Black Iris

I don’t like BYOB and I don’t like cash only, now that I got that out of my system lets talk about the food. The peta is good, eat lots of it. The soup tasted like any run of the mill lentil soup. The pizza is a pitta turned pizza, not bad. They skimped out big time on the hummus. I saw a very active microwave in the kitchen, I hope that was just the chef warming up his own food.

I have been hearing friends rave about this BYOB place forever and I was so excited to finally try it. Maybe the worst falafel I’ve ever had, and the chicken kebabs weren’t much better. The whole meal was confusing, because I couldn’t understand how something that looked so delicious could have absolutely no flavor whatsoever.
The three stars are because the people who work there are so nice, and because I honestly think that it might have just been an off night for them or something. I’ll definitely go back and give it a second try, with slightly lowered but hopeful expectations.

My favorite place with toddler, we often order black iris to fort greene park for an easy picnic. Healthful and well priced and fresh. I love this place.

Delicious! Got the lamb sausage, beet salad and thyme pita to share. They have big portions. I really like the food and the service is great on a weekday! One of the few restaurants open in a Monday night.

We’ve been here a number of times, this is our neighborhood go to spot for delicious, reliable food at great prices (for Brooklyn), quick service, plus it’s BYOB. Love their meat platter! Chicken kebob is always super moist and juicy, and merguez is delicious and just the right amount of spice. They always have fast, friendly service. Definitely recommend for a casual, low-​key, affordable dinner in Fort Greene.

We had a good meal here yesterday. Tried the vegetarian «Pitzaa» served on homemade pita bread, as well as the babaganouj, and a spinach pie. The pitzaa was my fave, with nice seasoning, veggies, and squares of mozarella. The spinach pie seemed to be spinach and cheese baked in a pita, good, but kind of plain, and not the spanikopita-​like pie I was expecting. We will be back for the pitzza.
FYI it’s cash only.

A decent dinner spot in Fort Greene. The portion sizes of the entrees were generous, and the chicken kebab was cooked perfectly. However, I wasn’t very impressed with the falafel as it reminded me of a hush puppy. The service was attentive but slightly awkward, and it was really easy to get a table on a Friday night. Comfortable casual vibe inside.
Note before you go: Cash only!

I ordered the chicken kabob platter w hummus for delivery. The packing and service (person who took my order & delivery man) was good but the food was very bland and did not taste good at all. The texture of the chicken was rubbery which made it very unappetizing and the hummus had no flavor.

Not sure why this place gets such good reviews. Got take out from here, lamb kabobs were way chewy and too salty, chicken kabobs were rubbery and bland and the hummus was bland as well. The salad was decent, but that’s kinda hard to screw up. Good flatbread, I will give them that. For the price we paid, should have been much better though. Get the same type of food but better for the same prices at nearby zaytoons.

Sub-​mediocre food, though the service was pleasant enough. I had the stuffed grape leaves with yogurt sauce and falafel platter with hummus and a salad. The only half way enjoyable thing was the falafel, which wasn’t all that good.

Great food and service! I’ve ordered from them on Seamless before but never eaten at their restaurant. They have a good outdoor space and are BYOB!

Delicious falafel platter with babaganouj, grape leaves and lentil soup! I’m Lebanese and grew up with these foods and Black Iris really accomplished an authentic, appealing and filling meal, loved it!

I ordered from here last night and was really really disappointed. I ordered the lamb pizza thing with Baba ghanoush, hummus, and pita. All of these tasted horrible. The lamb pizza thing wasn’t a pleasant taste, my girlfriend said not to even attempt tasting the baba ghanoush, and the hummus — all I could taste was tahini. There was way too much of that sesame taste. And the consistency of the hummus was almost soupy. I didn’t like it at all. Perhaps I didn’t order the right things from this place. I’m willing to give it another shot though.
Although the delivery was pretty darn quick. So that’s a plus.

Fort Greene staple and true comfort food. Casual, very tasty and the bread is always made fresh and right in front of you.
If you dine in it’s BYOB.
My favorites: The lentil soup, fresh pita bread, chickpea cold salad, labneh.
4 out of 5 stars because they do not accept credit cards. If they accepted cards, i would be there MUCH more frequently.

