Would not surprise me if people like this place too but also have hunch will get some sour apples..
Yes, people like the food here but again this is one of those places where there are complaints about the service..
Ali Baba's Terrace
862 2nd Ave
(between 46th St & 47th St)
New York, NY 10017
Neighborhood: Midtown East
(212) 888-8622
(between 46th St & 47th St)
New York, NY 10017
Neighborhood: Midtown East
(212) 888-8622
- Nearest Transit Station:
-
Grand Central - 42 St. (7, 7X)51 St. (4, 6, 6X)Grand Central - 42 St. (4, 5, 6, 6X)
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
- $$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual, Classy
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Dogs Allowed:
- No
60 reviews for Ali Baba's Terrace
Review Highlights What's this?
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"Then I ordered the chef's mix of meats with rice for the entree." In 3 reviews
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"My table started with Spinach Tarator dip, which is yogurt-based..." In 2 reviews
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"Four stars for the venue, and great rooftop space in the warm weather." In 8 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
60 reviews in English
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Review from Chad S.
Escape to fabulous Ali Baba's terrace. I favor the outdoor rooftop patio on a comfortable summer's night. A glass of refreshing white and a platter of Mediterranean appetizers -- hummus, eggplant, tahini, spinach, etc -- fresh and delicious. -
Review from Aaron W.
Brooklyn, NYIt wasn't easy, but I've managed to reverse-engineer Ali Baba's recipe for every vegetarian dish on the menu:
1. Chop vegetables and put them in a pot
2. Add thin tomato broth
3. Boil till vegetables fall apart
I had the lunch special with the Palaki (cold appetizer of pinto beans, potatoes, & carrots) and the Turlu (vegetables in broth with rice), and they were both basically the same thing -- just some badly overcooked vegetables in a bland broth. The service was friendly but very slow (even though I arrived before the lunch crowd) and they didn't bother to bring change when I paid the bill in cash until I asked, instead preferring to believe I'd left them a 25% tip for the mediocre service.
Maybe the meat dishes are better, but vegetarians should look elsewhere. -
Review from Gulru O.
Midtown East, Manhattan, NYIt is so unfortunate that as a Turkish person I need to give the lowest rating to a Turkish restaurant. I really love their Adana durums so I tried to place an order by phone. I ordered exactly 3 Adana durums and what I received at the door was only 1!
Later on, I tried to call them at least 30 times and apparently no one picked up the phone, it turned out that the line was busy.. Then I tried to call the other Ali Baba restaurant. The lady there was even more interesting. When I asked her whether they have an additional phone number for Ali Baba Terrace she told me that she is busy and she said "byeeee". Finally somebody picked it up at Ali Baba Terrace, the lady didnt even apologize when I explained the situation and said that they dont have adana durums anymore!! I will never ever go to this restaurant... -
Review from Jim C.
Manhattan, NYWhat a great find!
Highly recommend, especially the babaganush and the lamb Adana. -
Review from Ryan F.
- Four stars for the venue, and great rooftop space in the warm weather.
- Subtract one star because prices are a bit high and portions are a bit small.
- Add one star back because they left the potatoes out of my recent delivery, but sent a guy back to my apartment with a side order to make up for the gaffe.
I ordered the Terrace Sauté (pic: http://www.yelp.com/biz_…) consisting of lamb, fresh onion, and green peppers and mushrooms, all over potatoes & a tasty yogurt sauce. While it was very tasty and literally DOUSED in zesty sauce, I was hungrily dipping my side bread into the sauce shortly after devouring the full entree. I probably could have used another whole animal in there, but I digress.-
Terrace sauté - lamb, fresh onion, green peppers and mushro…
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Review from Jonathan N.
New Orleans, LAAli Bab's Terrace definitely deserves more than three stars, so I'm doing my part to spread the good word. Kinda like Jehovah's Witnesses, except not really.
But if you want a good Turkish meal, this is the place for you. The menu contains all the usual Middle Eastern staples, prepared expertly and served beautifully. My table started with Spinach Tarator dip, which is yogurt-based deliciousness served with warm bread. If you're smart you'll save the extra to eat with your entree too.
And while we're on entrees, here's some more advice: go with the lamb. Nobody does lamb like Middle Easterners do lamb. So tender, so tasty, so good. But do remember to save room for dessert; the rice pudding was refreshing and not too heavy.
As I attended late on a Sunday night, the rooftop terrace was not open, but I hear good things. I'll be back. I suggest you visit too. -
Review from Ryan R.
*this review is strictly for the happy hour on the roof patio.*
$5 wines & a free app! Great deal, especially when you can also take advantage of their rooftop patio on a warm, spring day. They have a decent selection of wines to choose from as well.
I'm not very familiar with mid-town east, but Jaime H. had been wanting to try this place for a while. It's a super great deal!
And if you're gluten-free like me, they give you enough apps that you can eat without difficulty. They do serve pita, though, so just don't eat that.
I bet this place will be hopping in the summer! -
Review from Enis U.
