Gem Spa

It was my first NY egg cream… absolutely amazing!

This newsstand has been around since 1925! And they make a great NY egg cream.

I made a wish at the Zoltar machine (located ifo Gem) and it came true. As such, I’m giving Gem Spa 5 stars. It is is a staple of the neighborhood and NYC. Their prices are great and I can always buy my diet dr. brown black cherry soda there. If you are a big egg cream person, they are know for those too. Here is a cool video featuring Gem Spa from the 80’s (back when nyc was nyc):

They gave me the «how much do you WANT to pay?» for this fantastic hat!

This place popped my egg cream cherry. My friend suggested that we get an egg cream and I’m like were here? As we stand in front of a convenient store… I was confused.
We ordered our egg creams and it tasted great! It’s literally just milk, seltzer, and chocolate syrup but it tastes soooo good. Although it is a bit on the sweet side.
And as for the rest of the store… looks like just a normal convenient store. Didn’t shop inside, though!

This place is a «gem» — no pun intended (?)
It’s old school NYC at its finest. And they have a really unique assortment of magazines and papers on their newsstand.
Stop and chat with the friendly gent behind the counter — he’s got his finger on the pulse of the East Village.
Also, don’t forget to pay a visit to Zoltar out front. He’s an East Village legend :)

This place! I grabbed a few magazines and an egg cream here. It was worth every penny, even if I did have to buy a chocolate bar to meet the CC minimum.
The service has always been great, the egg creams satisfying. I’ve brought along other NY transplants who couldn’t comprehend the idea of mixing milk and soda water. Now they are true believers!

Went on a «Search For The Best Egg Cream» walk, and got a chocolate one from Gem Spa. It was good. Very good. But not my favourite. (Head over to Ray’s Candy Store for my favourite!)
Service here is very good, and the guy said they still use the Fox’s U-​Bet Chocolate Syrup, so that’s cool, as it is the secret ingredient to a proper Egg Cream.
I DIDN’T ACTUALLY SEE THE CONTAINER THOUGH, and he acted shady when i asked if he had one around… Egg Cream Conspiracy.

Went there for the famous Egg Cream on a food tour. Got a chocolate flavored, was pretty good, watch them make right in front of you by the cash register, cool and refreshing, a bit like a ice cream float but milk instead. Good, go try one (and split it with someone, plenty!)…no seating area, get it to go.
Fyi — most of store looks like souvenirs and magazines etc, I didn’t try any shopping, just ask the counter guy for the drink. It has a carbonated drink mixed with flavoring and milk, there are NO eggs in the drink.

My family and I went to Gem Spa which is basically a very dirty looking news stand. We thought we couldn’t possibly be in the right spot, for nobody would recommend consuming anything made in this establishment. But the reviews on Unilocal convinced us to give it a shot and buy three egg creams. I think vile would be the best description of this luke warm concoction made by the guy behind the cash register. We pitched them into the garbage after a few sips.

My legitimate review of Gem Spa was flagged taken down for no valid reason, but suffice it to say they efficiently dish out great egg creams and send you on your way.

Goooo gem spa goo best place to get all your stuff from the deli and best floats ever go have a good day friend

I cannot say I have had every egg cream in NYC, but the Gem Spa has always delivered where many other restaurants have failed over and over again. Their egg creams are rich, fizzy and perfectly sweet. I would like to think that this is a close relative to the egg creams that youths baking in the summers of the 1950’s would use to cure themselves of the unrelenting melt outside. This place is a vestige of the fountain shops of a bygone day. God bless the Gem Spa.

I came for the Egg Cream. It was OK, didn’t blow my mind considering they set the bar pretty high with a sign for «The Best Egg Cream in NYC» before I walked in. I will say that the Vanilla was considerably better tasting than the Chocolate (luckily the hubby and I got different flavors so I could try both). It was prepared with as much love as you can give from a small counter behind a newsstand cash register, but the Chocolate version left me a little less than satisfied. You can only take this to go, so be prepared to sip and walk afterward, or just stand on the corner like I did and be entertained by the Zoltar fortune telling machine out front that catches people off guard as they walk by. ;-)

I think Ray’s Candy Store has the best egg creams.
The one here was just okay.
Not much else to say about it. I hope they can stay in business just so New York can maintain its «character».
I hope the 7 – 11 across the street doesn’t kill them off, but you can see the contrast between old and new right here, but there’s only so much money you can make selling magazines and loose candies.

