Andre’s Cafe & European Bakery

Awesome service and genuine Hungering dishes! The pastries are the best I have ever eaten.

I had never had Hungarian food before but I knew what to expect as Eastern European food have similar concepts. I came here for the lunch special that is available from M-​Thurs when I worked from home. Elderly crowd at this time of day but they all seemed like very sweet people to be around and one even offered me a seat at the larger table.
I had the goulash soup and chicken paprikash and apple cheese strudel (the waitress didn’t hear me correctly when I said I wanted blueberry cheese). I have to say the chicken was amazing, which is why I couldnt give this place less than 3 stars. The strudel I had was also AMAZING. I think I have to come back here just to try their other pastries that they sell at the stand.
However, I couldn’t get over how there was only 1 woman manning around 10 tables AND working at the counter. What should have only taken half the time… I was trying to wave the waitress down as she was running around serving 10 tables. It is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. I don’t know if I would have the time to waste to sit down and eat which is quite a pity…

I wandered in here because I got lost and I was hungry. Best. Lost. Ever. I love their $ 14.95 lunch specials. Fresh bread, soup or salad, entrée, and dessert. I think I could eat a billion bowls of the mushroom soup. Get the veal goulash with nokedli for lunch. Please. The chicken paprikash is also great. And all the desserts are yum, but my favorite was the apple or berry rugulah. You will probably have to take some of it home because that’s just a whole lot of food. But it’s exciting leftovers…
A few months after I accidentally wandered in, I accidentally moved down the street from this place. So naturally I ate lunch here 3 times a week (or maybe 5…).
The servers are sweet. But really who cares because you’re not going to eat them.
Oh and also the vegetable sandwich with crispy, potato-​y French fries… Really good. Unexpectedly good.
I don’t live near here anymore, so if you have a chance please go there for me. Thanks. And also you’re welcome.

A great meal but do NOT use your credit card! I’m torn about Andre’s Café because I’ve had good meals (delicious veal goulash) there but had bad experiences with credit card fraud.
Four years ago, I had a very clear incident with them — I used a credit card there that had been unused for over a year. That same night, the card was used to buy hundreds of dollars of gas up and down the Jersey Turnpike. Thank god for zero liability, but it was a pain nonetheless. I stopped going to Andre’s altogether after that.
Fast forward to last month, when I really needed that goulash and decided that my four-​year boycott should come to an end. Oh boy, that dinner soothed the soul, especially after my pre-​dinner workout and walk home in the rain. And best of all, I thought I had just enough cash in my wallet so I could outsmart the system … but stymied! I was short by a few dollars. So I chalked up the bad experience 4 years ago to a one-​time event and pulled out my card.
At first, nothing went wrong and I was glad I had given Andre’s Café another chance. I think they’ve changed their game, however, since it was only a few days later when the fraudulent charges started popping up on my credit card. The link this time is more circumstantial. That said, I’ve only had two instances of fraud over the past 6 years and both were tied to Andre’s Café. Although I’ll be made whole, the rest of us are paying for it through higher credit card fees. So if you’re interested in trying out Andre’s Café, tell yourself it’s cash only and let them be paid for what they’ve earned — a good meal, but nothing more.

Every time I’m in NYC I have to stop by here for a meal. Makes me feel like I’m back in Hungary. Love it!

Fantastic place for authentic Hungarian pastries (and great Hungarian Egri Bikaver red wine). The poppyseed strudel and gesztenye purée (chestnut purée) are the relatively unsung heroes of this spot. The only downside is that there isn’t a lot of seating space.

I was craving stuffed cabbage for no reasons. A good stuffed cabbage is hard to find, they are either too blend or the cabbage/​meat proportion isn’t quite right. I’ve tried the Greek, Turkish, Israeli versions all over Manhattan, you name it! Then I saw the picture in Andre’s restaurant in my neighborhood. Since their strudels are flaky and fantastic, I thought I might give the stuffed cabbage a try. The dish turned out to be delicious and flavorful! A serving comes with 2 stuffed cabbage and a small side of sour cream. The cooling cream was a great addition to the paprika based dish. I would definitely go back and try full meal!

