Ali Baba’s Turkish Cuisine

Tasty but way overpriced. Gotta try the second floor at some point for the view. How many words does Unilocal require more words yay.

Wonderful service! I recommend going to the roof terrace, which is lovely. They have a selection of Turkish wines, which I wasn’t familiar with, however, I gave the server a description of what I look for in a wine and asked him to select a Turkish one for me. He did a wonderful job and I enjoyed the wine heartily. I will be back!

Love the 2^nd story terrace for dining!
Ali Baba’s is consistently good. The menu is Turkish and Mediterranean. On a nice day walk the stairs to the second level for al fresco dining. There is a cover but the breezes feel wonderful and in the winter it can be sealed off for comfort with a view. There are many delicious menu items but the choices can be overwhelming so if you happen to be there for lunch turn to the very back of the menu for a great prix fixe lunch — pick from a choice of appetizers and an entrée for under $ 20. If you would like to pair it with wine, the package offers that option for even $ 20, a price that is very hard to beat in midtown!
For Appetizers, the hummus and the eggplant were very fresh and tasty. Our entrees consisted of the chicken shish kabob and the lamb — both were excellent. The service is quietly efficient and helpful.
This is one of my go-​tos for predictably good food and a great outdoor dining experience!

Spinach tarator, doner kebab, Adana kebab, and more. There are other turkish options on this bit of 2^nd Ave but this is my favoirite.

We were there for mother’s with a group of 8 people. Comparison to the old location on 34^th street I believe it lacks on many different ways.
Even though menu indicates dishes such as variety of pides and my favorite lahmacun they don’t serve this because they are not setup with the oven that they need.
Service unfortunately was lagging (this could be due to being Mother’s Day).
Even though the food was as good to the most part (except doner (gyro) which was dry and looked like it was shredded).
I felt the portions were smaller and prices seemed higher.
Overall it was an underwhelming experience. I wanted to love it and not miss the old location but I think I have to look for a new place to love.

So glad we decided to come here. The terrace was beautiful, we were seated right next to the window. Staff was very welcoming and friendly. Everything we ordered came out on spot! I ordered the chicken kebab, as I always do, and had asked for it to be cooked well done. Perfect! Hummus was delicious and creamy and flavored just enough, not too much or too little of anything. Ezme was flavorful and just the right amount of spicey! They did not have the kazandibi that we had hoped for, but in place we received a complimentary plate of baklava. Very kind of them. Normally I do not like baklava as it is too sweet for me, but wow this was yummy!!! I may have converted back to liking it :)) Turkish coffee was yum, and of course gave me just enough perk to get up and walking around the city again! Had a great time, would love to come back and thank you for the lovely experience!

SAD :-(
We came here upon learning the 34^th St. location had closed. The terrace is picturesque (although 34^th St. felt more intimate & polished). The big difference is the food. It was awful.
The eggplant salad (patlican saltasi) wasn’t smokey or creamy. The iskender kebap was unevenly heated, not sliced well, and tasted as if covered in pasta sauce. The only good item was the Uludağ Gazoz.
Eating at the 34^th St. location reminded me of living in Turkey as a kid. Apparently this location’s under the same ownership. Hopefully, he can regain the magic; especially given the prices. I’d love to go back.

Had lunch at this particular location of Ali Baba on Saturday… but it doesn’t measure up (or even come close) to the 34^th street location, which unfortunately just closed.
Ambiance: Mostly empty on a Saturday at 1:30pm. While we had a nice window-​side table, the restaurant had a terrible smell (water leak maybe?), which was difficult to overcome. Additionally, the entire place needed a good clean as it was quite dirty.
Service: Servers were nice and food came out relatively quickly.
Food: Not nearly as good as Ali Baba on 34^th.
– Pilaki was watery and thin.
– Grape leaves were good, not really worth the price though.
– Complimentary bread was dry and stale.
– Mediterranean salad was good… was it worth $ 13? No way.
– Husband and daughter both ordered chicken shish and enjoyed it.
Overall: Maybe we’ll order for delivery but I doubt we’ll return to the restaurant due to the smell and dirt factor. There are too many better Turkish restaurants in this city.

I ordered home delivery. Was fast and warm. I ordered Sautéed Mix Vegetables, it’s coming with rice and a slice of bread.

