ABA Turkish Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

TURKISH DELIGHT ! After a 2 hour walk through incredible Central Park it was time for lunch. It was about midday on Sunday...just the 2nd day of our 8 day vacation staying in Manhattan, New York and we had no idea where to grab a nice lunch. My wife had her eyes on an Empanada place but It was closed ON SUNDAYS. That's when I googled this Turkish restaurant with very good reviews and YEAH IT WAS OPEN ! We headed straight here and arrived at 12.10pm. Things looked pretty quiet but maybe New Yorkers eat late. A friendly male server showed us to a table on their sidewalk patio ( I think it was a post covid built one ). I went inside to use the restroom at the rear of the restaurant and there wasn't a soul in sight. Oh well hopefully the food is gonna be great ! My wife and I are very partial to Mediterranean cuisine so we were looking forward to our lunch. A youngish female server named Hulia came by to look after us. Within a few minutes Hulia brought us stem glasses of cool water and some fabulous complimentary Artisan Bread ( straight out of the oven )....so delicious ! We read through the real menus..no pesty QR Code for the menu stuck on the table top. I asked Hulia what beer they had and her reply was EFES Pilsener ( a well known Turkish beer ). I figured when in Rome do as the Romans do...so I ordered one ! Even though we love Turkish restaurants we still needed Hulia's help to decide our lunch choices. FIRST UP....we wanted an appetizer and Hulia agreed with our choice of Spinach Borek ( Phyllo dough stuffed with spinach and feta cheese ). Now we used to really enjoy the delicious Doner Kebabs back in Australia ( almost the national food there ) and that's what we felt like today. We explained to Hulia exactly what we wanted...a Lavash ( flatbread ) Wrap with all the usual kebab goodies inside. Hulia said they really only make Lavash Wraps or Doner Kebabs to go but in the end they agreed to make them for us. My wife wanted Chicken Breast in hers and I wanted the Ground Lamb & Beef. We wanted the usual ingredients plus Tabouli & Tzatziki. WHOO HOO..our Lavash Wraps were going to be CUSTOM BUILT ! My ice cold bottle of EFES Pilsener ( stubbie back in OZ ) came out with a chilled EFES long stemmed glass courtesy of Hulia. Not my everyday or any day choice of beer but the incredible looking glass made it taste even better. In fact I loved the beautiful EFES long stemmed glass so much I wanted one for a New York memento. I offered them $20 for one glass but the manager said no....he wanted to keep his specially imported 24 glass set intact. FAIR ENOUGH ! Our Spinach Borek appetizer arrived and let me tell you....IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER. OMG..it was like a delicate pull apart huge dumpling that literally oozed Feta & Spinach. GONE IN 60 SECONDS ! We sat and watched the busy New Yorkers rushing by as we waited for our Lavash Wraps. And then they arrived courtesy of Hulia all cosily wrapped up in aluminum foil but cut in half...PERFECTION ! Delicate lavash bread makes anything taste better but we had the best quality ingredients from their kitchen inside ours. Our fully loaded Lavash Wraps tasted HEAVENLY....even better with my ice cold beer. As hungry as we were...my wife and I could eat only half of our delicious lavash wraps ( we ate the other halves for dinner that evening and they were still great ). DESSERT BECKONED ! We asked Hulia for suggestions and she came up trumps. A small serve of Baklava Pistachio and one that Hulia wanted us to try....Kunefe ( Shredded wheat and un-salted cheese baked & soaked in home made syrup..served hot & topped with walnut ). And we loved both of our desserts.....delicious Turkish wonders ! WE LOVED OUR FABULOUS...

AUTHENTIC TURKISH CUISINE ! Wow how time flies....we had a very enjoyable lunch at this Turkish restaurant about three years ago. And then we walked back to our apartment at the Hotel Beacon on Broadway. THIS TIME ! We were back in New York, NY in early Sept, 2024 for 2 weeks to take in the US Tennis Open. My wife and I decided to rent an Airbnb brownstone apartment in Upper Manhattan...not our best idea because we were too far from all the cool stuff Downtown. In fact we agreed that a return lunch visit here was a must. On Sat, Sept 14th we jumped on the subway to Broadway, Manhattan. After some shopping at Bloomingdale's on 3rd Ave we took the subway to Columbus Circle and walked the short distance to here. We arrived at the front entrance just after 2pm. A very cheerful server named Sahin welcomed us with a huge smile and showed us to a table at the rear of the restaurant. A server named Baran came by within a short time to help us. FIRST UP ! I ordered an EFES Pilsener which last time I was here came with a beautiful matching stem glass. A serve of complimentary house baked artisan bread arrived quickly...a rarity these days as many restaurants now charge for their bread. YEAH BABY ! My ice cold EFES Pilsener arrived with a chilled matching stem glass. A good beer always tastes better in a beautiful glass....and it did ! We were a bit hungry and the warmed up artisan bread made our tummies happy. GOTTA HAVE IT ! Our biggest memory for our previous lunch visit here three years ago was the SPINACH BOREK ( Phyllo dough stuffed with spinach and feta cheese )...insanely delicious. MAIN COURSE ! I ordered the Doner Kebab "Turkish Gyro" ( Ground lamb and beef cooked on a rotating spit then thinly sliced, served with rice, lettuce and red cabbage garnish ) while my wife decided on Chicken Saute ( Chunks of chicken with mushrooms, green pepper, red pepper, garlic and tomatoes sautéed in heavy cream and olive oil, served with rice ). WHOO HOO ! Our amazing looking Spinach Borek arrived screaming eat me eat me...and we did. As good as it gets ! About 15 minutes later our fabulous looking entrees arrived. FAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR ! Every mouthful was bursting with the deliciousness that Turkish cuisine is known for. DESSERT ! We ordered a Pistachio / Walnut Baklava combo which was the perfect sweet finish. After paying the bill we thanked Baran our server for making our lunch a memorable...

My dining experience here was dampened by the abysmal service. Despite the busy night, my husband and I were seated right away. We were promptly served water and given the menus. Everything spiraled downhill from there. Many servers/bus boys rushed past and forth our table without checking in on us and this was the recurring theme of the night. I had to finally flag someone down to say we were ready to order. The waitress who was going to take our order was busy at the next table. Apparently there was only 1 person taking orders for the whole restaurant. Orders placed. Bread was brought out. This was delicious by the way. So I was super excited to try the food. Almost a whole basket of bread in, we finally got our appetizer. The falafel was ok. Very crunchy, bordering on the dryer side. We finished and sat around some more. I was running out of things to talk to my husband about aside from the fact that we still haven't gotten our food 30 minutes in, then 45 minutes, then an hour. No one batted an eye in our direction or to update us on the status of our order. My husband flagged someone down to go check for us saying it's been a ridiculous long time. 5 minutes later our food came out. No apologies. By this time we both had lost our appetite. The food was ok. I barely touched mine and wanted to get outta there. God knows how long it would take to get our food wrapped up and our check. Tried to glad get a server's attention and what I got was him holding up his finger for me to wait without even looking and walking straight past me. Had to get 2 other people's attention before being able to voice our needs.

We got out quick (1 hr 45 min for a half eaten meal) and planned to never come back. I got to dinner at 7 and now it's almost 9 pm. And I live 2 steps away from the restaurant! Really was planning for a quick dinner downstairs and I've gotten this instead. It would've been faster if I had gone to Queens and back. My night is effectively ruined. And food...