I was so excited to find a Hungarian restaurant. Don’t let the name food you. This is a casual restaurant inside that serves wine — not just a bakery. That said, the bakery is the star food-​wise. I hade cucumber salad that didn’t have sour cream (so I ordered some) I also had the stuffed cabbage which was a bit bland, a pretty decent glass of wine, and yummy layer cake. I also took strudel for friends (apple and poppyseed) and it was amazing. The portions are large and reasonably priced. The selection of teas was disappointing so I wouldn’t order tea after dinner again.
Good but not great. They should add more flavor to their food.

Hungarian food is something largely missing from the NYC culinary scene. I lived for some time in Hungary and always looking for a place that serves solid Hungarian and it just doesn’t exist. I stumbled onto Andre’s last year. Finally had the chance to go over the fall.
My friend ended up ordering the hortbagyi — a crêpe with chicken paprikash. She was a bit hesitant but actually really ended up liking it. I went for the old standby — goulash. Andre’s serves a veal goulash so it was an interesting take and I really liked it. We also ordered the cold sour cherry soup, which is more like a dessert than anything. It’s not on the menu so you have to ask for it. It’s pretty sweet, so you may want to get it as a dessert. All in all, the food was solid and service was ok but not that great so 4 stars for that time.
I ended up going back this week and it was a shitshow, to put it nicely. I split the goulash with my sis and it wasn’t nearly as good as before. The nodliky was very overcooked. I ordered the Dobosh torte but they were out so I ordered the layer cake. Just then we remembered that a dessert came with the meal. The waitress didn’t bother to say anything about that. We had a choice of three different things and went with the mocha apricot cake. HORRIBLE. The cake part was so completely stale and disgusting. Not even pigeons would eat it.
And service was horrendous. We got a glass of water. There was never a refill. I ordered the cherry soup. Never got it. I mentioned the dessert thing above. We couldn’t finish the meal and asked for takeaway, which she forgot to give to us. Mind you, the restaurant wasn’t even a third full and it’s not a big place to begin with. Service was meh the first time but not this bad. If you’re aching for old Communist bloc service, then this fits the bill.
Even though I love Hungarian desserts and this is the only place in the city to find some of these things, I just can’t justify dropping $ 7 – 8 on something that’s been sitting around for almost a week and is completely stale.
I guess if you’re the only Hungarian restaurant in the whole city, you can get away with serving old and overcooked food and providing no service. 3 stars because it’s literally the only Hungarian restaurant and the only place to find some of these dishes. I wouldn’t bother making the trek to the UES for this place but if you’re there and craving Hungarian, then fine.

The Yorkville section of NYC has lost it’s Hungarian identity. Andre’s is really the only place left from a neighborhood chock full yummy places. Andre’s has a wonderful pastry selection, but I have never tried any of their lunch food. Their dobos torte and rigo janci taste like what you would find in Hungary and Austria. Today their slices of dobos, rigo janci, etc were each $ 6. I also bout 1 pound of cookies which cost $ 19. WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!

Dobos Torte is amazing — ordered it for a birthday in my office and as this is the «Company Cake» everyone praised that this is better than our usual order from Dean and DeLuca… so a Unilocal review from 15! Kudos!
Price is also very fair.
Food is authentic!

I come here almost every week! I’m Hungarian so coming here is always a blast. They have the most popular Hungarian dishes and its homemade! :) Ildiko is very sweet. like a second mother to us.
I love that they have to go and that they have a lot of pastry options in the front.
Two things I’d note though. I’d definitely change the way they make the stuffing in the Hortobagyi stuffed crepes. Also, I’d pay more attention to the texture & the taste of the sweet crepes.