The second floor seating is gorgeous. The food is mostly Turkish with, according to me, a heavy Lebanese influence. Came here after a UN event with the panelists and sponsors, and had a wonderful lunch.
We all shared the following:
Sharing Plate (large)
This is a platter of tons of dips – hummus baba, baba ghanouj, tzatziki, and more. Each one was super tasty and done right.
Tabouli
Did not even try, so much bulgur and looked dry.
Grilled Calamari
Yummy, though thin little rings. White creamy sauce was amazing.
Grilled Shrimp Salad
Tasty, very nice flavor on the shrimp but a bit tough.
Cigar Rolls
Aka cheese borek. Sooooo delicious. Really crispy and chewy dough and amazing cheese inside.
Kibbe
Really yummy, had a wonderful addition that I am not used to, maybe sweet red pepper, in the outside part.
Chef’s Platter
Selection of 4 meats, with small-​ish portions of each. Great for sharing. Chicken and lamb chop were juicy and delicious. Lamb kebab was sort of dry. Did not get to try the gyro meat or the sides.
Overall, the food was delicious, with a few flukes, but not enough to mask the yumminess of everything else. The service was kind of lacking, but not horrible. However, it is 4 stars because the upstairs seating is just amazing; it is so beautiful inside, with lots of natural light, and most of the diners that day were coming from UN functions and dressed very sharply in suits and ties.
For this relatively chic ambience, the price was amazing. We split all of the above items (ordering 2 of the Chef’s platters) between 6 people and payed just under 200 dollars before tip. I don’t know of anywhere else in the city where you can get the sort of «executive dining room» feel for this low of a price. This would be a great place to take anyone visiting at the UN. It also looked like they host private events there, and I think the space would be fabulous for something like an engagement party or wedding shower.

I have been here previously about four different times and the best thing I can say is that they are hit and miss. Tonight they missed for the last time. We came on Saturday at around 8:00 and the place was not crowded. I would say maybe six other tables. We sat down and ordered the zucchini pancakes which were delicious but we should have known something was up when they took 30 minutes to come out. They were piping hot and tasty though so it was okay.
Dinner was not. We had ordered dinner at the same time that we ordered the appetizer and we wait another 45 minutes for the dinner to come out. That was an hour and 15 minutes after sitting down. My boyfriend got the shrimp casserole which he really enjoyed because it was hot but mine was terrible. I ordered the donor kabob and the thing about lamb is that once it cools it’s gets greasy. It was cold, greasy, and hard. The vegetables and the rice were the same. I was quite hungry by that point so I ate but I won’t go back. There are at least three Turkish places within five blocks and I’d rather try something new. 2 stars for the bad miss tonight.

Came here and was disappointed for a variety of reasons. First of all, this type of food is usually amazing. Here, it was lackluster. I found my dish watery. My husband wanted a drink refill and trying to flag someone down was impossible. At one point we went to ask one of the girls, who brought out food for another table, what it was, and the men working literally tripped over their feet to run over and take over the conversation. Just odd. We couldn’t find our waiter at the end to get the check so that was another annoyance. Try for yourself, maybe each experience is different.

Great quality of service and food was amazing ! We had ordered a Gyro Kebab, it was fresh and juicy. Also, salad was great and the dressings were excellent. Restaurant has a beautiful terrace and a perfect fit for large meetings and for special events.
We definitely would like to come again. Highly recommended !

Had drinks and appetizers at the bar. Drinks were good but not as large as I would like. The hummus was excellent. Had some lamb too and enjoyed it. Would definitely go again.
In fact I met a couple at the bar and we had a wonderful conversation about them visiting their son and I was waiting to meet my daughter. Nice family feel to the place.

I honestly don’t understand all of the negative comments here. My dad and I went out to dinner on a Monday night and the service and food were both amazing. We both split Mediterranean salad and we both had the chicken sheesh. Maybe it’s because the place isn’t very busy or maybe it’s because there’s new management?, but all I know is this place is not nearly as bad as all the most recent commenters made it out to be.

Good food and great for lunch! Went on a work lunch with colleagues and enjoyed the top level terrace area while eating. They have great lunch specials, I got the eggplant salad with the chicken adana… great choice. They give you bread and olive oil to dip it in as well, but overall the meal is just right and not too much food where you feel overstuffed.

The service at this place is impeccable. There is a second floor seating option where you can overlook the nearby street with heat lamps so that the windows don’t make it too cold. The waiter immediately brings you fresh, warm bread and water. So delicious.
We ordered the cigar rolls which were phenomenal, and I ordered the Doner kebab while my boyfriend ordered the iskander kebab. Both of our meats were a little dry but otherwise the meal was good. They were very fast with our food and extremely nice, constantly refilling our waters, and brought the check very quickly when we asked.
One thing I will note is that the bathrooms are all the way in the basement! If you are handicapped or otherwise unable to climb a lot of stairs, this may not be the best option for you, although they might have another restroom that I am simply unaware of.
Overall we had a superb experience for a reasonable price, and I would definitely go back!

