I was on the hunt for a Midtown spot with WiFi and seating to work remotely--two things that can be surprisingly hard to find--when I stumbled on Mona Kitchen. It's tucked away on a side street and hidden under scaffolding, so it's a little hard to find. The space is huge and spotlessly clean, with a bathroom that's spacious and nice. There's plenty of seating, chill jazz humming in the background, and the lights are bright enough to study/work. The staff are friendly and helpful, and the prices are reasonable. There's a buffet spread and made-to-order dishes, but the real star here is Burmese Bites. With only a couple of other Burmese spots in the city, the stand-alone stand is a gem and so good and a bowl of noodles for just $15. All in all, it's a great spot to study/work and to try good Burmese food. read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Seating area - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

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Damn. The Burmese noodles are good Latte is good Will try the buffet another time. Definitely need to be here early for the buffet Good for working too! read more

MONA is a convenient place to grab lunch or a snack near the UN, but is terribly terribly overpriced. They have a variety of options, including a salad and hot food bar, espresso drinks, smoothies and açaí bowls, sushi, and made to order sandwiches. There is some seating but during peak lunch hours it can be pretty busy. I got a prosciutto sandwich and it was honestly not that good. Thankfully my boss was paying otherwise I would be super upset. The prosciutto was not really prosciutto at all, but rather thickly cut ham that was very difficult to chew and quite tough - I ended up taking it all off my sandwich and was left with fig spread, cheese, spinach, and tomato. It did look like they had other good sandwiches and plenty of other things to try, but I'm just really turned off by the $10 sandwich that I didn't even like. It seemed like my coworkers were satisfied with their lunches, and I'll probably end up here again for another lunch meeting in the future, so we'll see. read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Prosciutto sandwich - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

Good variety, friendly service. Good place for meetings and grabbing quick bites. It does get busy during lunch time quick as it's close to the UN and many office buildings. Food is fresh and tasty read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

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Definitely open at this very moment so I would always challenge the information on Yelp. If you are anywhere near the UN, you should have a meal & coffee at MONA. The French toast was to die for read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - a plant in a pot - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

I work close by and though it was poorly organized and lackluster when it first opened, it is now a much improved lunch option. I especially like their sushi counter & Korean food. Delicious, quality you'd expect to pay more for and reasonably priced. Coffee bar is decent too. read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

The only place I've ever been that requires you to have a conversation with the manager to figure out the price of items because they aren't posted anywhere. Keep in mind this is a large bodega type place that has multiple stations. They bank on busy people to just get duped into whatever price they charge. Will never go back when there are normal establishments less than a block away who don't try to hide their prices. read more

Just moved into the neighborhood and went in there for the first time. Ordered a smoothie and they used frozen expired bananas and I end up having stomach issue. The guy at smoothie bar sent me to pay because i was looking. At how he was handling my smoothie. Food at buffet is dried and taste rubbery. So disappointing. read more

Walking around Manhattan can get tough, until we decided to head East. People are nicer, everything is cleaner and fresh. Decided to try MONA after we saw a huge sign advertising their macadamia nut milk, so we got a latte. The latte was delicious and the milk was not super sweet (a struggle I have with almond milk at times). Moreover, the decor is beautiful and the service is amazing. The servers made us feel welcomed and were very informative! read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Macadamia nut milk latte! - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

When I first walked by, I thought this was a fancy restaurant with "outdoor" seating. I was surprised that this was a buffet, coffee, sandwich, and salad shop. The interior is very beautiful and elegant. This place will definitely visually impress someone without having to spend a lot of money. I only tried their sandwiches. The portions are large for a good price. The turkey and avacdo sandwich tasted very fresh and clean. I thought it could have a little more spices but it was still a pretty decent sandwich overall. I have tried neither the buffet, salad, nor the coffee shop but I will definitely come back! read more

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This place is great and I am SO HAPPY this opened right across from my office. Their coffee is fantastic, and their food seems to be surprisingly well priced (something unusual for coffee shops in midtown east). This opening right across from my office means that I will be here more often than I should, but I'm glad that they have a really fantastic variety of foods and snacks for me to choose from. The baristas here are also really fantastic and really friendly. Anytime I've stopped in, the people working the coffee counter are really kind and extremely helpful when I'm being indecisive. This was different from the sandwich counter where they just couldn't seem to get the register to ring up things correctly. I think once they work out a few kinks, this place will be golden and I'm glad to have it so near by! read more

