Palmyra

I called 5 times over the course of a half hour and still no answer. «Hmmm» I wondered, «what gives??»
I walked by on Saturday and your windows were papered up, with building permits taped to the windows. The door was cracked and the dining room was empty, except for workers and the sounds of hammers and drills. Gone without a proper goodbye.
Wha???
You left before i could write a glowing review. I will miss your 5 apps for $ 10 (I always got the olives, foul medames, babaganoush, hummus and muharama). You had perfectly crisp, non-​oily falafel, creamy humus and the absolute best smokey tasting babganoush. I preferred you a million times over to other local Middle Eastern places. Now what will I do?
:insert sad face here:

I’ll be upfront — I know the owner. But if something was amiss I’d feel guitly not altering my fellow Unilocalers to the issue.
That having been said, I really enjoyed the food here.
The tomatoes in my salad were the freshest I’ve had in a long time. I might be in love with the babaganoush. I also tried something that sounded odd but was worth the risk — I don’t remember the name but it was some sort of pizza with pistachios on it. And don’t miss the puffy bread (forget the name of it), but be careful when taking the first piece, I almost got a steam burn.
It really seemed like a friendly neighborhood place, a lot of the other diners seemed to be regulars. And there was they were a fairly diverse group — a couple with their toddler (well behaved toddler), hipsters, older married/​dating couples, etc. It was comfortable. And was some of the best Mediterranean food I’ve had outside of Israel and Turkey.

This place looked cute but the food was not impressive. We ordered the 5 dip platter and chose an eggplant dish, a humus, a yogurt & babaghanoush. We also ordered the falafel platter and a shepherd salad.
When the dips came out I was disappointed, they looked really yummy but didn’t taste that great. I think if I went to a grocery store and bought a container of Sabras humus it would have tasted better. The olives weren’t fresh and the yogurt sauce was too watery. The bread was fresh and warm, probably the only part of the meal that was definitely made right when we got there.
When the falafel came out, it was so overcooked and fried that I had to press down with both hands on my fork just to slice it in half. Fail. It also was dry and not tasty at all. Lastly, the shepherds salad… maybe because we just got over a hurricane or maybe there was no fresh tomatoes but it was so watery and soggy and old tasting.
Overall this place is cheap and the quality to me just isn’t there. I would rather order from Tutt Café or go to a place like Sahadi’s for olives etc.

Good spot, my go-​to for take-​out, but best enjoyed during the summer in their outdoor area where you can B-​Y-​O. The staff is very friendly and generous, and the food tasty.

I went here with 2 friends and we had a great time ordering a bunch of vegetarian mezzes. everything was quite tasty, especially the babaganoush, spicy potatoes, and falafel. surprisingly the hummus was a bit… I don’t know, standard? it just didn’t excel in comparison to the other dishes.
anyway it’s BYOB, service is friendly, and it’s delicious. go for it.

My girlfriend and I figured we’re catch a matinée and have some lunch in Cobble Hill yesterday. On this extremely hot day, we walked by this place with a small billboard that said, «Lunch Specials starting at 5 dollars!»
So we decided to walk in and give the menu a look. They had platters which included salad, hummus, baba ganoush, rice, a meat (or vegetarian) entrée of your choice for 6.50. I went with the lamb sausage and she went with the kafta.
While we waited for our food, I went next door and bought a bottle of wine. While we drank our wine (which the waiter kindly opened for us) from nice wine glasses (they brought), we couldn’t help but notice how nice the décor was on the inside.
The food came with freshly toasted Pita. It was amazing. I’ve never had such fine tasting lamb sausage and my girlfriend’s kafta was moist and amazing. The only thing I found wrong was that the meat portions were not very generous, but considering how big the plates were, it was a minor complaint. If anything it’s now whetting our appetites for an eventual stop for dinner sometime in the future.
All this for the low price of 6.50? I guess they don’t get much traffic during lunch because the food here fantastic and I can’t see it being slow for dinner. I would’ve given it 5 stars had the meat in the lunch portions been bigger, but I’ll do a dinner stop and try that out in the future.

