Amazing food, and the most gracious service! My waiter was the owner of the restaurant, and you…read morecould tell! His passion for the menu was very clear. Their lunch special is an unbelievable good value for the neighborhood - so much food and every bite a delight! Vegetarian options plentiful and given every bit the same care and attention as the rest of the menu, which is always nice. Thank you!

A couple Saturdays ago when the weather was perfect, we wanted a Central Park + brunch kind of…read moremorning and stopped in here. We were walk-ins and got seated right away. Their windows open out to the street, so we were sitting right by it and honestly the best part, just soaking in the weather. We ordered the baba ganoush with pita and the Turkish eggs (6/10). I'm pretty particular about my eggs and these were watery and lacked flavor. We almost never leave food behind but this time we did. The service is incredible and staff was so kind. Maybe their dinner menu is better but I wouldn't recommend coming here for brunch.

Had the brunch menu and everything we ordered was great! The hummus is delicious, pitas were warm…read moreand fluffy. The shakshuka was a little spicy which I wasn't expecting but delicious and the charred eggplant was cooked to perfection. Would def come back!

The hummus kitchen was me and my boyfriend's first date so whenever I come up to New York we always…read morecome here and they NEVER disappoint! always fresh food and great service! I recommend the Moroccan fish!

Soom Soom is genuinely a perfect restaurant. I am amazed at their offerings, especially the…read moreeggplant and cauliflower shawarma. Service is always great, and the entrees are reasonably priced. I adore the cauliflower pita, and it gets loaded with every yummy topping you can think of! The perfect mix of flavors, including a little spice. The space itself is small, with just a few tables inside to each (and a couple outside as well). I highly recommended Soom Soom for everyone - there will be something for you! My new go-to lunch spot on the UES!

I ate at Soom Soom two days in a row ordering the cauliflower pita day 1 and the falafel pita the…read morenext day, I didn't make it back for day three to try the eggplant pita. Both pitas were good, filling, and as others have mentioned, I also forgot to ask for sauces they offer only if asked, which might have taken the pita from a 4 to a 5 (unlikely). Solid spot for lunch and it gets busy, so get there a bit early to avoid the line and the rush when assembling your order.

Beautiful restaurant with illuminated marble throughout including the tables and walls. Somebody…read morespent a lot of money to decorate this restaurant. What is a little unusual for a place this beautiful is they have TVs along the walls. This night guests were enjoying the World Cup. They also have outside seating. The food was very good to excellent. We enjoyed the octopus, hummus, tuna avacado, and the fried zucchini. The wine served by the glass or bottle was tasty and everybody enjoyed their main courses, including Lamb, short ribs, & chicken kabob. Service was good until the restaurant got busy and then our waitress disappeared for a bit. Bookmarked!

The absolutely horrendous service experience makes me question all the 5-star reviews as fake/paid…read more Came for a Sunday brunch, we were probably the only people at the restaurant when we arrived and ordered. Got a hummus and some brunch mains (hummus was to share but mostly for our toddler to get started during the wait). 30 min or so passed before they showed up with the hummus. I initially thought they decided to bring everything together so it took so long but no. Had to wait another 30 min for the mains. I had to ask for more bread since 1 hummus for 5 people was clearly not sufficient and taking 1 hour to deliver brunch food in an almost empty restaurant is beyond unreasonable. Took them another 40 min to get a piece of pita bread out, came after the 1-hour-wait mains. Manager came to apologize and said she will come back "to walk us through what happened and what they can comp". Okay... of course she never came back and the waiter took off a coffee and hummus off the bill. The two cheapest items. Not even the overpriced mocktails that are sugar water priced like an alcoholic drink and literally cost them nothing. Hummus I couldn't even eat because after 1 hour of waiting had to really entertain the toddler (who behaved perfectly until over 1 hour of sitting around in one spot starving). Really disappointing and concerning that the restaurant seems to be creating fake positive reviews that mislead customers about the actual quality.

My husband and I have eaten here before but it's been a couple of years so we decided to go for…read moredinner on a Friday evening. It was around 7:00 and only a few tables were occupied near the window, while the rest of the dining room was empty, as well as the bar. We ordered a soda and delicious lavender blueberry cocktail which was nicely garnished and tasted great! We informed the bartender that we were gluten free and started with the tuna tartar gluten free (no soy sauce). It came out with regular bread which the bartender quickly absconded from the runner as it was not gluten free. I appreciated the urgency and thanked him. By the time the gluten free flatbread came out, we had taken a bite of the tuna. It was warm, and it tasted like it's been left out for a while. The color you see in the picture is not filtered. We thought maybe it was the lighting above the bar, but sadly, it wasn't. When we were asked if we were ready to order entrees, I explained to the bartender that we need the check because that tuna was absolutely awful and should never be served to a guest. He looked bewildered but gave us the check. We were charged $25 for that obviously expired tuna tartar. Now that I've checked Yelp, I see that the restaurant has multiple health code violations. I'm not surprised given the lack of quality and complete disregard for guest service. Sadly, another once fine restaurant is off my list of places to go.

