Cedars Meat House

This place has great, authentic Lebanese food. The lamb shawarma sandwich is to die for. They also have meat for sale. I got lamb legs, sojouk and makanek. I highly recommend that you give it a try.

New owner. Now called Al Nour. Not as good as Cedars Meat House. Sandwiches seem to have less ingredients and just don’t taste as good as before. My favorite cheap eat is no more.

I wanted to try every shawarma in town, but I had no idea how to find them all. I couldn’t Cedar wood for the trees. Enter, Unilocal.
What to get: Chicken Shawarma
What else: It’s $ 5, not $ 3
Oh crap: Yeah but it’s still dirt cheap so don’t worry
I was told that Cedar’s Meat House had $ 3 Shawarma sandwiches, so I stopped by for that exact reason. There was a 66% price increase, as they are now $ 5. It was fairly moist and pretty garlicky, with some fries inside the dry wrap and some enjoyable chicken.
Honestly it was far from the best shawarma I’ve ever had, so for the price it gets a 4, although the food was somewhere between 3 and 4. BZ Grill in Queens is the place to be for Gyros, but if you want a Lebanese-​style Chicken Shawarma wrap, and you don’t have much money to spend, Cedar is worth a try.
But with all the other options in town, what’s the Cedar Point?

Not sure if they changed owners, or if I just got a bad meal. Not called Cedars any more. Now called Al Nour. No good.

This place is by no means upscale or even a place where one could sit down and talk, but the food is definitely great. The schwarma was probably the best I’ve had in NYC. I was wary of the place seeing its décor but I trusted in the Unilocal reviews and had a quite nice experience. This place is perfect for a quick eat, cheap, and has great food!

A friend of mine recommended this place so I came out here tonight with my family to grab a quick bite and try out their shawarma. We ordered 2 chicken shawarmas and 1 beef shawarma. The place is a small hole in the wall with a meat store located in the back and a few chairs to sit and grab a quick bite. Its run by the owner who is a very nice old man.
The sandwich prices went up from $ 3.50 to $ 5.00, which still is not bad. My mom went to pay the owner and handed him a $ 50 bill and noticed that he returned back $ 55 to us. A bit confused we realized that he had made a mistake. He went on to make our food and we informed him that he didn’t charge us and actually handed us back more money instead. He realized his mistake and we gave him back the extra money and paid for our meals.
The owner was so surprised with our honesty that he gave us a platter of Falafel’s on the house. A very sweet gesture! We went on to try our sandwiches, which were huge and filled with delicious marinated meat and assortment of pickles, sauce and other goodies. Though both were tasty and delicious, my favorite was the beef shawarma! Juicy and delicious just like I like it! The chicken was also good and seasoned very well!
Bottom Line: This place is a great stop to satisfy your shawarma cravings. Friendly and nice service and fresh, hot, delicious food, makes this place a winner!

This place has an amazing chicken shawarma. They are not super personable a bit like the Shawarma Nazi. Maybe they don’t like white people I don’t know. However, the food is great. Don’t go to Pita Pocket… That place is gross.

Amazing place. Really good food, generous portions and no frills.
If you’re not picky and perhaps don’t know what everything is, tell the guy what you generally like and he’ll hook it up with all the good stuff. All the standards (falafel, humus, baba ganoush, shawarma) are great, but dig a little deeper and you’ll be rewarded. Most of the sides are vegetarian and all of them are amazing.

…and none of those stars are for the surly, monosyllabic kebab dispenser, the grotty, gone-​to-​seed ambience, or the evident patina of grime sprinkled like dead fairy dust over each surface both vertical and horizontal.
No, they’re for the beef shwarma, which was really rather good. Could have done with a splurge more chilli sauce and some pickled crunchy things (I’m thinking those purple turnips), but otherwise it was just what the (slightly mad) doctor ordered.

I have to disclaim — I moved to NYC from Dubai and I’m a huge fan of true lebanese food.
Cedars was the best lebanese food experience I’ve had in NYC even if compared to much higher priced sit down restaurants.
The location was a little bit on the wrong side of Steinway and the access via the train is not that convenient — take a cab if its cold.
The «value» prices — $ 3 sandwiches — will even everything out and you will take some chicken kebab home! The fresh french fries and the creamy garlic cream known as thum, as well as the pickles and the hummus — were all amazing.

Let me start off by saying that the food is amazing. Never had a complain about the food. The chicken roll/​«sandwich» is just delicious. Beef is second best.
The reason for 3 stars is that the staff has a real attitude problem. They talk to you as if you’re bothering them to make you a sandwich. Do these people not realize that customers are the backbone of a business –_​– I’ve had these people get agitated at me once for asking to have my «sandwhich» toasted… Also they don’t acknowledge a customer who walks in and just continue doing their thing for a good 5 mins. It’s frustrating– so much so that I’ve actually stopped going there now. I go to a cart nearby that has just as good sandwiches, minus any seating arrangement of course. It’s worth standing on the street corner in Astoria and enjoying your food rather then dealing with a rude business owner.
Also worth mentioning, this place doesn’t follow a strict closing time schedule and often times they close as early as 9.15 so if you’re craving that food and decide to go down there, you better call to make sure they’ve decided to remain open long enough that day or not. I’ve went there twice at around 9.30 and 9.15 only to find them randomly closing early. Like I said, the food is great but the service is really bad so I’m no longer their customer.

Amazing and truly authentic Lebanese eatery!
After 9 years of living in Damascus, Syria, I am ecstatic to have found this place as I’ve been on a crazy search for middle Eastern food that is both authentic and tasty. My go-​to Arabic food spot.
We’ve been here so many times they already know what our order is, lol.
Nothing beats great food, service and workers.

