ZOI Mediterranean Cuisine (NOMAD) — Restaurant in New York

I wanted to share my honest experience from dinner at Zoi last night—it was, unfortunately, full of red flags from start to finish.

My boyfriend tried to call ahead for a reservation and an older gentleman (possibly the owner) answered, assuring us there was no need—“Just come in around 5, we’ll accommodate you.” We got there and were asked if we had a reservation, which we didn’t, so we waited a bit to be seated.

Our server Emre was the highlight of the evening—he was attentive, took our drink, appetizer, and entrée orders smoothly. We ordered the Mixed Grill, priced at $72, expecting a full and flavorful platter. Instead, we received what looked more like a Mediterranean charcuterie board. It honestly felt like a few items were missing.

The kofta was hands down the best item. The lamb chops were overcooked, under-seasoned, and tough, but we were starving so we ate them. The steak came in three tiny pieces, barely seasoned with some charred red onions. The chicken and beef kofta were decent, and the fire bread was good. The faro rice in the center was average at best.

The most disappointing part was dessert. We ordered the Mango Noir and waited over 30 minutes for it to arrive—even after reminding our server. Eventually, a man who wasn’t even a server brought it over and poured what he claimed was chocolate onto the dish. My boyfriend is a dessert chef, and he immediately noticed the chocolate had split—overheated and separated, leaving a watery coconut oil-like substance instead of a smooth pour-over.

The texture? Think baby vomit. That’s how bad it was. You can even see in the video (attached) that the chocolate was broken—nothing like the polished version shown on their website. When I asked what he poured, he insisted it was "just chocolate" even though it clearly wasn't. What upset me the most was how he looked at the dessert, then us, knowing it was ruined, but lied anyway.

To top it off, he was speaking with the owner about what happened while looking at our table—but no one ever came back to apologize or offer a new dessert. They took it off the bill, but as someone who lives for a good dessert experience, I was really let down.

Would I return to Zoi? Honestly, absolutely not. It’s overpriced, overhyped Mediterranean food with lackluster execution. In a city like this, you can do way better—Zou Zou for example offers a similar vibe but actually delivers on quality.

I get that Zoi has high ratings, likely due to its trendy vibe and location, but for someone with a more refined palate, it just didn’t measure up.

Just wanted to give you the...

My friend and I were one of the first people there. Our order was taken first, but oddly …we received our food last. The waiter barely checked on us and while everyone surrounding us received pita bread as they waited, we didn’t. It was very odd. But since we hadn’t seen each other in a year, we decided to continue to catch up & give them grace. Assuming they were new and everyone deserves grace. Thankfully the server wasn’t rude and seemed apologetic, but we shouldn’t have to ask for something that came out for everyone else. I had to call our servers name multiple times to get her attention to literally ask for the bread, since we’ve been waiting a hour and we came hungry. Our food didn’t come out until over a hour later. Ordered around 8p. No bread until asked. But she loved giving us wine. 😭 Our server said our order never went through in the system and she didn’t realize until a hour later. So, everyone else’s order went through, but the two woman of color orders didn’t….. okay. We let it go & decided to laugh it off. Because at this point, at least we received good bread. Greatttttt wine and beautifulllllll restaurant! Just really unacceptable service: 1/10. I’ve never had these kind of issues before. We even received the WRONG bill for $225! Nothing on that bill included anything we ordered. Thank God I actually looked at the bill because we would’ve overpaid. Our waiter didn’t even bother to check until we told her. Ugh 😭 (Just because someone has wine in their system, doesn’t mean they’re not coherent.) When we told our server we received the wrong bill she says: “oh, that means someone paid for your bill”. Orrrrrr ….just hold yourself accountable. Ma’am you messed up. Our bill was actually $144. Oy vey. I’m not sure if it was a race thing or just a server issue, or both, but it was odd to say the least. We were one of the last people there because our server just kept messing things up for us. I’ll give it another try, but please know I’ll always be mindful in spaces such as this one. Hopefully the next time I go, I’ll have a way better experience. My food was decent. I had the falafel with roasted humus - definitely enjoyed that. And the lamb shoulder….I wouldn’t...

So this place is all the hype on Instagram right now. This is my genuine feedback for others to see. The GM is likely going to respond to this very quickly, because she doesn’t want this experience being shown to the internet, and is saying “leaving a bad review is a threat”, and I’m “being rude” because my anniversary dinner was beyond sub par.

Short of the restaurant having cool lighting, there is nothing special about this place. It’s completely overhyped on Instagram/social. The food was not good (4/10). The service was not good (3/10).

We waited 40 min for a table with a reservation for my anniversary. They completely forgot about our anniversary. Not even a mention of it, and we got stuck in a not so nice table. The drinks were not good at all, just some dry ice for pictures.

If you want to go somewhere for hype and pictures, sure, go here. If you want to go get good food / hospitality and service, go elsewhere.

The manager reached out to me asking how everything was, and i told her very bluntly that it was a bad experience and i likely would not come back. I expected some type of courtesy and apology in return, however she simply wanted to make excuses for “how busy they were” (the restaurant and downstairs bar were both not very busy, it was a Wednesday night).

She made no attempts to make up for this, and she only made excuses for “how busy they were” (on a Wednesday night), and how she’s “sorry”. Usually hospitality for this type of mistake would be much more accommodating to fix the guests experience by inviting them back to improve upon the mistakes made.

As i said, the GM will likely respond to this post very quickly attempting to defend herself and slander me as rude because i was giving her criticism on my experience when she reached out asking if everything was ok. I told her no, it was not ok. But she thinks writing a google review that isn’t positive is “a threat”.

Take it as you wish - I’m a New York City foodie, I’ve been to just about every good restaurant, and this one doesn’t make the list! Don’t get fooled by the lighting appeal thinking that it’s some beautiful 5 star restaurant. Again, most importantly, food/drinks were subpar at best and...