Omonia Cafe — Restaurant in New York

Huge shoutout to Boris at the dessert section for making my entire night!

I had recently been wanting to try a type of Greek cookie called melomakarona but didn't know where I could find it till I asked and lo and behold, Omonia has it. Because they're a Greek restaurant. And everyone in Bay Ridge loves it.

I went tonight specifically looking to buy one and try it. Once he heard my request, Boris was kind and courteous enough to give me one to try without charging me extra. I also picked up a baklava cheesecake (which is heaven in and of itself and you're going to hear a LOT more about it in this review).

A lot of places nowadays don't let you try things before buying them or give you the stank eye if you even request it, and I was not expecting this. Such a small and genuine gesture with a huge impact. I'll be buying a dozen tomorrow because they are delicious! And because Boris was such a gentleman.

But don't be fooled - Omonia never disappoints, even without that delicious melomakarona and baklava cheesecake. It's a beloved Bay Ridge staple and they have a great sit-in space that's cozy and lively at the same time. In the summer, you can sit outdoors. The food is always fresh and delicious, and don't get me started on their dessert options.

Omonia will literally save your behind if you need dessert/cakes for a family gathering. And they never fail to impress. Try their tres leches and strawberry cheesecake. Showstoppers. People ooh and aah over how they look. And how they taste. And OBVIOUSLY the Baklava cheesecake. That one'll get you a second date. I never manage to take pictures of it because it lasts all of 3 minutes after I buy it. It's so good and rich and sticky with honey and cinnamony and crunchy and full of walnuts. I know cinnamony is not a word. I will use it anyway because I know you know what I mean.

ANYWAY, Omonia is the bomb. You can take anyone there and they'll have a good time. Your mom, your partner, your boss, your grandma, your friend, your shady ex, your SELF. The people working there are always so nice and interesting and you can also order to go or on a food delivery app if you're close by.

Oh, and don't forget the baklava cheesecake and the melamakarona. So, so good.

Thank you Omonia, for being a Bay Ridge National (local?) Treasure. Your establishment is such an important and lovely part of the...

I headed to this bakery on a very glooming dark, rainy Monday, I had just finished an appointment and wanted to treat myself to somewhere nice and read my book in peace. I’m not as familiar with the bay ridge area, as I don’t head to south brooklyn as much not have that many cafes/bakeries in my list there.

I was searching for somewhere nice, and Omonia’a popped in my search list. All i can say is that it was much more than i expected for. I walked into a very warm and cozy bakery-diner style, with a plethora of sweets, pastries, cookies,cakes, baklava, and more! I was stick for about 5 minutes unsure on what to order, even with the help of one of their waitresses, really they had so many delicious looking options that I was overwhelmed with them.

Finally after a lot of thinking and recommendations from the waitress ( very nice and pleasant person, really helped me with their options) I was able to settle on getting three different betefore cookies ( butter cookies) and a Portokalopita cake; which had the perfect texture and moisture, absolutely perfect!

I was fairly disappointed that they didn’t have any strong quality chai, as by the look of the place it was middle eastern, but they did serve chai which was good, but no without evaporated milk, i was served some warm milk instead which was still decent.

I sat in one of their cozy booths on the side, I had quite therapeutic and calm reading session at Omonia their Portokalopita was very juicy and delicious, the way they extracted the orange really brought out all the flavor in the Portokalopita

As for their betefour, it had the perfect about of crumble, not too sweet either which was perfect, i forgot exactly what was the filling but if i’m most mistaken it was cranberry which made the cookie even better!

Their chai as I said wasn’t amazing, but it was okay and had some strong flavor, no zaffron sadly but the portion of the chai was nice, a whole teapot for about 8 dollars! Frankly speaking for the price i paid it was more than perfect, I spent about 17 for all of this.

Overall speaking I really loved my experience at Omonoia, would definitely recommend coming here to my friends!

Also, service here is really nice, the staff are very friendly and helping people. Very patient people who really want to serve their customers in the best...

I wish I could give 0 stars.

This review is a warning to Black and all people of color: Do not spend your money where you are not welcomed. Our money is just as green and just as valuable. Spend it where you are respected.

I've been to Omonia several times before, but what happened during this visit was beyond disappointing. My boyfriend and I walked in and were told from a lady behind the counter, as usual, to sit wherever we’d like. When we sat down, a waitress tossed the menus at us—literally flung them onto the table without a single word. No greeting, no welcome, nothing. Then she walked away. At first, we tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. We understand that servers sometimes can be busy or overwhelmed but the restaurant was quiet, there were only three other tables that were occupied and 3 servers, not counting the people at the bakery counter or the bartender. Still, not one server came to take our order. We watched as three different servers walked past our table over and over again, stopping at the table next to and in front of us more than once—without ever acknowledging us.

We signaled. We made eye contact. We tried to be patient. One waitress looked us dead in the eyes and then turned away to watch a basketball game. Another bypassed us entirely again to ask the table next to us (for the third time) if they needed anything, we watched another waitress “clean” the same cup about 5 times even though we also signaled to her that we were ready.

We waited 21 minutes—no water, no utensils, no order taken. Nothing but menus flung at us and complete disregard.

I’ve been to Omonia several times with white-passing family and friends in the past and never had this issue. But this time, there was no white friends with us, it was just 2 Black people and it was undeniable: they did not want to serve two Black people.

As we finally got up to leave, a waitress—who had ignored us the whole time smirked and asked “Leaving?” When we said yes, she smiled and responded, “Okay, bye!”

Again, to be clear: I genuinely don’t believe Omonia cares about the experiences of Black and POC at their restaurant but I do. And because of that my family, my friends, and my neighbors will obviously not be returning to Omonia since we all believe in fairness, dignity, and respect and Omonia...