al Badawi — Restaurant in New York

I’m a fan of Ayat so to say I was excited about Al-Badawi opening up in downtown Brooklyn. would be the understatement of a lifetime. I willingly make the trip out to Bay Ridge from Manhattan without even thinking about it. But now I can get the same incredible food with a shorter trip.

What really makes this place stand out is the quality of the food, the hospitality of the staff and owners, and the incredible decor. So basically it excels at everything is what I mean to say.

I started off with the mezze platter, which is a must order at here and Ayat. They don’t just make one great dip, they make a variety of great dips. Great? I mean amongst the best I’ve had anywhere. They also serve a freshly baked pita along with them, which seems better here than Ayat - likely because it’s coming right out of the pizza oven just feet away.

As a main, I had the Maklouba, which is such a unique and satisfying dish, I wonder why I only just recently discovered it. I wish I would have known about it before but I’m glad I know where to get it. This dish is really special - it can’t be started to be prepared until ordered due to the preparation of the dish. A dish truly worth waiting and traveling for.

So what really differentiates this place from Ayat is the setup - both are beautifully decorated, but this one has a little more to it as part of a more casual sit down place. I’m glad they added this here, as I’ve seen a number of reviews for Ayat mention some confusion around the ordering. No need to worry here.

I truly think this is one of the best restaurants in NYC and really anywhere. There’s so much more I want to try here (and will), from the pizzas to the main meals to the fresh fish selection prominently displayed. It’s also nice to have the BYOB option here - the meals go great with a nice red wine. And they provide some nice cups to drink from. Oh and the dishes they serve in are awesome, just like at Ayat.

What ultimately really gets me going about this place is the hospitality. I spoke with the owner outside after the meal for 10 minutes, discussing how incredible his restaurants are. All night, he was handling orders, working in the kitchen to make sure everything moved perfectly. He told me about how special these places are and what it means to be able to introduce so many people to this cuisine. Such a friendly man, such a great chef. I look forward to talking with him each time I visit as I can tell how much effort and hard work he puts in to making this place as amazing as it is. It’s also great to see that the owner of nearby Yemen Cafe (another great restaurant) is co-owner here. He was also as involved the night I dined in to make sure everything was moving along just right.

As I type this review out, I really can’t wait to go back and bring more people. I know everybody will...

I wish that there was a no star option to give it to that place. As an arab and a big fan of Mansaf, this place has the worst mansaf ever. TBH, the meat was very good but this is not a mansaf. I tried mansaf in arab countries and Jordanian and Palestinian restaurants and it is totally different. Here is how it is not mansaf:

1. the milk that is served with mansaf should be Jameed. Jameed has a very different taste and its color is more yellow than white as you can see in the picture. Also, it does not have the taste of Jameed. It seems to be a regular milk.
2. there should be a special kind of bread under the rice called sherak bread. They used a regular bread which is catastrophic. The sherak is a thick kind of bread that does not dissolve from the milk as you can see from the picture.

Also the place is extremely expensive. The mansaf costs $49 and it was the worst. Also they add a credit card fee although this very high cost. I tried to complain but the manager was not there as she left. I don’t know how the manager leave before the restaurant was closed. I was extremely hungry and I didn’t think to complain earlier.

The mezza appetizer was ok except that red thing that is shown in the picture, it was tasteless.

I don’t recommend to try the mansaf and the mezza plates. I didn’t try other plates, may be they are good.

UPDATE after the restaurants owner reply: Anyone can check mansaf pictures over the internet and they can see the difference. Regarding the owners' reply, TBH, I miss-explained when I said that sharak is a thick bread. Yes it is a thin bread but it never completely dissolve from the milk. Also, I said that they were not using sharak bread, and they used a regular bread as you can see in the picture, the owners ignored this comment and replied to a small detail which is the sharak is a thin or thick bread. Regarding the milk's color, I am skeptical that it differs from one place to another, I tried it from different restaurants and different arab cookers from different cities and all of them are more yellow and thicker. May be the owners are correct but personally I have never seen something like that. It was like a regular milk. Also, notice I am saying "like", I am not accusing that it is a regular milk.

Anyway, it does not matter. The most important thing that matters is that the restaurant owners didn't even try to apologize or try to approach to understand my concerns more.

BTW, you can check my profile and you will see that I rated other mansaf restaurant. Then, you would be able to see...

Overall experience was a 3/5. It's a busy Saturday night staff may be tired so we'll give the team at Al Badawi some slack. It's not easy maintaining food quality during periods of high volume.

Food was so-so. Service was inattentive and lacked professionalism. It wasn't a terrible experience, it was a "we expected better" from the establishment, they simply did not deliver.

Here's what we ordered. Everything was prepared fresh and was cooked well. The issue was seasoning and flavor. If the food had been flavor we would have been satisfied and would have forgone the not so excellent service. But this wasn't the case. Here's what we ordered:

Chicken Ouzi, of the dishes we ordered this was the best. It had the most flavor, was cooked well and had the best presentation. I've had this dish before all throughout the country and in Palestine. It was underwhelming for what it could have been. Not terrible but not something I'd reorder if the competition in Brooklyn can deliver a better version of this dish.

Zatar with olive oil, where was the side of olive oil? Our table didn't receive any. We asked again the servers must've forgotten. Dish was prepared fresh however it was not as tasty as it could have been. Again if I know spot that can prepare this dish with more consideration than I'm going to the competition.

Lamb Mansaf, here's where we were really let down. The lamb was cooked to perfection, it fell of the bone was tender and wasn't dry at all. The problem? There was absolutely no flavor. None whatsoever. It was as if we had requested a no seasoning, no spice version of the dish. Why spend $38 on a lamb dish with no flavor when the competition could blow you out of the water for $25?

Unfortunately we were disappointed. I wanted more from Al Badawi and I'm sure they can do better. Their staff was busy and they were working hard. I don't want to undermine their dedication to their craft, let's focus on improving the flavor in the dishes. Food that tastes phenomenal has a lasting impact on the customer. You eat something delicious and you tell your friends, co workers, business partners, and family members to come eat here.

I can't make that recommendation just yet. Let's give them a third and final try to see if they can redeem themselves.

Will be back with an open mind to try the kafta hi tahini. It's one of my favorite dishes. Expecting nothing special but who knows maybe this time they'll deliver...