MOKAFÉ — Restaurant in New York

This visit was bittersweet. But mostly bitter.

I would like to provide some details first. I have been to chai cafes like this before. One I can name that has been consistently satisfying and delicious is Qawah House. I recommend it. Now to my detailed review.

I came yesterday, Wednesday April 8th 2025, to finish off the wonderful birthday celebration for my friend we were having until the chai took 60 mins to make ( we never drank a sip). Yes we purchased pastries and sweets to enjoy as we sit. Although, it would have been much better if the chai was delivered when expected. Tarek, the brother who served me initially was wonderfully accommodating and told me as we settled in with our desserts that “the chai will take 10-15 mins to make”. This was around 7:33 to 7:35 pm as you can relate to the receipt attached to this review.

I then returned to ask a special request of Tarek for my friends birthday. He never said no, and he granted my request with a complimentary tres leche cake and went out of his way to get birthday candles. Thank you for this, this I acknowledge to be great service. I then brought the cake alone to my table to surprise the birthday girl singing our special birthday song as I delivered the cake 🎂

Everything seems to be going very well right? Yes, I thought, until some time had passed getting around 8 PM and things began to go downhill. At this time my friends and I had eaten a satisfactory amount of our desserts suddenly realizing the time. We all began to wonder if we had been forgotten? To which, I decided it was time to go see the status of our chai.

I returned to the service counter looking for Tarek but I was greeted by a different brother who I hadn’t spoken with yet. This I believe was possibly Abdul. I told him we had ordered a pot of chai only to have him tell me the chai is not ready, his coworker had went to get milk as they seemed to have run out. Disappointed, I asked how much longer would it take? He tells me “5 more minutes”. So I return to my table to give my friends the news at their unfortunate realization that yes we were forgotten. We decided to wait as it was just 5 minutes right?

It’s 8:22 and my wife begins to question if we will ever be receiving our chai at all? My friends are visibly depleted of their patience and our birthday girl just notified us that she has to go home. Now I’m ready to get a refund but I give them one more chance to come up with something better only to be responded with “ just 5 more minutes” I ask why is it taking so long? To be replied to with “chai takes a long time to make”. ( My wife is Pakistani 🇵🇰 and Pakistani people eat live sleep chai ☕️ trust me, I know how long chai takes to make, so this is no excuse. When I heard this, all I could hear in my head is my wife laughing ) I return to my friends to give the bad news. I asked them if they would wait any longer as I genuinely wanted them to try this famous chai we specifically came to Mokafe for. The verdict was no, we had given enough of our time and energy.

I returned to the service counter again to finally ask for the refund, to see that Abdul is tasting the chai to see if it’s ready. This time I spared no details as to how unpleasant this experience was and how disappointing it was to have this happen on my friends birthday celebration. Abdul gave me a caramel latte, assuming this was to be shared amongst 5 people? I appreciate the kind gesture but our time is more valuable than one caramel latte. I would have taken my 60 minutes of time if I could.

Refund was processed at 8:33 and we took our leave.

Final Verdict on Mokafe ☕️ ?

Abdul had more chai that night than any 5 of us did. Tarek left without saying anything. No one cared to give notice and left us to figure it out ourselves. And It’s definitely not worth spending $42.46 plus $3 tip to waste 60 minutes...

I walked into Mokafé with Wife #2… and saw Wife #3 across the room.

My soul left my body.

Wife #3 was there with her friend, celebrating passing the bar exam — iced Adeni in hand, mid-laugh. She hadn’t seen me yet.

But Wife #2 had seen her.

She leaned in and whispered, “you're looking at that girl real hard - do you know her? She looks familiar.”

I said, “That’s wild,” and tried to pivot toward the pastry display like I wasn’t actively walking into a trap.

Before I could course-correct, Wife #3 stood up. She saw me but didn't recognize me right away. She had the look. You know the one. Like she was reviewing evidence.

She started walking towards me.

Wife #2 looked at me, confused as I profusely started to sweat.

And then — the God-sent waiter appeared.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said quickly, placing his hand gently on my shoulder, “your special pistachio order is ready in the back. Come take a look” He winked.

I said, “Ohhh. That one. Right. Yeah.”

I turned to Wife #2 and said, “Be right back, babe. Just making sure they didn’t forget the saffron dust.”

The waiter led me into the kitchen hallway like he was smuggling me out of Iran.

He whispered, “give me 5 minutes. I’m seating her in the covered booth near the back."

And just like that — he sent Wife #3 back to her table, brought her a “congrats” cake sample (WHERE did that even come from?), and told her the lady outside of the store ordered it for her.

Meanwhile, I waited behind the espresso machine like a refugee in my own life.

Five minutes later, he gave me the all clear. Wife #3 was gone. Wife #2 had ordered us two lattes and a pistachio croissant.

She looked up as I sat down. “They comped the drinks,” she smiled. “Said it was a special loyalty reward.”

I nodded. “We’re very LOYAL people.”

Mokafé, bro. They don’t just serve lattes. They serve lifelines.

11/10. The pistachios are real. The...

I decided to stop by @mymokafe today to satisfy my cravings for some sweets!! From the time I walked into the cafe, I was greeted with immense kindness!!! I asked what the most popular pastries were & what the most popular latte was, and decided to try them all!! So let’s get into it:

The pistachio croissant was my absolute favorite. It was extremely flavorful!! The croissant was so fluffy, crispy, and so divine. The pistachio spread was so delicious, it was so savory and sweet! I will definitely go back just to have this again and again. The honey comb bread was so scrumptious! It was soft, and had a texture like garlic knots, taste to delicious and filled with cream cheese, I believe, with honey drizzled over it. This was also so good!! My grandmother and I enjoyed these two pastries so much!!! They were so deliciously different and we will be back! The baklava croissant was tasty but a bit hard. If it were softer, I think we would have enjoyed it more however, the taste was just right!! Not too over powering, and very scrumptious!! Lastly, the french toast latte, now I was really surprised because I typically don’t like hot coffee, but this was so delicious. It literally tasted like french toast with a perfect balance of coffee, I loved that it wasn’t too sweet!! I will definitely recommend this cafe!!! I cannot wait to dine here again!!! 💚💚

Check out my instagram for more foodie reviews & recommendations!! 🥰...