Lebanese food seems to go over big in Manhattan
ilili
236 5th Ave
(between 27th St & 28th St)
New York, NY 10001
Neighborhood: Flatiron
(212) 683-2929
(between 27th St & 28th St)
New York, NY 10001
Neighborhood: Flatiron
(212) 683-2929
- Nearest Transit Station:
-
28 St. (N, R)28 St. (4, 6, 6X)23 St. (N, R)
- Hours:
- Mon-Fri 12 pm - 3 pmMon-Wed 5:30 pm - 10:30 pmThu-Fri 5:30 pm - 11:30 pmSat 12 pm - 11:30 pmSun 12 pm - 10:30 pm
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
- $$$
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
1021 reviews for ilili
Review Highlights What's this?
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"Hands down the BEST brussel sprouts eva eva." In 143 reviews
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"Yelpers do not lie, the candy bar is a chocoholic's wet dream." In 120 reviews
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"Dessert was a Lebanese Snowball, aka Halva with pistachio sauce." In 250 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
- A Yelpy Insight: Vegetarians go nuts for this spot. See more places they like.
1020 reviews in English
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Review from Iryna B.
Falls Church, VAI don't even know where to begin:
1. Interior is great, the restaurant is spacious and nicely designed. It has a lounge/bar area and a restaurant area. Lots and lots of mirrors. Honestly, I got lost on the way out of their unisex (i think) bathroom. If it's not unisex, it means I got lost in the men's bathroom...oh gosh! So yeah, I was just standing in front of one of the doors laughing at myself because I ended up getting lost in a bathroom with a bunch of mirrors! How ridiculous is that! Same happened to my bf! That made our day!
2. Food. My friend is middle eastern and he knows how middle eastern food is supposed to taste. We ordered a bunch of appetizers (6 or 8) and basically "inhaled" each of them. They were sooo yummy! We also ordered knafah (or kunafeh) that is normally being made from scratch upon ordering and is served with a sugar syrup on top. Well, the ilili's knafah seems to be the best we have ever tried. Both of us. It comes with an orange blossom syrup which makes it absolutely delicious!
Our waitress also mentioned that one of their regulars travels from Philly once a month to eat knafah and order one to go. Quite a commitment let me tell you!
3. Service is awesome. Our waitress was very friendly and outgoing. We absolutely loved her!
Here is the verdict: my middle eastern friend said the food tastes like nothing he ever tried before and the place is worth talking about for years! Make sure to make a reservation though, it is highly popular among hungry New Yorkers! :0) -
Review from Shradha A.
Chicago, ILFood was amazing! Being vegetarian, we stuck to mezzes so we tried hummus, babaghanoush, phoenician fries, falafel and the lentil thing. All the items were great but especially the falafel. Pita was on the thicker side.
Service was slow, impatient and erratic. -
Review from Gaël H.
New York, NYArranged to have a surprise birthday party here for the lady with 13 people. I booked a week in advance and increased the reservation a few times and they were perfectly accommodating. At the last minute, more people arrived but, again, ilili staff were great and accommodated everyone in the lounge - really appreciate their flexibility.
Once there and settled everyone started off with a mix of dips - hummus, baba ganoush, Brussel Sprouts all around. Tasty! I wish the pita had been warmed. Also, drinks were a bit slow to roll out, but I think the server was spread thin so no fault there.
For mains, I had the chicken kebabs, others had assorted mezzes. My dish was quite tasty, though I can't say it was outstanding. The star of the table was the gnocchi. It definitely gave me order envy.
Overall, the food was solid, though perhaps a bit pricey for what it was. The service, although slow at times, was great and the servers friendly. Very nice experience -
Review from Meagan S.
Seattle, WAThis is going to be an interesting review, so hold on tightly.
I scoped this place out as somewhere I thought my mother and I would have a nice night out when we were visiting NYC this past August. They seemed to be gluten-free friendly, and based on other Yelpers, I figured this was a good middle of the road / just fancy enough without being grossly expensive kind of place, with good food and atmosphere.
We made a reservation, and it was walking distance from our hotel. We were seated immediately upon arriving, but were taken upstairs into an interesting upper room where it was small, the tables and booths were very close to eachother, and head room was minimal. We were seated at a single booth / table combo, but the other tables were definitely less than 24" away on either side, so I new as the night went on it was going to be interesting, ie, we were going to get squished and be able to hear other conversations clearly.
The water/bus boy asked us if we wanted anything to drink, to which I replyed "water," to which he replied "what kind?" This kind of stumped me, but it's New York, so I guess people spend lots of different money other forms of water since tap water isn't good enough for them, when tap water is actually better for you than bottled water. I was obviously flustered and just said, "what other kind of water is there?" to which he replied, "some people ask for sparkling," and I said "no." Seriously, if I had wanted sparkling water I would have said "sparkling water," but I guess you can knock the guy for double checking. But HAH, it gets better.
