Zabar's Anmeldelser 25

I would not order their bagels again. They are less than a step above grocery store bagels. What happened to the real boil and bake bagel? The crunchy exterior and meaty interior with some holes? Maybe this is a problem of online ordering. I bought a holiday package for my family, and I have made better bagels. The rugalach was okay.

I've liked everything I've ever bought at Zabar's on Broadway, but items from their online store are not the same. The bagels and rugelach are standard, ordinary fare, same as from any supermarket.

Worse, once you're on their mail list, you'll never stop receiving their catalog.

I received my order on time, however, the garlic knishes had so much garlic that no one could eat them. Gefilte fish was slimy and smelled awful - I had to throw it away. Stuffed cabbage - meat was good but cabbage was inedible. Could not cut it with a sharp knife nor chew it. So disappointed and will not be ordering again!

We had a good experience with a mail order gift basket from Zabar’s. The place is definitely iconic, New York, which is precisely what we needed, as a gift.

In the scheme of things, our first choice for gifts is Zingerman’s Mail Order, and behind Zingerman’s is Katz’s Delicatessan, Levain Bakery, and Baked by Yael.

If you want to send a sample of New York City culture, taste of iconic New York City food, Zabar’s is worth a shot. We really like carrot cakes from Lloyd’s Carrot Cakes, in the Bronx, but their mail order is through a Third Party, who charges a very premium price for mail order/shipping.

I would NOT recommending becoming a Z-Peat customer. The company, or the Z-Peat manager, will not help you if a mistake is made on an order. After being a loyal customer for almost 10 years, this store would rather lose my business over one single bag of coffee than help me. Shop around. Lots of great coffees on the market from which to choose.

FYI, be careful with your on line orders. I placed an order online for 4 bags of coffee. One bag did not show up, and the packing slip had an indication that it was out of stock (O/S). I called today, within 30 days of the ship date, but was told I contacted them too late, there was nothing they can do. They told me the coffee was in stock at the time of the order. No offer for a replacement, no credit, nada. I forgot to mention that I did send a request through their website, but never got a response, and I can’t prove when it was sent.

Mostly bland food (with some exceptions - the applesauce is deluxe) at exorbitant prices (no exceptions). Maybe it’s an in-person experience thing but we only experience the food end via delivery. Someone in our family gets it once a year and manages each time to mention how much they paid for the food and shipping. We always say “you shouldn’t have” like ‘please don’t, not again’ and somehow that just encourages him. We now just eat an enormous lunch before we go over.

I ordered four items from Zabar's on line. One was supposed to Sherry vinegar. It was red wine vinegar. I had to call three times to get someone. They asked if I wanted a refund or a replacement. I chose a replacement because I live in a place where I cannot but a good sherry vinegar. When it did not come, I called to discover that they issued a refund instead. Now, if I want the vinegar, I have to pay shipping again. They would not allow me free shipping ven though it was their mistake.

I placed a holiday order on november 28 to be delivered Dec 29 and got I confirmation # but when it wasn't here I called customer service and was told that the order was canceled. I never got an email of a cancellation. My new year eve dinner plans are ruined.
Outrageous poor service

I ordered a large Zabar's "New York Breakfast" for my grandson's Bris in NYC. From the initial ordering on the phone until delivery, my experience was excellent. The beautifully packed and presented food arrived earlier than ordered, it was easy to just take the food and baskets of bagels and pastries out of the boxes and put them right on the table, and there was a LOT more food than I expected. Large serves 15- I'd say 20. The smoked salmon was excellent, as were the bagels, rugelach, cakes, babka and croissants. Containers of regular and scalliion cream cheese, butter, and tomatoes, onions and capers were included. It could not have been better or easier. Thanks, Zabar's.

Son came specifically to give me Lox from Zabars for Break the Fast!!
Big dissapointment!!!
It was dry on edges and very poorly sliced!!!
Better lox at Fairway!!!

We were sent a package for a memorial of a passing of a family member, and the food that came was mediocre at best. The rugala was unedible. It was hard and dry, and we ended up actually throwing it away. I called the company to let them know our disappointment but since it was past their policy of time they wouldn’t do anything about it. Actually, I didn’t really want them to do anything about it. I was just letting them know and they were the ones in the defensive about not being able to do anything because of the time I told him I thought it was very unprofessional of the company, considering it was during a memorial and that more things were more important on our mind than calling up about their food. I would never use this company ever. Their customer service is terrible. They do not stand behind their product.

