Ole & Steen — Restaurant in New York

The first time i bit into a COPENHAGENER from Ole & Steen i had to try to understand how such a fantastic danish had never met my mouth given my almost-obsessive love of sweet carbs. The high-density poppyseed coating baked to marvelous perfection such that once-bitten you experience a grand crunch that even the socially-distanced will turn their heads. As the crunchiness dissipates your tastebuds are treated to the smoky oiliness released by the seeds.

Now don’t even get me started on the cinnamon swirl danish. And when I say that, I mean it literally- because once eaten one should not expect to ever see one again. And this is where things start to slide. So impressed by my first visit, I returned the next morning to have a go at some of the other baked goodies I missed on day one. With it I ordered a whole-milk latte. (And before I go further I’ll just briefly mention the coffee. The menu of coffee drinks is fairly limited and not terribly imaginative. But hey, this is a place where danish is king.) So when I was told that there would be no whole milk latte because they were out (and no breve either, for shame!) The choices were skim or, IIRC, oat milk, maybe. How about just a regular coffee with some half-and-half? Nope. Light cream? Ha! No big deal. Again, I didn’t come here for the coffee and I was able to get my latte at the Starbucks across the street (where somehow they managed to plan ahead for the great milkfat shortage of the summer of ‘21.) I’ll admit, I was left wondering why nobody grabbed a 10 from the register just to get by with milk from a bodega.

My next trip to O&S was about a week later, a couple of days after the flooding from tail-end of Ida. I don’t know why I was surprised but when I got to the door there was a sign up apologizing for the inconvenience but, due to the storm, there would be no food available, only coffee. You know, because of the rain and all.

At last, we come to today, 9/11. Lexington Ave. location. Sweet danish is limited to the chocolate chunk bun and the cardamom-raisin bun. West 40th location- same as Lex but without the chocolate.

So, my question to Ole & Steen is this: What are you? A fantastic danish place with absolutely inadequate logistics? A coffee house geared towards the Danish hipster ex-pat crowd looking for a little slice of home?

Whatever the answer is, I can say what it is not. It is not a place I could possibly recommend. What would I be guaranteeing? High ceilings? Clean bathrooms? After my first couple of outings to O&S I absolutely gushed about the place to friends and family. How could I possibly do that now when it seems like there’s And, just for the record, it wasn’t as if I was slipping in just before closing time when one would expect most items to be sold out. No, I visited on weekend mornings during what I believe are respectable hours, say between 9 and 11am. All I can say is that if you do visit O&S, leave your expectations at the door. Otherwise, prepare for...

In nutshell, food is great, staff usually not friendly at all.

Very bad experience today (02/22/2025, around 5:40pm ish). The old lady has a strong attitude. When my friend changed his mind and asked to go instead of eating here, and not ordering coffees, she was very upset and kept on saying “you are confusing me”. We don't know how she could be confused by such a simple order. a sandwich and two coffees, then within seconds, we corrected and said "to go and no coffee". And she still gave us the sandwich on a plate. When my friend clarified again, she was furious said “ don’t yell at me. Don’t yell at me. “. she was yelling at us instead. This is pure rudeness and condescending. What a pity! It is such a lovely place with great food. Will not order from here again.

Also they would give a free "mini cake" on your birthday. I went to collect one on my birthday, and it was such an awful experience! first the manager needs to check the app, then id, then reluctantly ask which "dollar cake" you want. then fumble on the terminal for several minutes before releasing the "precious" cake to you. all through process, not a wish of "happy birthday sir!" wondering why they offer it to customers at all? just to annoy them and make them feel like begging for free food?

9 of 10 times i ordered pick up, the food was not ready at the designated time. and sometimes they would forgot one sandwich or two.

the app sucks. it is nearly impossible to add a credit card. and impossible to check out in the app with a credit card already added. just pure mystery how the IT people survived. my guess is that if you have "free food" exchanged with points, then it would not be possible to check out? never figured it out. i ended up having three accounts, and only one of the can be used to order online. my wife's app worked only once.

case happened not long ago: A friendly reminder, make sure to double check your order when picking it up in store. The staff messed up my order by failing to put two BLTs in it last week and almost forgot to put a lunch bowl...

I wanted the smoked salmon sandwich but it came with mayo. So I considered the roast beef sandwich however that also came with mayo. I chose the prosciutto wuth arugula on baguette that had a nice pesto vinaigrette. The Barista advised the sandwiches either are shipped to them with the dressing or they are pre-made in the back with whatever dressing and that's it. I requested they ask mgmt not to assume everyone likes mayo or any particular dressing. You don't see majority of eateries and cafes presumptively dressing their pre-made sandwiches with mustard, do you? There would be an uproar! So why mayo? Get into the details Ole & Steen and offer ur customers options. Otherwise 16oz Latte with oatmilk and vanilla syrup was not bad but just a lil watery for the price ur charging. Out the door my bill was $18 & change. But that's Manhattan right? Tip: For a 16 oz ur baseline should be 3...