1 stars because people where smoking cigars in the restaurant with impunity. In 2015, this is inacceptable.
We were seating in the upper floor and after a while started to notice a strong cigar smell. It was hurting my lungs and giving me a headache. When I complained to the waiter, he offered to seat us downstairs instead of asking the smoker to stop smoking.
There was no signs that this is a smoking place and I don’t think it is even legal to allow patrons to smoke in a restaurant (see the notice from NY state:
).
There are other good turkish places in NYC so no need to come to this place and get intoxicated with 2^nd hand smoking.
I have been to the ali baba on 34^th street many times a few years ago and remember having a good experience.

I’ve come here specifically to warn against the extremely disappointing carrot salad, priced at $ 13 (?!) for a small. Fine, at $ 13 I guess it must be good.
…The salad is literally a big bowl of chopped up raw carrots, drizzled in straight white vinegar and topped with a few cherry tomatoes and 2 lemon wedges. It was dry, harsh, and very hard to eat. I think the menu was rather misleading about it… or perhaps very literal. Carrot salad = literally a salad of JUST carrots, nothing else. I won’t deny that it was at least aesthetically impressive.

It’s the second time that I experience terrible customer service at this place. First time we had gone with a group of friends, ordered entrees for 8 people, they had messed up our orders, brought food for 2 people and made everyone else wait for 15 minutes. When the food arrived, 2 other people had wrong orders, the salad arrived at the end, it was a mess.
This time we went in with another couple and the waiter Dogan started to speak turkish to us, so out of respect we continued in turkish. I ordered a soup and an appetizer, after taking everyone’s order, he turned to me and asked if I want to order any yemek (means food in turkish as opposed to Ana yemek, which means main entrée). I said I already ordered food and asked whether he did take my order or not. In a very rude way he said he knows what I ordered and it wasn’t yemek. Really confused, I said I will have those two only and wanted to repeat my order. He said he is asking a normal question, that’s his job and continued with a lecture, as if I’m the one who’s stupid. At this point, we were really pissed by this rude and snobbish attitude and decided to leave. I said I will report to the manager and he in a rude way said ‘go tell whoever you want’. We left. Never coming back.

Alert: The appetizers are great, the entrees are pretty bad.
It may seem strange that I even dined in this terrible location, but please note, I had an event to attend. It was raining, so they enclosed the upstairs terrace with glass. Last time I was in Istanbul, it was raining and similarly dreary but I had a GREAT meal, so I envisioned I was back at Balikci Sabahattin
to block out scenes of the blasé neighborhood. Bad idea.
In my experience, catered sit-​down, formal, restaurant events are where the chefs/​managers try to put their best foot forward. I was able to try various menu items and my conclusion was that this is a 3 star restaurant. No more, no less.
THE GOOD (in order):
1) Borek Cigar Rolls: This was the best. Served fresh and warm. The cheese to phyllo ratio was excellent. I could have eaten these all night, but summer is just around the corner.
2) Olive oil with Black Olives served with fresh Turkish Bread: The olive oil was high quality and the bread was fresh, warm and melted in your mouth with the olive oil. Ditto to what I said above regarding eating these all night.
3) From the mixed appetizer plate: Ezme (spicy mashed vegetables), Cacik, Baba Ganoush, Eggplant Salad, Eggplant w/​Tomato sauce, Hummus.
4) Shepherd’s Salad — Light but flavorful with olive oil and lemon dressing.
5) Bird’s nest with pistachio: This dessert was moist, not too sweet (shocking), not too drenched, not too large, and a great way to end the meal.
THE BAD:
1) From the mixed appetizer plate: Red beans, (barely) stuffed grape leaves.
2) Okra/​Bamya Entrée: This vegetarian entrée was dull and lacked the flavor that I know vegetarian Turkish food is capable of. I took two bites and I was over it.
3) Grilled Meat Platter: ANECDOTAL ALERT: I do not eat meat, but this is based on those sitting around me. It was just «ok», according to them. Another guest said, «It was fine». I translate that to mean bad.
4) Tea: I know, I just put the tea on the bad list at a Turkish restaurant… THAT is pretty bad.
THE UGLY:
1) Tilapia Entrée: I did not realize the fish was Tilapia. I rarely order this fish due to how dirty it is. The potatoes under the fish were stale, old and seriously God awful. I took a few bites. I spit the first one out. Then tried another, and spit that one out.