Variety Cafe

4 stars based on 50% off the hot bar from 2 PM on (get there a little early because the lines for the somewhat delicious slop are long). Also, the young women who make the coffee and work the register in the front, during the morning, are great. The prices, especially for iced coffee are way too high, but the discounted hot bar is a great deal.
This is the kind of place where I feel like I’m pushing my luck the more I go. I’m sure if some lab swabbed the hot bar utensils they would find some unpleasant things, but this could be said for any hot bar in the city (and this place does have an A letter grade).
Maybe 4 stars is a bit too generous considering Variety does not strike me as the cleanest place. Maybe I’m wrong, but it does look kinda run-​down.

Food is sometimes dirty! Never again!
I and my co-​workers can’t recommend this place any longer. Second time in recent weeks where the buffet had long hairs or chunks of other food in some of the dishes like the sliced turkey or potatoes or mushrooms. Disgusting and possibly dangerous health threats.
When I asked the confrontational manager if I could get something else he resisted with an serious attitude. I was never demanding or disrespectful so why couldn’t he help or care?
It felt like a Kitchen Nightmares moment. Rather than blow my top I just left without any refund or anything.
This place has a ton of different options from a massive buffet and salads, sandwiches, soups and so forth but that’s part of the problem. Too much volume and not enough quality and cleanliness.
I would recommend places nearby who serve the same variety but have clean and fresh tasty food.

I love this place. It is big, clean, and has everything you think of to eat for lunch or breakfast. I was waiting on the bus stop in front and walked in on a whim. Wow! Was I impressed. I don’t work downtown, but if I did, I imagine I would go there often. Just really nice food in general. Also, there are places to sit. It has that appealing industrial atmosphere which makes it seem large and clean, which it is. I highly recommend it. Be careful on the food bar though. The price can easily add up and you won’t know the price of what you take until you get to the register.

I’ve been here for their breakfast. Considering the location, the prices were amazingly cheap! I got scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and hash browns for $ 4. Will 100% come back here again. Not so much for their lunch because the prices are more or less the same as other places nearby. But the breakfast deals are definitely a win

this place is decent for a good lunch. I like the salads and sushi the most. the bakery items are good as well.
Snapple is 2.45 with tax which is cray. ill go to the duane reade across the street and get it for a dollar.
one thing that bothered me about this place which prevented me from giving them more stars is the fact that they throw out all the food at the end of the day!!!
there are tons of homeless people on Broadway begging for food and money everyday, not even a block away! and they are going to throw away all that food?
there is a church 50 feet from the café. maybe they should donate the food to the homeless for a change.
all that food going to waste is a shame :(

As the name implies they have such a wide variety of choices. It’s a one stop shop if you want soup, salads, udon, burgers, salad bar, cold bar, hot bar, Mongolian grill, sushi. They also have plenty of seating for either lunch by yourself or your whole team.

Very similar to Café Exchange down the next block. This place has a good selection of food and a Mongolian Buffet. My only problem is that there is practically no way to get your meal to cost less than $ 8 unless you only put only 1 piece of chicken in your box; 2 if they are wingettes! Its supposed to be ½ price after 2 which can really make a big difference if you can wait that long to eat during your work day. I go here often, it’s not bad when the surrounding area serves mediocre plain slices of pizza for $ 3.75 & up.

First off, this is a deli not a restaurant, so get your expectations straight. As far as deli goes, this place is consistent with good variety and value. There are hot and cold buffet by weight, salads, sandwiches, soups, pizza, sushi and various snacks desserts & drinks. You really find a lot of stuff here. Each thing may not be the best of its kind but it’s generally fresh. Lines move quickly making it good for work lunch, or there are a lot of tables upstairs if you want to eat there. I come here every week with my colleagues and this is definitely my go-​to deli in FiDi.

I think this place is great. They have everything you can think of.
Basically think of that huge Chinese Buffet you loved to go to when you were younger (p.s. this isn’t a Chinese restaurant) and this is bigger and has everything you can think of. Breakfast sandwiches, omelettes, Heros, Panini, salads etc.
Great place.

Great verity of food. Service is fast and polite. Nice sitting area on the second floor. Perfect lunch place.

So I’m finally back down where I belong… my old stomping grounds… right on Wall St. hallelujah for this Brooklyn gal… I’ve been popping into Variety Café each day this week as I’m directly across the way and my boss is addicted to their panini’s…
Chipotle Chicken Panini —-
YES… it has spice. its overflowing with chicken… and just right… they seem to offer a daily special on Panini’s. original price $ 7.45… some days under 7… I think $ 5.50…
Sausage/​Egg/​Cheese on a toasted Sesame Bagel —-
*MY FAT GIRL BREAKFAST. don’t judge me… I work really hard… and I deserve this…:)… $ 4 bucks… please don’t eat crap from Dunkin Donuts… that’s not even real egg… or bread. or cheese… Get your breakfast sandwiches here. what’s nice is there is a separate line for bagels. and hot sandwiches…
Udon Soup —–
One of my fav’s honestly… I can eat this daily and I don’t feel guilty. some days I will just skip the noodles all together if I had the fat girl breakfast above … Nice choice of bland/​shredded chicken for those skinny chics that don’t like butter or oil… or flavour… I get the fatty roasted chicken… thank you very much. great veggies… broth is good… not too salty…$ 7.50… they add tax though. so $ 8.14 or something so… worth it. because I’m too lazy to create this at home.
Lines move extremely fast… nice/​friendly girls… fat desserts on the way out to entice you.
Cheesecake… muffins… cake… *Walk away… just walk away…
I’ll be back…