I received a honey cake the other day from Zabar’s. This was a gift sent by a neighbor as a thank you. I brought it to my sons home for Passover dinner. My grandchildren were so excited because they love honey cake. My 5 year old grandson came to me and asked was it this dry on purpose. Nobody had more than one bite. This cake was like dust in a loaf pan. I could have done better with Passover box honey cake. I never had any of their products before and was looking forward to ordering from the catalogue that was enclosed with the cake. They lost my business before they got my business. A great disappointment

I came from Florida to visit family and NJ drove to the city just to get to Zabar’s to bring home Babka. Extremely disappointed that I wasted my time driving in traffic, paying for parking and tolls just to come home with old moldy stale babka. I thought they were going to make it right by sending me fresh ones but instead they were asking for $40 extra to get it overnighted. They said they’d be happy to refund me because I said that I’ll go ahead and hop online to get one of the baskets that offers free next shipping. The shipping manager Sherry “yes” they have baskets that offer that. Turns out they don’t. She was supposed to wait for me to send her pictures of the babka. So when I did (which was immediately after the call) that I had again preferred the original plan to mail it to me regular mail since there was no such thing as free shipping on the babkas. Then she said it was too late because she refunded it so now she won’t send it which is BS because she was supposed to be waiting for my email to begin with. She tried to pull a fast one and that kind of business deserves no business. The simple act of making things right after your customer paid parking, gas, tolls just to get to you just shows that customer satisfaction is not the priority. The right to have done was to resend the item with the quickest delivery possible to guarantee freshness of items ESPECIALLY given the situation. Sometimes losing a few bucks here or there will gain you so much more money then to be out of touch with loyal customer’s satisfaction.

As a lover of New York’s bagels, I ordered two dozen bagels from zabars.com for Christmas morning breakfast. We got them in plenty of time, immediately sliced them and froze them.
But upon thawing, toasting & eating them Christmas morning, we discovered that they were no better quality than what we can buy here in Virginia. They were not the iconic New York City bagels that we know and love.
They had more/bigger air pockets and crevices, making them softer and much less dense.
We were disappointed.

Terrible experience - order placed to be delivered to Wisconsin for New Yorker who now lives here. Order a week late - and too late, he is no longer able to eat due to terminal illness. Called customer service who were belligerent, defensive, and unrelenting. For $77.50 they lost many returning and life long customers, showing no sensitivity whatsoever.

I have received zabars as Christmas gifts over the years. This is the first time I received questionable packing. I received a box of chocolates. All were individually wrapped and the box was in closed celophane
The other box was not in any cellophane had splits in two of the four sections of cookies. I have pics showing crumbs all over. Why cellophane a box of Individually wrapped items and not celophane a box of cookies that show the split in 2 sections. Not sure they are safe to eat. I can send pics but don't see where I can download here. Want to hear from Zabar customer service. For the price my friend paid this is not acceptable.

classic - great store. crowded-but reliable quality

Zabar's is an amazing store that is a true institution in New York City. However, I just had an experience of such insultingly bad customer service that I will never go back again, and I am a lifelong customer. I think the problem is that because Zabar's is so popular and successful the management feels they can be exempt from proper customer service. In my case, I was waiting at the fish counter for 10 minutes, and there was only one customer being served during this time. I was the next person with my number ready in hand, and during this time the four men behind the counter did not acknowledge I was there. No eye contact as each one went about their task. Then a woman with no number walks up to the counter and gets served immediately. When I protested, they were indifferent, like they had abandoned the system of having a number to get served and replaced it with arbitrarily picking customers they wanted to serve, while ignoring the ones they didn't want to serve. That is honestly how it looked to me. I went to the manager and explained this, and he went and talked to the fish counter guys but it didn't look like anyone was interested in remedying the situation. I guess they thought I was being unreasonable for wanting to be served in the proper order. So I said I won't be going back and left, and no one tried to stop me or even apologize. I am astounded that a lifelong customer like myself could be treated this way! In the future, I'll be doing my shopping elsewhere.

I live two blocks away from Zabar's and every time I visit the store there is something new to try! The website thou let me down when I sent a gift basket to a friend and they missed two items from my order. But overall a great store in NYC.