I would not categorize Moe’s Grocery as a restaurant or as even a deli, it is more of a neighborhood bodega that sells snacks and household products in the front of the store and in the back is a full take-out grill.
Moe’s is right across the street from two schools and a series of housing projects that line Third Avenue in East Harlem, so you know that this place is always busy. During the school year, Moe’s is non-stop. It is open 24 hours, seven days a week.
I discovered the place when I was walking the neighborhood for ‘MywalkinManhattan’ in East Harlem. I saw the sign for a ‘Chopped Cheese Sandwich and a Coke’ for $3.00. With being on a budget for this project and also starved I walked in…
*Authors Note: The restaurant has been open for indoor dining since 2023. They put outdoor seating out during the summer months now.
The Zabar’s Cafe is in the original Zabar’s building
Zabar’s is one of the most interesting grocery stores in New York City. Back in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, it was the only place to go for certain gourmet items, baked goods and a variety of vegetables. Their cheeses were some of the best in the city and when you needed fresh pasta, it was here or Manganario’s which went out of business about five years ago.
While other stores have gotten fancier or more expensive in their wares and grocery items, Zabar’s stays tried and true to its roots and is still a place for the average person to come and do their grocery shopping while buying high quality at a fair price. New York City has never been cheap.
I had been to the store many times in the past but even after all of these trips, I never realized that they had a cafe. I came across this when walking the Upper West Side and touring Zabar’s the many times in the neighborhood.
Zabar’s Cafe inside is for ordering
Zabar’s Cafe, according to their history, sits in the original part of the store (the store has expanded to the whole building) and is separate from the rest of the store. The one thing I like about their menu is that there is nothing over the price of $10.00. Their extensive menu which includes soups, wraps, sandwiches, pizza and pastry.
I have been there twice as while enjoying their specials for $1.00 (in early 2019). This is a special treat that you have to hit in the early afternoon while the specials are going on. The first time I ate there, I had a ham, egg and cheese croissant.
That was really good. The outside was buttery and crunchy with a nice bite to it while the inside is stuffed with scrambled eggs, chopped honey ham and cheddar cheese. Yes, worth every bite.
The menu here is very straightforward
The second time I ate there, I had their version of Sicilian pizza with some fresh tomato on top of it that was very tasty. It was more of a sauceless pizza with a just a light touch of olive oil, cheese and fresh tomato sliced on top.
I have overheard many customers rave about their homemade chicken soup as a cure all. Their cookies and pastries look delicious, sitting like gems in the display cases. I recently had one of the giant cinnamon buns which was loaded with a thick icing ($2.95) and it was worth every bite. I must have had a big smile on my face when I was walking down Broadway because everyone was staring at me enjoying myself.
The Zabar’s Cafe outside seating now is available in the warmer months
The crowd is very interesting. It is made up of older Westsider’s who claim their spots in the restaurant as their own. It is really a neighborhood hang out for a lot of these people and I hear a lot of gossip going on as well as old friends greeting one another. If you try to sit in their area, there is that distinct look you get.
The reasonable pastries
Overall, it is a nice place to eat with reasonable food with fresh ingredients and a nice selection of simple American foods from soups and wraps to sandwiches and desserts. There is something for everyone here and the best part is you can still visit the main store to pick up more goodies right next door.
They now offer outside dining during the warmer months.
Zabar’s is one of the most interesting grocery stores in New York City. Back in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, it was the only place to go for certain gourmet items, baked goods and a variety of vegetables. Their cheeses were some of the best in the city and when you needed fresh pasta, it was here or Manganario’s which went out of business about five years ago.
While other stores have gotten fancier or more expensive in their wares and grocery items, Zabar’s stays tried and true to its roots and is still a place for the average person to come and do their grocery shopping while buying high quality at a fair price. New York City has never been cheap.
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City. The Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwich on an Everything Bagel is just excellent!
Sometimes you are looking for the perfect little ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant and it just jumps out at you. This is how I found out about West Side Cafe & Pizza. I was looking for a snack and came a across a restaurant that offered well-priced pizza slices. It also offers a whole lot more.
I went into West Side Cafe & Pizza for a slice of pizza. The place around the corner from it had the slices at $3.25 for a slice of cheese and when I walked in here, the slice was $2.50, more on the level of a regular slice.
