Brighton Bazaar

Missing Mother Russia? This place allows you to suckle at its teets – somewhat literally – by way of a smörgåsbord of Eastern European edible delights. There’s every flavor of halva you can imagine, some Russian chicory coffee for those caffeine-​holics, baked goods everywhere, and so much more. With prices that rival Chinatown, you also won’t break the bank.

Brighton bizarre… staff is the main downside of almost any business in little Russia by the sea. However, for people who grew up in countries of former Soviet Union it is a norm, they don’t know any better, and have no idea what good customer service is. Of course, it’s not their fault. Damn you Stalin!
However, it is America, the Iron curtain felt long time ago and communist régime is gone. In other words great time for improvements! If I was asked by the management of this particular store what could they do to improve it, I would certainly recommend to invest some time into training their personnel. Teach them to greet the customers, say «your total is…», «thank you», «have a nice day», teach them to smile sometime, teach them some basic cashier-​level English. Little things like that would make the overall experience of visiting the store so much better! The atmosphere of the store is depressing by itself already, going there every time is like going to a funeral, and your staff is not helping the situation at all.
As I mentioned, we, Russian people, are used to be treated that way, and most of the time we are totally cool with the old school Communist-​style customer service. However, you should keep in mind that there are many tourist coming over to visit Little Russia, some of the residents may have not-​Russian friends or significant others etc, so pretty much in the eyes of those people who come to visit, we, Russians, thanks to service like that, all of us, are rude, ignorant, and angry people who don’t speak any English. You should keep in mind that by creating such an image you are hurting your comrades who go to school/​work in the City (yes, unbelievable, but some Russians leave Brighton Beach!). In other words, younger generation of Russians that have nothing to do with your old KGB ways of doing business!
Few comments about the food in the store: overall, the quality is very good. Always great selections of meats, cheese, and variety of authentic Russian brands. Only one thing I won’t buy there again — deserts! I think they keep it on the shelves for too long and both of the times I bought something that was supposed to be soft, tasty, and creamy tasted like a mixture of concrete and sand.
Besides that, it’s an OK local store to buy food for decent prices! However, lots of room for improvement!

I have not been in this store since my last review. I’m sort of amazed at the many stars it is receiving but then the writers are clearly not locals.
I was in there yesterday and again, I see those who pick up, touch, taste, put back food
They finally took away the ‘check your bag’ ordeal when entering the store.
Food looks much better than it tastes.
My own experience with the bakery goods is never very good. Once again I purchased a bakery item yesterday and was terribly disappointed.
If you are trying the salad bar, keep in mind that lots of people touch the food!

My first time in NY so of course I had to go hang out where the Russians hang! I loved the selection of products in Brighton Bazaar! It reminded me of being back in Russia or at least Los Angeles, where the Russian delis are more popular than in Richmond, VA. I was salivating the whole time here. You’ll find a plethora of desserts, candies, ice creams, butters, jams, teas, drinks — you name it, they’ve got a selection of it. I bought a couple things to take back with me, but I wanted to get more. If I lived in this area, I’d be in heaven. If you have never had anything Russian, grab a local who can give you a tour of this place, and I’m sure you’ll walk out with at least a chocolate bar. I will be back!

I’ve purchased a few things there in various departments, but I wasn’t impressed. Checkout was downright rude every single time, as was an inquiry at about the smoked salmon. A package of frozen spinach was soupy and completely defrosted. Reviewers praise the sweets, but the packages looked worn, neither fresh nor appealing. The packaged food I tried tasted more like bargain off brands than imported delicacies.

Always a great store to come for authentic Russian products. They make great bread have a nice deli counter with tons of sausages there is a cheese counter with different types of sour cream. They also have a large buffet area in which you can take pre-​made food home to eat or to the beach if that suits you

One of the larger Russian supermarkets in the area. There’s a large array of fish, deli meats and cheeses, fruits, veggies, cold and hot food by the pound, desserts, beers, etc. There’s something for everyone. I particularly come here for the breads and poppyseed cakes.

Every cashier at this supermarket must be severely underpaid because they are the rudest people I have ever encountered! Everything from slamming down debit cards to not responding when asked a question, eye rolling. The works! It’s a shame that it’s the only supermarket in the area for at least a mile because I definitely would love to withdraw my business from them.

