If you want to have an unholy combination of a volume eating contest and the gallon-of-milk…read morechallenge, you could do worse than coming here and seeing who can eat an entire Adjaruli Khachapuri by themselves. Myself and my friend together managed about a third. I mean, it's an actual boat made out of cheese-stuffed bread, filled like a swimming pool with strong white cheese, visible blocks of butter, and a whole raw egg, which though you mix it in and it disappears from sight, it doesn't disappear from your stomach. It's SO delicious but just not sustainable for a meal. When I ordered this in Georgia, I gave about 7/8 to a very happy homeless woman. So what I'm saying here is that it's authentic. The cold bean and walnut salad (lobio) provided a respite from the buttery cheesy richness and was spiced, to the note, like every cold salad I had in Georgia as well.

My hands were completely full and fingers moments away from getting the trigger bend as I…read moresteamrolled through the entrance door. Relieving myself of the heaping bags of provisions now strewn across the floor I uprighted my body and.thought it well to buy more food related items even though I had not a finger to spare. "I can't helpa myself".-John Fogerty. Can't say I expected potatoes in my Olive Salad, nor was it a particularly pleasant surprise as its not a combo that worked for me. I'll take the $3.99 hit and chalk it up to a learned experience. The eggplant slices with walnut paste was a hit for myself and the ravenous Italians I decided to bring a few home to. (Badrijani Nigvzit) Equally delicious was the rolled eggplant with garlic and cilantro, see a trend withy selections? I'm all in on eggplant. (Nivriani Badrijoni) Add in two loaves of the traditional Georgian bread called Shoti and the cares of a potentially crippled hand sped off like a speedboat at night.

So very welcoming!!…read more Wonderful, ambience, hospitality, and care. Fabled service. The best baklava ever. Made from the heart. I also bought Manouche, delicious zataar bread made fresh. I am so grateful to all the hardworking folks that care for us all.

Ordered: Half Zaatar/Cheese Manouche (~$6)…read more4pc Baklava (~$8) with Cashews 1lb Lebanese Zaatar (~$8) Aya's take: Being Lebanese, it's so hard to find an actually good manouche and I did not expect to find one at a place called Brooklyn Baklava but here we are! We were in Bay Ridge and actually stopped due to the delicious smell of fresh dough. In addition to the baklava and sweets they're known for, they have an oven where they're making fresh manaeesh! We got a Half Zaatar/Cheese Manouche. The dough is light, tender, and thin. The zaatar had great flavor and we actually ended up buying a 1lb bag for ~$8 since it's so hard to find good Lebanese Zaatar these days! The cheese was also fresh, nicely melted, and delicious. They have an assortment of Baklava which I must say aren't too sweet. We ended up grabbing a 4pc Baklava w Cashews which I enjoyed as a snack throughout the week. It's a bit much at ~$2/pc but it is well made. Highly recommend and would definitely come back!

i love you, al aqsa. a must stop every single time i am in new york city and i mean every single…read moretime. transports you to jerusalem with their falafel, which they generously feed you in line. their freshly baked breads compliment all their foods. i love the fried kibbeh, and i always get the four pieces promising i'll save more for later and i don't even make it out the shop with any left. i got their chicken shawarma plate this last time, coming back for dinner, and they teased about my multiple visits in one day but i couldn't resist. the nostalgic taste, the quality of the ingredients, and the family atmosphere are addictive.

Decided to grab some lunch and returned to Al Aqsa, which had a line out the door when I stopped by…read moreSaturday afternoon. There was a steady line and while most people ordered takeout, I noticed the tables in the back were all occupied as well. I ordered a za'atar and cheese manakeesh ($4) again, a small ful medames ($8), a small chicken shawarma plate ($14), and fresh taboon bread ($2.75) and the total came out to $29. All this food fed three people comfortably, though I would definitely order an extra taboon bread next time as we could not get enough of how fluffy and soft the bread was. The ful medames was so warming and cozy and the chicken shawarma came with rice, salad, pickles, and three different sauces (we especially loved the toum and the hot sauce).

Behind a retro blue awning sits a restaurant dear to Brighton beach and to me! Ive been coming here…read morewith my family since I was a child so the food, vibes, and TVs playing endless Russian music are so nostalgic for me. Recently, I took a friend here who is not familiar at all with Eastern European food and she loved all of the dishes. The cutlets were perfectly seasoned, and the buckwheat was buttery and warm. It tasted just like what I eat at home. We also had the sweet cheese vareniki which tasted desert-like and were so decadent with the sour cream. The Compot had a refreshing fruit flavor and paired so well with our meal. The service was quick, and we were able to request extra plates to share our order.

