SAPERAVI — Restaurant in New York

I’m an out of towner that’s on a budget and on a Keto diet. It’s incredibly hard to find both tasty and affordable options when I’m in the city. I usually just begrudgingly eat street dogs, but I needed a substantial meal so I did some browsing and found this place had great reviews, and a menu with some solid protein forward meal options. To say I was BLOWN AWAY is putting it mildly. First of all, I asked the man at the counter about a hundred questions regarding ingredients and he answered them all with a smile on his face. He never made me feel like I was an inconvenience. Anyone else with dietary restrictions can relate to that usual moment of internal discomfort when you have to ask about a dish’s ingredients. You normally have to brace yourself for a sneer of disapproval/eye roll, and oftentimes an unsatisfying answer that leaves you without the information you were after. Not something to worry about here, because they were more than happy to help. The guy even showed me the bottle for the balsamic they use so I could check the nutritional label! The service was exceptional. Then comes the food. Don’t let some of the seemingly simple preparations and lack of curb appeal fool you. Everything I ate with my dinner companion was a flavor bomb. My meal was well seasoned and cooked to perfection. Some of the best scrambled eggs I’ve ever had. Steak was tender and moist. I loved everything, but the salmon with the chimichurri was the star of the show. You just need to trust me and order it! Ironically, what I ordered wasn’t even on the menu (I added an additional protein option), but when I skeptically inquired, they had no problems making it happen and didn’t overcharge me for it. My meal in total was $23.00 for what you see on my plate. It would’ve had rice or fries as well, but again I’m on keto so I declined. In the end I had an abundance of delicious food at a great price, served by great people, and I left with a full belly (and tomorrow’s lunch). No doubt I will be back again to my new favorite affordable place to eat in NYC every time...

Hospitable. Real, chef-made food from scratch. European experience. Very reasonably priced for NYC.

So wonderful to find this quiet little restaurant late on a Saturday night! At 10:30pm when most kitchens have closed, Saperavi welcomed us, letting us take our time with wine, dinner, and dessert. This restaurant is staffed with professionals. We knew a bit about Georgian food and wine, but our server was happy to engage and be our guide. Trading notes on wines, he gave us his recommendation along with a taste of another Georgian wine we discussed. Pkhali was an appetizer sampler (3 vegatable rolls (beet, eggplant, greens) + cornbread. Not the fluffy southern cornbread, but a dense, concentrated cornbread - very different. Georgia is known for its bread so we tried Adjaruli which is a bowl of pizza-like dough (only firmer) with cheese and egg in the middle. Our server mixed the egg with the hot cheese for us and we sliced and ate this bread throughout the meal - really easy to eat. These two items alone would have been enough for the two of us at the late hour, but I love beans so ordered Lobio which is served with a "salad" of pickled vegetables (not leaf lettuce) which was not overly tangy and the perfect compliment to the savory stew. Chicken skewers were excellent with a unique spicy grilled flavor, served with Adjika, a light tomato puree you can put on or dip in. This was already too much food for the two of us but our server recommended a dessert which was a light, multi layered cake with cream between the layers, drizzled with Georgian honey. It is handmade by the owner. For some restaurants dessert is an afterthought, outsourced to a packaged product or something that tastes manufactured - but you could taste the hand-crafted love in this enormous chunk of not-overly-sweet cake which we both shared. With it, I had what must be Manhattan's strongest shot of espresso. Considering what you can pay to eat in the City, or even at a chain restaurant in the suburbs, the pricing is reasonable - and for the quality of food and...

I could write a book on my experience in Mealz, on East 14th Street in Manhattan New York City. My first time going there I had a steak with Mashed Potatoes. There was a sauce on the side of my beautiful plate. Lo and behold, what I thought was butter, turned out to be a wonderful Chicken Gravy, so flavorful and oh so good, The best I have ever tasted, in all my life!!!! The Mashed Potatoes were so creamy, and so delicious, not like other restaurants, where you order Mashed Potatoes and you get Bland potatoes, no flavor, plus lumpy and hard, that I just end up leaving that pitiful order on my plate ...It's so much different at Mealz. I have been there several times, and each time is another wonderful experience....I must add that it is a very clean restaurant, to include a very clean restroom, which nowadays is so important, their restroom is kept immaculate.....For me, it makes my day to see a clean restroom, as that shows as to what extent a store owner will go, to show how much he cares about his customers. My last thought is that I noticed how much each customer enjoyed their meal, as there was nothing left on their plate. Each customer left very satisfied, with a big smile on their face ... I think the reason for that is, great food, clean place, friendly caring employees, a wonderful Chef, and the Wonderful Lady that greets you when you place your order, her name is Tina, and she has such a wonderful personality, is a caring person with a beautiful smile, her Partner is as concerned as her, when it comes time to asking their customers if they enjoyed their meal. I assured Tina that I will continue to go there for my meals, whenever in that location, as I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY. I will be a Regular Customer there ...Go check out Mealz, you are in for a most enjoyable and wonderful experience, you will be glad that you checked...