Really no place to eat it clean I had a turkey club with bacon excellent kind of expensive but that's what you expect on second Avenue by the UN read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Turkey club with bacon - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

MONA does have a clean setup and an organized layout inside - coffee LHS and food bar on the right. Probably because I came in early, I felt it so spacious and bright. It took them a while to get me my daily dose as they were just about to get their espresso machine ready, yet the cappuccino tasted good. Not La Colombe type of good but enough for a quick grab-n-go sort. Seems to be a great add into the east side of town as there aren't that many of deli choices. Currently they are having a +1 dollar coffee deal if you are buying their lunch from the hot bar. read more

One of my favorite places, especially in the morning when I am running late. They quickly fix the breakfast and hot coffee. read more

MONA Kitchen & Market - Hohoho... - Coffee & Tea Near Me - New York, New York

Many healthy choices. The açaí bowl was excellent. Great smoothie and fresh juice options. Coffee was good. Perfect for me. Bonus: outdoor courtyard next to building. read more

Located right across the street from my office, Mona has quickly become the top choice for me to get lunch or coffee. Apart from its convenient location, the interior design of this place is remarkable and creates a clean, organized and modern ambiance. I especially love its high ceiling windows through which I get to see pedestrians walking by while enjoying my coffee inside of the kitchen. There are a variety of choices for food if you come here for lunch. In addition, the food is priced fairly reasonably compared to that of a lot of other restaurants in Midtown East. All the food tastes extremely fresh and delicious, with special shout out to their sliced beef in the hot food section- super tender and flavorful- and freshly made purple rice sushi! I am super happy that such a great market has opened at my door step and I don't need to travel miles for good lunch food anymore :P read more

Pretty standard lunch buffet. Albeit I'd stay away from the macaroni and cheese. As a southern man, that just didn't look appetizing. (Sorry I forgot to provide the visuals for that ‍). Everything I tried was decent: teriyaki chicken, shrimp fried rice, bass... I went to the lunch buffet during midweek. It was crowded, most likely because of a 50% off promotion that ends today (1/19). I imagine there will be still be heavy traffic, around lunch, when there's not the promotion. Similar to its competitor, Olympia which is nearby. Both restaurants near Grand Central and the United Nations. I'd be careful, however. The food is weighed and it can get expensive quickly. My light lunch cost nearly $13 before the discount. Which, can be okay here and there but if you're looking for a consistent lunch spot, this may not be the place for you. read more

I love this place because of its convenience and location but the prices are way too much. My "iced coffee" cost more than a latte. No way.

My daughter moved right across the street from this place and I had high hopes as everyone wants a great eatery next to their home. The salad bar price was very high compared to the other nearby salad bars offering similar items, $10.95 vs the usual $8.99 per pound. The food tasted nice and appeared fresh but the value for the food we got $15.49 for one person was definitely 3 star at best. Their food containers are rather bulky and when I asked the girl if she was using the Tare deduction for the weight of our two containers she was clueless about it. I explained that the law in NYC required her to deduct the weight of the container prior to weighing my food and she was starting the scale at zero instead. Also I had two different size containers and the law sets a different deduction rate for the large container than the small and she weighed them both and charged me at the same time. Her response, I'll ask my manager later if I'm supposed to deduct anything for containers didn't help us at all and is basically a $300 fine for first offender and $600 for second time offenders so I think MONA needs to train their employees. If we do go in again I won't be so easy and will report to consumer affairs. read more

I just happened to be in the area for a meeting and grabbed a turkey avocado sandwich. I have to say, I haven't had a decent sandwich in a while in midtown east area(feel free to let me know good spots). this is simply rated on the cool environment and the turkey avocado sandwich...but i recommend it for anyone near MONA. read more

Probably the least favourite lunch place near un. Food choices are lacking near un but still not worth going. It only looks so pretty. Food is substandard and pricey. If u have long lunch break and dont mind wasting ur time waiting for ur food to arrive, try this place. Otherwise please dont waste your time for mediocre food. I waited 20 minutes for spicy beef soup... read more