They hosted a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I was a part of and did an all around awesome job.
The food was delicious and fresh, the service was always on point, and the layout for the night really set a romantic scene.
One recommendation — they could use a big ceiling fan in the center of the establishment and maybe add windows that let fresh air in. It was getting a bit warm in there as more people arrived and the wine flowed.
next steps
Swing by for authentic middle eastern deliciousness

I did not know babaganouj could taste like that.
I was craving middle eastern food yesterday night and so I decided to give the takeout from this place a try. It was so good, I ordered it again tonight. The delivery was lightning fast, and I found myself inhaling it with a remorseless glut, usually only reserved for pizza, burgers, or ice cream — I don’t know what addictive substance they are putting in the food at Black Iris, but it is totally working on me.
The hummus is incredible, creamy, with this mild, burnt sesame undertone. The babaganouj is epic (and I have honestly never cared about babaganouj before this moment). It’s smokey and creamy; it has this incredible wood-​fired quality, with the tiniest hint of eggplant in the aftertaste. The labana is tart, almost to the level of sour cream, but with a yogurt-​y smoothness. The felafel is crisp, spicy, and so yummy.
This is one of those places that I feel I can implicitly trust, and would order anything from because they just really, really know what they’re doing.
I’m currently stuffed (with left-​overs), and I’m still looking forward to eating it again.

Simple, good food! Great service last night, one guy, very nice, who was working his tail off. Great bang for your buck. $ 22 for a dinner for two, and BYOB!
Falafel platter was yummy, my favorite part was the pita, very light and thin, and super tasty.
All around good casual place to relax– we went in with gym clothes, and stayed for longer than normal, with no rush from the staff at all.

I really liked this place — it knows what it is and does it well. So the star isn’t suggesting this is the same as Per Se (for example), but more that it does its role very well.
We had lunch on a beautiful warm winter day (just finished walking through Fort Greene park), and the place was empty having just opened. Our friendly and attentive server was fun and interesting to talk with; he’s Egyptian and we talked about pronunciations of some works (gyro in particular).
We got the Labana which was awesome — and it came with an amazingly fresh, thin and tasty pita. This one came just from the oven, and we could see it hardening as it cooled. But we didn’t given it many chances, as we tore it apart to use for the yogurt/​oil/​and spice.
My lamb sandwich (gyro) was awesome — hot and fresh and well-​seasoned. Stacey’s chicken-​kebab was piping hot but the humus wasn’t our favorite; she liked the greek salad, too.
Overall, very nice neighborhood place with friendly staff and good, reasonably-​priced food. We paid $ 40 for a nice lunch (tip included, and no alcohol BYOB)).

In search of a good restaurant in Fort Greene, we followed Unilocal’s suggestion (like used the mobile locate function and picked the highest rated restaurant with more than 100 reviews and ended here.)
Black Iris is a Middle Eastern — more Turkish — restaurant in a neat part of Fort Greene. It’s BYOB — it’s cool just walk to the middle of the next block to get something to drink much cheaper than if they had it available for you. It’s also cash only, which is what it is. Just go to the ATM and take out the money. There’s one in the restaurant.
The food is a pretty fresh rendition of Turkish food. We had the Hummus. A little tahini heavy, but that’s a minor quibble. Also, I had the Lamb Kebob. The Lamb was great. They provided the same rice that I have determined is a staple of NYC restaurants but no where else other than the Rice-​A-​Roni corporate cafeteria and a light salad.
It was well-​done. No complaints. Not amazing, but good.
We also had the mint tea. That was actually very good. I’d strongly recommend that. The pita bread they make is exceptional though. They should feature that by itself. It’s made there and you should eat a lot of it.
But at night, the ambiance has enough edge to remind you that you are in the City, but not enough to disrupt the meal. Lots of folks walking and riding bikes away.
Last note, on the service, the server was excellent. She was super kind and generous and helped make the dining experience done well.
All in all a decent dining experience that offers decent food.

Black Iris exactly delivered what Unilocal was promising. Reasonably priced Middle Eastern food in a relaxed setting. I tried the Shish Kebab which comes with rice, hummus, salad, and grilled lamb. My friend ordered Chicken Kebab with the same sides. We were asked how we want the meat to be grilled and were brought fresh bread before the main (excellent Pita bread!). The meat was tasty and the overall portion size was satisfying.
However, from past visits to other Middle Eastern restaurants especially in Europe I missed having a variety of dips and sauces that comes with your bread, and I also experienced a bigger portion of meat.
However, Black Iris is a good place if you have a Kebab craving and I can definitely recommend it.