Moka & Co — Restaurant in New York

I don't write reviews unless something stands out to me more than usual. That being said, I'll discuss the 3 topics below. Mind you, this is my first time coming into this particular store, having gone to other local Arab cafes (MOKAFE, Haraz Coffee, etc), for a DJ event (shoutout to DJ Fatimah!).

Atmosphere: Great! Love the space, the ambiance, the decor, and the friendliness of their staff. Just needs a minor improvement: get the sugars/sweeteners, the straws (if permitted, not sure about the current law for this), and other possible necessities out, so we don't have to bother the baristas or other staff for basic stuff like these. Also, the water dispenser hasn't been restocked for over 2 hours since I came into the store and I don't think they intend to do so as I later left the cafe while it was still empty.

Service: Aside from the friendliness of their staff, not being able to properly follow relatively simple orders disappointed me. Think I'm exaggerating?

Exhibit A: Ordered 1 Moka Spice Latte with oat milk, hot (about $9-$10). Got back the same thing, but iced. Asked them for the correct order, got back hot. Good drink! Not a big deal if this was the only incident.

Exhibit B: Along with my drink order, I also ordered a Tomato & Olive Bistro (a pastry, about $7). got it cold. I decided to tolerate it and eat it as it is just a vegetarian pastry. Again, not a big deal, but...

Exhibit C: After eating it, I was still hungry. So, I went ahead and ordered a ground beef puff pastry. This time, I kindly requested for it to be hot. Got it back cold. I sent it back, then requested it to be extra hot. Got it back barely warmed, the beef was still cold. Being quite annoyed and disappointed, I gave up and ate it as I was too hungry to deal with it again.

Food: If the food were properly heated, they would have gotten 4-5 stars, depending on how much heating can improve the taste.

OVERALL, the atmosphere was great, the drink was great, and the staff was kind, which I gave tips for. However, the food was disappointing and average-tasting for the price we paid for. I'd recommend you only order their drinks if you don't want to end up being...

Me and my friend always come here because we really enjoyed the drinks, however the customer service experience we had last night ruined any positive reviews we had about this place. We ordered two drinks and two desserts, and the young guy who brought the items to our table was really nice. Our drinks were good, but as we were eating one of our desserts we noticed there was a hair at the bottom of it. Mind you, we are both hijabis and the hair didn't match ours so we knew it wasn't from us and we didn't finish the dessert. As we were leaving and ordering two more drinks to go, we decided to nicely let them know about the hair, and we were mindful to be as quiet and polite about it as to not cause a scene, but the reaction we were met with was actually so strange and rude. The worker we told, looked offended when we told him, and we were met with nothing but silence and an irritated look as he started clicking away on the screen at the register. We stood there awkwardly in silence for about 2-3 minutes, not knowing what else to say, and then two other workers (one being the owner/manager, I think) came to see the situation. They were also silent and looked irritated as well, it was as if they thought we were lying about the hair even though we showed it to them. Never in our lives have we been met with such odd reactions from employees being told there was a hair in the food. There was not a single sorry from any of the 3 workers, and we weren't even given a full refund. All we got was not having to pay for 1 of 2 of the to-go drinks and the drink costed less than the dessert that had the hair. The first worker did offer if we wanted another dessert but we obviously didn't want one again, another reason being that we didn't like any of their desserts we've tried. This experience has turned us off from coming here again, even though we like their drinks. The customer service here is just not good, and most of the workers, apart from 1 or 2, are not friendly and seem like they don't like their job. Back to Qahwah House we go because at least their employees are always very friendly and...

Cozy wfh cafe for early birds and night owls!! Moka & Co is a chain cafe serving Yemeni coffee, pastries and cakes. I visited their Astoria location, which opens till midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends. They also have locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn with different opening hours.

Their pistachio desserts are seriously delicious, especially the Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Cake. Imagine when pistachio tiramisu meets dubai chocolate bar.

＊Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Cake* Love at first bite!! The cake consisted of chocolate cake, pistachio cream, crunchy kunafa, and crushed pistachio. It was nutty, slightly sweet, and moist. A decadent dessert for pistachio lovers as the pistachio flavor truly shines.

＊Pistachio Napoleon Cake Roll** We were recommended to try their pistachio Napoleon roll and it won our heart instantly! It was basically a Napoleon pastry but rolled up like a Swiss roll. The center was filled with sweet cream and berries, with a cookie-like cracked topping baked onto the outside of the cake roll.

＊Bee Bites (Honey Comb Cake) You have to get their honey comb cake, a traditional Yemeni bread made of small dough balls filled with cream cheese and drizzled with honey. The sweet and savory flavors grew on me. It was served warm and perfect with a cup of coffee.

＊Moka Spice Latte They have so many interesting coffee and specialty drinks! Yemeni beans and traditional spices gave the Moka Spice Latte its uniquely aromatic profile.

＊Iced Pistachio Latte I got why people liked their pistachio latte—it was pistachio-forward while I could still taste the coffee. Just a note that their drinks were pretty sweet for me. I’d ask for less sugar next time.

＊Mango Dragon Fruit Refresher Beautiful color layers. Yet it was too sweet for me. They also added too much ice to the drink. It might be more...