Bread & Butter

Food is not fresh and borderline spoiled. Service is horrendous. I complained about the boss who runs the stir fry section at night and nothing was really done about it in the end. All that happened was that they threaten to ban me from the place if I complained about the boss again. Seems like employees come first then customers. Anyone have a similar experience to the one I describe below in my e-​mail? I complained and initially got a friendly response.
Dear Victoria, So sorry for the late reply but I’ve been pulled away for a meetings… Please accept our sincere apology. We are very sorry to hear about the very unpleasant event you have experienced and the inconvenience it had caused. I would like to assure you that we value & appreciate our customers and their opinion! I have taken discipline of offending employee, reprimanded of his unprofessional manners to correct this problem. I would like to ask of you that you give our company another chance to serve you. Thank you for your business as always, we look forward to seeing you again soon.
best regards, Jeff Kim
Dear Jeff, I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to speak to the night chef boss. I did not respond back immediately because I wanted to return back to Bread & Butter to see if the situation was better, but my busy schedule prevented me from returning back until tonight. As soon as I entered Bread & Butter, that night chef boss confronted me, laughed, and said, «Since you complained about me, I told all the chefs to refuse to cook and make tofu soup for you. Anything you want to order, you will be banned from ordering it tonight.»
I was not expecting this type of greeting. He also announced in front of the chefs that he is the «top boss» and no one can tell him what to do and everyone who works here must comply to his absolute obedience. The night chef boss announced assertively to everyone, «I cannot be fired.» Then he looked at me and said, «You can complain all you want, but the next time you complain about me, you will be banned from this place.» He made sure all the chefs heard that announcement.
So I asked the Hispanic cashier, Pilar (I believe that is her name). «Is that how the ‘night boss’ treats all his customers here?» Then I looked around and noticed there was barely anyone here. This place is so empty. Pilar was shocked and said that she was sorry, but she could not help out since that night chef is also her boss. The cashier did beg the other chefs to make the tofu soup that I wanted to order, but the chefs refused to make it out of fear. I noticed one customer at checkout was listening in total bewilderment. He was uncomfortable witnessing this incident. I wish that I knew his name because he would be a good witness of what happened. So I left Bread & Butter without ordering any food tonight, although I was planning to get dinner there. When I left, the night boss laughed loudly.
The way the «night boss» behaved, he acted like he was your boss. Is that true? If so, who is the real boss or manager of Bread & Butter? Also, since I am making a second complaint about the «night chef boss», what measures will he take to ensure that I get banned from «Bread & Butter»? I have not done anything wrong except state the truth that there is something wrong with the night boss’ behavior towards customers. In some ways, I feel that I am doing a favor to point out this issue, which I believe could cause a business to get into real trouble, if this issue is not resolved or gets out of control.
I do not know your schedule, but I am available to meet with you, if you would like more details. Sometimes e-​mail is rather impersonal, but if we met, you would understand that I am telling you the truth and if the cashier was to speak the truth without the fear of losing her job (she is very nice by the way), then you would understand what I described to you by e-​mail is what really happened tonight. Please kindly let me know if I should give it a third chance to visit Bread & Butter in the future or if I should forget this whole situation since I am now «banned from Bread & Butter». Any insights on what I should do would be appreciated.
Victoria
I never got a response. Later I went to complain to the manager, but I got cold stares from the workers who say that the manager cannot be reached and that they still refused to serve me food because I had complained about the stir fry boss. So to this day I never go back to Bread & Butter, but I do not feel that I am missing anything because the food does not taste very good and the service is awful.

