I only buy the sushi here, but I love it! Highly recommend. It’s great quality for only $ 4 ;)
Kimberly K.
Place rating: 4 Chantilly, VA
I like this Japanese bakery. Whenever I’m in East Village, I’ll pick up a baked good or macaron from here. I love that their macarons are individually wrapped and cheaper than a lot of the other macaron places in NYC. Their baked goods are tasty and fresh. They have lots of ready to eat items(bento boxes, salads, fruits, Onigiri). You can also order breakfast, lunch, or dinner from their menu. There is some seating inside, but this place can get packed. Service is always quick and friendly enough. I wouldn’t travel from afar to visit Panya. If you’re already in the area and want some Japanese style baked goods, this is a nice place to visit.
Cristina X.
Place rating: 5 New York, NY
Pan-ya’s matcha mousse cake is Ah-mazing! One bite, the rich matcha flavored mousse is melting in my mouth. It’s smooth and silky; it got a strong and thick matcha taste with creamy aroma; it’s definitely not too sweet. Every time I am eating it, it’s an emotional experience because the cake is heavenly delicious! They also serve lunch items — to-go type of bento boxes and curry over rice. All look yummy and healthy that I will come back and try out some time.
Martina L.
Place rating: 4 San Diego, CA
They have a good selection of drinks, bento boxes and baked goods. I am a fan of green tea and custard so naturally I liked the green tea cookie custard. They have limited seating indoors but outdoor seating is also available. Summer is coming so it should be nice coming here and enjoying refreshments while reading a book or people watching.
Sherry L.
Place rating: 2 New York, NY
Came here for breakfast with my mom, who’d been raving about the ‘Japanese Breakfast’. Unfortunately, it seems like Panya may be under new ownership since the last time she was in NYC, as the bento-style meal was not up-to-par with her expectations. For $ 11.50, you get your choice of fish, white/brown rice, salad/fruits, miso soup, and a variety of sides. It is quite filling, but nothing felt ‘quality’. My salad was limp, the miso soup tasted like it was made from powder, and the sides were nothing special either. There are plenty of other places in the city where you can get a much higher quality meal for a comparable price, so skip it here!
Michelle X.
Place rating: 4 New York, NY
I stop by this place almost every time I go to St Marks. Like their cakes, not overly sweet, made with fresh ingredients and decent price. I highly recommend their toasts as well(especially the marble toast). It’s very considerate that they would slice the toast for you, and you can even choose the thickness. They have a lot of tables and outdoor seats, great for hangout. I always go there when a bunch of us want to find dessert place while all other dessert place in the area have a average wait time of 1 hour+
Jessica D.
Place rating: 4 Brooklyn, NY
My sister introduced this cute and well-hidden bakery/café to me. A month ago, my boyfriend asked me if I knew any bakery that makes cakes, but not too sweet for his dad’s birthday so instantly, Pan-Ya came up to my head. I remembered how yummy the Green Tea Tiramisu mini cake my sister gave me was. I placed an advanced order for an 8 inch Green Tea cake for my boyfriend’s dad and brother since their birthday was very close together. It was only $ 30 and no tax and came with a knife and candles as well. Everyone loved the Green Tea cake and this is the real stuff. You really get what you pay for and it’s not some fake green colored cake — its real green tea! The Green Tea cake was very smooth and melt-in-your mouth like a mousse cake, very rich in green tea flavor, and best of all not too sweet. The café itself is kind of small, more of like a grab and go type of spot and also enjoy your mid-afternoon tea, coffee, dessert, or lunch. I haven’t tried their other cakes, but I am excited to see what they taste like.
Crystal G.
Place rating: 4 Brooklyn, NY
Awesome place to meet my new girlfriend. If she loves this place we can marry tomorrow. I must admit. The food is cheap and pretty good but I want my balls warm. Grab and go balls would be the best like yaya.
Kara A.
Place rating: 3 Manhattan, NY
Updated Review! I’ve only tried their onigiri and sandwiches so far. I highly don’t recommend their onigiri. They’re okay in flavor, but I bought two salmon and one had fish bones. I know salmon has bones, but I shouldn’t have to worry about swallowing bones in my onigiri. On top of that, the onigiri left me with a stomach ache a few hours later. Bad fish! The second time I came here, I got a sandwich. I highly recommend these since they’re so good! They’re cheap and they come with free salad or fries.
