Reviewing Lexington Candy Shop: Old-school soda fountain and authentic American fare in New York. 

Strolling through the door of Lexington Candy Shop is akin to entering a time warp. Little has changed in the retro luncheonette and soda fountain on New York City’s Upper East Side.  

 This living landmark was opened on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 83rd Street by Soterios Philis and Tami Naskos in 1925. Today, the third generation runs the beloved neighborhood spot. The walls of the storied Manhattan cafe are adorned with photos and newspaper clippings detailing the history of the place as friendly staff bus tables and flip burgers on an open grill just behind the counter. Grab a seat in an old-school booth or settle onto a stool at the worn soda counter, and take a sip back in time at Lexington Candy Shop.  

The shop was last renovated in 1948 and little has been updated. Much of Lexington Candy Shop has been preserved down to the phone number, Butterfield 8-0057, which is a throwback to when telephone numbers were alphanumeric, meaning phone numbers starting with names instead of digits. Even the brown menu with snap on letters behind the counter hints at the age of the space. 

There’s nothing trendy about the laminated handheld menu here, and that’s the point. Before diving into the extensive diner menu, there are a few things to note. Lexington Candy Shop is only open mornings and afternoons from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The minimum is $10 per person seated at tables, and gratuities are accepted in cash only.

First up, order a drink, whether that’s orange juice, lemonade freshly squeezed right behind the counter, or a frothy egg cream made with chocolate syrup, seltzer, and milk. Other retro refreshments include malted milkshakes with Bassetts ice cream mixed in an antique Hamilton Beach mixer circa 1942, as well as old-fashioned Coca-Cola fountain drinks made with syrup and seltzer mixed by hand at the vintage soda fountain. 

The menu is packed with diner favorites like French toast made with Orwashers’ freshly baked bread, fluffy pancakes in flavors like blueberry, pecan, and chocolate chip drenched in maple syrup and generous pats of butter, and juicy butter burgers made with fresh ground beef. Make sure to save room for old-fashioned ice cream sundaes in flavors like chocolate, butterscotch, Broadway, and Coca-Cola.  

We ordered a classic and refreshing egg cream, which was swiftly and expertly mixed, and an $11.45 frosty milkshake dubbed THE Milkshake, which was not thick but rather runny with a big gob of unmixed ice cream. We also ordered a cherry Coke and a classic Coke, each made with a generous scoop of ice, half a dozen pumps of syrup, and fresh fizzy seltzer hand mixed before our eyes. These were the best Cokes we’ve ever sipped. We paired this with onion rings that were fried to order.

No matter what you order, it’s the ambiance, old fashion charm, and syrupy fountain drinks that make this Upper East Side gem a must-visit. Lexington Candy Shop is one of the few pieces of historic New York that may appear frozen in time, but it’s still as hip and happening today as it was back in when it debuted in the roaring 1920s.