Even though the slice was warmed over, the sauce was flavorful…
I have been to Malachy’s (See reviews on TripAdvisor) several times when visiting the Upper West Side and just happen to come across it one night when walking down West 72nd Street, a shopping and restaurant row for this section of the West Side. The bar has been around forever and run by the same family.
It really is the “Cheers” of the Upper West Side. Everyone here seems to know one another and as I have sat at the bar, I can see that I was getting ‘sized up’ by some of the regulars, who the bartender really well. I must have made the cut because everyone has been really nice to me every time I have gone there for lunch or dinner. Admittingly, I am not really a drinker so the only…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful reasonable restaurants in New York City.
G’s Coffee Shop is a great little place for breakfast and lunch when you are touring the Dyckman Farmhouse and The Met Cloisters. The food is very reasonable and the service is very friendly.
The menu is very extensive and reasonable
The burgers here are amazing!
So are the breakfasts. This is the Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burrito
I came across G’s Coffee Shop (Steve & Gus Coffee Shop as the sign says) when I was taking a tour of the near by Cloisters Museum in Fort Tyron Park and then explored the park. After I finished at the museum and walking the park, I was starved and explored around the neighborhood to find a place to eat. Having walked the neighborhood for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” a few years earlier, I had passed many restaurants on 207th Street that had opened and closed over the years and I came to G’s Coffee Shop which I had not noticed on my last few trips to the neighborhood.
Sitting down to eat at this small hole in the wall diner, I found that it was a…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring all the small individually owned restaurants on my blog, DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com. These reasonable places won’t ‘break the bank’ when visiting New York City.
Barcelona’s in Garfield, NJ.
G’s Coffee Shop in Inwood, NY
Since the site has been created, the prices of food have gone ‘through the roof’ since COVID. So, I changed the price to $20.00. I have continued to look for quality restaurants and take out places that meet those standards. There are a lot of them out there.
My name is Justin Watrel and I created ‘Dining on a Shoe String in New York City’ (DiningonShoeStringinNYC.wordpress.com) as an extension to the blogs: ‘MywalkinManhattan’ (MywalkinManhattan.com) along with ‘VisitingaMuseum’ (VisitingaMuseum.com) and “LittleShoponMainStreet” (“LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com), in search of a delicious meal for $10.00 and under. It is difficult in an area as expensive as Metropolitan New York but many restaurant owners are paving the way with small, innovative menus at a fair price.
Lung Moon Bakery in Chinatown, NY
I created this blog when I discovered all these wonderful small restaurants, bodegas and bakeries that were fantastic both in that the quality of their food and the prices that they cost. I also looked at atmosphere and cleanliness of the establishment. Most cost under $10.00 (USA) for their main food items and provide small places to sit down and eat.
With everyone on a budget, I thought this would cater nicely to…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City. The burgers and sandwiches here are great.
My favorite is the Cheeseburger Deluxe meal
The Cheeseburger Deluxe with Fries and a Mexican Coke
Yum!
The prices and the service can’t be beat in this small Upper East Side restaurant.
I had passed Burger One a few times when visiting the Upper East Side and this little ‘hole in the wall’ restaurant was very busy feeding the locals who came in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their prices are amazing reasonable for all items (especially in a place like the Upper East Side) and they have a nice selection of items for all meals.
The first time I went to Burger One was the first day of walking the Avenues of the Upper East Side (See review on TripAdvisor). The place was humming along with people ordering their lunches and dinners and their delivery guy dashing in and out of the place.
I ordered a Cheeseburger Deluxe (which is a 8 ounce freshly scooped burger)…
In honor of Small Business Saturday, I am featuring wonderful restaurants that are reasonable in New York City.
Corrado Bread & Pastry’s outdoor cafe.
The case line of sandwiches and pastries
The Chicken Salad on a Brioche bun
*Bloggers Note: Corrado’s Bakery closed in early June of this year and is now being replaced by another coffee shop. The Upper East Side loses another great little restaurant.
I came across Corrado Bread & Pastry shop when I was walking around the Upper East Side for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” and looked in the window to see a large display of pastries and sandwiches and decided I needed a dessert and walked in. What a delicious variety of foods so beautifully displayed and so colorfully placed like jewels in a case. The best part is that everything I tried was delicious and their prices are very fair for the neighborhood.
