Blake & Todd

I have a love-​hate relationship with this place. I love the inventive and fresh offerings on the hot and cold bar. I would like to order the soups more often, although they are just too expensive. I mean, $ 7-​$ 8 for something that would cost $ 3 to microwave from a can? And that’s my primary beef with this place. You can’t escape without spending $ 14. Let’s face it, that’s a dinner price for most of us not a lunch price. I also can’t help but notice that several times when I go by the health code rating is «pending,» which I understand means that a restaurant is disputing a failing grade. However, I live in New York and I know that there are a lot of politics behind inspections plus I probably don’t want to know everything that happens behind the scenes at a restaurant.

I always get breakfast and lunch at this location. I always noticed that the GUYS behind the counter are very nasty, but thought it’s just bc they had a bad day. However I was talking to few of my co worker and they have the same experienced as me. They are obnoxious, rude and no customer service at all. Thank god they have Essen across the street. The cashiers are very pleasant and they all have great customer service they do rush you out which is fine with me. If I go in the store now I preferred to get from the daily buffet can’t deal with the inside waiter.

Ordered lunch, which was fine. I had a veggie sandwich, the bread wheat hero was relatively thick and a bit hard to bite into. The mix of veggies in the sandwich was a nice blend and not overly dressed or anything.

(1) gave me food poisoning
(2) grade pending — watch out — this place is not sanitary!!!

Although most of the salad ingredients are fresh, the lettuce was slightly wilted (again) and the server on several occasions actually put back some portions as he felt he has put in too much (4 olives?, cmon). Service was again, undesirable, slow and no one was cordial. My last time.

The sandwiches here are small and really unimpressive. If I want a salad or sandwich, I’ll go to Essen or Europa. I come to Blake and Todd for the hot bar. It’s hard to find healthy, well-​thought-​out, quick lunch items in this neighborhood. On any given day, they’ll have a couple salmon dishes, a couple chicken dishes, maybe a turkey, and a lot of different roasted vegetable options. And caprese salad!
The price per pound is something like 12 $, which is steep, and I agree with the other reviewers that the staff and customer service leaves much to be desired, but I’ll keep coming back as there just aren’t enough options in Midtown East.

The workers are incredibly rude and overcharge for everything. It makes it so unpleasant to go in there

This place has been my go-​to spots for breakfast since it was literally just downstairs to my office. I will make it really brief here: Pro — numerous choices on omelet, buffet type of breakfast, juice and sandwiches and they were freshly prepared. Con — a little bit pricy compared to Essen which was just across the street. I personally liked their scrambled egg a lot so often came myself. One last thing: they do not accept discover card.

The workers are disgusting!
I saw one of the guys banging a tray that had tuna fish in it on a garbage can and then put a new bunch of tuna into the same tray.
I wouldn’t eat there if you paid me!
And they are having a GRADE issue. Beware…

So here is the scoop. The food is fresh and tasted good and comparatively to other options it’s not that overly priced. but the servers are so bad… attitude galore. make faces keep you standing in lines… the guys behind the salad bar are the worst. we had 6 ppl waiting in line. and this guy was standing around doing nothing… cleaning the same dressing bottle over and over again.
Also get a different charge for the same salad depending on who makes it… crazy!!!
Will go elsewhere. unless the management changes the attitudes… of its employees

It’s $ 9 a lb for lunch buffet which is a pretty good price for midtown east but be careful what you put into your container as you can easily end up paying close to $ 20. You can tell they over season their food to make things weigh more, like the heavy dressing in salad. The food itself is good for a deli. They have a good chef and everything I tasted there has been fresh and delicious. And for a smallish buffet, the varieties are pretty good too. It’s a lot better than the Dishes on Park Ave in terms of price, quality and varieties. I just wish they’d list ingredients because there are a lot of people who are on special diet.

Slow Service!
Good selection of food in a friendly and clean environment, however the service is shocking. I ordered a simple toasted cheese and it took over 10min to make! If you wondering I was the only customer in the shop!
The food did taste well, next-​time I will stick to the salad bar as it will be quick!

Food is clean and quite good here.
I like that they label the food in the hot bar gluten free.
Main complaint is that it’s expensive! One wrong move at the hot bar and your bill can easily get into the $ 20 range.
Also, come early because it gets super crowded and there is poor organization/​flow of people through this space.

Disorganized. Way overpriced. Was charged $ 3.76 for an English muffin with peanut butter. Ridiculous

Where I got my breakfast when I worked from NY office.

Yummy, crowded, expensive food– the hot bar is great for breakfast or lunch. Oatmeal, pancakes, fruit and omelettes or salads, pizza, soup and sandwiches abound. However, it’s impossibly crowded at lunchtime and very overpriced.

Another one of those typical Midtown East lunch spots. I’ve only had the self-​serve hot food bar, which has a good selection of vegetables, proteins and pasta/​grains. The taste is decent to good, but everything is a bit too sauced up in my opinion. I am not a big fan of the price either, but since it serves the Midtown East business community, it is reasonable and sensible.
Now onto the customer experience part. From a customer’s perspective, it is dreadful. The place is packed full of people and lines during lunch hours, which forces you into the mechanical flow of come in — spot the tail of the food line — grab food — spot the tail of the cashier line — pay — get out. From a business perspective, however, it is rather brilliant and impressive how many people they move through in a given minute and how high utilization the space is. For a lunch spot with such variety of self-​serve and food prep stations and so many customers, it actually does not seem chaotic and appears rather orderly.
But since I am giving a Unilocal review here, it is a 3.

Another one of those dreadful Midtown lunch spots — same type of salad bar and made-​to-​order sandwiches you’d see at other places in the area. The only redeeming feature about this place is their pasta, but even that’s not really anything spectacular. I usually get their pesto with penne, but the cook will often dump so much pesto in there that after I’ve finished eating everything, my container is still about a third-​full with leftover pesto and oil. Talk about appetizing.
Also, like all the other places in the hood, way overpriced for the quality of food you’re getting.

Good lunch spot in Midtown. I usually eat from the buffet, you grab a container and fill it up with whatever you feel like eating — there is a good variety and they have different items everyday. I took a star off because it can get expensive — they price the buffet items by weight and have a hot and cold bar. I usually like to get the beets and whatever chicken dish they have for the day — those are heavier = more moolah. I’ve spent about $ 14 on lunch there before; across the street at Essen is cheaper but the food isn’t as good as Blake & Todd. I’ve had their pizza catered to my office and their pizza is pretty good! This place is always crowded around prime lunchtime.

Ordered catering for 2 lunch meetings and they did a great job. They were right on time, food was fresh and everyone was happy with the salad/​sandwiches. Worth a visit!