What does LOVE feel like, taste like, smell like? Falafel sandwiches and Shish Tawook, Shwarma and Kabob. All available for street side prices in Lebanon, for example the falafel sandwich was $ 3. The chicken shwarma was $ 3.50. The ONLY thing that wasn’t top tier were the French fries. Maybe the oil was old or wasn’t hot enough but we should have gotten the tabbouleh anyway. Seating is a counter space across from where all the magic happens. No tables, no baby seats, my 15 month old sat on a stool and ate hummus from a spoon, which was light and smooth.
Toward the back is a full grocery with middle eastern specialties like foul, chickpeas, fava beans, olive bar and cheese. Plenty of pita bread to take away and nothing seemed overpriced.
All the way in the back is the deli of halal meats.
Please enjoy this place and keep it on the hush.

I’ve eaten my weight in shawarma this past year… all shapes and sizes. You definitely get bang for your buck at this joint, and the sandwiches are damn tasty. The sandwiches are such a great deal, I’m always tempted to buy two, although one makes a pretty hearty meal by itself.
I do the get-​off-​the-​subway-​and-​call-​ahead technique so I can just pick up my order once I arrive, but if you don’t have the technology to pull such a feat, there’s a little grocery section in the back that has a lot of interesting items you can look at.

I want to eat this every day, The chicken shawarma sandwich was so yummy. And as I was told, «don’t be lame just get it with everything». Best advice I’ve ever received.
Only a few seats if you want to eat there.
Oh yeah… and the sandwich was $ 3.50…seriously.

Credit to fellow Astoria Unilocaler Christopher C for the find…
This is the best shawerma I’ve ever had in the states (and maybe even better than any I’ve had in Europe).
You’re probably scared, thinking, «well, if it’s that good it’s probably pricey». Wrong. $ 3.50 for the most tender, flavorful and packed chik or beef shawerma (this is how they spell it on the menu, fyi) sandwich you’ll likely every bite into. The restaurant is set up so you can see all of the optional ingredients that can go into your sandwich. Please don’t consider asking the guy behind the counter to leave off anything. Don’t be boring. In fact, smile all pretty and maybe he’ll give you extra.
The kebab — also legit. And so cheap!
Only a few seats, but try to grab one (because if you try to eat it walking, you’ll need to change your pants).

The guy that came in the same time as me got a shish tawook. and I said I’ll get the same. The guy preparing it thought we were together, so he made the the fillings to the other guy’s order. But the guy spoke arabic so I’m sure he knew his stuff.
I havent had anything this good that was way beyond its value in a while. 3.50 for a sandwich? Make it a triple. BOOM! As the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s say «They wont love you like i love you.» But they might. Thats why you have to hide that shit from people.
Note: Two things I’m sure that went in that sandwich was the hot sauce and that white garlicy thing.

Three dollars and fifty cents! When did you last have a meal for $ 3.50? Heck, even Halal carts are more expensive than that!
This Halal butcher shop and Middle Eastern grocery store with counter seating for a dozen customers, has a cult following for sandwiches made from thin pita bread (toasted to bring an element of crispness to each bite) featuring Shawarmas, Sausages (Mekanek, and the spicier: Sujuk that tastes of cumin) and the Shish Kebabs (Beef or Chicken/​Tawook). The fixings include: pickles, beet colored turnips, onions with sumac powder, tahini, tomatoes, and the garlic sauce: Toum.
Normally, one saves the best for last. Toum. The sauce whose judicious use can transcend a sandwich into a culinary adventure! But, lose balance, and the pungent raw garlic can overcome any flavor, subtlety, or nuance. Toum. The mighty vampire slayer also killed both my sandwiches (Shish Tawook and Chicken Shawarma), with such brutality that I would question the skills of the Jedi manning the grill, if I didn’t remember this was a butcher shop. Toum. It made me forget that it’s ungracious to complain about a $ 3.50 meal in NYC. Toum. One hopes it kills any bacteria in the mouth, to compensate for its wash out of one’s social plans for a Saturday evening. Toum. It initiates the cycle of reincarnation for your taste buds. Toum (b). Give it a rest.
Cedars provided the answer to the old riddle: Why did the chicken cross the road?
To leave Astoria for (Karam in) Bay Ridge.

I came here again after having countless chicken shawarma sandwiches, and this is by far the best.
It has the best flavor and I love their Toum. I also noticed that they baptize their chicken with some sort of gravy so it doesn’t dry out. I honestly could eat this everyday, and I think I will go up there once a week to get it.

I walk by this place frequently and told myself I should check it out since there’s always a stream of customers but also because the outside looks like the Lebanese flag and also a chain that uses the flag called Lebani Snacks that I loved in Amman, Jordan.
Ok so their food is so popular that they ran out of falafels and shawarmas. Boo-​ok so my bf and I ordered kufta kebab and sausage sandwiches. All sandwiches are…$ 3.50. You can”t beat that. Wait 5 – 10 mins for the meat to be cooked and the man to put your wrap together. Deliciousness. The meat has amazing spices to it and the mix of hummus, onions and pickled things just bring the flavors out together for taste bud happiness.
In the back there is a halal butcher and also some Middle Eastern groceries, pastries and drinks. I was actually looking for Turkish Aryan (a salty yogurt drink) which they had and zaatar (a delicious spice mix) typically used with pita and olive oil for breakfast. The man behind the counter is pretty cool-​he said that everything tastes exactly how it is in Lebanon.
I am so excited to come back!