Arabesque

This place was okay – but I was expecting more.
I was running late and my friend waited at the bar for me. When I arrived she paid cash for her drink and the bartender put down her change as a $ 5 bill. No ones. He did that so she’d either have to ask for singles or tip him $ 5 (which she did – she’s too polite). I did NOT like that.
The inside is very narrow and leads into a spacious room in the back. The back room looks like a much better spot, but we were seated in the other area. The ambiance is nice and it looks like it’d be a good date place. We went on a Saturday night to see the belly dancing show, but it was one of the worst ones I’ve seen. She stayed out for about 10 minutes and spent most of the time in the back room where we couldn’t see her. Certainly not worth the trip if this is a big reason for choosing Arabesque.
The food was really good – we enjoyed every bit of it. I ordered a red wine with my dinner and it was the worst glass of red wine I have ever had. It was so bad that I asked the server to replace it (I have never sent back wine before). Although she replaced it with another red, both our waitress and the hostess/​manager (?) did their best to make me feel as uncomfortable about the whole situation as possible.
The staff/​servers were all a bit rude in my opinion. Overall, I wouldn’t bother returning.

First of all, I sat at the bar for 45 minutes waiting for my party and NOT ONCE was I acknowledged by the bar staff, who were definitely behind the bar, or even acknowledged by the host. When the party finally arrived the host made a fuss about getting us seated, as if we had not made a reservation in advance for the amount of people we had. The food looked and tasted bad and the hookah was well overpriced ($ 50), for no reason. I would not recommend this place at all. The staff needs to work on their customer service, the food needs to be better and the hookah price should be lowered. I will never go back.

Nice, laid back place. Been here a few times. Good food. Good drinks. And they have hookah in the back. The place has an authentic feel. And beautiful décor. The staff is also very friendly and accommodating. I am definitely coming back.

Awesome service! Yummy food. Great ambiance.
I had: Quinoa tabouli salad, spicy hummus, chicken apricot, lamb skewers. Whiskey cocktail that tasted like guava. Mint tea & a dessert that tasted like a gourmet frosted flake, made with rose water and yummy goodness

Great spot for lunch. Small tapas style plates to fill you up while sharing.
Hear they have belly dancing at night in back room/​lounge.

Beautiful Middle-​Eastern space in the back hosted my friend’s movie screening. Sexy place for a date and hookah lovers will likely be happy here. Scheherazade would be proud.
The drinks are decent, just don’t look for beers. Prices are rather stiff, but you pay for the space here.
Plenty of appetizing dishes on the menu. Lamentably I didn’t get to try any food.

I love this place! My friends and I visit fairly often and I’m a fan of the hookah here. I usually get the watermelon mint with the fruit head. Their red wine sangrias are great! I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

VERY disappointed. I went on a Saturday night to smoke some hookah, that wasn’t even that great. To make things worse, the service sucked — not once did anyone come to my section to simply ask «Is everything okay?» The icing on the cake was when I got the $ 70+ bill. The subpar hookah was $ 50, they charged me an extra $ 10 for the pineapple, AND they took a $ 10 tip, that they didn’t work for at all. I’ve been to several places in the city and smoked some GOOD hookah, and I’ve NEVER paid anywhere near this much. The food looked and smelled good, but that was it. I wouldn’t recommend coming here unless you like to smoke subpar-​overpriced hookah.

So I recognize we went with a large group but the waitress was a hot mess. She didn’t bring out enough plates or pita or glasses. She kept trying to give wine to the people who didn’t order it. In between if we asked her for something we had to wait 30 mins for it and remind her a couple more times. The orders came out wrong after getting what the waitress had suggested. The food was ok. I think the best part was the atmosphere. After 10 the belly dancers came out. The service greatly needs to be improved.

I think this place is great the food was awesome everyone loved what they ordered at the table. Great for a big group or a date the dim lighting is perfect the drinks are awesome they have hookahs and belly dancers that are very talented. I would definitely recommend this place my friend also hosted a lunch at this place and they had a nice selection of teas and the lunch was amazing. The staff was so friendly and catered to our every need such a nice way to end the week. I am sorry I didn’t write about this sooner but I am super busy. I had the fish which I thought was awesome and I couldn’t get enough of the hummus so yummy!!!

The food was good and the service was good in general. I was most disappointed and shocked about the price. They asked us for refills on our Diet Coke and we happily obliged. Little did we know that they would charge us for each Diet Coke. Our Diet Coke seriously cost us more than my lunch ($ 4×5 drinks = $ 20; my pizzette was $ 12). It would have been nice if they informed us of this ridiculous charge.

Great option for a late night dinner with some very creative cocktail options! The staff was very friendly and welcoming and gave several suggestions on what to order. I’m a little torn on the food because the salmon was average but the mushroom risotto was absolutely phenomenal!
Worth a visit on a late night when most others are closed.

