Ole & Steen
Coffee · New York
About Ole & Steen
Ole & Steen is a Café and Café restaurant in New York, NY. Rated 4.2 out of 5 by guests. Discover the menu, photos, and reviews.
What Customers Say About Ole & Steen
Ole & Steen is a popular Danish bakery known for its delicious pastries, coffee, and sandwiches. Customers rave about the pastries, especially the raspberry Spandauer, Kløben bun, and rum balls. While the food is generally well-received, some reviewers mention inconsistent service and occasional cleanliness issues.
Popular Dishes
Best For
Tip: Visit during off-peak hours to avoid crowds and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere with plenty of seating.
Features
What to see nearby
Data from Wikidata
Explore the area around Ole & Steen
Ole & Steen is located in New York, surrounded by cultural and historical points of interest. Here are some of the most notable places nearby.
Historical Heritage
- iglesia Episcopal de San Bartolomé (Manhattan) (A 206m) — iglesia en Manhattan, Nueva York, Estados Unidos Hito histórico nacional
- Church of Sweden in New York (A 401m) — Church of Sweden Abroad denomination Lugar inscrito en el Registro Nacional de Lugares Históricos
- Grand Central Terminal (A 437m) — estación de ferrocarril de Nueva York Hito histórico nacional
Religious Buildings
- Sutton Place Synagogue (A 357m) — synagogue in Manhattan, New York
- St. Boniface's Church (A 409m) — church building in Manhattan, United States of America
- St. Agnes' Church (A 410m) — church building in Manhattan, United States of America
Other Points of Interest
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan New York City (A 217m) — hotel in Manhattan, New York
- Biblioteca del Instituto Cervantes de Nueva York - Jorge Luis Borges (A 245m) — biblioteca
- Mansión Belmont (A 374m) — Residencia en Midtown Manhattan, Nueva York
- CBS Studio Building (A 430m) — building in New York, United States
Data from Wikidata
Frequently asked questions about Ole & Steen
Ole & Steen New York Reviews
Daniel brought me to this quaint little danish coffee spot around Midtown East. Katy and Angel were super friendly.
Love Ole & Steen at Lexington! Bright, cheerful vibes, and amazing pastries - fresh and hard to resist. Staff are friendly. The place is very clean too.
Our favorite place near Grand Central to have great coffee and delicious sandwiches Today we had house special hot chocolate and a turkey press sandwich. All great. Back again today as we were in the area. Today just had the regular hot chocolate. It was great and really hit the spot on a cold blustery day. Can’t wait to come again. They have a nice bathroom setup. Two bathrooms w/o sinks and a sink area outside. Works very well. Stopped in for late lunch today. Place was pretty busy so we had to wait a few minutes to get a table. Today we ordered tuna salad sandwich and chicken bacon toastie. And a delicious cup of decaf Americano. Everything was delicious.
Nice patisserie. Popped in for a sweet treat around 3:30pm on a Friday. There was a small line of about 5 people that cleared quickly. I bought a small strawberry tart and a gateau marcel. The tart was a perfect balance of short crust, strawberry and cream with just enough chocolate on the short crust.👌 The Gateau Marcel was what it was supposed to be... extremely rich chocolate. It was just too much for me, as I anticipated, but had to give a try. We will be trying this place for breakfast and will update the review.
I was there for breakfast, and I loved it. Everything was very delicious. I ordered a ham and egg sandwich and a cappuccino, plus a raspberry Spandauer with a very tasty and delicate flavor, and my husband ordered a tomato soup and a latte. The place is very nice, and I loved the ambiance and the decorations.
Beloved Danish bakery with generous seating and spacious interior. I didn't come at what would presumably be rush hour (the NYC witching hour, aka weekend brunch times) but it was 4pm on a saturday which I imagine would still be a popular time, and there was plenty of seating available. Atmosphere was quiet but engaged - perfect place to chat with friends or crank through a paper with headphones. Loved the pastry selection too!
Ole & Steen is well known as Denmark's favorite all-day bakery. My friend and I tried out two baking goods, latte, and flat white. All of them were spot on, especially the pastries! Blueberry Hazelnut Bun strikes a great balance between fruitiness and nutty flavor - more like a cream puff! Cinnamon Swirl is a flaky Danish pastry with crispy caramelized bottom and icing. Latte and white flat were decent. The ambiance was cozy. It’s a good place to stop by; even many people brought their books and laptops for studying and work. The waitress was very friendly and carefully checked vaccination proves for every customer.
This establishment was right across from our recent hotel stay in midtown NYC. Wonderful selection of sweet and savory pastries, sandwiches, fresh breads, and hot beverages. There are various locations throughout the city. I chose a poppy seed covered pastry with almond paste and a lemongrass hot tea. Both were excellent. However, service was quite slow and server not so friendly. Visited the next day with family and service was quick and friendly, and the coffee excellent. Prices on the higher end, but clean place with some delicious offeri as to eat in or take out. Restroom for customers and a cde is needed to punch in.