I’m a Russian expat with cravings of nostalgic food. Out of multiple grocery stores in Brighton, this one is my favorite. It’s clean and well organized, but most importantly it’s HUGE.
The sweets section is a slice of heaven (pardon the pun)! With fresh Napoleon and Bird’s Milk (my favorite since Moscow days!) cakes on displays, it’s hard to leave empty handed. A large box of imported chocolates for loved ones and an impressive selection of by-​the-​pound chocolate candy to enjoy with tea. Willy Wonka would drool!

Merry Christmas for the Jews, this is what this place feels like. Every isle is a world in itself and we spent two hours here indulging in each adventure, from the prepared foods, to the pickles, the candy, the smoked fish, and the delicious cold cuts. We schlepped it all back home and though some items were not as good as they seemed, this place is my Disneyland.

The staff makes u feel slightly unwelcome but for food shopping, a quick grab-​and-​go will suffice… The clientele is also sometimes pushy so sharp elbows are a serious plus in this place… They do have a great selection of «authentic» russian foods… Though slightly oilier than they should probably be… Oh and parking gets really tough…

This is a review of the hot food department only! [The rest of the store is actually good!]
Summary: The food here is terrible terrible — either does not taste the way it’s supposed or lacks ANY kind of redeeming taste. Moreover, some of the salads ooze off a distinct smell of spoiled food.
Longer story:
— fried potatoes has 0 salt and wayy too much garlic
— olivie is made with sour cream and not mayo (not the greatest idea in hot summer) — fried chicken legs are not marinated and almost raw
— samsa has too much fat, not enough salt/​seasoning and thick layer of burned dough (who does that?)
Guys, try to hire some competent cooks or at least season your food a bit :-(.

Fantastic, fantastic place, the closest to being back in Russia that I have felt at any store. The produce here is more expensive than at many of the neighboring stores, but in terms of packaged foods, their selection is larger than any I have seen in the US and at very reasonable prices. Also, their buffet section, which I have sampled quite a few dishes from, is consistently high quality, and not too expensive at all (especially for meat dishes). Overall just a great store that reminds me of all the food I miss in America, I come here every time that I go to Brighton Beach.

good god the buffet options are endless.
shop to your hearts delight and wander around aimlessly (if you’re like me and don’t speak a lick of Russian) and immerse yourself in this cultural outpost.
anything and everything that you could want from the Russian motherland is up for the offer at the brighton bazaar — blintzes to various cabbage salads and schnitzels — this buffet puts any other to shame — there are rows and rows of pre-​made options available.
having a walk through the aisles will show you canned and boxed items that were imported along with sweets, breads, cheeses, meats and a smoked fish selection to put Shelsky’s to shame. have a mentioned the case of caviar?
amazing and so, so reasonably priced! some of my cabbage salads rang up as $.69
worth a gander if you are checking out Brighton Beach.

Among the plethora of Russian stores in Brighton Beach, Brighton Bazaar stands out as probably the largest of them all. They have an insane selection of prepared dishes, soups, salads, baked goods, etc. Enough to feed the whole neighborhood if Brighton Beach Ave. was shut down and turned into one huge party. On top of that, you have alcohol, fruits/​veggies, meats, candy, cakes, deli, etc. I could go on for days. Pretty much any product you grew up with in the former USSR that is still produced, they have it here.
Now on to the not so great part. If you don’t speak Russian, you will struggle. No problem for me, but I ended up having to translate for a few customers. All the employees I spoke with here told me they came to the U.S. only a few months ago and have no interest in learning English, a common trend in this neighborhood. You will get your typical stares, attitude, and immense lack of customer service. All expected when dealing with our people. Also, most of the signs are in Russian, so good luck.
If you can overlook the lack of English, this place is a gold mine.

Had hair in my chicken cutlet. Rude cashiers that roll their eyes at you. If you are too lazy to go to baza this place will do when it comes to finding Russian food

If you don’r speak Russian, don’t bother.
I’ve been to this place four or five times and the experience varies. I don’t expect the employees to fall over backwards to be friendly to me, but signs in English would be great. Especially when you go to the deli or the meat counter, there is no way to figure out what is available if you can’t read cyrillic.
The service at checkout and at the meat counter is cold at best. I don’t want to shop somewhere when I’m made to feel like an outsider.
Fortunately there are a ton of other options in the neighborhood where signs are in English AND Russian and the employees are helpful.