If I had the chance to break down the stars into sections, I’d give Arabesque 5 for food, 5 for ambiance and 4 for service. I really like places that put effort into their ambiance and arabesque definitely did. Nice comfy pillows, fluffy hot bread and authentic hummus. A big screen in the back playing random scenes from old arabic movies and a DJ that arrived shortly before we left played some nice gypsy tunes that cherry-​on-​the-​topped the setup very well. The Manager was really nice and had a conversation with some of my friends. All in all, a very cozy spot to chill.
Hookah wasn’t worth the $ 50, though.

Highly enjoyed the atmosphere, music, hookah, service, and the food.
I found this spot on Unilocal because I was searching for a place to bring my family for the evening that’s a little more interesting than a typical restaurant. I was super excited to find out that they had a belly dancer performing that night.
We ordered a few different menu items. Everything was delicious, especially the lamb.
This place is very nice inside and great for an intimate dinner, date night, or just to spend time with friends. I will definitely be back for another fun evening.

Cool options, most notably the pineapple, but most expensive Hookah I’ve ever encountered! Not worth it at all in my opinion. But I didn’t get fodo so can’t speak to that.

So delightful and delicious. Atmosphere is pleasant, dark and intriguing. Salads, kabobs, traditional tea and dessert were fantastic. A highlight of our trip’s dining experiences.

This place is pretty delightful. Upon stepping in, you feel as though you are in another world… dim lighting, soft velour cushions, a sexy back room with black and white films, cozy nooks to sit in and beautiful cut out dividers. Very sexy and comfortable… genie in a bottle?
Besides the beautiful ambiance. the food is also very good and the portions are large. The pita is warm and fresh and goes very well with the delicious trio platter (hummus, babaganoush and a tomato based sauce). You could eat that alone and be happy. I must also say that there is a moroccan mint tea that is excellent and highly recommended. I had the feta pizza and have also had the mediterranean salad and shish kebabs… all of these were very, very good.
Recommended spot for an intimate lunch, a private business lunch or a date. Side note, the drink menu looks very appetizing (rose hibiscus martini) but I didn’t have the pleasure of sampling.
Will definitely be back to this little unknown, other worldy gem.

Beautiful, quiet, intimate space with authentic accents of Mediterranean culture. Comfortable seating (couches are so good for the tush), lightly dimmed, and soft music which are all great for conversations. Friendly, experienced wait staff… my glass was always full of water. Ahad was ah-​mazing! Very personable. We laughed so hard that we cried. He is so full of personality and enhanced our experience. Great place for a small group.
Delicious, Moroccan food. We ordered the Arabesque platter (hummus, babaganoush, & roasted green and red peppers with tomatoes. The unlimited pita bread was on point. My favorite was the babaganoush and the chakchouka.
Chicken brochette (chicken breast skewer marinated in paprika and cumin with a garlic yogurt mint sauce served with mixed greens and white bean salad) for $ 14 was healthy, so flavorful, and well-​balanced.
Members of my dinner party raved about the short ribs. I wish I sampled it myself… maybe next time.
I must say after this experience, I feel like a trip to India or Dubai is in order.

Friday night and I was craving delicious Mediterranean food and great hookah. Then I stumbled upon this hidden gem. From the moment I walked in I felt transformed. The décor was splendid and really lived up to the arabesque vibe. The further you walk in you end up in this almost cave like back room with live music.
We started off with the Tuna Avocado salad that was phenomenal as well as the Arabesque Quinoa Tabouli, which in my opinion, was decent but not the best. For main dish I chose the lamb chops and so glad I did! The meat was tender and full of flavor.
What I was really impressed by was the service and how on point it was. Extremely attentive and friendly.
Now to the hookah, we had the blue mist with the fresh pineapple head. The flavor was great and they kept the coils fresh. They had live Arabic music and singing which really set the vibe.
Overall– great place to go with friends or a unique date experience. Will most definitely be returning.

Surprisingly, my experience here was not as bad as I thought. I came to this place to meet up with a new contact, and I enjoyed the food and the vibe on a Saturday night. This place serves some Middle Eastern style food, and late at night they offer some live music and you can even do some smoking at this place.
The Beef Short Rib dish is a pretty good choice that you can buy for $ 20. Although the vegetables on the side of the dish were just ok, the beef itself was pretty good, and tasted really good with the rice. I also liked the flavor. As for drinks, I got a Riding on a Camel cocktail. I couldn’t remember what was in it, but it was sweet, and somewhat refreshing and it was not very strong in alcohol content. I thought it was a little overpriced at $ 14, but it’s probably a typical New York price for a drink at a somewhat nice place.
The new contact really likes to smoke hookah, which is pretty much inhaling smoked tobacco from a somewhat elegant and large pipe. I had a few smokes, but didn’t taste much flavor. The new contact is definitely much more skilled and was able to blow some smoke shapes out of the mouth. I probably would not come here just to smoke hookah unless I plan on eating at this place and I am with a large group of people. The music was fine, and the lady who took my order was nice. The place was pretty comfortable as well. You may need to talk very loud at this place, but not as loud compared to being in a very loud nightclub.
Overall, this is a decently good place if you are looking for a somewhat sophisticated setting, some good food with some hookah to smoke. I probably would not come back here again with a small group of people, but if there’s a large group with a good amount of cash that really wants to eat some food and smoke some hookah in New York, I probably would take them to this place.