A friend who grew up in the Bronx had never gone to Brighton Beach. 'C'mon,' I said. 'Let's go!'…read more We didn't start off with a bang. Delicious elsewhere, their Ukrainian borscht -- one of my favorites -- fell a bit short. G ordered lobster bisque. Compared to a restaurant in Florida, Oceanview's soup had minimal lobster. Her rating, a measly '2 stars.' G's chicken kebob with grilled vegetables was as good as what I had here before. This time I ordered cutlets, fried with chopped chicken. It was okay, jazzed up with G's hot sauce. I won't get it again. With a glass of wine and a table outside, we enjoyed taking everything in: a heated argument between two Russian men cursing each other over parking. (It was like a skit from 'Saturday Night Live.') A table of locals chain-smoking ... I didn't think anyone smoked anymore. And of course, the rumble of the Q train above which is practically a signature of Brighton Beach. Lunch was actually pricey which is why we avoided both cafes on the boardwalk. In retrospect, we should've splurged on a scenic view for a few dollars more. 3.5 stars.

Amazing bakery amazing restaurant 5/5 very friendly service as well, must try the Kaakread more

Al Reef is a newcomer to Bay Ridge's 5th Avenue serving Lebanese/Palestinian baked goods and…read moresandwiches similar to what Al Aqsa offers a few blocks north. While I had hopes for the food here after stopping in a few weeks ago for a spinach pie, I think I will stick with Al Aqsa as my go-to. We tried the mufaraka, baba ghanouj, and makali. The fried items in the makali were themselves quite tasty, but I was surprised they didn't serve these with a bit of tahini or some other sauce to give some additional flavor. The mufaraka was very, very salty and I would probably skip next time. I enjoyed the baba ghanouj. When I had stopped by in the evening, service was friendly and they offered some suggestions on baked goods. But in the daytime our waitress was quite curt and did not provide any cutlery with our food, which was peculiar. The floor also had food scraps all over it.

TL;DR/food in order: Musakhan, Mixed Mezze, Maqluba, Bedouin Zarb, and then Mansaf. 4% addition for…read morecard usage. I'd probably leave them a 5 for portion compared to price and quality, but the service wasn't good for multiple reasons. I went to this Palestinian restaurant, open since late last year, with a group earlier in the evening. The food overall was very tasty, but I found the service at best inept. I understand that it's a casual spot, but there were multiple issues throughout the evening with the two female servers. We were first without napkins, had to ask for more silverware, and had to repeatedly ask for spoons to share, so we eventually just reused things and moved them back and forth between dishes. There was also the fact that they don't serve tap water here even when asked, so it's a $1.45 minimum unless you want one of their drinks. I got a mint lemonade for $4.95, which was decent, and others got water, a hibiscus drink for the same price as mine, or a malt drink. They also brought out a ton of dishes while we were still having appetizers and eventually just put stuff on another table as we obviously didn't have room, so I guess order the appetizers only to begin with unless you want an overcrowded table. There were also issues with the bill, but I'll bring that up later. We started with the excellent Mixed Mezze for $29.95, with hummus, baba ghanoj, labneh, olives, pickles, salata tahina, tabbouleh, falafel, makdous, and fresh Soul of Palestine bread. The portion was large, with the dish reminding me of the old portion size from Ayat or Al Badawi before either expanded. The mixed mezze were all tasty and went well with the warm bread, with particularly good falafel (3 pieces) and hummus, but the baba and salata tahina were tasty as well. The only thing hard to split was the makdous, which came with one eggplant, but the inside was tasty. As mentioned, as we were plowing through the appetizer, our entrees started to arrive. First to arrive was the Bedouin Zarb for $31.95, listed as a traditional Bedouin method of cooking meat in the pit oven, served with rice. The meat in question was lamb, and there was a pretty big chunk that was very tender. The rice was the highlight, as it was nicely spiced with some slivered almonds. The dish reminded me of a slightly weaker version of the Hadramout Lamb from Yemenat nearby, but it was still tasty. Next to arrive was the best dish of the night, the $24.95 Musakhan, listed as the national dish of Palestine, made of roasted chicken over taboon bread topped with onions, sumac, and nuts, served with yogurt. I was originally going to get the Ouzi, but I went with this instead as they were out of it, and it was a blessing in disguise. Compared to the other Palestinian spots, the chicken was much more tender here, and they put a lot more sweet onions on the bread. The only complaint I could make is that I wish there were more nuts and sumac. Also, for the same price, there was the equally excellent Maqluba, listed on the menu as Jerusalem Flip, with spiced rice, half a chicken, eggplant, cauliflower, potato, and salad. Like the other dish, the chicken itself was very tender, with the rice being a bit less spiced than the Zarb but still flavorful, with a couple of crispy pieces. The various vegetables were very tasty, and I particularly liked the cauliflower, which I wish there were more of. The yogurt with cucumber on the side reminded me of raita. Finally, there was the $31.95 Mansaf with lamb cooked in dried yogurt/jmeed, over a bed of saj bread and rice topped with nuts. As with the other dishes, the portion was quite large, with a giant amount of fluffy rice. The lamb was very flavorful, but not nearly as tender as some other spots, with a bit too much rendered fat. This made it a bit harder to split compared to the better version at Al Badawi. The jmeed added some nice sour flavor and helped with the richness. We were planning on trying their $9.99 knafeh/chnafa (a new spelling for me), which is one of my favorite desserts, but they were out of it along with the other halwa. That was unfortunate, but it made the bill a bit less annoying. Speaking of which, they weren't able to separate the drinks from the bill at the end. They also auto-built in a 4% card usage fee and couldn't print a bill for cash usage to save on that fee, so I had to calculate it all, which was a pain. Eventually, we left with plenty of leftovers for around $40 a person, minus drinks.