I’m not going to try and talk about this being a special news stand. Other than a fortune teller machine outside, it seems completely average except for one thng: they make egg creams. This chocolate milk on steriods used to be found at most news stands back in the day, but now this is one of the last ones that bothers. I’m not sure why to be honest. I guess they just know there is a niche for this, and/​or that egg creams are awesome.
The quality of the egg cream will depend on who is making it. All the workers can at least make a good egg cream by knowing the general process, but one guy in particular is passionate about it and cares about the little nuances that kick it over the edge into greatness. This matters, especially when you consider the price is $ 2.50. His egg creams are very much worth it, while lesser workers make versions which while ghood, don’t quite justify the price. That kind of sucks, but it is what it is. At least they use the correct ingredients (Fox’s U-​Bet chocolate syrup, whole milk, selzer could be separate from the tap though) and do a decent job with a classic NY food-​item that is fast disappearing.
I need to nail down the schedule of the best guy, but this is a go-​to for me in the East Village if I want something sweet – especially after dinner. There are a couple other places that do egg creams around here and I haven’t yet made it through them all, but so far Gem Spa is the winner.

Dayum! This beaten up hole in the wall actually makes a pretty effin’ good egg cream.
Walked by this junky newsstand /​magazine stand /​snack shop a million times and never thought to try out one here. Packed wall to wall with the basic newsstand junk — newspapers, mags, candy, gum, tobacco products, knock off electronic accessories, condoms, hats, sunglasses, etc — along with a small sink/​prep area for egg creams behind the register area. Honestly, the place looks like it might collapse at any moment. I don’t think they will be getting an «A» rating on their health report!
Even though my mind thought «shady» and «bubonic plague» I still had to try one out here. With so many good raves on Unilocal about it I figured «what’s a little Hep C» among friends?
I just went for the plain vanilla egg cream. To me, that’s the best way to see if they make a good one. Sure, the chocolate version made with U-​Bet syrup is great, but I wasn’t in a super sweet mood. For $ 2.50 I was treated to a fairly large cup of frothy, icy, bubbly, cold vanilla tastiness. A damn good egg cream. Pretty surprising.
All I know is that I will be visiting my doctor for a tetanus shot today.

This newsstand is surely not a gem in the East Village. In the passage of my travels, the gloves entice my interest particularly the leather slit finger gloves. What I got was one dude who was bargaining me with the price and a second dude who came fourth in front of my face with a rude scowl look. Oh, sly come hither stare but not three inches away from my face dude who I hardly know! This dude is full of rage who look like the devil is within in. To remove myself from this ill equation… I was outta there!
I’ve seen how the meat loaf is prepared yet there is no spark at this dull gem.

How could anyone rate this the best egg cream they have ever had? at this dirty place? I found it to be one (not the, but one) of the worst.
Seriously I have given up on finding a truly good egg cream in NYC, where they should be the best.
Buy a bottle of UBets syrup, Vintage seltzer and some whole milk. Mix the milk and syrup together, then add the (very cold temp) seltzer. it up and not to brag, everyone I have made it for says it is the best egg cream they have ever had… at a cost of about 10 cents.

I ran in here for cigarettes (they have TONS of great brands.) — and saw the old fashion Fountain Soda setup behind the counter. Remembering my entire life walking the village and seeing the EGG CREAMS sign– I gave in. Make me an vanilla egg cream, please.
The nice man made it with such care, despite the line behind me forming for cans of red bull, rolling papers and skin mags. He stirred it up under the foam. making it explode over the clear plastic cup. He made me take a little sip. and covered it.
It was fabulous. Creamy. frothy. icy. bubbly. rich sweet vanilla heaven on 2^nd Avenue.
Best egg cream in the city!