This indoor/outdoor cafe is a block from the main campus of Hunter College and caters to everyone from the college students up for coffee and pastries between classes…
The Grilled Chicken House (or Chicken House in some reviews) is a tiny hole in the wall sandwich and fried chicken restaurant in the heart of the Garment District. The menu is has many more food items on it but fried chicken reigns supreme here. It is freshly cooked and placed in the window as the customers walk in.
It does have a diverse menu of fried chicken, grilled chicken, fried crab sticks, fried shrimp all served either with rice, french fries or/and rice and beans. The restaurant even has a selection of Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches to cater to the growing population of Vietnamese garment workers in the area.
I tried the Fried Shrimp with rice ($6.00) with a Coke ($1.00) the first time I ate there and it was delicious. The shrimp…
*Bloggers note: I was talked to the owner over lunch in May 2026 and the prices have gone up at the restaurant. They are not too expensive, but the prices have changed since my initial visit.
I had passed Jimbo’s Hamburger Palace many times when walking the Sutton Place neighborhood of Manhattan for my project “MywalkinManhattan.com” and decided to come in for lunch. It is a small local restaurant and most of the customers obviously have been coming here for years since the guys at the grill seemed to know everyone. Most of the locals in the neighborhood were sitting at the counter, kidding around with the cooks who seemed to know everyone by either name or site.
The kitchen is really small and there is a counter up front and two small tables
Jimbo’s is a small diner type restaurant on First Avenue and one of those small hole in the wall restaurants that every neighborhood needs and are now becoming a dying breed in areas all over Manhattan. Lucky that this wonderful little restaurant is here with a nice selection of breakfast and lunch dishes. Most items on the menu are $10.00 or less and there is something for everyone.
The menu at the counter inside Jimbo’s Place
The breakfast menu has such items as pancakes, French Toast and Omelets while the lunch menu has burgers, club sandwiches, cheese steaks, chicken cutlet, grilled cheese and mayonnaise based salad sandwiches. The portion sizes are quite large so bring your appetite.
They have a nice selection of baked items for breakfast
I had the Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe sandwich, which came with a side of French fries and lettuce and tomato and pickles. The burger was cooked to perfection about medium-well where it was cooked through with just a touch of pink to it. The meat was juicy and flavorful.
Jimbo’s Bacon Cheese Burger Deluxe
I had one their jelly doughnuts for dessert which are brought in from a local bakery and it was large, fluffy and full of a raspberry and currant tasting jelly.
The Bacon Cheeseburger was delicious
The burgers here are really juicy
On my second trip to Jimbo’s, I wanted something light on a hot day. I ordered the Chicken Salad Club sandwich, which was served on white toast.
My Chicken Salad Club
The chicken salad was full of flavor and the sandwich had a nice sized portion on it with lettuce and tomato and crisp bacon in layers and was served with pickles and a side of Cole Slaw. The chicken salad was nicely spiced and was crisp with every bite due to the fresh vegetables.
The Chicken Salad Club
They give you a nice portion of Chicken Salad
The third trip to Jimbo’s was a little disappointing. I had the Chicken Parmesan Platter, which was a Chicken Cutlet with pizza sauce and mozzarella on top with a side of fries. I was not impressed by the sauce which had no flavor to it. The fries were a tad over cooked. The second time I had the Chicken Parmesan again the sauce was much better but I skipped the fries.
The Chicken Parmesan sandwich was much better the second time
The sandwich itself was fresh and the ingredients were good quality but when put together did not have much flavor. The second time trying it, they must have changed the sauce. They made it really good this time
The Chicken Parmesan sandwich
It was a nice lunch
The service is quick and friendly and the food came out perfectly timed all the times I have visited the restaurant.
What I liked about the restaurant the most was the sense of comradery that the restaurant creates. Everyone at the counter was talking with one another and it was nice to get to know some of the people in the neighborhood and hear their perspective on what is happening in the city.
I had passed Jimbo’s Hamburger Palace many times when walking the Sutton Place neighborhood of Manhattan for my project “MywalkinManhattan.com” and decided to come in for lunch. It is a small local restaurant and most of the customers obviously have been coming here for years since the guys at the grill seemed to know everyone. Most of the locals in the neighborhood were sitting at the counter, kidding around with the cooks who seemed to know everyone by either name or site.
Jimbo’s is a small diner type restaurant on First Avenue and one of those small hole in the wall restaurants that every neighborhood needs and are now becoming a dying breed in areas all over Manhattan. Lucky that this wonderful…
