Cafe Riviera

They were out of iced tea and don’t serve lemonade, so opted for the iced coffee with ice cream. Came with whipped cream; wish they would have asked first because I would have said no whip. Busy place. Very polish — patrons and staff included. Wouldn’t come back for the coffee or drinks but maybe try the pastries.

I love this place, especially the apple cake, poppy seed, and raspberry tart. Delicious and inexpensive. Too bad they don’t accept credit card.

Love the pastries here and reasonable priced. It is a small Polish bakery, usually busy, if you can get a table you are pretty lucky,

Great place for any cake, treat, or coffee. This place makes it fresh and it tastes soon good. The only problem is I want to get everything in the store. The place isn’t big and can get a bit cramped but it’s worth it.

Service was great even in their busiest moment. Strawberry cheesecake is amazing!!!

— Where to start! Beautiful pastries and delicious cookies. French macaroons are a must to get, along with the poppy seed Danish and apple turnover. A little pricey but well worth it when you sink your teeth in !

This is a local polish bakery… it can get pretty busy here. Most of the counter lady’s are very sweet and friendly. Everything they serve here is priced sooo reasonably! It also helps that most of the baked goodies are tasty :) the meringues ate very good. even the sliced cakes :)

Only tried 3 things on the menu: tiramisu, macaroons, and the ham & cheese croissant. All 3 are amazingly delicious!

Dear Americans,
As an ex-​employee I can assure you that IF we can understand what you’re saying (most
of us can’t) we don’t really care what you want. In the words of my ex-​employer, «since when do we care what the customer wants?» Our goal is to serve you as quickly as possible so we can get to the rest of the Polish people in line. You wanted Hazelnut coffee right? Maybe Decaf or French Vanilla? Doesn’t matter. By the end of the day, we mix them all together anyway. Is your plate a little dirty? Very possible, considering we wash all our cups, plates, and forks in the same bucket of dirty, warm water AND reuse our work gloves everyday (just to save a little money). But don’t hold it against us — most of us don’t work there anymore anyway. Girls come and go all the time, because the pay stinks, the owners are delusional narcissists, and the working conditions are borderline Orwellian (go ahead, count the cameras). The point is, you can do better — WE can do better. Find someplace else to get your macaroons :)

Be aware! I had a very awkward experience with the cashier, when after paying for a $ 2.50 cup of coffee-​to-​go did not receive any change for the 5 dollar bill I handed to her but saw her pop all my change straight into the cashier tip jar! Really?! I tip and that’s what you do for a decent service but Café Riviera got way ahead of themselves! She took $ 2.50 tip for $ 2.50 coffee (TO GO) without even asking! Unacceptable! It’s petty cash but surely as the customer it should be up to me to decide whether or not to tip and how much. That was ridiculous, and I think the Café Riviera needs to sort this out!

Simply amazing!
I can’t find this quality and price anywhere .
Try their caramel cake, napoleon, and chocolate mouse. Those are fantastic.

Go for: pastries and macarons. Every store everywhere is selling macarons now but these are actually well done. My aunt is from France and always looking for good macarons, she’ll be getting some of these from me soon. Also the macarons are a dollar each whaaaat that is so reasonable for them, they are always madd expensive. The pastries are also so cheap and so fantastic.
The cakes here are okay, maybe I am just used to the Russian versions of these eastern Europe style cakes. These are fine but just not worth raving over like the other stuff.
Staff is so nice and efficient. I like the no nonsense in and out way that the polish have, I’m not a fan of chit chat at registers.

Absolutely love this place. The croisants are flaky and heavenly. Their rasberry, lemon cake is to die fie. I am hooked and became a regular customer! The staff is very pleasant and the place os neat and clean.

I was so looking forward to coming to this place… so I went this past Sunday first the vibe is very POLISH I guess if you aren’t Polish you stand out and I felt that I was given the once over… well anyway… I got the lemon raspberry cake not at all what I was expecting I was looking forward to a very homemade rich European old world cake I was met with artificial flavor and neon pink… also the cappuccino pastry the same very artificial and too much aroma…
Now what I was impressed with was the raspberry tart… AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING I will be back only for this… and I might try other Danish/​tart I will stay away from cakes and pastries all together…

What an absolute dogshow. First I was given the wrong apple cake, then asked for smaller than a $ 20 bill, THEN 50 cents in change rather than them providing it – beggars can’t be choosers, folks. That said, the ½lb apple cake ($ 5/​lb) was very moist and delicious.

Polish bakery with tiny seating area. Pastries are delicious bring cash as they don’t accept credit cards. Sometimes it gets crowded. I picked cakes few times and we all enjoyed them.

Amazing polish bakery! Peach tart is outta this world and the coffee is excellent! Mostly Polish, but they do speak good English.

Magical.
Everything is delicious but the pistachio macaroons? Cathartic.
Can be crowded. But worth getting a table to eat and drink coffee. Will definitely clear your mind.

Heaven. If they had wi-​fi, I’d move there full time. These pastries are just amazing, always fresh always amazingly light. Personal favorites: lemon raspberry birthday cake, rose petal mini-​tarts, Black Forrest pastries… oh, here do I even start! Coffee’s very good, too. And by George, your cappuccino and a divine pastry will cost less than a large latte next door at Upright Coffee!
Shhh. Don’t tell too many people, they will ruin it for us.
Come hungry. Oh, and the place is cash-​only. You have been warned.

Oh, Riviera. This place is magical. It’s the kind of spot you would be delighted to find while walking the cobblestone streets of Krakow… except it’s in Greenpoint. It feels sweet and old-​fashioned in the best way, and on weekend mornings it’s bustling with multi-​generational Polish families chatting over lattes and beautifully assembled pastries.
I am a sucker for viennoiseries and cream-​filled delights of all kinds, but they need to be done perfectly in order to be good. This place nails it. Their eclairs are huge, filled with cream that tastes fresh, real and not too sweet (a rare, rare thing). Their fruit tarts strike the perfect balance between sweet and tart, creamy and buttery. Those layered cream things — I’m partial to black forest and raspberry — are absolutely decadent. If you want something less elaborate, their apple cake and danishes (humble as they may look) are comforting and delicious.
I haven’t had their coffee or macarons yet, but I look forward to the day I do. Run, don’t walk!