A Bagel and Lox Sandwich costs $16.99 at Zabar's cafe, made with smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion, tomato and capers. For the more direct appetizing-counter experience, the current smoked-fish listings separate Zabar's Handsliced Nova Salmon at $32-$64 from Zabar's Smoked Sturgeon at $38-$75. The shop is at 2245 Broadway at 80th Street, where Louis and Lillian Zabar began the business in 1934. It remains a walk-in place rather than a reservation restaurant. The main store stays open later than the cafe, which matters if the plan is a late afternoon visit for fish, bread or provisions rather than a cafe pickup.
Karpo can check the current hours and live wait before you set out, then suggest a nearby backup if the counter is busy.
Start with the hand-sliced nova
The cleanest order here is Zabar's Handsliced Nova Salmon, the product that best explains why the appetizing counter remains a destination rather than simply a place to buy lunch. The current listing puts it at $32-$64, and the separate listing for Zabar's Smoked Sturgeon runs $38-$75. Those are smoked-fish products, not plated cafe meals, so the useful choice is whether to take home the fish or make it part of a bagel order. Nova is the familiar route: delicate, coral-coloured and suited to cream cheese, onion and capers.
Sturgeon is the more distinctive order, with a firmer presence and a different sort of richness. It is worth choosing when the aim is to taste something beyond the standard smoked-salmon sandwich. Zabar's Whitefish is another classic appetizing-counter choice and remains in the current smoked-fish range. A plain bagel with cream cheese or butter is $2.00, which makes a simple accompaniment possible without turning the visit into a full cafe meal. The cafe's made-to-order Bagel and Lox Sandwich is the easier one-item option at $16.99.
The counter is the reason to come
Zabar's is a walk-in operation. No reservation platform is listed, and the relevant ritual is ordering at the counter rather than arranging a table in advance. The cafe has a take-out window, while its online ordering is explicitly for pickup. That distinction helps set expectations: this is a deli visit built around choosing appetising food, collecting it and deciding whether to eat it as a cafe order or carry it away. There is no need to build the plan around a booking, but there is also no reservation to protect the visit from a busy spell.
The cafe is the practical place for a made-to-order bagel sandwich, soup or pickup order. Chicken Noodle Soup is $5.99 per serving. The main store is the better late-day safety net because it remains open after the cafe closes. The cafe runs Monday to Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The store runs later, until 7:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 6:00 p.m. Sunday. It is a small difference on paper, but an important one if the appetizing counter is the destination after work.
Broadway and 80th reward a measured visit
From across the intersection, Zabar's reads as a long, street-level presence at Broadway and West 80th Street, set into the Upper West Side rather than separated from it. The family says the original 1934 shop was only 22 feet wide, and that the operation eventually expanded to span practically the entire block front. That history is useful context for the current visit: the store is not a newly polished outpost, but a family business whose identity is tied to the neighbourhood, the counter and the goods moving through it.
Inside, the strongest reason to slow down is the continuity of the food rather than a particular room design. The family says it still hand-slices smoked fish, bakes rugelach from its family recipe and roasts coffee, selling about 400,000 pounds of coffee annually. Its history also includes introducing Brie in the 1960s, sun-dried tomatoes and gnocchi in the 1970s, and staging an 1980s “Caviar War” over pricing. Those details place the fish counter within a broader grocery tradition, but the nova and sturgeon remain the focused orders for this particular stop.
Time the cafe, not just the shop
The store says it is open 365 days a year, but that does not mean every Zabar's service runs to the same clock. The cafe closes at 5:00 p.m. every day in the verified listings, while the main store stays open until 7:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 6:00 p.m. Sunday. Anyone planning a cafe order after 5:00 p.m. should change the plan rather than assume the later store hours cover it. The late visit can still work for shopping, including smoked fish from the current product range, but not as a cafe pickup.
Morning gives the broadest cafe window, with opening at 8:00 a.m. Monday to Saturday and 9:00 a.m. Sunday. There is no verified quiet or busy pattern in the official listings, so a precise queue prediction would be guesswork. That is where a live check is more useful than a general rule. For a straightforward cafe visit, the Bagel and Lox Sandwich offers a known price and a complete order. For a counter-led visit, allow enough time to choose between nova, sturgeon and whitefish, then decide whether the food is for now or later.
Take the 1 train to the counter
The simplest public-transport route is the 1 train to 79th Street, at Broadway and West 79th Street. From there, Zabar's is at Broadway and 80th Street. The area is also served by the M79, M104, M7, M11 and M86 buses. This is one of those visits where the last part of the route is easy to understand once the destination is fixed: Broadway, one block north from the 79th Street station. The address to keep in the map is 2245 Broadway at 80th Street, New York, NY 10024.
Drivers can use the Central Parking Garage on 80th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. Zabar's validation applies for up to one hour at $13.50 or two hours at $19.50 when the purchase is $25 or more. The practical sequence is important: make the qualifying purchase, then take the ticket to the Zabar's manager's desk for validation. That makes the smoked-fish order a possible part of a larger shop, rather than an assumption that parking will be reduced automatically.
Zabar's or Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side
Barney Greengrass, at 541 Amsterdam Avenue at 86th Street, is the clearest nearby alternative for the same broad appetite. It is another Upper West Side appetizing institution with both a smoked-fish retail store and a restaurant. That gives it a different balance: Barney Greengrass suits a visit centred on its own restaurant as well as fish, while Zabar's is especially persuasive when the aim is to browse a larger deli and grocery operation, then focus on hand-sliced nova or a current sturgeon listing.
The choice is therefore less about declaring a winner than matching the outing to the appetite. Zabar's offers the $16.99 made-to-order Bagel and Lox Sandwich, the $2.00 cream-cheese or butter bagel, and the more substantial smoked-fish listings at $32-$64 for Handsliced Nova Salmon and $38-$75 for Smoked Sturgeon. Barney Greengrass is the named alternative when a restaurant component matters more. At Zabar's, skip the Cuban Panini and Ruben Panini for now: both are marked out of stock on the cafe ordering page.
- Address: 2245 Broadway at 80th Street, New York, NY 10024.
- Hours: Main store Monday-Saturday 8:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sunday 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Cafe Monday-Saturday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
- Reservations: Walk-in only; no reservation platform is listed. Cafe online ordering is pickup-only.
- Getting there: Take the 1 train to 79th Street; M79, M104, M7, M11 and M86 buses also serve the area.
- Prices: Bagel and Lox Sandwich $16.99; Handsliced Nova Salmon $32-$64; Smoked Sturgeon $38-$75.
Tags: #NewYorkCity #UpperWestSide #Zabars #SmokedFish #HandSlicedNova #SmokedSturgeon #BagelAndLox #AppetizingCounter #BroadwayFood #West80thStreet #NYCDeli #FoodNearMe #UpperWestSideEats
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Ask Karpo first
Before heading to Zabar's, ask Karpo for the current cafe hours, live wait, best route from your starting point or a nearby Upper West Side backup.