Our waitress came to the table and helped us decide what to order, since I am gluten-free and soy-free I like to ask questions. She knew exactly what was gluten-free or easily edited gluten-free. I believe I also asked them about what kind of oil they use, (checking for soy), and I believe she said everything was olive oil, but I can't remember now. Apparently at a place like this it's best to order an entree with a couple mezze's, which are smaller portions, and together they help to round out the meal. We decided on getting one entree to split, and three other mezzes. All this time I was thinking, hmm, that seems like a too much food for two women who aren't "stuffers" at a restaurant and don't eat a ton. But we took her suggestion and got a salad, the brussel sprouts, some hummus (which I had to have), and the lamb entree appetizer.
The hummus came first, and they were able to sub fresh cut veggies for the typical pita-bread line up. Score. There was a good assortment of vegetables, but I wish there were more for the amount of hummus there was.
The salad, brussel sprouts and lamb then came. The salad was delicious (and of course overpriced) but I found a huge piece of celophane (obviously from what the lettuce came in) in my salad. I alerted the waiter, and they were extremely apologetic, offering to bring us a new salad. We replied "No, it was just a piece of plastic, and we've already eaten the salad and it was delicious" - that's customer code word for: "come on people, watch more closely, don't serve your customers a salad with plastic in it, that's sloppy, just refund us instead." After a million "are you sure you don't want another salad?" they left us alone. AND then the manager came and spoke to us, apologizing for the restaurant. This was fine, and what should have happened from the beginning. He offered us a new salad, which we admantly declined, we had so much food, and obviously don't want another salad. He said ok, sorry, blah blah, and left us alone. Phew! And then some girl we haven't seen before arrives to the table a few minutes later with a salad! (I'm like so exhausted about this salad already). We declined this one too.... but seriously it should never have happened. Manager, communicate with your staff. Listen to the customer. Now you just wasted a perfectly good salad.
The brussel sprouts were awesome, and despite coming in a "rather small bowl" according the waiter, it was plenty big! I could have eaten about 3/4 of a bowl for a normal dinner by itself and been satisfied.
See part 2... -
Review from Tiffany T.
Santa Clarita, CAI really just want to talk about the Ilili Candy Bar. Lol! But the rest of the food was so delicious that I cannot be so haphazard as to not mention it. I love hummus and it is a Mediterranean restaurant, so we ordered it. It was absolutely delicious. I was craving a steak, so I ordered the rib eye. It was so delicious that words don't quite describe it accurately. Now on to the Candy Bar. Just order it! :-) I almost ordered the Phoenician Cream to accompany it, but I will save that for the next time I dine here.oh, and the service was attentive but not overbearing. Just perfect. -
Review from Eric J.
North Bethesda, MDI got all side dishes. The French fries were very good. The wrapped grape leaves were never a favorite of mine, still isn't. I found that wrapping everything in the hot pita breed was the best way to go about eating here. The pita helps balance out the flavors. -
Review from Nicole C.
New York, NYDining room was nice, simple yet elegant however the Bar area looked fun. The food was great however they charge for simple condiments like pickled chillies, etc which in normal Greek, Lebanese, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern come with dishes. -
Review from Deb W.
Brooklyn, NYThe pita is amazing and the brunch is soooo good.
If you are in the flat iron district and looking for something a bit different, go here. It is lebanese and the flavors were amazing. I would definitely go back again.
This is a great place to meet somebody for lunch. I haven't tried dinner here yet, but am looking forward to finding somebody who will go with me. -
Review from Lisa C.
ASTORIA, NYOne of my favorite spots in Manhattan! -
Review from Jia Z.
Manhattan, NYSolid 4 stars for the food.
3 stars for the service. It's the first restaurant I have ever been to that did not comp a dessert for a special occasion. Oh yeah they did put a candle on the dessert we had already ordered. Won't be back. -
Review from Marie B.
...where to start? Loved the Summer Margarita! I forget, but I think it was like Watermelon something...too good.
The food was divine! Spicy, but not too...wonderfully complex flavors...
The server was a little condescending (note: not everyone is familiar with Indian food, so be patient with us!?), but that aside, a very nice experience...
A wee bit pricey, but still good... -
Review from Milet B.
Hoboken, NJThe difficulty was that everything was so good that it was difficult to decide which one to eat. We ordered a combination of the more popular dishes such as hummus and baba ghanouj and dishes recommended by the server such as lemon and pine nuts.
The only down side was we told our server that we just wanted small plates and asked her how many we should order. She suggested 10 for three people -- so we assumed they were really small plates. We ended up wasting so much food because we did not even manage to finish 60% of what we ordered. Will definitely go back but will order less! -
Review from Xue H.
Damn. This was just a random dinner I had with some friends--I was even reluctant to go as I was feeling sick with a stomachache, but damn. I was so impressed.