I would avoid this place… only decent thing is the bacon egg and cheese… but there are 100s of places that can do the same. The rest of the food is sub par & lacking flavor. Most of the staff is pleasant, then you get some that do not care for lines and take whoever first
Don’t waste your money

I had been coming to this establishment with my small group of ladies every weekend for about 8 months. Never had an issue. Then today a manager interrupted us and started to scold us, telling us as a group we need to spend $ 60 to stay there, and accused us of only buying two coffees. The reality was we all bought a drink, some of us even bought food and ate it already, and we were waiting for another person too. I tried to tell the man we were loyal customers and we always brought a lot of business in, so I didn’t see why he was upset, especially given the fact there was literally no one else in the establishment… but he interrupted me and told me he wasn’t done talking. It was just very rude, especially the way we went about it, and every lady in my group was incredibly upset by how aggressive he was. I told him we wouldn’t be coming here anymore…

This place has always been pretty meh, but it was always an easy place to meet friends and stay awhile in the ample downstairs seating area. I’ve been coming here at least every month for the past 6 months, always making food purchases, sometimes multiple purchases when spending more than a couple of hours here. The food has always been completely tasteless and bland, even the macaroni and cheese (how you make cheese tasteless, I don’t know, but they accomplished it). The coffee was always watered down and packaged food, such as chips and granola bars, overpriced. The only thing I ever liked here were the muffins, which sell out by afternoon.
Today, however, a manager or some employee approached my group of friends and I and sarcastically asked, «So, you will order 2 – 3 more coffees, yes?» We looked at each other dumbfounded, since most of us had coffees bearing the Bread and Butter logo or bottles of water purchased from the store sitting in front of us, and some of us had empty food containers from food clearly purchased there.
The man went on to berate us about how we were taking up too much space, even though there was plenty of seating left as there were only 2 other people in the downstairs area besides our group. He was incredibly mean and rude and demanded we purchase $ 60 or $ 70 or $ 100 (he was just making up arbitrary amounts, seemingly) worth of food if we continued sitting there. It was completely ridiculous, because we often come there and always make purchases! We assured the man that we would be leaving his establishment, never to return. I understand if you have a store policy, but there is a way and manner to approach your customers to convey these policies, and this was not the way.
So goodbye, Bread and Butter, we will not miss your overpriced, watered down, subpar food!

Went here in search of a breakfast sandwich and was definitely not disappointed. Got a delicious onion bagel with sausage, egg, and Muenster cheese with a chive cream cheese. so satisfying! Tons of other options available for lunch and dinner too.

Deli– huge by-​the-​pound hot & cold bars. Their fruit is excellent: mango, strawberry & pineapple my favorites. Hot food can be hit or miss: have had the salmon, collard greens & sweet potatoes several times & have all been good. Calamari had been perfect one day, too chewy the next time. Steamed carrots & string beans were not appetizing– not saying bad, just didnt call to me. Cajun pasta not good & disappointing-​skip it. Maduros are ok– just make sure u pick soft ripe ones & not dry ones.
Soups i heard are good– and i go with intention to try the soups but the salmon, collard greens & sweet potato call to me. It can be pricy– salmon & potatoes are heavy so i easily spend $ 13. When i get fruit its close to $ 20. But the fruit is good. Worth it. Seating downstairs by the front of the deli. Clean & neat space, overall.
I will keep coming here, & recommend for huge selection of lunch on the go.

I recently started working nearby and was introduced to this place by some co-​workers. The prices are reasonable for midtown and they have pretty much everything. Soup, sandwiches, salads, sushi and a food bar in the back. I had the sandwiches which were okay, a variety of soups which was okay and the sushi which was better than expected. While the food is average to slightly above average, the people there are nice and above all efficient. When deals with a lunch crowd in midtown I would imagine they have to be. You can grab pretty much anything and be out of there in a few minutes.

Late night and all I want is something fast cheap and fatty. Bread and Butter is nothing more than 24hr deli, no excellent service or amazing food. Just utility for the nights you’re not sure if you want pizza a salad or kimchi fast and cheap. Being around the corner from k-​town means that you have some Korean food options which is the only thing that makes this deli stand out a little.
PRO TIP: you can also have beers and cheap wine till 4am

