Levant — Restaurant in New York

I had read about this place being one of the best new restaurants of 2024 and then saw the NYT article raving about it, so had to try it. In the end, I was a skosh disappointed.

Ordered through UberEats. Not sure what happened but as I was leaving realized that one of the dishes (the feteer, i.e. the main reason I came) had not printed on the Ubereats receipt and was therefore not included in my order. This was quickly rectified by them giving me a feteer that was in someone else's takeout order. Not sure if this is the fault of the restaurant or Uber, but check your order. Would have been super upset had I gotten home without this.

For dishes got the mixed feteer, as mentioned above. This was good. Is it astounding? No. It's like a very good pizza. Huge portion and comes with a good amount of meat. The dough, cheese, and meat are great. If you're in the mood for a pizza-like food, you'll like this. And it's why people come.

The second dish was the shish kebab platter. This was not worth the price. The meat was a bit burnt and just fine otherwise. Got rice and hummus as sides. I've never met a hummus I didn't like until this one, which was weirdly salty. Also came with a pita which was actually quite delightful-not sure what seasoning goes on it but I really enjoyed this. Also, it came with two dips so I ordered an extra for 65 cents more, which was forgotten and a bummer.

I've only been in this area during the day and didn't realize at night how horrible the parking would be. Took at least 30 minutes to find a spot to park to grab this takeout (because I refuse to double park like so many choose to inconvenience other people by doing).

I have always loved this area for it's "little Egypt" food and will continue to do so but probably wouldn't come back for this specifically and would prefer to try one of the many other...

If I could give this place and this man more than 5 stars I would. I believe he is the owner but I’m not sure, all I know is it felt like my grandpa was taking care of us for this meal! He was so funny and kind, when he noticed we were overwhelmed with the options, he insisted we sampled every meat. The feteer was SO YUMMY! We got a half ground beef and half beef shawarma. I recommend the ground beef but if you’re a shawarma person, this is the best! We also got a half levant chicken and half chicken shawrama, the levant chicken was impeccable. THE CRAZY PART! My sister asked if he knew where we could get om ali (traditional egyptian dessert that is incredible)- he said i don’t know but i will make it for you, my treat. He whipped out the tagens and started working it. It was hands down the best om ali I’ve had and this is something i’ve loved my whole life ( it was a very nostalgic flavor). People on his crew were also incredibly sweet, they kept offering us things to sample, drinks, and pickles because they know egyptians love pickles. The absolute sweetest man, he’s extremely talented and I hope his business grows to be as big as his heart. PICS BELOW!! If you have any mediterranean/arab food in NYC, let it be levant astoria! (ask for pics of his grandkids,...

From the moment you step into Levant, you are greeted warmly by the staff as if you are entering a family friend's home. We ordered the mixed meats feteer at the counter and settled into our seats since we knew we were going to wait a bit (good things take time!). We entertained ourselves by switching between watching the food being made in the open kitchen and Arab Idol on the TV.

While we waited, the staff handed us samples of the falafel and the fresh flat bread (both delicious). The mixed feteer was piping hot but the staff's (Mamoush?) hands were clearly unfazed since he handled it swiftly with his bare hands onto the platter. The feteer was delicious - crunchy, savory, cheesy. I'd recommend ordering the pickles with the feteer - it really helps cut some of the richness of the feteer between bites. The staff also handed us a sample of their own off-menu special feteer which had salmon which was amazing. And the SAUCES - I loved the garlic and spicy sauces. I wanted to dip the garlic sauce in everything. We were so stuffed and happy by the time we left. We cannot wait to return to try more of the baked goods and the sweet feteer. Thank you Levant for the wonderful...