Went there for breakfast and coffee - the croissant is street breakfast cart level, and Americano tastes weird. I asked for a cup of water and they charged 50 cents. I had to throw away the croissant and buy another one from Pret.... read more

Had a salmon sushi bowl. Had a funny chlorine smell and I got sick that night. Lesson learnt - avoid sushi in deli's. They just have so much of it and looks delicious. Their buffet is good though and they change the menu everyday read more

I prefer their food by the pound more than Olympia's...however, it's SO. DARN. EXPENSIVE! If you're not careful, you'd literally drop $25 for a lunch buffet. Overpriced as hell! They do offer sushi burritos and they're pretty decent. The sitting areas are always clean and staff members are friendly. The asian coffee boy is SOoooOOOOO sexy but he's slow so expect a bit of a wait if you're getting a latte during rush hours. But MONA over Olympia. read more

This place is convenient if you work in the area but it's way too overpriced and the service has definitely gone down hill. What used to be friendly & smiling employees that worked here are now rude and unfriendly employees that never smile. What happened? read more

I love coming here during my lunch break; it's really clean and spacious. Mona has a great open buffet (both hot and cold). Unlike other open buffets, Mona has really fresh and healthy options to choose from. I particularly love their salad bar! Be prepared to spend about $10-13 for lunch, which can become expensive if you eat here often but if you have limited lunch time and need something quick and satisfying, Mona is definitely your spot. read more

This is a newer restaurant with a hipster like ambiance inside. They have a breakfast bar area and stuff that you could order individually as well ad a hot cold food bar. I had the hot food bar and it wasnt bad. However, they had no labels over what the item was and the staff didn't know. I grabbed a meat that I thought was pork but was lamb and I don't eat lamb. However, they were nice and let me get something else. read more

Best place for breakfast near the UN. Dig the design and vibe. Prices are reasonable and portions rock. Next time I'll try the buffet.

Mona has an amazing lunch selection, with a hot food bar and fresh sushi, salads, sandwiches and juice. Can be a bit pricey- the lunch box goes by weight of the food- but standard for the area and definitely worth it. read more

The natural light that gets into this quaint lunch spot is amazing - plus, the variety of food is awesome. Definitely a great place to grab a quick bite or take a longer lunch. read more

Mona has various food choices from cold salad bar, sandwiches, sushi bar to cafe. The decoration is so nice and fresh! I love de decor!

I primarily use Mona for coffee. Their drip is surprisingly good - they have decent beans - and a welcome addition to the neighborhood. The sandwiches are decent, but not too much different from your standard lunch station place. They also have salad bar, hot buffet, etc. And a somewhat random assortment of pricey interesting healthy-looking snacks. read more

Girl in the counter is very rude. Bought a coffe for $2.99 with 0.25 tip. It is like water . Ad little milk and its drnking like skim milk. Girl who offerd said that its Dark roast. ( not at all ) When I explain she was rude on me and I dumped whole coffee in the the trash bin. Realy bad service and cofee is not strong . We will never ever go again eather will go to UN cafataria or coffee shop at One UN Plaza read more

Nice varied food choices - both hot & cold. Reasonably priced by weight. Came for lunch mid-afternoon & entrees could have been a little warmer. Lots of seating inside. Quite a lot of drink choices. Allows for healthy eating (or not!) depending on individual preferences. A perfect choice for several people dining together w/ different opinions re: food cuisines! read more

Personally it is the best place I have visited in New York ... easy access and a lot of variety of food .. reasonable prices and very kind workers ... I love this place recommended to 100 read more

The chef at the poke station scrubbed the last bit of salmon left to make my poke bowl, it was way less than regular portion and it also didn't taste fresh. Definitely not worth the 14 plus dollars they sell it at. read more

I ordered a bibimbop dish on August 17, 2018. I liked the same one that I ordered the last time but today, I found the meal a bit cold, the beef did not taste fresh or good and the soup was cold. I did not enjoy eating the bibimbop at all today. read more

I go here because it is close, but the food is only so-so and overpriced for the quality. My main gripe is the service. The few times I have ordered takeout, it has taken 15 to 20 minutes. I can be through the line and out the door in that amount of time at most places in the area. read more

Bad Service. They keep silverware at Cashier registers. Cashiers are rude and they do not give silverware for your buffet.

This place looks nice but their service is 0. There is also a price inconsistency. Totally unwelcoming face !