Ayat Ditmas Park — Restaurant in New York

updated 5/5/24

I have this overdue review due for @ayat.nyc. I have been unwell and overly stressed because of my work schedule to do anything.

As you may know that I went to @ayat.nyc's Cortelyou branch after Eid-ul-Fitr with my family and was unhappy with the food quality. No one enjoyed food.

@ayat.nyc Admin took time to communicate with me and offered me a courtesy dinner instead of a refund. In the back and forth exchange, I felt hesitant in the owner's communication to even offer the courtesy dinner. I said I will write a review of this exchange and experience. He later replied that he will keep his promise to offer me the courtesy dinner.

He asked me to tell him what I want, and he will approve based on what I want. He showed mistrust in case I asked for more than I paid in my last visit.

I gave asked for 5 dishes, and I was told to pick them up from Bay Ridge location. I wanted food from the Bay Ridge area also as I heard food quality is better there. I was kind of close to that area, so I went to pick up.

I was given extra dishes, I believe, because one of the dishes I asked for had more quantity than I requested.

The food was great. All lamb dishes were cooked to perfection. The lamb was tender and tasty except for the lamb kabab. The kabab could have been cooked more to make it tender. Although the kabab was hard but it was still better cooked than that of Cortelyou branch kabab quality.

The rice was hard, and my mother cooked them again to eat. I did not eat rice. I wish we were given some breads instead of rice.

I really felt grateful for the food and the food quality. I 100% recommend Bay Ridge location.

The only negative part was I found 2 hair in the food, which I try not to think of as it makes me want to throw up. I hope the store does better to prevent some things.

I took my mom, sister and a nephew and a niece to this place for late eid treat. We ordered a few things, nothing tasted good, lamb pizza was sour, i ate forcefully just to eat as I spent so much money to buy these. The fattat lahma was dry and saltless :( it was blend, lamb was dry :( 😭. it was for my mom, she did not like it and ate a few spoon just to eat, the beef kabab was dry and tasteless! my sister barely ate it and my mom tried and did not like. I brought home the left piece which I could not bite as they were so hard 😭😭😭. the left fattat lahma i brought i tried to eat just to justify my money knowing i will feel sick, which i do, then i threw away the most of it. as i was leaving when the customer service lady asked, how was things, food, i said ok luctantly as i did not know i could complain and get refund! I posted on instagram with ayat tagged, they told me i should have told them in the store to get refund. now, they cannot do anything :( 😭😭😭.

i regret so much going to this place 😭😭😭😭 total failure of foods.

i went to this place a few weeks back and their lamb dish, the most expensive of it, it was full of tomato sauce and did not taste good also.

not a place I recommend any longer or will stop by!

my niece eats shawarma a little from here throwing half the things in it though. that's all.

i wish i could get my...

Amazing food! Haloumi and eggplant was really good. Fresh baked pita is soft and fluffy, I could eat it forever with olive oil and zaatar they serve as appetizer. The huge problem with the place is service. Both times I was here, all employees seemed like they utterly hate their lives. You can see employees in the kitchen and FOH staff and each and every member barely talks to each other or the guests. The second time our server was not attentive at all. We had to ask water multiple times and any dish or bottle was put down on our table borderline aggressively. We mentioned 4 of us will share our entire order and we didn't get any additional utensils to facilitate putting food on our plates. We were not offered the dessert menu. We ordered kunefe since we knew what we want. Kunefe was amazing. A little soggy, but so delicious. However, we needed to ask our empty plates to be removed since they started placing the kunefe and the four new plates in between the main dishes plates we had on the table. It simply looks like the staff are not treated well by the restaurant and the frustration is very noticeable. Atmosphere is pretty grimm to. The place was silent and all you hear are kitchen sounds. No background music to mask it. Two out of four chairs on our table were broken. The place is kid friendly, but not baby friendly. No changing tables, the restrooms are down steep stairs and the bathroom floor is very slippery. Our party of four wanted to share some good food and spend some quality time together. We didn't get that due to bad service and atmosphere. For this price range, the hospitality standard should be much higher. I definitely recommend trying the food here, but consider doing a take out...

I ate here last Sunday with a friend, but I’ve been here multiple times in order for delivery whenever I have company.

We started off with the eggplant with pomegranate dish, an order of falafel, and some tabouli salad. They also brought over some table, olives, zaatar, and warm pita. The falafel there is always fresh and you can tell it’s made in house. It’s not dry or crumbly and pairs well with the pita. The salad and eggplant are also good. The tabouli had lots of fresh parsley, and the eggplant is warm and tangy, and is delicious with the pita. I’ll also say that their pita bread is pretty top-notch and they’re usually generous with offering more for your spreads as needed.

We ended up also splitting a pistachio pizza, which was very good. I always add a little bit of tahini and zaatar on my pizza. I’ve also had some of their other pizzas, as well as the pizza Shawarma.

Definitely one of my favorite restaurants in the neighborhood. I also like that it’s BYOB but their other drinks are good as well. The service here has always been excellent and the food stays consistent.

My only critique is that sometimes the table feels a little crowded because of the larger platters and the pizzas, so I wish they had those tabletop pizza holders that some pizza restaurants use so you can stack things.

Pros: the food is excellent. The service is excellent. The vibes are good and BYOB is always appreciated.

Cons: maybe finding a way to stack some of the platters or trays so the table doesn’t feel too crowded when you order or...