Cute spot on the UES. We came here for brunch and it was not too crowded on a Saturday afternoon…read more The interior was stunning and thoughtfully decorated. We ordered the pancakes, burger, and lamb kebab wrap. The wrap was tasty and packed with colorful veggies. The burger was cooked well and the patty was juicy. My boyfriend asked for everything on the side, so just a heads up that the burger does not normally come like it does in the picture. The pancakes were decent, not bad, but nothing especially memorable.

I went to this Italian spot with a couple of Mediterranean twists pretty recently with a decently…read moresized group. The place inside was pretty quiet, as there weren't that many diners, and the server we had was friendly and professional. The prices are on the higher end, but it's an Italian spot on the Upper East Side, and they serve seafood primarily, so it's to be expected. To drink, I had a decent negroni from the cocktail menu. It was $20 and was called Unico, named after the amaro of the same name. I don't remember the other details of the ingredients, with the drink having bitter orange flavor along with a bit of sweetness and some light licoricey notes. In short, it was alright. They gave us some warm, decent bread with pretty good olive oil to begin with. I was in the mood entirely for seafood, so I started with a crudo. Before ordering, while someone else got a glass of wine, I asked what the daily crudo special was. Apparently, it was tuna, presumably sliced from his description, and served with plums, scallion, and olive oil for $24. Instead, I went with the standard Tuna from the menu for the same price, which was cut tartare style and served with stracciatella, pistachio, lime, and parsley oil. The tuna was plentiful, and the meaty tuna worked well with the relatively rich cheese. The pistachios added some crunch, while the lime helped reduce the richness, though I do wish there was a bit more. Others enjoyed the burrata duo, watermelon salad, or arugula salad, though the burrata looked a bit overpriced at $30. My main dish was the $37 Swordfish alla Mediterranea, consisting of grilled swordfish steak served over tomato and Taggiasche olive sauce, along with some toasted pine nuts. It was a relatively large portion of swordfish, and it was cooked beautifully, being tender and meaty. I liked the sauce as well as the crunch from the pine nuts, and the occasional sour bite from either the cooked-down tomatoes or olives. My only complaint would probably be that there wasn't enough sauce on the bottom, but the fish was good enough that it was almost unneeded. Others enjoyed the rigatoni sausage & peppers, the linguine clams, or the halibut. I didn't try any of them, but apparently, the pasta was delicious, though the portion size was definitely on the smaller end, with most pasta dishes ranging from $25-$30. Having already spent a good chunk of change on the appetizer and entree, I didn't bother having dessert. Someone enjoyed the Cannoli for $12, which came with three miniature ones, making the price more reasonable. Three others got an order of the $15 Double Chocolate Mousse, which they all seemed to enjoy. This was a tasty meal. Going to bump up my rating a bit as it's new, but would still get a bit over a 4 if this wasn't the case. Would recommend if you are in the area and looking for fancier fish.

We've visited Adria as a couple and with family members several times. Yesterday, my wife and I…read morebrought our 18 month old for an early Mother's Day dinner. Dining with a high energy toddler is by no means a simple feat. That said, Luciano and his team did a wonderful job. They were able to accommodate every ask, were incredibly friendly towards our little one, and killed it on the cocktails and food. Some of you might not wish to be around children while out for dinner. Sorry, as parents, we're doing our best! Like many of you reading, I'd prefer to not have dinner at 4:30pm, but the service and quality of food made up for our early reservation. 5/5, as it's been every time we've visited Adria.

Very rarely do I give a place 5 stars, so when I do, you bet I felt the place deserved it. We…read morestopped by this place last weekend as we were nearby. There were other Greek style restaurants nearby but felt this place may just be a tad better than the rest. We were quickly sat down and the interior of the restaurant was very clean looking, pleasant, and bright. They started off with free warm bread and two types of dipping sauce (tzatziki and some type of cilantro sauce). Both were bangers and the bread was soooo warm. My wife ordered the Khoresh Bademjan $26 which was chunks of boneless baby lamb stew with eggplants and tomato. It was not spicy which was to my wife's liking and the food was soooo tender and scrupulous. I ordered the dark meat chicken kabob platter which came with saffron and whole pieces of tomatoes/onions grilled. The chicken was amazingly soft and love the large chunks so you can really taste it. The saffron rice they give for each portion was very plentiful and definite leftovers for sure. Both dishes far exceeded our expectations and we will definitely return. FYI - there are other locations of this place as well.