Adam C.
Place rating: 5 New York, NY
This is a go to staple for me. Everything they have is top notch. I consistently go for a quick banana chocolate croissant in the morning which is delicious. Their rice bowls are great and the pre made Bimbap bowls are absolutely delicious. So happy this place is close by and I’ll continue to be a customer for as long as I live here
Jon S.
Place rating: 4 Brooklyn, NY
Her freshman year of college, my mother had her first bagel. My freshman year of college, I had my first bowl of phở. I doubt any of my fellow dinners, all college student, presumably from NYU, were having any sort of first at Panya. The tables, piled high with school books and laptops, for assignments being delayed, seemed full of people who knew about Japanese food. There are dons, ramen and other meals here at this bakery/restaurant, which has a menu and quality of food larger than its interior might present. While other places on this street might specialize in a single dish or two, here the menu is pretty varied and the results solid. My plate of oyako don contained no surprises, but this peasant dish of chicken, egg and onion isn’t supposed to be comfort food. Served with a bowl of miso soup and some pickled vegetables, the generous portion kept me fill long after my class and part of the next work day to boot.
Grace H.
Place rating: 3 Washington, DC
Another East Village great spot. A Japanese Bakery and café all in one. There are a few tables inside. As You walk in on the left is the pastry cabinet, then other goods like bread and other goodies are in the middle. There are selves on the right where you can pick up pre-made bento box. The tables and chairs are by the window. The place has a kitchen at the back you can have breakfast lunch and dinner there-freshly cooked. Being a pig that day– I bought a sweet & sour pork bento box, a curry pan and a green tea pound cake. The verdict-the best buy is the bento box, there is other varieties, like salmon or chicken, for $ 6.99. The curry pan’s filling is tasty but the bun seems slightly dated, the green tea pound cake was the worse, I tasted nothing but sugar. For baking goods you can get a much better deal in Chinatown around Canal Street about 4 subway stops away. The bento box is a good deal though.
Joy W.
Place rating: 4 Manhattan, NY
Cute little Japanese bakery/café for all your snacking needs. They have a good selection of sweets, baked goods, cakes, and beverages. It’s also a hot food café with a selection of noodles and curry options. I only popped in for a couple of bites to go. Curry Pan($ 2.50): I always enjoy curry in travel-size bun. Crunchy bun with savory filling. I wish I could have had it heated up though. Green Tea Pan($ 3): A mildly sweet bun with creamy filling. Yummy. I would come back if I were in the area and wanted a snack or a relatively inexpensive, quick meal.
Jessica O.
Place rating: 4 ASTORIA, NY
This would be 3 ½ stars if Unilocal allowed that rating. 1pm on a Tuesday afternoon: all seven of their indoor, café tables were taken, still I decided to go through with my order. This little Japanese bakery had started serving freshly made rice and noodle dishes a few years back, but I never cared to try them, until today. I wanted a pork dish, but I didn’t want it deep fried, that left me with the pork shoga don. Never again. It seems Panya tried to make a Japanese version of this typically Chinese dish, but it was less flavorful. They should have used pork butt or shoulder instead of pork loin. Pork loin is too lean and tends to dry out in a stir-fry. They simply topped this dish with pickled ginger. A well executed Chinese pork stir-fry would cook the ginger in the oil and include it in the sauce, lending the whole dish more gingery depth. Chinese pork stir-frys also include more umami boosting ingredients than soy and dashi. Panya’s weak version was disappointing. I paid $ 9.53 for this; for $ 9 I could have gotten a more flavorful pork rice dish from Saigon Shack. I’ll still return though, Panya also has prepackaged bento boxes. For a snack or cheap lunch I’d purchase rice balls(ranging in price from $ 1.49-$ 1.99, and variety from aki seaweed, to ume plum, to tempura shrimp, and spicy tuna or salmon in white or brown rice), and get a salad around the corner at St. Mark’s Market. I like Panya’s tea cookies: chocolate chip, green tea, or double chocolate chip, 6 for $ 2.50; similar to sugar cookies, they’re crunchy, buttery and melt-in-your mouth, good with coffee or tea. I also recommend their butter rolls. They’re buttery, soft and tasty. I could eat them straight or as a ham and cheese panini. They’re sold individually at the counter or in a bag of 6 for $ 3.75(in the bread basket in the center isle). When I’m in the mood I purchase their sausage roll(a hot dog baked into a bun) for $ 2.75 or their curry bun. I keep on coming back for these things, so I can’t really say much about anything else here– except skip the coffee. Why do that to yourself when Third Rail Coffee is just down 10th Street and they sell a superior product?