The interiors are pretty, brightly colored and lit for an approachable atmosphere…read more The menu is fairly large. I did notice they have multiple portion options for larger family style meals as well as regular sized. we shared : Appetizer - Foul; fava bean soup that was lemony and very tasty served with bread. Main - Bedouin Zarb; absolutely delicious, fragrant rice and tender cuts of lamb, included a yogurt cucumber salad Would love to try they whole fish on a future visit. That was the original hope for today's meal but they were out of a few things. Will definitely need to come back for dessert as well. They only had the Knafeh today but would love to try their style of rice pudding (Rooz Oo Haleeb). Pardon my spelling ! Menu has descriptions as well , so fear not if you're not super versed in Palestinian food.

This restaurant is amazing!!! The people are so nice, the food is so good! It reminded my mom of…read moreher grandma's cooking. The inside of the restaurant is so nice and clean. This restaurant is so underrated and it's so amazing. I had fish and it was amazing. My dad had the lamb kebab and it was so juicy and delicious. And the bread. WOW. Love this place, do recommend!!!!!

Have grown really fond of this cuisine and this place definitely hit the spot. Menu has a fair…read moreamount of options and I definitely enjoyed each of the dishes we ended up getting. Started with the pilaff. Probably my least favorite meat of the day but it was plentiful, so tender, and the rest of the rice dish were delicious. Huge portion. I'm such a big fan of manti and almost always enjoy them, but these were even better than most. Plump, juice, packed with meat. Enjoyed the sauce it came with, as well. Finally, lamb rib kebab and lyulya kebab were great. I preferred the latter and may next time opt for the ribs without the fat, but they were both still great. Service was lovely, you can tell they care about the experience. Felt like we were in someone's home eating a home-cooked meal. If we lived in the area we definitely would consider coming back.

This place is not bad, they make their own bread which I love, and the pieces are big. The chicken…read moreshish was ok. The meat was not to my liking personally, I like more of a char grilled taste which this did not have. The rice and veggies were good. Not a cheap place, it's about $15 for a small chicken shish and the desserts are about $8 for a piece. But priced the same as other competition nearby. Not somewhere I would personally go again but was good for a first try. I personally prefer another place not too far away from this one, the Shish kebab in my opinion tastes a bit better and not as dry and has that charcoal grilled taste I am looking for. Seating area is separated from the walk-in/cashier which is nice.

I've eaten at this restaurant maybe 8-10 times. They have wooden chairs and tables (nothing fancy),…read morebut their service is great, and their dishes are so delicious. My favorite appetizer is the fried calamari. Each piece melts in your mouth. Please be aware, they automatically add a 20% tip on the check. I didn't realize until my last visit, I erroneously gave a generous 40% tip. I've also ordered takeout via Uber Eats. We always order Babaghanoush, Falafel, and our favorite large platters. I normally get my favorite, Chicken Adana, but I tried their Chicken Gyro this time. It was good, but I still like the Adana more. My kid loves the Chicken Shish Kebab. We will be back for more.