DOBOS TORTE !!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY FAVORITE CAKE FROM MY CHILDHOOD STILL EXISTS IN
YORKVILLE !!!
YAH!!!
~~~~~
1-​ORDER A FRESH HOMEMADE ROUND ONE (I even ordered via the phone from California 3,000 miles away, to pick up later for my visit to my sick Mom in NYC a few days later)…but maybe first check out pics on Goggle, Wiki, etc…
2– TAKE THIS CULINARY TREASURE HOME!
3– DEVOUR IT SLOWLY.
HOW TO EAT IT:
~~~~
The way I have always eaten this cake is to dissect it layer by layer.
a– I remove the super-​crunchy-​yummy candied carmel top layer to save for desert’s desert.
b– I then carefully peal each ultra thin layer (THINK TWIX BAR) of cake with a thin layer of frosting.
c– Nibble each layer to death, one-​by-​one. Along with drinking a big tall frosty glass of fresh cold milk.
d– Save the best for last & carefully (for you older folk who will not get another set of natural teeth) crunch you way as you eat the top. You may want to shatter it somehow, if you are worried about chipping a tooth. Yes, a solid sugary carmel layer seems as hard as glass to your mouth at first… but it is OH SO GOOD!
Note: yes you can eat more or, the normal way… but that is like not separating OREO Cookies before you eat them. Boring !!!
~~~
BACKGROUND:
During my Slovak Lutheran Church Catechism Training period, which was almost every Saturday & Sunday for 2 whole years in an exodus from Brooklyn to Manhattan, when I was a pre-​teen, my wonderful Mom sometimes would also drive me up to Yorkville to treat me to a slice of DOBOS TORTE, every now & then.
It was my favorite treat of all time when I was young. I never knew the name of the cake, nor the exact location of the bakery at the time (who pays attention when you are a kid). Several months ago, the idea of tracking down the name of this cake & where I could buy it for my Mom & I, as a special nostalgic treat, came to me…& I then turned to Google & Unilocal.I knew it was Hungarian & I knew it was near 86^th Street on the East Side of Manhattan (which was once a Czechoslovakian Ghetto for many of relatives… Czechoslovaks (AKA Slovaks) & others were labelled as no good lazy slovenly genetically challenged retards by the powers that be during the early 1900’s…much like other new immigrant ethnic groups).
After finding images of the Cake, I search on Unilocal… a few people made a passing comment on it on Unilocal for Andre’s. Was it the very same bakery… possibly…could they deliver on the real deal?
ABSOLUTELY YES !
I PICKED UP A FRESH DOBOS TORTE CAKE & PROMPTLY TOOK A TAXI FROM MANHATTAN TO SHEEPSHEAD BAY BROOKLYN (FOR $ 70!), POPPED OUT & PLEASANTLY SHOCKED MY MOM, WHO WAS OUT HOBBLING WITH A WALKER IN FRONT OF HER HOUSE!
WE THEN shared the DOBOS, the other goodies from Andre’s (several types of strudel, cookies, & other pastries… all amounting to around 20 pounds!)…all after having a huge feast of other ethnic goodies (i.e. Kielbasa, HeadCheese, Blood Sausage, Amazing Bacon… from the last Ukrainian Butcher in the East Village.
~~~~
Even though I lusted over the restaurant items that I saw everyone munching on in the back, I had a long trip ahead of me, so I did not dally too much… but I did speak to an elderly local lady who somehow subsisted on SS, who told me that this place was her special treat once a week (for both the baked stuff & the cooked meals)…& she thought it was super.
The Unilocal reviews are all over the place and many are way off (but what else is new). Some people claim that they have a Monopoly over Hungarian food based on their background & some judge it as the BEST & some the WORST… so who to believe?
NEITHER– you have to go there and try what is best… maybe you will like you choice-​maybe the chef of the day has a bad day-​maybe the waitress is rude (big surprise in NYC… LOL)-maybe you have no taste & think that McD’s & Starsuks are the cat’s pajamas.
ANYWHO:
1– DOBOS was ORGASMIC.
2– STRUDELS were good to fantastic (favoring Poppyseed or Walnut Paste)…who cares if they use LARD, would you rather have them fall for the Coconut Oil Saturated Fat Fad like most fools? Saturated fat is still saturated, still fat, & still fattening… so what?
3– Cookies were among the best anywhere.
as far as service… it was fast, efficient, rather rushed, not too warm… but they made my special ordered DOBOS cake better than
PERFECT!
AND
MY POOR MOM WAS VERY HAPPY FOR A BRIEF, BUT TREASURED TIME
THANK YOU ANDRE’S!
~~~
Wiki on DOBOS :“is a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The five-​layer pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian confectioner József C. Dobos, who aimed to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The round sides of the cake are coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the caramel topping helps keep it from drying out.”