From the outside, this place looks somewhat cheesy, but don’t let that deter you, as the atmosphere inside is warm, the food is solid, and the service is great.
My favorite dish was the stuffed cabbage leaves — similar to a dolma, but better (and I love dolmas). The lamb was excellent as well and the entire meal was quite satisfying.
We didn’t order any pizza, but the few that went by our table looked very tasty.
My two small gripes: The cucumber/​yogurt salad tasted good, but the consistency was very thin and I think describing it as a chilled soup or sauce would be more apropos. We also ordered the beet salad off the cold mezze menu, and while I love vinegar, it’s presence in this dish was a little too strong for me.
The fava bean mezze, however, is certainly worth a second trip.
I would definitely dine here again and will most likely be a consistent delivery customer as well (though it would be a shame to miss out on the kind and welcoming service that comes with enjoying your meal at the restaurant).
By the way, our bill came to $ 25.50 for 2 people — and we left here stuffed.

I got the recession lunch special for take out. I was also charged $ 7 for the $ 5 special. When I got home I opened the bag to find the saddest looking kafta. As I ate this piece of kafta I mourned for its sad life, I thought of its probable oppressive, unloved childhood, and then here I was oppressing it further by resenting its failure to properly be my expectations of a kafta. Sadface. RIP Palmyra kafta.
If you’re in the neighborhood, and craving Mediterranean/​Middle Eastern fare, you are so, so close to better food. See Zaytoons on Smith (good), Waterfalls Café on Atlantic (better) or Bedouin Tent (best).

I give this place 4 stars because of what you can get for the money.
Firstly, there’s a great wine store next door. Pick up a nice Cabernet for $ 10, Palmyra will open it and provide wine glasses.
The food is pleasant (nothing out of the ordinary) and the portions are just the right size. But the prices in the region of $ 6 — $ 10, great for what you get. The $ 2 baklava makes for a delicious dessert.
The pleasant outdoor seating and fountain out back gives the place a nice atmosphere in the summer.

3 stars.
I ordered delivery from Palmyra yesterday evening.
Stuffed grape leaves, zaatar bread, bastilla and the chicken kebab platter for me and my woman, with some baklava for later.
I’m from DC, where many a middle eastern restaurant exists, and I’ve been to the places in the world where this type of Mediterranean cuisine is all you’ve got to choose from, and I’m kind of a critic of the different cuisines of the area, liking the offerings of one country over another. I’d be surprised to learn that the proprietors are not Lebanese or Syrian from the taste of the menu items.
I’ll do a lil wiki wiki on some of the stuff that a novice eater might benefit from knowing in this review.
The grape leaves are just like most other dolmades out there, but these are stuffed with rice, seasonings and small pieces of meat and packed in oil.
Chicken kebab platter comes with a green salad, rice, a few pieces of chicken, babaganoush and pita.
Throw some eggplant on hot coals, turn em over a few times, add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and spices of your liking and blend together and you have babaganoush. The babaganoush (how in the hell do you spell that, anyway?), was really good because it tasted like the eggplant had been roasted over an open flame before it was made and not just boiled or sauteed as it sometimes can be found.
The zaatar bread (a thin pizza-​like crust spread with zaatar, which is several savory herbs with olive oil, garlic and sesame seeds among other things) disappeared into it as a dip and it was all gone in no time.
The chicken was kinda fatty and gristle-​y. It was decently flavored, but no one does kebabs like the Afghans and I openly admit my bias in that regard. My bad. Levant kebabs just can’t fuck with the Afghan recipe and methods of preparation. I needed more pita, as I only got one plate-​sized pita with my dinner.
The bastilla was good, though it’s hard to top Marrakech for this dish. We were hoping for a little more of it, but it was only about $ 10.
If you like chicken, scrambled eggs, almonds, cinnamon and a slightly sweet pastry crust, this Moroccan specialty beats the crap out of a chicken pot pie AND you eat it with your hands, not a knife & fork. Sometimes you’ll see it spelled «bisteeya» or «pastilla” — same thing.
The baklava (everybody knows what that is by now, right?) was not bad at all, and plenty for 2 people.
Dinner was $ 37 delivered, which is decent and almost cheap considering how much food that was, and I will keep Palmyra in the rotation for delivery, but no more kebabs for me.

Went here for lunch on a cold snowy day, and much to my delight, both the décor and the actual temperature were extremely warm and inviting!
Their lunch prices are literally hard to beat, i had a huge meal for $ 8. Go the chicken kabob platter, with hummus AND babagnoush, and their homemade pita came straight out of the oven, piping hot, and was completely delicious.
had a great lunch experience here, will definitely be going back, and am excited for a dinner here!