Brooklyn, NYStyle over substance is the best way to summarize it. The service is good but the problem is being charged too much for the lamb meat dish which has not been cooked with care and thus below average taste and chewy. The main reason I wrote this review is to warn Turkish people. I took my Spanish friends there to introduce Turkish cuisine but both of the signature dishes we ordered were failure. 'Manti', Turkish ravioli, a dish that is quite hard to screw up, was actually contained a lot of dried mint so you could barely taste the manti behind the mint and yoghurt was nearly liquid. The 'Begendi' was a DISASTER! the eggplant mix beneath was looser than yoghurt, including tooooooo much cream and cheese, that cheese was stretching out when you pull it away from the plate with your fork. It didn't taste anything like 'Begendi'. Also the meat was warm I instead of hot and also chewy. Long story short failed as far as the Turkish cuisine goes. -
Review from Jaime H.
*This review is only for happy hour
Such a good rooftop spot in Midtown! This place is seriously affordable for happy hour (if you can make it before 6pm). Each happy hour drink comes with a cold appetizer. Wine/draft beer are $5 and mojitos, martinis, sangria, and margaritas are $7. The cold appetizers include a basket of bread and hummus, spicy vegetables, or my personal favorite - the Spinach Tarator ~yogurt dip with sautéed fresh spinach and garlic. There are two bars so you can choose between inside (downstairs) or outdoor seating (on a rooftop) and there is plenty of seating. The service is extremely friendly and timely. I'll be back plenty this summer!-
Happy hour $5 wine with free appetizer
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Review from Pia M.
I'm shocked that this place only has 3 stars... I somewhat recently moved to the neighborhood and have quickly fallen in love with this restaurant. It doesn't look like much from the outside (inside's okay) but you come here for the food and the amusing waiters - seriously everyone from the bus boy to the manager cracks me up. Hands-down some of the most delicious Turkish food I have ever eaten... and I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in Istanbul thanks to my Turkish friends.
Your meal starts off with homemade, sesame seed covered bread which is yummy (but filling so pace yourself). The Babaganoush is perfect for an appetizer. For your entree, if you want to try a little bit of everything (and are not a vegetarian), go for the Chef's Mix grilled meat platter (it's big enough for 2 people to share) or stick with the Tavuk Sis (Chicken Shish) if you're not really a red meat kinda person. I don't think I've ever tasted such succulent shish kebab. You must end your dinner with their baklava - it's the MOST AMAZING baklava I've ever tasted (trust me on this).
When you finish dinner, they give you shots of coffee liquer... AKA Cafe Patron. My friend and I had to actually tell them one time that we didn't want the shots (shocking, I know) because we were so full.
Either way, if you like mediterranean/Turkish food, def go here... you won't be sorry. I took my foodie parents here a month ago and they won't stop talking about it. -
Review from Robyn Y.
Schwenksville, PAThe baba ghoush is the best in the whole world!!! All the meats are so tender and juicy. My fave spot -
Review from Tia T.
Manhattan, NYA decent Mediterranean restaurant improved by the fact that they have a rooftop dining area.
Vegetable turlu was nothing special. The dips platter was huge and my group of 5 had leftovers. -
Review from Melodie M.
NY, NYI had an excellent experience on the terrace last night... It was a perfect Sunday afternoon with clear skies and a slight breeze. I was out with my Turkish peeps and all we wanted was to drink some raki and share some mezze somewhere outdoors.
5 of us arrived around 7:30pm while our reservation was for 8 people. They seated us within 5 minutes anyway. Then, the rest of our group started trickling in until we ended up being 10 people and they were still accommodating!
They didn't have their liquor license yet so they let us bring our own raki (which is quite common) and when we finished our bottle the owner just gave us a bottle he had lying around.
We sat there on the terrace at prime time for three and a half hours and only ordered mezze, no mains. Even though we were, drunk, loud and rowdy, the servers still treated us like royalty. Now I am half Turkish and my friends know the owner, but I've been to other establishments with similar hook-ups and have never been treated this well.
As for the food, I tried the sigara borek, cerkez chicken, fried liver, kasap kofte, grilled calamari, acili ezme, salad, feta cheese and honeydew melon. All the dishes were authentic and good. The honeydew melon was superb.
We ended up with a $250 bill for 10 people. Granted we didn't order mains and were gifted a bottle of liquor but still, that's pretty reasonable! -
Review from Anka L.
Brooklyn, NYI'll never even consider going to Ali Baba's again. Horrible service-our waiter was giving us looks full of hate and was very rude,hostess was extremely bitchy. When the waiter messed up our order he didn't even bother to apologize, all we got is an "OOPS" and a weird, sadistic smile. The food made all 3 of us sick,although it didn't taste terrible-it was just really heavy and greasy.
Bottom line-don't be fooled by the nice looking terrace and run away from that vortex of bad experience as fast as you can! -
Review from Hideki K.
New York, NYI came to Ali Baba a year ago with the Squab when they first opened, with http://Restaurant.com coupon in hand. They informed us that their ties with the discount site were severed and thus our coupon was rendered useless. We decided to give it a shot anyway.
The food was decent and better than we expected. We had kebabs and even an appetizer sampler with babaganoush and other spreads.
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