Really liked this spot for a Valentine's and a birthday party we had missed in February with my…read morepartner. Everything was nice, including the decor. The Persian lamb kabab, Sulton Kabab and Zereski rice were delicious and we will be back in the near future

Everytime I go to Tinos the food is lick the plate good. I especially recommend the pita and…read morehummus type dips, phenomenal. I also love the shrimp and seafood orzo. I have never been disappointed here, the food is obviously prepared with care. They also are generous with extra bread and sometimes even a dessert which are handmade by the Mrs!

They're very bad at honoring reservations. This is the fourth time in the last few months we had a…read morereservation and they couldn't seat us in time. We stuck around for a half hour waiting outside and they took people who came after us first, we left. The food's OK the ambience is tiny portions are small. and very noisy, but definitely not worth standing around for a reservation. Even the free dessert doesn't make up for it. One or two times not managing reservations correctly is forgivable, but they have to learn how to space them out because they're not turning the tables to honor a reservations.

Had this on my list for over a year now after a cool friend recommended it to me. Went to the…read moreJewish Museum for the Paul Klee exhibition and finally had my chance to stop in for lunch. Perfect casual place with great food. Got a gorgeous mezze plate for a solid price. Just wish they had more drinks than the cans in the cooler. Service was kind, straightforward, and quick. So glad I was able to finally try it! Thank you

Hi! Stopped into the UES' Lava Shawarma for the second time, and everything was - once again -…read moreexcellent. The two young men who work behind the counter there (at least in the early evening hours) were friendly, polite, professional and hardworking. The environment is welcoming, and the food is so yummy. Both times I've been there, I ordered the falafel wrap. It was super delicious -- and full of fiber and protein, without feeling heavy on my tummy; I might just become a more regular customer, even though I'm trying to be mindful about my food budget these days. : ) (Their pricing is affordable to most, I simply mean that as a general comment.) Thank you for taking such good care of me, gentlemen! Stay warm and well-fed, Kat PS The only thing I'd humbly suggest, if I may, would be to put out a few containers of olive oil for customers -- to drizzle on their falafel goodness.

I have notoriously referred to the Upper East Side as a "food desert." Well actually I haven't, as…read moreI always paraphrase Anthony Bourdain who called it a "food wasteland." This way, anyone who disagrees with me is really disagreeing with Big Tony. It's a great way to grab the head-turning polarization of a hot take, but without any of the personal responsibility. A way to say something controversial without saying anything at all. A genius chess move to be sure, but complete and utter RAT behavior. I say this, my dear reader, as a reformed rat. All this to say, I recently moved to the UES and have been desperately trying to prove Big Tony wrong. One of my big bros recommended Chamoun's way, saying it's one of his favorite takeout spots in the city. I've been desperate for a decent, non-slop bowl takeout restaurant up here so I went the next day. I walked into a clean hole in the wall, and was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices on the menu, but ended up going with the Chamoun's healthy bowl ($14.99) and some grape leaves. After 1 bite my faith in the good lord, and in the Upper East Side, were restored. The chicken and rice were both phenomenal, but the veggies were really what showed out. The turnip pickles and jalapeno peppers were clearly fresh, which leads me to believe everything coming out of here is fresh. It felt like I was eating the home cooked meal of someone's Lebanese granny. The grape leaves were also clearly just wrapped, as the rice inside was warm with the leaf being room temp. You gotta respect this attention to detail. I've already been back a few times since, and it is my new goto takeout spot in all of NYC. I'll probably get it again tonight. BIG SHOUTOUT TO CHAMOUN FOR SHOWING ME THE WAY! IG @johnny.novo Tiktok @jnov__ Substack @johnnynovo

Such an amazing place for a quick bite at lunch time!…read more My wife works at MSK and I work from home nearby, so we always meet here for lunch. She always gets a falafel wrap, "their way", and I always get the beef shawarma rice bowl with extra garlic dip. The food is ok. It doesn't blow you away, but it is authentic Lebanese. That being said, I don't even care what the food tastes like because the servers are SO nice! When I bring my kids, they always leave with some free french fries. If I show up after the lunch rush, the owner is always around and asks me how I'm doing. When I get up after eating and start cleaning my table, the owner always just shows up behind me and amicably tells me to leave, and he will clean the table himself. You will always be greeted with a smile here, treated respectfully, and leave well-nourished. I wish nothing but success for this place!