This cafe has seating. The service is slow. The hot chocolate is very good and doesn’t have the same line that holiday pop-ups in Bryant park have. I didn’t like the yogurt either granola because it was more soft granola heavy than yogurt. The cinnamon swirl pastry was good. You can also get savory items here.
Sunday afternoon. The pastries were whet you could expect on a weekend. The place was rough and shabby, understaffed I suppose. Could do with a good cleanup. Enjoyed my Danish vanilla though with a black kaffe.
I really wanted to like this place. I love Scandinavia bakeries and was excited to try their version of the Tebirkes. The pastries didn’t look fresh and tasted only slightly fresh. The Tebirkes literally tasted like popcorn, the blueberry muffin was loaded with sugar and hardened oil, and the oat milk Cortado was a watery mess at near boiling temps. And they used way too much paper to wrap a dine in order. So much for Scandinavian klimatsmart (yes, I google-translated that). Approach with trepidation and misgivings.
I used to come to Ole & Steen for years, stopped because of how unclean this location became, and decided to try it again after a long pause. On all three of my recent visits, this place has been FILTHY! The tables were all dirty, the bathroom and sink were disgusting, and trash was overflowing. I’m trying to love this place again - food quality and taste are good - but it’s seems like a health risk eating here.
I just ate a raspberry spandauer pastry I had ordered on Seamless, and I'm very disappointed. I had expected the pastry to be FILLED with the raspberry stuff. But, instead, it was just lightly brushed on, a thin layer swamped with almond slivers. Okay, I guess, but I ordered it for the raspberry, which was the least part of the pastry I received. Won't be ordering this from them again.
We walked in on Saturday afternoon. The place was pretty empty with plenty of tables available. The server left half of the focaccia filling on the cutting board. Filling for both focaccias wasn’t good. I liked focaccia itself but not the filling. For 10 dollars each, it wasn’t a good deal. Chocolate swirl pastry was burned on the bottom and over backed. Cinnamon pastry was decent. Maybe it’s better in the morning when everything is fresh.
I went in and asked for a hot chocolate, employee told me i should try their “special” hot chocolate with the marshmallow . and said it’s very good. tasted terrible and she didn’t explain it was like $3 more. i told them i couldn’t finish it and they promised id get a refund. never got a refund. emailed corporate. never heard back.
Ole & Steen on 48th Street is always a disappointment. I ordered a soup that’s supposed to come with bread—and they didn’t even have bread. At Ole & Steen. The place also smells strongly like a kitchen, and overall it doesn’t feel very tidy or clean. On top of that, the staff don’t seem very interested and never smile. In a café, a smile and basic warmth make a huge difference, and it’s really lacking here. For a place with this reputation, the experience consistently falls short.
In nutshell, food is great, staff usually not friendly at all. Very bad experience today (02/22/2025, around 5:40pm ish). The old lady has a strong attitude. When my friend changed his mind and asked to go instead of eating here, and not ordering coffees, she was very upset and kept on saying “you are confusing me”. We don't know how she could be confused by such a simple order. a sandwich and two coffees, then within seconds, we corrected and said "to go and no coffee". And she still gave us the sandwich on a plate. When my friend clarified again, she was furious said “ don’t yell at me. Don’t yell at me. “. she was yelling at us instead. This is pure rudeness and condescending. What a pity! It is such a lovely place with great food. Will not order from here again. Also they would give a free "mini cake" on your birthday. I went to collect one on my birthday, and it was such an awful experience! first the manager needs to check the app, then id, then reluctantly ask which "dollar cake" you want. then fumble on the terminal for several minutes before releasing the "precious" cake to you. all through process, not a wish of "happy birthday sir!" wondering why they offer it to customers at all? just to annoy them and make them feel like begging for free food? 9 of 10 times i ordered pick up, the food was not ready at the designated time. and sometimes they would forgot one sandwich or two. the app sucks. it is nearly impossible to add a credit card. and impossible to check out in the app with a credit card already added. just pure mystery how the IT people survived. my guess is that if you have "free food" exchanged with points, then it would not be possible to check out? never figured it out. i ended up having three accounts, and only one of the can be used to order online. my wife's app worked only once. case happened not long ago: A friendly reminder, make sure to double check your order when picking it up in store. The staff messed up my order by failing to put two BLTs in it last week and almost forgot to put a lunch bowl in it today.
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About Ole & Steen
How to get there
518 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10017
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518 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10017
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iglesia en Manhattan, Nueva York, Estados Unidos
hotel in Manhattan, New York
biblioteca
synagogue in Manhattan, New York
Residencia en Midtown Manhattan, Nueva York
Church of Sweden Abroad denomination
church building in Manhattan, United States of America
church building in Manhattan, United States of America
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