BB is amazing and awesomely authentic. My Russian comrades weaved through this place like adults returning to a childhood summer camp — with wonder that things still exist as they were and immeasurable delight at those things that used to bring them to so much joy. They pretty much ransacked the several aisles of sweets that to a non-​Russian, appeared to be overly shiny packages of chocolates in 80s style font and design that is in no way vintage chic but unquestionably genuine. There were numerous sweets, different pies, and cakes dressed to the nines. The fish counter was also an undertaking. Ultimately we walked away with food for days at extremely moderate prices. Notably, a pound of quality grade caviar, crepes, fried potato pies, skewered beef, unrecognizable fruit, and more!
I docked a star for the gnarly staff but was told that that’s just the Russian way, so consider it a ½ star demerit because I’m all about meeting culture halfway.

Excellent prices on fresh produce, unbelievable hot tray buffet selections and that is what I encountered within fifteen steps into the bazaar. My American interpretation of the word bazaar, is perhaps a hodge podge of oddities and trinkets being sold under the big top. As defined in Wikipedia it is a market, meaning «place of prices».
Obviously based on the photo’s I posted, books, clothes, and household items are not what is offered, instead the consumer is saturated with prepared foods to the tune of some 50+ hot trays. The butcher, baker (no candlestick maker) the fish monger and all of the unique canned and boxed European food are well placed, clean and priced very well, much less expensive than anything I have here in Queens.
Minus the owner exclaiming to me that pictures are Not Allowed (Has he never heard of internet reviews?) which I took as a suggestion, not a rule, the time I spent in Brighton Bazaar will be repeated as often as possible, assuming I am permitted back in.

It is a nice size market. The store is a bit smaller than Chelsea Whole Foods. I found some prices are less than the main street, Brighton Beach Avenue. To me, Brighton Beach Avenue is Canal St and this area, Coney Island Avenue is if you are on Canal street and going to Bowery and onto Manhattan Bridge side area.
This area becomes definitely deep into Russia. I found Chinatown version of Russiantown (Little Odessa!). People pushes and no smile on their faces. People often stare. I was told once…
«Communist countries didn’t need customer service!»
I love coming to this kind of neighborhood. This kind of experience is something I can not package and sent to oversea friends as a gift, It is truly one of the treasures of New York.
Anything in English is hard to find here and especially in the store. I wanted to try everything! There were two rows of take away hot foods area in the middle of this store. Each items looked fresh. It was only before Noon. After we found they open till 10 PM, we decided to come back later. When we came back around 8 PM, most of breads were gone. Some of hot foods were there but the ones I wanted were picked over.
The potato and onion with dill salad was delicious and surely it was excellent with marinated Herrings that I also bought. I like this herrings better because it is not too sweet. I often find too sweet ones in the city. This fresh marinated herrings also work so well as sushi. Yes, I said Sushi. Sushi rice with rice vinegar with touch of sugar or Mirin, if you have, and make into a small oval shape and place the herring on the top. Put some shredded Daikon and a drop of soy sauce with Ponzu (a citrus-​based sauce). OMG! It was delicious!
Another way was to drizzle lemon juice and sprinkle its zest, and olive oil and capers with a touch of Kosher salt to finish. Yummm!
Dried cranberries & cabbage slaw looked very appetizing with cranberries in it but it was missing something for me. Maybe more vinegar (?) What do I know about Russian food but people here surely loved it. They were buying it fast.
This lady with a jacket came over and asked not to take pictures (busted~!). She said in Russian first then soon after found I was not Russian then explained in English. She was very professional. I don’t remember the reason because I was so overwhelmed with so many different things around me.
I bought more but haven’t tried them yet. It is simply I don’t understand what it says on the package but I must come back and buy more because they are interesting. I love Odessa Town!
I forgot to add. I also enjoyed their crepes and the burgers. I added some creamy soft Kefir yogurt on top of the crepes. It worked beautifully. It made my tummy very happy.
On our way out, my friend said…
«Don’t write a good review!»