Tricia L.
Place rating: 4 Manhattan, NY
Melon bread was hard Green tea cookie was yummy Finally found my lemon tea Japanese drink! Cute shop with seating inside
Shirley L.
Place rating: 4 Brooklyn, NY
Finally got to stop by Panya and it did not disappoint me at all ! My friend has been talking about Panya’s pastries so much that I just had to try it out! I stopped by at around 9PM something so the options were very limited. There is good amount of tables to sit down and enjoy your meal. They have a large variety of bakery goods, cakes, macaroons, Japanese refrigerated beverages, rice balls and Bento boxes(Didn’t look too fresh). Their macaroons are $ 1.50 which is pretty cheap compare to many other places. I chose the Thai Tea Panna Cotta and Caramel Mocha S’Mores Tart and they were both delicious. The Thai tea Panna cotta taste exactly like Thai ice tea and mixed very well with the whip cream. The Caramel Mocha wasn’t really what I really expecting, it was a creamy darkish chocolate cake and the caramel is on the nuts on the s’more(marshmallow), the taste of the chocolate was not too strong, it made me think of Spot dessert’s green tea lava cake! I like how everything is packaged nicely in a box even if you get one cake. I do intent to come back to try out their other pastries!
Sara W.
Place rating: 3 Murray Hill, Manhattan, NY
So overall the food here is pretty good but I must mention the credit card limit and the inflexibility and lack of customer service in the staff. They’ve probably lost out on countless purchases from me because I often walk by here on my way home from work wanting udon and go elsewhere because I don’t have $ 7 cash. Ok fine– a place has a credit card limit so I’ll avoid it when I don’t have cash but tonight they threw customer service out the window to save a 5%(likely lower) fee on $ 9. Here’s what happened: I just ordered udon and bought croissants(to hit the minimum) when my boyfriend asked me to pick up something for him too. The cashier rang up the curry and it came to $ 9 and some change. He refused to run my card even after I just spent $ 11 and was a few cents away from $ 10. He told me I could buy a banana. No, I’ll buy my dinner from somewhere else from now on.
Shushu C.
Place rating: 5 New York, NY
I don’t know how many times I’ve been here. If you come here you must get the spicy tuna bun bread. It is crack and I don’t think any other place makes it. Their chocolate chip melon pan and all other ones are decent as well. It tastes better heated a little in the microwave(which they have there). I remember that their kitchen options were not always the greatest and their sit down food is average at best… but their bread is just got to be the best Japanese style in the city. I havent been to café zaiya since they opened. I also always get their onigiri and yuzu tea/green tea latte. if you are a poor student they sell previous day bread bundled up for around $ 2.50.
Vicky L.
Place rating: 4 Jersey City, NJ
Japanese bakery that also serves food to go like spicy tuna rolls, onigiri, ham sandwiches, etc. I was starving around 4 pm today and went in to see if I could get a little snack before dinner. I was debating between the ham and cheese croissant or the spinach croissant when I saw the cutest little milky white bun dotted with black sesame seeds. It was a sweet potato bun and boy, was it the perfect thing to eat at that moment. The bun itself was soft and the inside had a sweet potato mash that was just the perfect amount of sweetness. It tasted almost healthy!
Kevin E.
Place rating: 3 Brooklyn, NY
Came here to try out the chocolate chip melon pan and got 2 for $ 5. They are relatively cheap and I did find them to be tasty but they did not blow me away. They tasted like buns that I could’ve gotten at a Chinese bakery for a fraction of the price. The chocolate chips did add a nice hint of sweetness to the bun but I tasted no melon flavor whatsoever. The place does seem pretty clean and chill though and the cashiers were nice. Probably wouldn’t come back since nothing was particularly spectacular.