Mesiba — Restaurant in New York

Heads up: I’m a harsh critic when it comes to middle eastern restaurants. Most people would likely have a nice time this restaurant, but if you’re serious about mideast food, this isn’t for you.

The food was tasty but unremarkable. It seemed the focus was more on plating/presentation than enjoyment of the whole experience.

Winning dishes: the roasted cabbage & the mushroom shawarma.

Losing dishes: the poor excuse for babaganoush and the prime rib.

The cabbage was perfectly crispy and soft in all the right places, and the mushrooms were an enjoyable texture. Though neither gave me a “stop & savor” instinct, flavor-wise. Ha’achim in Tel Aviv does mushroom shawarma and it’s incredible.

The “babaganoush” was not babaganoush. It was an opened eggplant with tchina poured on top. I like tchina, but that’s not what I’m looking for when I order babaganoush. It’s like biting into ice cream and discovering it’s actually mashed potatoes.

The prime rib was cold and way too rare. Even after we sent it back, it came back to us in the same state.

Service: not great. To be clear, it’s a system problem, not a staffing problem - the staff was very kind! (And of course we always tip 20%)

The restaurant was not busy when we arrived, and yet we had to ask for someone to bring us water and take our drink order 15min into sitting there.

The drinks didn’t come until we asked about them twice (we had ordered only one cocktail, a Diet Coke, and a lemonade) and they came after half of our food plates had already been served and largely eaten.

We hadn’t received our bread until our plates were basically clean and seemingly ready to be cleared— we asked them not to clear it because we wanted to have the opportunity to dip our bread in them (as you’re meant to). We asked four different people if we could PLEASE get our bread order.

Our waiter was very nice, but the service was terrible. We could see other diners in our area looking around regularly, like “where is my insert food or drink here”

Would not go again. I much prefer Accent, Local 92,...

A beautiful bday celebration, complete with kunafe and mezcal cocktails. I was tempted to try the banana old fashioned but will save it :)

Very impressive cocktail menu with the basics done proper or intricate flavor profiles swiftly combined into never before tasted drinks, like the banana old fashioned or the mezcal margarita.

The ambiance was matched by amazing food, warm, fresh, and large portions. While the price may be intimidating it is justified by portion size and quality.

I shared the Moroccan fish in a creamy spicy sauce. It was mellow enough for dinner but would have been far too heavy to endeavor alone. The delivery was top notch, served steaming hot in a dish cooked into cheesy pita bread. Think bread bowl but far thinner, more digestible and palatable. The fish was fresh and succulent, sauce was amazing and we ended up scraping every last bit.

The apps spoke for themselves, we tried dips and labneh with bread as well as beets.

Overall I am extremely picky but impressed with: Fantastic service, amazing quality of food and flavor profiles, ambiance of setting, though quite loud for a group setting, portion sizes, and breadth of menu to share dishes across diets.

My friends are allergic to pine nuts and EGGS (how’s that for a difficult bday cake?) and I only eat fish no meat and avoid complex carbs but partook in trying the pita. We were able to accommodate vegan/vegetarian, low carb, and allergies. Bonus for vegan friends- (the pita has no eggs).

This is by no means a Michelin restaurant but it is truly delicious, versatile, welcoming yet chic, and somehow feels elite without pretension.

Genuinely confused how mesiba only has a 4.3 I think it deserves minimum a 4.7 in a COMPETITIVE territory. The worse part for me was the fact that it was in the moxy hotel which meh and the lighting to bathroom does not exist. But food wise and...

For Israeli food in Williamsburg this is the spot with trendy decor and vibes to impress any date. The staff was very friendly and was very knowledge on the menu items.

The drink menu was vast and had interest cocktails which were delicious and worth a try.

Food: The hummus cart is a fun little table side show, where they put together the hummus in front of you. Highly recommend if you go early enough to order it. The octopus was cooked to perfection with a white and green sauce to pair. The mushroom dish was also good with a chewier texture but crispy outside with a pesto like sauce. The red snapper skewer was good, I just didn’t prefer my fish skewered, but definitely unique and still tasted good. The charred cabbage was probably the most unique in presentation with the knife. The charred flavors with the white sauces at the bottom and herbs was a delight. The branzino was cooked with more of a Mediterranean style of olives and other pickled veggies which was very delicious and deboned, which was nice. The main attraction lamb neck was 11/10. The lamb was fall of the bone goodness, it was very gamey, so be warned. But the hummus like sauces and green chili sauce, pickled veggies help cut through some of that smell/taste. Eating it taco style was fun.

Dessert: The knafeh came out warm with a mixed texture of crunchy outside to soft inside. The cheesecake was good not the best but not the worse either.

Auto-Gratuity of 20% is attached to your bill regardless of party size. You can request...