Food Exchange

Some of the best bagels, sandwiches, and pizza I’ve ever had. I love the toasted cinnamon raisin with cream cheese and tomatoes. It makes my morning! Lots of delicious sandwiches. I love the tuna salad, turkey, and steak and cheese. They have a make your own salad station too but I’ve never tried as I always fail at making a good salad lol. The pizzas are amazing! Soups have never impressed me here. Their pastries aren’t very fresh. A bit overpriced but I guess that’s what you get when you’re in corporate midtown!

We order breakfast from this place pretty regularly and have been very pleased with the quality of food. The egg sandwiches are great, as are the bagels. They usually get some part of our order wrong but, for the most part, I would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for an easy place to order from. They have a great menu selection and delivery is usually prompt.

While the food is sitting out for you to see prior to purchase, they do make a fresh personal pizza or take a sandwich, affix toppings, and bake in the oven for you to order. Nice salad bar with a lot of choices. I had one of the best eggplant parms and a very good chicken parm as well. Food is fresh and healthy and not at all greasy. Good for quick breakfast on the go or fast lunch. They have some seating inside but mainly it’s a to-​go place.

Good breakfast :-) I come here occasionally for my toasted bagels. As crazy as this sounds, it is always difficult to find a place that has grape jelly. Not strawberry, not blueberry, but Grape jelly. It seems to be extinct in Manhattan, but Food Exchange has it! The workers are friendly and I only order my bagel from here, but the other items always look appetizing!

Good place to stop for a quick breakfast. Great egg, cheese and sausage on a roll. A little chaotic inside — I felt a little overwhelmed trying to figure out where to order, pick up, and then pay. Not that I would ever condone this, but things are so spread out, I’m not sure if they would know if you left without paying or not.

I come here for one thing and one thing only: the BEST eggplant milanese sandwich on planet Earth. I’m not the biggest eggplant fan, but the random times I do have it, I know where to get it. This is one of them. I probably like it the worst way humanly possible. Breaded, baked, covered in cheese. But dammit if it isn’t F-​I-​N-​E FOYNE. Anyway I was in this neighborhood, lo and behold, it’s lunch time and here it is.
My only gripe is that for the food selections it’s pricey. I guess in Manhattan you take the good with the bad I suppose. It’s not the best place to eat, but their eggplant is more than worth it. NOM.

On a whim with strong hunger pangs, with only a measly $ 7.00 cash Food Exchange appear to reconstitute my stomach. One turkey, sun dried tomato, and brie on rye bread at an utter dismay of $ 6.99 was appalling that the entire thing was stale!!! The bread itself was stale and the brie cheese was harden as it were two days ago bread with yesterday’s cheese.
Seating is very minimal and tables are a filthy presentation of what dirty patrons dine here. Ridiculously overpriced as it was NOT a good food exchange!!!

Thanks, Food Exchange! After a long morning of traveling and a hotel that was not ready for prime time, I was tired, unwashed and hungry enough to eat at Arby’s. And, a little bitchy. Well, maybe more than a little. Can you blame me? Low blood sugar and all that. In any case, I was in need of food in the big city. A quick use of my Unilocal app told me that there were several affordable options near by me (in Midtown; who would have thought?). Not having the energy to traipse all around, I settled on a place with seating, fruity soda and shelter from the elements. FE delivered on all three fronts.
Seating was the most precarious of my demands. The place is packed with busy New Yorkers, scrambling for a quick bite before running back to ant march… and they ain’t happy about it. Your best bet is to stalk seating but don’t hover. Hovering is a surefire way to make the lunchee you’re waiting on take his/​her sweet time. But once the table opens up, swoop in. You get no points (or seats) for dilly-​dallying. Use your hover time wisely and plan your meal. There are no shortages of soups, salads, sandwiches, and DIY options so make a plan and stick to it. I decided upon the lobster bisque, chicken tikka masala sandwich and an orange soda. I chose wisely. The bisque was more than serviceable. That’s a compliment. When ordering a lobster bisque from a non-​white tablecloth kind of environment, you have to accept that what you get is what you get. This bisque was creamy, flavorful and peppered with lobster bits. Nice. Orange soda is nectar from the gods and should be ordered at every opportunity. Period. The sandwich, however, was the star of the show. Paneer, onions, mint, cilantro, and chicken tikka all on a flatbread sandwich? Wha? Yes. Every bite was exactly was this malnourished, famished and (usually) bitchy traveler needed. Now, I needed a shower and a nap. But, that’s a review for later.

I like Food Exchange mostly because it’s convenient for breakfast on my way to the office. I’ve never had lunch here. The main draw for me is the whole wheat sesame bagel, which I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve also had the oatmeal and coffee, both of which are merely okay.
The service is quick and the space is mostly clean and bright.

you could change the name to Au Bön Pain, Panera, Pret a Manger and no one would know the difference.
This place has all the same food items to offer as those places, equally sub par meals, equally chain style-​esque.
but hey, at least the décor is different.

