Brighton Bazaar
“I particularly come here for the breads and poppyseed cakes.”
“But yesterday, I didn't eat breakfast and had just biked 10 miles to Brighton Beach, so I decided to stop in to Brighton Bazaar for some foods…”
“Also, their buffet section, which I have sampled quite a few dishes from, is consistently high quality, and not too expensive at all (especially for meat dishes).”
Brighton Bazaar
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range Moderate
8 reviews
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My go-to when it comes to Russian food shopping in the neighborhood. Reasonably priced and great selection of ready foods. The customers are quite obnoxious however and love to push and shove. I tend to be very in-and-out when I come here, just grab what I need and get the hell out of there before a babushka runs me over with her wagon.
BB is amazing and awesomely authentic. My Russian comrades weaved through this place like adults returning to a childhood summer camp – with wonder that things still exist as they were and immeasurable delight at those things that used to bring them to so much joy. They pretty much ransacked the several aisles of sweets that to a non-Russian, appeared to be overly shiny packages of chocolates in 80s style font and design that is in no way vintage chic but unquestionably genuine. There were numerous sweets, different pies, and cakes dressed to the nines. The fish counter was also an undertaking. Ultimately we walked away with food for days at extremely moderate prices. Notably, a pound of quality grade caviar, crepes, fried potato pies, skewered beef, unrecognizable fruit, and more!
I docked a star for the gnarly staff but was told that that's just the Russian way, so consider it a 1/2 star demerit because I'm all about meeting culture halfway.
I'm a Russian expat with cravings of nostalgic food. Out of multiple grocery stores in Brighton, this one is my favorite. It's clean and well organized, but most importantly it's HUGE.
The sweets section is a slice of heaven (pardon the pun)! With fresh Napoleon and Bird's Milk (my favorite since Moscow days!) cakes on displays, it's hard to leave empty handed. A large box of imported chocolates for loved ones and an impressive selection of by-the-pound chocolate candy to enjoy with tea. Willy Wonka would drool!
Brighton bizarre…staff is the main downside of almost any business in little Russia by the sea. However, for people who grew up in countries of former Soviet Union it is a norm, they don't know any better, and have no idea what good customer service is. Of course,it's not their fault. Damn you Stalin!
However, it is America, the Iron curtain felt long time ago and communist regime is gone. In other words great time for improvements! If I was asked by the management of this particular store what could they do to improve it, I would certainly recommend to invest some time into training their personnel. Teach them to greet the customers, say "your total is…", "thank you", "have a nice day", teach them to smile sometime, teach them some basic cashier-level English. Little things like that would make the overall experience of visiting the store so much better! The atmosphere of the store is depressing by itself already, going there every time is like going to a funeral, and your staff is not helping the situation at all.
As I mentioned, we, Russian people, are used to be treated that way, and most of the time we are totally cool with the old school Communist-style customer service. However, you should keep in mind that there are many tourist coming over to visit Little Russia, some of the residents may have not-Russian friends or significant others etc, so pretty much in the eyes of those people who come to visit, we, Russians, thanks to service like that, all of us, are rude, ignorant, and angry people who don't speak any English. You should keep in mind that by creating such an image you are hurting your comrades who go to school/work in the City(yes, unbelievable, but some Russians leave Brighton Beach!). In other words, younger generation of Russians that have nothing to do with your old KGB ways of doing business!
Few comments about the food in the store: overall, the quality is very good. Always great selections of meats, cheese, and variety of authentic Russian brands. Only one thing I won't buy there again – deserts! I think they keep it on the shelves for too long and both of the times I bought something that was supposed to be soft, tasty, and creamy tasted like a mixture of concrete and sand.
Besides that, it's an OK local store to buy food for decent prices! However, lots of room for improvement!
It's possible that many male(and female) Brighton Beach goers simply have no interest as staying as buff as those superbly cut specimens of manhood I've seen out on Fire Island. But I suspect that a fondness for all the plentiful and available food so close to the beach may be a culprit. Brighton Bazaar has always been a standby for us for Russian foodstuffs. They sell everything from fruits to cereal, to yogurt to Russian candies to cookies you would be hard pressed to find outside of Little Odessa. You want bread? You can get entire loaves, from rye to round flat loaves of Russian bread that resemble giant bialys. Do you have a sweet tooth? Head for the pastry section where you will see an incredible array of cakes. Russian cakes aren't as sophisticated as French pastry in taste or design, but these cakes are delicious. We've tried many different ones in the past. Usually they are more dense, with many layers and are sold by the pound. Most fun is the huge deli bar of precooked foods ranging from salads to fried smelts to blini to broiled chicken. Many of the hot foods are Russian cuisine, so it's perfect for sampling if you are unused to those food. If you want to do some takeout to the beach, instead of doing your usual boardwalk hotdogs, this is certainly a place you can have so much fun picking and choosing what to eat. We had three different eggplant salads from here and all were flavorful and delicious. The fried smelts were yummy too, and not greasy at all. Prices are reasonable at $6.99 a lb.
We came at an off hour so thankfully, we didn't run into any of the rude customers other Yelpers complained of. We also did not see any vulgar people helping themselves to the salad bar with their hands or we would have fled. We came right before noon, the deli bar was very clean and feasted our eyes and later our stomachs. I would suggest, based on the Yelp reviews, coming here early to get the freshly laid out food if you want the deli bar and avoid peak hours.
good god the buffet options are endless.
shop to your hearts delight and wander around aimlessly (if you're like me and don't speak a lick of Russian) and immerse yourself in this cultural outpost.
anything and everything that you could want from the Russian motherland is up for the offer at the brighton bazaar – blintzes to various cabbage salads and schnitzels – this buffet puts any other to shame – there are rows and rows of pre-made options available.
having a walk through the aisles will show you canned and boxed items that were imported along with sweets, breads, cheeses, meats and a smoked fish selection to put Shelsky's to shame. have a mentioned the case of caviar?
amazing and so, so reasonably priced! some of my cabbage salads rang up as $.69
worth a gander if you are checking out Brighton Beach.
Missing Mother Russia? This place allows you to suckle at its teets–somewhat literally–by way of a smorgasbord of Eastern European edible delights. There's every flavor of halva you can imagine, some Russian chicory coffee for those caffeine-holics, baked goods everywhere, and so much more. With prices that rival Chinatown, you also won't break the bank.
My first time in NY so of course I had to go hang out where the Russians hang! I loved the selection of products in Brighton Bazaar! It reminded me of being back in Russia or at least Los Angeles, where the Russian delis are more popular than in Richmond, VA. I was salivating the whole time here. You'll find a plethora of desserts, candies, ice creams, butters, jams, teas, drinks – you name it, they've got a selection of it. I bought a couple things to take back with me, but I wanted to get more. If I lived in this area, I'd be in heaven. If you have never had anything Russian, grab a local who can give you a tour of this place, and I'm sure you'll walk out with at least a chocolate bar. I will be back!!