Updated Thoughts on Middle Eastern in the Atlantic Ave Area?

[BillyBob]

We used to order from and go to Waterfalls a lot but then it seemed to go downhill, then we ordered in from Fatoosh and it was reliable and good - but not great, then Fountain closed and they turned it into some kind of hooka joint. I just ordered in from Darna on Court and was pleasantly surprised (the falafel was particularly well done, chicken over rice was OK but suffered from an longer than expected delivery time). Was wondering if you all had any updated views on the best Middle Eastern places these days in the area.

[seb]

A bit farther east on Atlantic is Bedouin Tent, which is my family's favorite. We've never been disappointed there and especially love the perfectly prepared chicken ouzi, which I think is just on Fri. nights or maybe just weekends.

[waxyjax]

i used to like it there but i had a weekday lunch a little while ago and everything was incredible bland. maybe they're not so on point during off-peak hours.

[jeeg]

Of course Damascus and Sahadis are good for take out but for sit down I think the best in Brooklyn is in Bayridge-Tanoreen, Bab al Yemen etc

[EJC]

I really miss Waterfalls from the Wafa days. We probably ate there 3x/week. While Wafa's mother still cooks a few days a week, it's not the same.

Echoing what's been said, Fatoosh is our delivery spot, Damascus and Sahadis fill in for other foods (grapeleaves @ Damascus, baked kibbee @ Sahadis, etc).
We trek down to Bay Ridge for Tanoreen when I want to dine in somewhere.
Yemeni is always reliably fantastic, and Hadramount has a surprisingly great schwarma sandwich when the craving hits late at night.

[Pan]

Anything else you like at Hadramout? I haven't eaten there yet.

[EJC]

We generally go up to Yemeni when we're in the mood for non-Levantine food. I might prefer the ghallaba at Hadramount, but my wife's bigger fan of Yemeni's salta.

To be honest, it's a place that was always a bit scary to visit and it required a few drinks to get inside. Drunk trips generally meant schwarma (which I believe is just their ghallaba wrapped in their homemade bread), so I don't have a ton of meal experience at Hadramount

[chocolatefancy]

We also miss Waterfalls from when Wafa was there. Wafa was very friendly. The menu has changed--A diner could choose stuffed cabbage with either bulgar or rice, the bulgar was so delicious, but it's no longer available Also the carrot salad is much less flavorful. These are only 2 examples but I loved the stuffed cabbage so much and carrot side so much.

[Motosport]

I have always been a fan of Tripoli. It's kind of weird/dreary but the food is authentic Syrian/Lebanese and that's the most important to me.
I am a big fan of Damascus bakery and their spinach and lamb pies.

[Pan]

Damascus Bakery also has great desserts, including their mamoul. I haven't tried Tripoli yet.

[jen kalb]

+1 on the mamoul, all types sampled

if anyone knows of other excellent mamoul in Brooklyn I would love to hear about it.- Ive tried a couple places down on 5th Ave and they arent of Damascus' quality

[Motosport]

Excellent Mamoul. I love the date variety.

[missmasala]

The first time I ever had mamoul was from Damascus (the owner slipped one into my order one day, saying, "Try this delicious cookie.") After that I thought, "Wow, I really like mamoul" and starting trying them from other middle eastern bakeries, but I didn't really like them from other places. I have yet to find a place that makes mamoul like Damascus.

[Motosport]

Damascus makes their own. Most places do not. In one store I saw boxes of mamoul from a Chicago area bakery.
Damascus is busy enough that they turn over inventory fast.

[JungMann]

The ma'amoul are usually fresh and are a safe bet, but I haven't had much luck with the other sweets. Both goraibeh and knafeh are regular disappointments. While I love the savory baked goods at Damascus, it'd be great to have an alternative place for desserts. For right now, I have to subsist on the boxes and boxes of sweets I brought back from the Middle Eastern bakeries in Chicago, which are really stellar.

[chocolatefancy]

I like the mamoul at Oriental Grocery. I like most things there--they make it all, in the back.

[Pan]

I haven't shopped there lately, but I used to get excellent medjool dates from Israel there, and tasty Syrian pistachios (I'm guessing those might not be available anymore, for the moment).

[waxyjax]

further down Court St. is Levant, which is great - I've only eaten in though and am not sure how their takeout is.

[Pan]

Is it a falafel/shawarma place or does it have a wider Lebanese menu?

[waxyjax]

it's a sit-down restaurant with an extensive menu. they feature lebanese and jordanian dishes. i think i may have seen a couple syrian items, too.

[lambretta76]

We had a very bad delivery experience with Levant. Over an hour and 40 minutes. Person on the phone was unapologetic -- "our delivery guy doesn't have his bike tonight". Bleh.

Wanted to write it off entirely, but darn if it wasn't pretty tasty. (Of course, anything hot had to be reheated.) Would not do delivery from there again, but the food was good enough that I'd pop in some time. The "pitzas" (ma'nouche type thingies) were all quite good, and the Syrian falafel may be tied with Kulushkat as the best I've had in the area.

[waxyjax]

yikes. the delivery guy always seemed very spread thin whenever i've seen him come back exhausted from a run, only to pick up a larger quantity of orders than other delivery guys in the area. i think eating in or picking up is the way to go.

[Pan]

Do you like Yemeni food? I haven't been to Yemen Cafe in a few months but always liked it. Some of the "appetizers" are actually what I consider main dish portions. The lamb livers, the eggs, the foul and the fassolia are all really good, and if you want a main dish, get any lamb dish; I love the lamb chops. If you don't feel like having lamb, the loubia with chicken is my favorite chicken dish there, and they always have a special broiled fish dish, but I find that they char more of the fish than I like (also sometimes a bit of a problem with the lamb chops, but only at the margins, and they give such a huge portion of good, flavorful meat that I'm OK with it).

I've actually liked Waterfalls but I didn't go there during what hounds considered its heyday (I started going 2-3 years ago, I think, and the last time was several months ago). I liked Fountain, too; their shawarma was very flavorful. I've been to Fatoosh once and may have ordered wrong; I forget what I ordered, but I wasn't overwhelmed.

[parkslopemama]

In addition to Yemen Cafe (176 Atlantic Ave.), I also like Yemen Cuisine (145 Cort Street near Atlantic).

[JungMann]

What do you recommend at Yemen Cuisine? I've passed several times, but have yet to venture in.

[jon]

i think i read that yemen cuisine is closing and a bareburger is opening there

[fishermb]

I'm pretty sure someone jumped the gun on saying Yemen Cuisine is closing. There's 145A, 145B and 145C. 145A is where Yemen is. 145C is an empty space currently being renovated, I assume to be Bareburger. The SLA application only said 145 as the address, and whoever first reported the story didn't seem to actually investigate which space they're going into.

[fishermb]

I agree on Waterfalls and miss the old Fountain, I tend to go with Fatoosh as my standby, it's well-priced, tasty, not too heavy and the delivery is always pretty quick. I periodically try different dishes from all the other places and never found any dishes that won me over from Fatoosh.

[jon]

We had stopped ordering from waterfalls because the food had gone downhill but we recently started up again and it has definitely gotten better. Portions are a little skimpy for the price but we like it better than the other places on Atlantic.

[John Francis]

I agree - they seem to have changed cooks again. In my last couple of visits (in December), the menu was unchanged but the cooking and presentation were good. Second best for me is Tripoli.