Ali Baba — Restaurant in New York

Sorry for this long message but if you’re planning to book any event at ali baba do yourself a favor and read this review!!!!! If I can give this place no stars I would automatically. Don’t reserve this place for any events at all nor dine in or out. The management is horrible and so is the food. NARGES is a horrible employee and host she should be fired. She’s disgusting. My sister did her engagement and wedding there we should of known better after our incident during the engagement but we were tight on time and we needed a place to book the wedding so we made a poor choice. The engagement only went well because the brides family and friends came the day before to decorate. My sister planned the wedding with Nagres and she was promised a certain theme but they deceived her. Nagres showed her a video with the decorations but that video was unrealistic. She paid approximately 1000 for decorations but what she got was most likely worth 20 dollars if we’re being nice from the dollar store. The place was dirty when we went. The wedding started at 6 the brides family arrived there early around 5:30ish and we found the hall a mess. The carpets were dirty and not vacuumed. There was a ladder in the middle of the hall one of the young bridesmaid had to carry the ladder and place it on the side. The chairs were all dirty and stained. White cloths that could of been washed with bleach but they failed to do so. Confetti from the event before was left all over. When we asked why they didn’t clean or vacuum one of the waitresses said “it’s too late now guest are coming in” not only that but they failed to do the decorations, there was absolutely no theme! They stated that there “truck with decorations was stuck in traffic”. Half of the dirty chairs had loose ugly $99 cent store bows on them and the others didn’t, hence this means there was a party prior to that and they just took out some chairs the day of. Some broken chairs were put on the side next to the bride and grooms couch. There was equipment and broken metal pieces next to the broom and grooms couch! The couch was dirty and Nargas whatever her name is and the manger promised a clean new couch but they failed to do so. The guest were disgusted by the hall. The runway for the bride wasn’t there we literally had to take a white cloth and place it on the floor to cover up the dirty carpet. Anyways, midway through the party Nargas came and took the microphone away from us and stated she needed it for the party in the basement. Umm that’s not our problem and two we paid for it. Later on Nargas came and shut the speakers 🔊 🙄🙄. Lets talk about the food, there was little appetizers that barley fed anyone and barley any drinks. For approximately 100 people there was about 5 pitches and like 10 small plates of appetizers. The appetizers were cold and nasty. There wasn’t enough cups we had to keep asking for cups and utensils. Service during dinner was bad as well the food wasn’t as expected nor was the dessert we didn’t get our moneys worth. There was no service we had to serve ourselves. The lighting in the hall was horrible so don’t look forward to that. Ok so while we were exiting we found a small table in the back with all the decorations they failed to...

AVOID! RUDE STAFF AND BELOW PAR SERVICE. We have been coming here for quite a long time and we usually never had any issues however, the last two visits we have had here have been immensely disappointing. The staff needs to be fired, they are very unprofessional and unwelcoming! It is ridiculous that we pay so much money to come here and then their staff is treating us like we come for free. Today, we had a birthday party reservation of 15 people. To start off, we requested the table to be arranged differently and upon requesting, the staff looked upset and irritated that we asked them to do that. It is unbelievable that they have the audacity to act this way, after paying them the hefty price to make the reservation. The last visit, their attitude was just the same, rude and unprofessional. We decided to give them one more chance and unfortunately, this would be the last after our experience today. Lastly, we made the reservation of 15 people and when it came to the payment, they inquired that we pay for 20 people. We had 15 adults and children. They argued we have to pay for the kids since they included their food in it. We never had an issue on this before and they had the audacity to charge us extra for the children. We had booked and fixed the price prior to coming and in the end, they wanted to charge us extra. On top of that, the servers wanted a service fee! The gratituity was already included in the bill and they wanted us to pay extra for service??? Unacceptable and unprofessional. The staff needs to be fired for their rude attitude and service. They act like they are doing us a favor doing their job! They have lost us as a customer after coming here for years and being...

Ramzan Special: $20/adult and $10 for kids between ages 4-8. Always make sure to clarify with the staff, manager or the two sister waitresses about pricing beforehand. Kids under 4 are usually free. They will charge tax and 18% gratuity. So if your bill is $180, you will wind up paying $228.

Menu: Salad, afghani bread, black chola chat, fried shrimp, fried chicken wings, chicken kabob, chicken tikka, fried fish, brown rice and white&green sauce. Dates/khajoor will be on table along with roohafza milk and water jug. Hot green tea and cold soft drinks and bottled water along the south end of the restaurant.

Quality & Service: Afghani bread pieces were stale and hard like a rock. Black chola chaat tasted very old and seemed to me as if it was sitting there from the first Ramadan. Salad was a mix of fresh and old items(especially tomatoes). Fried chicken wings were very salty. Chicken kabob, tikka and fish were given in controlled portions by waitresses. Shrimp ran out and was not replaced until we were ready to leave. They have nice praying space downstairs and a little speaker for adhan announcement. Bathrooms were nice and clean.

I gave it 2 stars because of long lines and empty trays. For $20, during normal season, I can order enough food from the same menu, for which I don't have to wait in line and not wait for empty trays. For few minutes, I thought I was in a prison where there's not enough for all inmates. I think that for this price+tax+gratuity it should not be a buffet style meal but rather served hot and neat. I do not recommend this place if you are shy of eating, fighting and have...