Junior’s Restaurant and Bakery
Location: Junior’s Restaurant and Bakery, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
Visual: The egg cream comes in a specialty egg cream glass. The ingredient proportions indicated by lines printed on the glass for consistency and optimal flavor. This is a great touch and I am pretty sure you can purchase the glasses to bring home. Other than that, though, the presentation is lacking. The foam looks good, but the syrup is not thoroughly mixed in, and is streaky on the glass. There is an accidental smear of syrup on the saucer. No straw or any other decorative elements.
Experience: Junior’s is always a little hectic, but they manage to still be efficient. You are always seated quickly (a 30 minute estimated wait is closer to 10 minutes, in reality). Our waiter was funny and attentive, and we got our food and drinks very quickly. Patio seating is always nice, and it is quieter than the indoor seating.
Taste: This egg cream was slightly disappointing. I always recommend Junior’s as an accessible, reliably decent egg cream in Midtown. Tonight things were not quite up to par. The drink was not mixed well on the bottom. Most notably, the seltzer was not sharp enough. The strong bite of a fizzy seltzer is the backbone of an egg cream, and it just wasn’t there. It was cold, they only use Fox’s U-Bet syrup, the specialty glass is a nice touch, but the seltzer was a problem. It was not a bad egg cream, but it wasn’t as good as I have come to expect.