When I first walked into this place I was extremely excited to try their plethora of foods. They have a sushi bar, a noodle soup bar, a sandwich bar, a salad bar, a juice bar and of course the infamous buffet which has all sorts of food that range from sushi to salads to good old BBQ and Chinese inspired. I admit, the food that they put out looked pretty darn tasty! Also for the amount of money that I was paying ($ 8/​lb) it better be good right? WRONG!
First of all, I didn’t even put that much stuff in my container and the amount came out to almost $ 12! Which is ridiculously expensive! I could have gone to somewhere else in the neighborhood, pay the same amount or even less, and get more food at a higher quality. But I was now stuck with it so I just bear and grinned it out. As said previously, I thought the the taste was going to match the aesthetic appeal, but I was really disappointed when I took my first bite into my pork (and everything else to be exact). Pretty much everything that I had picked was UNDER-seasoned…it’s like their chefs didn’t know what salt was. So my entire dish was awfully bland and I ended up hating it! I am sad that my first time here was a bad experience, I will try to give this place another chance but I definitely would not want to do the buffet again!

I ordered from this location every week for breakfast and lately I’ve noticed that the prices aren’t consistent. I called one week to complain about it, I order the same every week so how can the price jump up 3 dollars. They apologized and adjusted the price for me. The very next week the same thing happened but this time they gave me a hard time about the pricing so I cancelled my order. I will never order for this place again and by me being a local I will HIGHLY RECOMMEND DON’T ORDER FROM HERE… I guess a loyal customer means nothing to them.

Stomach pains, terrible slow service, this place is a disaster and health hazard. Avoid it, midtown has many more options.

I was excited to try this location because I’m a huge fan of create your own salad bars and delis, but there was something exceptionally wrong with my salad. I’m not sure if it was the chicken or the dressing but when I opened it once seated it was rank and upon taking one bite I had to quickly dispose of it for fear becoming ill. Something was spoiled and had I continued eating, I’m sure I would have been food poisoned.
As for the rest of the location, the lower floor was well laid out and there were lots of options for food and plenty of employees who were kind. The upper floor is for diners to eat and it was clean enough and quiet but they clearly don’t run their AC up there like they do the lower floor, everyone was sweating and it was stifling, and the «free wifi» didn’t work at all. When I asked about it, I was told to try to connect again so clearly no one knew what was the issue with it.
Overall, I see the appeal but cannot imagine myself recommending it or returning in the future due to the spoiled food.

Un deli en la quinta avenida no podía ser muy barato, y en efecto. Habían cosas que estaban bien de precio, no el agua que nos costó 4 dólares una botella más pequeña a la que estamos acostumbrados en España.
Tienen mucha variedad de comida, desde ensaladas, sándwich, comidas preparadas, pizzas y sushi, hasta bollería que diría que también está hecha allí.
Las cookies y las muffins fueron las mejores que tomamos en NY. Nos sorprendió mucho porque las cogimos para llevar porque estábamos un poco cansados y nos apetecía una cena muy rápida, leche con magdalenas (y muy Spanish también) y al final cenamos mejor que muchos días.
En la quinta avenida por la parte de empire state hay algún otro deli más, y por el mismo precio. Elegid este por la variedad, precios iguales a los otros al final T mucha mejor calidad!

I tend to like the staples when I travel. When in New York, I want a slice of NY pizza and an everything bagel with cream cheese. Bread and Butter hit that second craving like a tornado!
The shop is big, much bigger than I imagined. There are so many foodstuffs for purchase… I think I counted 15 different chip varieties alone. So if you want to try some cool new products, you can find it here.
We were able to get our everything bagel with the types of cream cheeses we desired. The staff toasted up our goodies for our train ride to Philly so it was such a tasty treat on the train.
Definitely look for Bread and Butter to get that bagel fix!

Pense num lugar repleto de comida saudável em meio a lojas de hambúrguer? Então! Essa lojinha tem tudo que precisa! Todos os tipos de carne, saladas, frutas! Recomendo!

Good variety of foods
Pizza is good priced as well as the artisan sandwiches
Lemon water is offered in the seating area in the lower level
The hot buffet is just like every other hot buffet, nothing special

It’s your one stop shop in the area and is open 24hrs which makes it always a reliable choice. They carry a variety of foods; from gelato to sandwiches, sushi to Chinese food, and salads to ramen. Not to mention, they also have a little grocery area with a few necessities on the far left wall, more towards the middle of the store.
If you have a number of people in your group that want to stop somewhere with a variety of options, or it’s the «off-​hours», or you just want to go to a reliable place that will have something you’ll enjoy — then this is the place. There is so much to choose from here that it is relatively impossible to leave because you weren’t able to find or they weren’t able to cook what it is you’re looking for.

