The Hungarian Pastry Shop

Smells heavenly in here! It’s warm, cozy, everything I’ve tried in this shop has been incredible. I usually go here in the morning with my boyfriend to do crossword puzzles with lattes and some lovely pastries. It sure gets busy so don’t be afraid to just grab a seat next to someone! Highly recommend the cheese pastries and croissants, have yet to try their cakes!

Stale pastry. Good coffee.

Tried the poppyseed strudel but was disappointed. It was stale…. and way too sweet.

The Hungarian coffee on the other hand was very good. Would come for coffee only next time.

Lots of seating inside. 4 stars for the seats.

Since none of this information appears to be available online:
Prices are not written anywhere neither online (somewhat common, still annoying though) *nor in the store* (uncommon for a bakery-café & certainly annoying). Everything was about 4-5$ (for individual pastries) at the time of this review February 2024. Which is within typical current nyc pricing for specialty bakeries so you’re not “getting a deal” here but I do think you’re getting a more special product so there’s value in that. Not a good enough price to keep me coming back regularly personally. All the strudel slices are 5$. All the hamentash cookies are 4$. They also serve baklava and my guess would be that they’re 5$/portion. The spinach cheese pastry is only made in the morning and runs out by about 12pm and costs 6$

I got the poppy strudel because poppy pastries are hard to find in nyc and I’m keen to come up with an inventory of the “best poppy pastries” in nyc. It was delicious. The poppi paste they make/use is delicious — it’s very easy and sweet and not too dense or intense or heavy. Which could also be considered a flaw depending on your taste. I appreciate both tastes. So if I were looking for an intense and pure taste of poppy I wouldn’t get this pastry. Waiting to try the poppy hamentash but my assumption would be that they use the same paste.

Service was obviously excellent.
The vibe or ‘cadre’ (as we say in French) is excellent. It feels like a café. This is what a café is. Neither an international chain nor a specialty coffee roaster but a « café » an actual café worthy of the name. The chairs and tables outside could have more charm however.

All in all, great experience, this place is an UWS gem.

This place is seriously overrated. I was so excited, instead I was honestly shocked😳 It’s simply DIRTY and the pastries are old/poor quality!😵‍💫 Don’t believe me? Go and see yourself! Although I wouldn’t recommend this place to a friend! There is nothing authentic Hungarian being baked there. I bought several pastries and they were awful. Don’t be fooled by the appearance. The poppy seed strudel was just hard I couldn’t even cut I with a knife. The Isler (Ishler) supposed to be filled with jelly, however, there it’s filled with at least an inch cheap chocolate creme. The other cake with apricot jelly? (I don’t even know what it was cause the lady at the register couldn’t even explain) tasted simply odd! Also bought cookies and the almond horn to go, it was old🥴 also, no descriptions or prices at the pastries. Why?! The only menu on the wall which leaves you guessing what is what looks like it’s 100 years old and should be updated with prices. To top it off: I grabbed two glasses at the water station, both of them were completely dirty with lipstick from previous customers, first I thought I grabbed mistakenly the used ones but nope, those were the “clean” ones🤢 (I should have taken a picture but I simply left disgusted) Won’t be back!

The by the pound cookies are what I recommend, grab to go and bring to the park! I think it’s not worth a wait if the line is out the door, but when I’m there and the line is contained inside I always grab to go

Add on: maple cookies are amazing! They are in the by the pound section if they have them. Delightfully maple tasting and not too sweet! Unique and delicious!