Bab Al-Yemen Boston مطعم باب اليمن بوسطن — Restaurant in Boston

Overall 4 stars!

Bab Al-Yemen was such a lovely place for our dinner date last night.

We arrived on time for our reservation and had to wait a few minutes for the host to address each group but once he saw that we had a reservation he seated us promptly. Even if it’s a weekday evening, I highly suggest a reservation. I wasn’t sure if we needed one, but the place was packed the whole time we were there, so definitely get one! I expect you can specify if you want to be seated on the authentic floor seating or at a table, but we were seated at a table (I didn’t make any special requests).

Menus are available on QR codes on the table where they provide pictures and descriptions of each dish. (I bet they have physical menus too, but not sure).

We ordered the hummus which came with a soft doughy pita bread. The hummus was fresh, creamy, and delicious and became more addicting as I continued to eat it. We ordered a Chicken Mandi, a slow roasted chicken with Yemeni spices on a bed of rice, and Fahsah, a shredded lamb stew served in a hot stone bowl. (It was supposed to come with freshly baked bread but we didn’t receive it). The lamb stew was so flavorful , it was my favorite of our savory dishes. My boyfriend loved the chicken. It was incredibly tender; the meat was falling right off the bones.

Additionally, “all dishes come with Marak (Broth) OR Salad, Sahaweq (Chili Sauce) and Rice”(quoted from their menu) but these were never to be seen. We ended up requesting an order of the tanoor bread, but I think if we received bread with the lamb stew, we wouldn’t have needed the tanoor. The tanoor is amazing, lots of crispy bubbles in the bread but also with some fluffy edges. Despite the missing items, we absolutely loved everything we ate and we still enjoyed our experience.

We also ordered the Yemeni cocktail which reminded me of a mango lassi but had additional yummy ingredients in it. I had seen it around the restaurant and wanted to taste it as well. I had to take it away from my partner so he didn’t make it disappear all at once!

For dessert, we ordered the arykah fattah. We were told it’s better to order dessert with the rest of the food, rather than ordering last like we are used to, because the dessert can take a while to make. When this arrived, my boyfriend literally did make this dish disappear in seconds, carving out his half and inhaling it down 😂 I insisted he have some of my half.

Overall the food is out of this world, but the service was slow with some potentially missing food items. They had two men working the front and they seemed like they had their hands full, but they were...

EDIT: I am updating this review to 1-star after searching through these reviews and finding GLARING evidence that the majority of 5-stars are paid for.

EDIT 2: this isn't Yemen; this is one of the most educated cities in the world; you need to do better than intimidate your reviewers.

Original review: Unfortunately, after giving this place two tries, it’s a no for me. Food: the food was okay, nothing phenomenal. We ordered the Labneh and the Mutabal. The Mutabal was somewhat sour in a way that was unpleasant, overly tangy. The labneh was very light and airy and pleasant. For entrees we ordered Fahsah, the shredded lamb stew, and the Chicken Kabsa, a chunked out chicken in rice and spices. We can only speak to the Fahsah, because the Chicken Kabsa never came. A good twenty minutes after the first entree was received, the waitress said the Chicken Kabsa order has been cancelled (not by me, so we were frankly very confused) and meekly apologized for my apparently being out of luck re: eating dinner. The Fahsah that did come was fine, it was unremarkable overall. It had a very simple, cumin-y sort of flavor we thought could have been balanced by something brighter like lemon, pomegranate molasses, or even a tomato base sauce being added. The bread that it came with was good for dipping, but cold comfort with half the order missing. In addition, we had a mango juice (from a can, almost $7—certainly skippable) and a lemonade (meh). Service: I can’t say anything good about the service. The waiters are polite but noncommittal, and as I mentioned, they cancelled our second entrée without explanation and with poor apology…so yeah. For what it’s worth, the man next to us left without eating most of his food, and another party next to his table seemed to be more vocally/confrontationally annoyed with the service, though my friend and I could not make out the exchange as it was not in English. Atmosphere: The atmosphere is okay, sort of mid-range aspiring to fine dining aesthetics. It could be improved a lot with better lighting, more spaced-out tables, a better front-desk (there was no one there initially, and the maître d seemed flustered when he ran up to greet us even though there were relatively few people in the restaurant), a consistent music volume, and a designated waiter per table. Overall, we are sad to have had this experience on our second (and final) visit but we’re happy we tried. We are still looking for another restaurant to match the cozy, but perfect food vibes of Halva in Watertown (which is regionally distinct foo, but in the same general middle...

Based on all of the reviews, I was looking forward to trying this restaurant and cuisine, but... OH BOY! I did not know what was in store for me.

Upon arriving to this restaurant, I was asked if I had a reservation, I said no and if there is anyway we can just be seated, because there was only 1 couple eating in all of the restaurant.

I was then told to go to the down stairs to be seated. Upon arriving to the bottom floor the waiter asked if I am had a reservation and had to explain the same thing, and he just pointed to the table and told me "go sit". I was like... Okay, service is definitely off to a good start :/.

Upon sitting, I noticed the waiters were sitting around and not being attentive at all. It took 10 minutes before they brought water and another 10 before they took out order.

By that time I already asked for everything appetizers and entries.

To start off, I asked for salad to accompany my entry, and I was completely ignored and the waiter brought soup instead.

About 20 minutes had passed and they finally brought out the hummus and pita which were good... Not great.

Another 30 minutes went by and the waiter came back and he said that he was out of what I ordered, and In my head I was thinking "you have to be kidding me, why did you not bring this up in the begining?", So I asked for a recommendation, which he did not want to give me, and just gave me two choices. I was like okay and I will go with the first one.

Right after that 1 minute passed and he brought out the meal. In my head, I was like okay... Something fishy is definitely going on. Your telling me you made what I asked for in a minute, and before you couldn't tell me for 30 that you were out of the plate that I ordered? Seems like you made the wrong meal, and then directed me to ask for it.

Yep... Scamming your clients because of your mistake... This put a real sour taste in my mouth for the service.

As for the food, it was good, probably a 5/10, but nothing to rave about.

In the end it took another 30 mins just to pay. The service in the place is a joke, and the staff really are confused on what they should be doing. I highly recommend staying away, and...