This review pertains only to the Mongolian BBQ. You pick your ingredients, which looked great. Looked fresh. Lots of options. All good. But when it’s cooked, instead of a stir fry, they dilute all of the sauce you had put in by pouring water from a jug. Not what I remember from other Mongolian bbq places. And then, the thing costs you $ 13. Wouldn’t get that again.

Mongolian BBQ is not suppose to be Mongolian steam grill
what they do in this place is instead of rolling food with sticks they pour gallons of water on your food thus making it steam cook over large heated pad.
they hire bunch of lazy low wage workers who don’t know how to cook and they don’t want to clean table.
so its lack of skill and laziness combined that makes it only remotely resemble Mongolian style BBQ.
this is how you do it — not the lazy way!!!

I come here almost every single day. I had to finally write a review about the customer service.
The food here is okay. I tolerate it because it’s close to my office. One notable exception — the breakfast potatoes before 10:30am are awesome! The buffet has a large selection.
Now, on to the customer service — as you may have guessed, it’s terrible! Most people are nice, but it’s all ruined by a duo of Eastern European girls who cannot be bothered to say «hello,» «thank you,» or even make eye contact. They’re way too cool, so they sit around looking bored instead of showing even a glimmer of politeness.
I spend hundreds of dollars here, it’s sad I can’t get a hello.
Visit Exchange Café instead, a few doors down, where you’ll be checked out by a group of very friendly and polite Eastern European ladies! How refreshing!

Standard café fare. It’s big so there’s a lot of, you guessed it, VARIETY. The food is standard, not amazing and not bad. And yes, after 2:00pm the hot/​cold buffet goes on sale. It’s not really worth it any other time.
So why does such an average establishment get only 1 star? Their customer service is horrible. The guys behind the grill are efficient if not very disinterested in helping you with your order. The can’t be bothered cashier girls and the unhelpful owners.

I’m calling it — Best lunch deal in the financial district for the following reasons:
* Well, as the name suggests — variety! The hot & cold buffet has a ton of really tantalizing options.
* Tons of seating upstairs (Unfortunately does not appear to be handicap accessible)
* After 2:30 all of the food in the buffet becomes half off original price. You can feast like a king (and yes, vegetarian friendly!) for under $ 5.00
I’m glad my coworker turned me onto this place. After walking past it thousands of times I had pinned it for another overpriced deli but it’s an excellent choice for lunch on a budget. However, if you’re into lavish lunches I would probably point you in the direction of Dig Inn.

Standard café.
To me, it’s really hard to tell apart the collection of nearby hot bar/​sandwich shops places. It doesn’t have a strong brand in my mind, because it’s not known for anything. The variety it provides doesn’t allow it to be great at any one thing, so I don’t really have any reason to come here.
The only reason I did was because a friend was coming here. The benefit of variety is to allow a lot of people who can’t decide on the same thing to get what they want.

Variety Café is Ok.
PROS:
— big selection; lots of choices for food
— Breakfast omelette — approx $ 5 not a bad price
THE OKAY:
— Shrimp Tempura Udon — My gripe with this is that they only give you 1 piece of shrimp; the soup base is good — I’ll give them that. How can you give a customer 1 piece of shrimp!!! I thought I’d at least get 2 pieces…
CON:
— Expensive. $ 8.99 a lb. for hot buffet food.
— You need a minimum of $ 10 in order to use your credit card. OK, I didn’t realized that until I was at check out and the sign said $ 10 minimum so I had to rush and find something to meet the requirement as I did not bring cash with me.

Why can’t I give zero stars on Unilocal?
Short and sweet:
(1) everything is super expensive;
(2) nothing is fresh; and
(3) there food isn’t terrible, just not worth the price you will pay.
There is serious lack of choice around the area and, even so, not worth going to this place for even an overpriced bottle of water.

For establishments like these, I wish Unilocal allowed 0 stars.
I have never — in all the cities I’ve ever been to my life — encountered such horrible (I repeat, HORRIBLE) customer service as I did when I made the god-​awful mistake of walking into Variety Café last week.
There are plenty of other places to get food in the area; I’d highly recommend taking your business there. Why subject yourself to being treated like dirt at a place where the food is sub-​par and the prices are too high for what it is? Yep. Go somewhere else.