OVER THE MOON. This place is not cheap by any means, but a good place for a nice lunch or date. This will be one of my go-​to places when visiting NYC.

Holy crap is this place expensive. $ 2 for a single hard boiled egg. Yeah you read that right. I got one little chicken parmigiana for almost $ 10. I think i would have gotten better food at an actual sit down restaurant. It is definitely not worth the prices.

If you want sticker shock served up with an attitude, here’s your place. Overpriced, even for the neighborhood with clueless people working.
All of the Eli’s are run the same way, so I’m not sure why I thought this would be any different. What a shame.

I was captivated by the baked goods in the glass window when I walked by but sadly I was disappointed by their chocolate donut. For $ 2.95 you’d expect it to be pretty damn good but I’ve actually had a better chocolate donut at whole foods that was half the price. The donut was not only barely chocolatey but the dough itself was bland and dry. Looks are deceiving, folks.

Food is five stars, no question. Everything else about this store is almost a satire of itself:
1) Three chocolate covered Oreos — $ 6.95. Really? Maybe it was four, maybe not. Either way. Ridiculous. They dipped a boxed cookie in chocolate. The cocoa beans were obviously harvested by gentle gold-​winged fairies.
2) One very small container of shrimp salad that contains 5 shrimp — $ 12.95. I’m stupid, but not that stupid.
3) One, yes ONE, manicotti (about 4 inches long) — $ 8. Wait… did I really just pay that? Oh, yes, I did — by accident. Word to the wise: avoid the salad bar.
4) And, drumroll, please!!! My favorite: a very small cup of Jell-​O — $ 3.95.
I would be more likely to white-​knuckle it through these prices because the food is great, but the customer service is abysmal. On no fewer than three occasions, I have overheard the manager disrespectfully treat employees and employees barking back at him. The cashiers can barely be bothered because my wanting to pay them takes away from their chit-​chat with each other.
Again, I cannot overemphasize how good the food is! It is! But, really, Eli. Really.

If way over-​priced food (prices are insulting), unfriendly service and cramped quarters are your thing, then this is the place for you.
I won’t be returning.

Be prepared to hand over your rent and first born to be able to afford this place!
Dropped in this new outpost of the Eli’s chain of NYC markets and fooderies that seem to be all around the UES now. Good lawd are they kidding with these prices? Hey Eli, not everyone who lives up here is mega rich like Mayoro Bloombito! Get over yourself already.
This is in a good spot for those heading to the 86^th street subway station and looking to pick up a coffee or morning pastry. Basically a grab and go shop. Lots of breads, sandwiches, pastries, soups, coffee, and other high priced upscale food items targeting the uppity UES and baby carriage crowd. Not for this working stiff from the wrong side of Lexington Ave!
I’ll stick with the coffee stands, bodegas, and Green Café Deli across the street from them where I won’t feel as if I had just gotten mugged walking into it.

Oh, for God’s sake. If the über-​expensive Eli’s juggernaut can’t get THIS right, I don’t know that there’s much hope.
It’s a cute little grab-​and-​go on the way to the 4÷5÷6 train. Salad bar, bread, sandwiches, soup, pastries, sushi, and miscellaneous «gourmet-​ish» fare. And coffee, obviously.
Everything is insanely expensive, some things almost comically so. For the price of a plastic bag containing several dice-​size pastries, you could buy a filling lunch elsewhere.
A mini-​loaf of corn bread was $ 6.95. And it was sprouting mold.
The cashier looked mortified when I pointed it out to her, so I guess that’s something.