Levain Bakery — Restaurant in New York

I love Levain cookies! Ever since I've had them in 2021, this bakery is one of my must-stops for every NYC trip.

In 2023, I arrived at 6:45 pm on a Friday to find a line already started outside the front door. It took around 10 minutes of waiting to be able to get inside to wait some more and then place my order. The limited edition cookie at this time was the caramel coconut chocolate chip, so I made sure to grab two of them to take home. I didn't realize until heading back to California that the cookie had coconut in it (all that registered to me was caramel and chocolate lol), but the coconut wasn't overwhelming. I added four other cookies too, the oatmeal raisin, two chip chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, and chocolate chip walnut. Each cookie was $5. With my order of six cookies, Levain packed them nicely in a box and paper bag. Unfortunately, the rain that day sorta killed the paper bag, but luckily I had a plastic bag with me to keep the box safe.

Cookies were just as hefty and delicious as the ones I first tried in 2021. Well worth the queue and wait!

On my most recent visit, Tera really took great care of our orders that we were bringing home to friends and family, marking which box had what cookies, ensuring we had enough supplies to nicely box out the cookies when we got home, and packaging everything up for easy transport back to our hotel. Thank you!

The special flavor at the time was the coffee toffee and so far, that's my favorite flavor to date. If it's in rotation during your visit, it's...

First of all, is it just me or has our cookie/bakery culture grown significantly in the past few years. Seen so many bakeries and cookie shops pop up left and right. Apologies for being late to the party but recently had the opportunity to visit Levain Bakery on NoHo. The bright window decors and the people lined up outside caught my eye enough for me to be curious on what was going on inside. The store was packed full of people eager to get their hands on varieties of cookie goodness. Seeing that the line was moving fast, me and my friends wanted to grab an assortment of cookies to try. I was only fortunate enough to only one of the bunch, chocolate walnut, to try. Wish I could describe the cookie on a level as a pastry connoisseur but I wasn’t. Instead I can only comment as an average joe who enjoys their cookies with a cold glass of milk. I sorta had a high expectation for it but not at the same time. There was only so much you can expect to get from a cookie, in my opinion. I did enjoy the chocolate chip walnut to want to go back to try out their other assortments. I’ve had few experience from other cookie franchise in the city and can say Levain might be my favorite or at least tied to my other fav. Appreciated the cookie dough, not the chocolate chip, being not so sweet as some other places. So if you don’t mind the cost of a $5 cookie, you should definitely try this place out. They also sell milk to enjoy with your fav cookie...

On a recent trip to NYC, I had a short list of "musts" and Levain was near the top. After we ventured from our hotel near Central Park South down to Greenwich Village for pizza, I knew we were walking distance to Levain... so cookies were imminent! I've heard about the lines, the wait, the crowds... but I was pleasantly surprised on this midweek late evening that there was only a short line and we were attended to quickly.

As a first timer, I knew I had to try the Chocolate Chip Walnut... but I was quickly swayed by the Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip... so I got both. I can't tell you how much I spent on the two cookies, because it didn't matter. We lucked out with finding bar stools in the shop, and dove right into the Chocolate Chip Walnut... easily split between two people. As a bit of a cookie aficionado, I can say it was everything I was hoping it would be. It was perfection in cookie form. We saved the Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip for a next-day-hotel-treat, and it was giving Girl Scout Samoa while still being soft & chewy inside.

In terms of the bakery itself, it would have been nice if there were more seating (my tired tourist feet!) but I understand that's not really the priority or vibe of NYC.

There are only two Levain Bakeries in California, at the opposite end of the state from where I live... and that's probably for the best. These sweet treats could easily become a habit if they were...