For the road warrior or visitor to NYC the Bread and Butter chain are really good. Clean — huge variety of food choice and this branch really impressed me.
Staff are actually polite.
Eat in, take away and free wifi made being here a good experience.
Granted it is not 5 star restaurant food but if your working and wanting a place to land or even with the kids in tow. Try this branch.

Wow… this place has a LOT of options. I walked in here for coffee one day and ended up browsing all their food. The Korean food bar is more like a Japanese/​Asian fusion bar, but they also have a juice/​smoothie place, hot subs, sandwiches, salad bar, and more. This place sort of reminds me of Wegman’s… but without groceries.
If you’re a tourist or in the neighborhood looking for some food… and you’re with a large group of people who all like different things to eat, come here! Everyone will be happy! They also have lots of seating… downstairs and upstairs!

I sometimes come here for lunch and pick stuff out from the salad bar but this one time I seriously got sick from eating here because the chicken I ate was PINK! I didn’t know until after I took that one bite and saw the pink. Just be careful when you eat chicken here I guess?
They have so many choices here from sandwiches, panini’s, burgers, fries, onion rings, Korean, japanese, chinese stir fry, pizza …
They also have an extensive drinks selection of coffee which you can see when you walk in. It’s like a mini little supermarket in a food area.
The workers here are nice except that guy that makes sitr fried food. He was very pushy and had attitude when I was trying to order. Ever since then I never went back to his section.
The fruit salads here are a bit expensive, the fruits weren’t even ripe.
I would say the create your own salad was the best.

Quand je dois être à 7h30 au bureau, pas vraiment le temps de m’attarder au restaurant. Heureusement il y a Bread and Butter qui a l’avantage de proposer un large choix pour le petit déjeuner dont mon favori: le oatmeal avec tous les topings possibles.
Je compose mon oatmeal en vitesse, je me sers un café long et je file à l’Empire State Building en face pour arriver à l’heure à ma réunion.

This is the most amazing sandwich and salad spot I’ve ever been to. I usually get the Chipotle chicken sandwich which is delicious. The portions are large and the food is prepared very well.
The service is really fast even though the line is usually really long at lunch time. The only downside is some of the employees can be quite rude. One time I told the guy who made my sandwich to please take off the lettuce and instead of taking the lettuce from the sandwich and throwing it away he threw the whole thing away and had me wait while he prepared a whole new sandwich.
Every place has flaws so I will continue to try this place out and see if the service gets better.
The prices are not bad for what you get. In NYC you usually pay more for less but not at this place you’re paying for what’s well worth it, the portions are large and the food is amazing.

For weeks my fiancée has been asking me to come see him be victorious at his weekly Game of Thrones cards game. The group meets up here every Thursday at 5:30PM in the lower level seating area of Bread & Butter. Having never been, I agreed last week to meet him and have dinner there.
Walking in, it looks almost like a supermarket with a drinks section, salads, and fresh fruit. However, when I walked further inside, I realize that it was much deeper than what it appeared. We opted to get two warm sandwiches, the Captain Hook and the Southwest Club, which the latter was my personal favorite. The sandwiches were made to order, and the staff was really patient and helpful; couldn’t complain. The spicy mayo spread on the Southwest Club was what really brought the sandwich to life, whereas the Captain Hook seemed a bit too dry.
One star was removed due to the prices; they are a bit steep, and for two sandwiches, two bags of chips and two waters, it came to almost $ 25. Yes, I know this is Manhattan, but we got cold cut sandwiches… that were warmed. Not bad, but I think I might try something else the next time.
Downstairs, the seating area is honestly really nice. Complete with free WiFi, a unisex bathroom, and multiple TV’s, it’s a great meet up place. The tables were clean, as well as the floors.
I’ll be back this Thursday to try something else, and no, I won’t be playing the Game of Thrones — but if you decide you want to play, ask for Steve and say I sent you.