Service was fantastic albeit a bit slow (but that's kay since we had a sizable group). Our server was really accommodating for my gluten allergy and even brought me surprise crudites (just some nicely cut veggies, salt, and olive oil--though I couldn't eat much since I was already stuffed by that point) since I couldn't have the pita bread. I was like d'awww.
Bone marrow - I love bone marrow and make it at home. This wasn't anything unique, but there really isn't a way to dress up marrow and make it better than it is. So yeah. There were many more pieces of bone than I expected, but the marrow on each was kind of sparse. Still, tasty. Probably wouldn't get it unless you haven't had bone marrow or are craving it.
Chicken livers - This was ok, but it tasted more like meat candy due to the molasses.
Octopus w/ salad - The octopus was deliciously tender, but still firm. The lamb that came with it was fantaastic. Ohh so juicy. The salad was nice and the right amount of brightness.
Dandelion salad - pretty good, only tried a bit. Brussel sprouts were beter.
Lamb shoulder - Not bad--they are lettuce cup style and comes with (butter?) lettuce, some garlicy mash to smear it with (unsure of the veg--but daaamn it was tasty), and some citrus wedges. It was a bit leaner and less flavorful than I expected but still quite good (I preferred the lamb that came with the octopus though).
Lamb chops - not bad either, but I feel like it's hard to mess this up. I love lamb chops, so yeah.
Brussel sprouts - Sooo good. Get it. The yogurt is flavorful and the nuts add a terrific crunch. The fig jam and grapes do well to cut the slight bitterness brussel sprouts have. Do note if you are very sensitive to gluten, they fry this (and the cauliflower dish) in the same oil as some of their gluten dishes (my server is awesome).
Meatballs - wow soo soft and delicious. would get again. -
Review from Aarti L.
New York, NYamazing restaurant and food. Great ambiance!! -
Review from Chui L.
I love this place!
I've finally been here for 'regular' dinner as well as during Restaurant Week and I think this place is amazing regardless of when you go.
Regular dinner: We celebrated my friend's promotion and raise here and the meal was divine. Everyone at the table loved their food and the bubbly. Everything was perfect, great food great company great atmosphere.
Restaurant Week: I expected this experience to be less than stellar compared to the full fledged dinner I had here but I was impressed! You get to choose 2 appetizers, 1 main entree and 1 dessert. Everyone at the table must order from the RW menu if you choose to participate. It is A LOT of food so don't worry about leaving hungry.
Order anything, everything!-
4 way restaurant week desserts
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Review from Ko N.
East Elmhurst, NYAlright, so I made a reservation for three on a warm Tuesday night in August, craving some Middle Eastern and completely oblivious that ilili was participating in Restaurant Week and was somewhat surprised to find out that ilili was participating in it when I arrived for the reservation! Now for most restaurants, a RW review usually meant a star or so less than usual, but I have to say that I was absolutely impressed with ilili! This was by far the best Restaurant Week restaurant I've been to!
Most RW meals leave the diner hungry, but ilili lets each diner pick two appetizers, one main, and one dessert. Going there with a party of three meant we got to try most of the dishes on the RW menu, and there were enough leftovers to bring home as well.
Unfortunately, I don't remember most of the dishes, but what turned a delicious dinner into an absolutely wonderful meal was our server Alexande. He took his time and explained the dishes, the best way to have them, and was as much an entertainer as he was a waiter.
My main criteria for 4 or 5 stars is simple: will I go back again on a more regular basis? The answer is an resounding yes: The food and drinks were delicious, and the service was amazing. -
Review from Matt T.
Manhattan, NYOur party of 6 started with some delicious mezze (hummus, baba ghannouj, fattoush, brussels sprouts, calamari, black iron shrimp) and we were uniformly impressed. The Lebanese pale ale (refreshing) and several of the araks were quite good, too.
For entrees, we had scallops, shish tauok two ways, and kofta. We had only two red meat eaters with us (myself included) so we didn't get as far into the grilled meats as I would have liked. Everything was perfectly seasoned and cooked and the plating was attractive. Beware of the potent garlic creme! One of our party put in a sneaky order for batata harra (curried potatoes) to come with the entrees and that was a great decision. The small plates idea seems to carry over into the entrees, so don't expect to eat only an entree and feel like you've eaten a meal.
I'm not a big dessert guy, but the desserts here were INCREDIBLE. Beautifully presented, very flavorful without being too sweet, and unlike anywhere else in Manhattan. The arak foam and faux caramelized onion (some sort of translucent fennel-flavored garnish) on the sorbet and the sweet tahini with the date cake were unexpected and clever.
The service was warm but not hovering, thankfully. The space is beautifully decorated and loud but the seating was not cramped. We were in the main dining room and had a leisurely meal that stretched out to about 2.5 hours, which seemed to be the norm.
Highly recommended!
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