Güllüoglu Cafe&Bakery — Restaurant in New York

On a clear, sunny frigid January day fresh off of the Q line, my companions tried to trot me straight to our destination for Turkish Coffees and Simit. It was impossible to walk briskly past the lively cacophony of shops with their sundry, scrumptious, sometime sultry and at other times sordid wares spilling out onto the bustling sidewalks. If there were a Russian expat equivalent to Fellini surely he would have a field day in Brighton Beach! But I digress....the pristine storefront of Brighton Güllüoglu Baklava Cafe was an immediate clue that within those 7 shining meters is a simple door that'll transport you out of Little Russia to somewhere else. A smiling lady with a blonde ponytail greeted me and was both kind and game enough to let me try out my 'soap opera Turkish'. We ordered three Turkish coffees, a few pastries & 10 simit [ a simit looks like big skinny sesame-seed-encrusted bagel, and yet it is everything a bagel is not]. We enjoyed the coffee and some of the simit at an immaculate table. The coffees were served in mini porcelain cups hidden inside carved metal cupholders sitting on an intricate mini metal saucer. Each coffee had a decorative carved metal cap/crown/cover . Tiny little water glasses are set aside each coffee, per custom. I have seen enough Turkish soap operas and movies to know that the height of coffee connoisseur-ship is the presence of mahogany foam atop each coffee. Indeed ours were perfectly foamy, perfectly pre-sugared [ you cannot add and stir sugar to Turkish Coffee after it has cooked ]. It was heavenly. My companions, fiercely Italian from central Italy were blown away enough to utter words to this effect, "this is better then espresso!' I only wish I got it on tape.....Please don't think we did not adore the simit. I think our enjoyment of the coffee was enhanced by that magical bracelet of a bread whose lightness and richness of flavor is rare to find in this hemisphere. By all means, give these cafe a visit; after we left we started calculating that maybe life is all about the perfect coffee after all. So I might have to look for a place in that...

I'm surprised that this place is still in business.The only reason I see for that it is only one of two places on Brighton where you can sit down with your date and get something small to eat/ drink while discussing latest news. And Starbucks is usually packed. I've been here 3 times. Every time there is some confusion and disorganization going on. If there is a long line upfront, they tend to have one person who is serving/ taking orders. If there's one person in the line then all of stuff are upfront at once. One of the ladies who works here tends to talk to you in Russian, but when you answer in Russian she says she doesn't understand. Why then? Speak English, we understand. They have teapots and some loose tea tins in the front. First time we were told we can't have a teapot, second and third time we got it, but they don't have a lot of choices despite there's a dozen of tea tins in the front. Rooibos and Red Masala- that's all your choices. Is it really that hard to get a good loose tea assortment given you are surrounded by food stores? Last time we were there the choices for loose tea were the same two, so we got 2 tea bags and asked them to put it in the tea pot. They did, but when my friend went to get a second one lady who brought it to our table gave us a lecture that they don't put teabags in teapots, next time we should not be surprised if they say no. What kind of BS is that? Charge me what you need to charge, but I don't need your lesson. It called customer service. I don't think the next time is going to happen. The 2 stars are for food, which is...

These people who are working there probably don’t have any idea about the COVID. They didn’t check the vaccination cards and let sit inside obviously sick people. Went there today indoor inside there was sitting a man and he was non-stop coughing, sneezing, blowing his nose in napkinks. He was definitely very badly sick. I’ve asked to check his vaccination card , the answer I’ve received from both working waiters (a young guy and middle aged (not Russian) 45-50yo) woman that they know this sick guys, he is coming everyday and they not going to check his card and if I don’t like something I can go to sit outside. Waiters was very rude especially woman. So I didn’t know how to behave at this situation, I wanted to sit and drink my coffee there but now I had to leave because of this sick man. So I’ve called police and police said me that they aren’t coming to check a vaccination cards, and offered me to notify business to 311. So what I’m going to do. This review I’m writing - maybe owner of the business will take some actions towards unprofessional workers! After I went to local Starbucks where cards were checked promptly without...