We got 2 very generous portions of classic cheesecake and a Napoleon. They were both really delicious, although I prefer my cheesecake with crust.
Went there on a Friday evening and we were seated right away. The waitress prepared our orders right away and was really attentive.

3 ½ Stars (I wish Unilocal would give the ½ a star option) Good place, friendly, tasty baked goods, especially the apricot pastry & chocolate & raspberry pastry rolls.

With oil I am coated,
My food has all been throated,
And I sit happily bloated,
Great food at Andre’s, noted.

My favorite food is Chicken Paprikash so when I went to visit my friend in NYC I started looking for some Hungarian Restaurants. I came across this place and wanted to try it. My friend never tried Hungarian Food before so I was excited to introduce her to something new. The Chicken Paprikash was very delicious — one of the best Chicken Paprikash’s I have ever had. My friend said ‘Wow’ as soon as she tried it. She never thought to try Hungarian Food before and said she couldn’t wait to bring her boyfriend there. The setting was very intimate yet casual and they had an extensive variety of desserts and Hungarian baked goods too. This is a very authentic and inexpensive place. I highly recommend coming here!

I came here specifically to try out some Hungarian food. This turned out to be a very authentic and inexpensive place. These were the following things we tried here:
–Chicken Paprikash — This was very good, flavorful stewed chicken. The meat was basically falling off the bone. Like its name suggests, it is stewed in paprika. The one here also had a strong tomato flavor as well. It comes with a side of nokedli. Nokedli are known as Hungarian dumplings, but they taste and look more like macaroni. They tasted very bland and did not add much to the entrée for me. At least the chicken was delicious.
–Savory Crêpe — One of the specialties here are the Hungarian crepes. They come either in savory flavors (hot and filled with meat and vegetables) or dessert crepes (cold with fruits). We tried a savory crêpe filled with mozzarella and tomatoes. It was tasted very similar to French crepes I’ve had before and was definitely very savory, but I would still recommend trying one here.
–Apple Strudel — For dessert, we decided to go basic and tried one of the apple strudels. We joked that it was a far cry from the Entemann’s strudels we are used to. They actually warm their strudels up. It was very soft, flaky, and moist. I highly suggest trying one.

After having a wonderful lunch I was drawn to Andre’s from the delicious looking pastries at it’s window. It appeared to be a hidden gem so I went in to give it a try. As my friend and I enter there is a person behind the counter with her back turned wiping the table. She doesn’t greet us or acknowledge our presence. Even when were clearly talking about what we’d like to order. Finally she turns around and takes our order. I ordered the chocolate and raspberry roulade. I had hoped the food would have made up for the service but unfortunately it wasn’t worth $ 8. The bread was dry and the cream was thick. Maybe the food menu is what their better known for, considering this place has solid 4 stars but you should skip the dessert.

A very unassuming little restaurant on 2^nd Ave, which I must have passed by innumerable times before I ever noticed it and deciphered that it said «Hungarian cuisine» in some little nook on the sign. The mellifluous sound of Hungarian folk music was what caught my attention as I was walking by one afternoon. The ladies who work here look stern, but are really very sweet, which you realize when you interact with them.
I have tried their lunch special a couple of times, and have enjoyed it each time. It consists of a cup of soup (or salad, which I never opted for), an entrée and a dessert for about $ 14. Since their minimum amount for credit card acceptance is $ 20, I also picked up an assortment of both sweet and savory strudels to take home for later.
The chicken paprikash and the veal goulash are both delicious and the nokedli is a perfect starch pairing for both of these entrees. The potato paprikash strudel is a perfect afternoon snack, fantastically flaky and flavorful. For dessert, the cherry cheese strudel, the apricot tart, the blueberry crêpe… who am I kidding? ALL of their desserts are abso-​fookin-​lutely delicious!
My only worry is that I live dangerously close to this place, which means evil foreboding for my waistline!