It’s a dizzying array of items on this menu. So shame on you if you aren’t able to find something to eat. I enjoyed my lunch: Cajun chicken panini (hot pressini melt).
My only complaints: limited seating and the smell that lingers on your clothing (it’s only noticeable once you walk out into the fresh air).

This is where I get most of my meals from when I’m working. I usually order online if I decide I don’t want to leave the office when I’m hungry. I like to go for their custom salads. Online they have a 20% off coupon for online ordering which is awesome and I hope they don’t take that down! Their wraps, paninis, pizza, everything is very good and I never feel like I ate really unhealthy when I eat there. I feel like they try to be as healthy as they can. Love them!

As far as freshness goes, I’d say you’re better off at Panera.
It was disappointing to bite into my proscuitto, mozzarella and red pepper sandwich and meet what turned out to be a still frozen red pepper. Who freezes red peppers? Apparently, these guys.
The lobster bisque won’t win any prizes, but is a good value and was pleasing enough that I saw the bottom of the cup. The sandwiches are all under $ 7, and the DIY salad option with unlimited add-​ons looks to be the best value of the lot.
I should mention that my colleague loved his chicken tikka masala sandwich… like, ADORED. Maybe I just happened to order the most mediocre sandwich on the menu? Overall, I’d say this is a decent spot if you’ve only 10 minutes to spare for lunch and you don’t mind eating a pre-​made sandwich.

I’ve always have a pleasant experience with the food and staff here. I work right around the corner and I stop in at least once a week if I want something quick. I love their tossed salads (always fresh) and the chicken habanero quesadilla is mouth-​watering good! Their pizza is yummy without being oily and I love the fact that they heat it in a brick oven for you. Food Exchange’s delivery service is very prompt and the food never comes cold/​soggy. Thank you for never failing me, Food Exchange. See you tomorrow! :)

Everyone who’s tried FE’s pizza would give this place 5 stars!
Immpecable ingredients & execution – slightly sweet amazing sauce, buffalo mozz, wild mushrooms baked in a fire oven!
The crust was cracker crisp, cheese gooey, sauce awesome.
And pizza are pefectly sized and about $ 7!
Arguably the best pizza I’ve EVER EATEN.

On my way home from school, I stopped to grab a burger, but decided on Food Exchange. Boy am I happy I did!
Service was good, except a little more face paced than I needed. All of the employees were attentive, and it’s a lot better than most delis I have been to.
I had a sandwich, the Mardi Gras Chicken (?), and it was delicious. Maybe a little pricey, but who knows! Overall I paid about $ 11 for lunch, which I thought was an OK deal for a great sandwich, chips, and a bottle of coke.
Will visit this place again, no doubt!

Absolutely LOVE this place. I work around the corner so I always stop in to get a few things. Their cheese quesadillas are my favorite. and the chocolate chip cookies will be the death of me.
Reasons why I love it; they’re always friendly, the food is extremely good, service is always fast. I have never consistently gone into a place where the employees always have a smile. I extended my gratitude to the manager as well, and he seemed so humble about it.
The food isn’t anything out of the ordinary, and I’m not saying that you can’t find the same thing down the block (Metro Café) however, I feel the service here is faster, and more lively. I’ll continue going here for as long as I work literally next door. Ha!

Best oatmeal in midtown, excellent soups, salad and sandwiches.
they also have some new thing where you get 15% off if you order online or 20% off if you buy a gift card i.e. $ 20 gift card buys you $ 25 bucks worth of food.

Basically this place is like the midtown equivalent of Panera Bread, but not as good. Given the high volume this place sees for lunch due to all of the office workers in the immediate area, I was surprised by how patient the staff were with me taking time to understand the menu and changing my order from eat-​in to take-​out. Very friendly.
i opted for a soup and half-​sandwich combo selecting the chicken noodle soup and the turkey siciliano sandwich. The soup had the potential to be good, but my sampling was decidedly skewed towards having a lot of celery, few noodles, and almost no chicken, but I did enjoy the broth. The sandwich was good, and I thought grilling the ciabatta really added to the taste. While I liked it, I found the size of a half-​sandwich to be a bit too small. I was still hungry after I ate my lunch, and went back out for dessert.
Since there is no Panera bread here, I will give them 3 stars. But seriously, Manhattan needs a Panera bread.

This is my default go to place for a quick cheap lunch simply for the fact it is so close to work.
While it fits the profile of a deli, one thing it doesn’t have compared to most others is the buffet.
What this means though is that almost everything you order from here is prepared for you the moment you order instead of something that’s been sitting around for who knows how long.
I typically come here for the salad. One of the few places that have switched over to an unlimited topping scheme as opposed to some other places that overcharge.
Their efficiency also means that even during peak hours when the place is packed, you get cycled through in under 5 minutes.
If you’re within a 3 block radius I would say it’s worth it to drop by here for your under $ 10 Midtown lunch.