Hadramout Restaurant

On a job
Hopped out for a quick bite and my friend comes back with a foot long wrap.
OK I said let’s see …
Yummy
It was lamb with humus and veggies to go…

It’s back open! Much cleaner in there now. Haven’t been back to try the food yet but if the old menu is still there it’s a 5 star for sure.

ill split my review into food and location
The food here is really great. the lamb soup is really tasty. their entrees are really good, including haneez which is my go to dish. I also like their appetizer, there is a combo one which is a lot of food so be careful if you order that in addition to your entrée.
now the location. The shop is a semi basement level store. As soon as you walk up you realize how divey this place is. the entrance area is surrounded with random boxes and stuff and not very well lit so kinda get a very dirty feel from it. walking in everything looks fine in the dining area but one glimpse of the kitchen and you definitely start to question why you came here. its not dirty by any means but definitely feels like the place can use a good mopping. we have had to fight off flies from our food on more than one visit.
I would have loved to give this place 5 stars because the food is amazing but with Yemeni Café two doors down, i wouldnt see myself going back here until they cleaned up the entrance and overhauled the interior a bit more.

I lived in the Middle East for a few years and have been eating tons of real Yemeni food with my Yemeni friends. So, said Yemeni friends all have the consensus that Yemen Café is the best and most authentic in NYC. Maybe if you are Yemeni? I’ve tried Yemen Café many times now and I just got fed up with the rude service and high prices. Time for a change.
I was very pleasantly surprised with Hadramout Restaurant. Honestly, the food tasted the same as Yemen Café but the atmosphere and Yemeni staff were so kind and it was a perfect lunch experience. So far in the US I haven’t found Yemeni food tasting like in the Middle East except for in Detroit which has the largest Yemeni community. Thus Hadramout Restaurant was pretty good and I think a much better experience than Yemen Café.
We had mandi lamb and chicken ogda, some typical and popular Yemeni dishes. The maraq soup was good and came at the beginning of the meal as it should. I also particularly liked the salad at this restaurant and it had a really simple and delicious tomato sauce on top. The sahawiq (Yemeni salsa) was sufficiently spicy. The khobz bread was freshly baked and soft and fluffy. Still haven’t found my favorite Yemeni pastry bread, called malawah, outside of the Middle East. I’ll keep searching!
Really what made this such a nice experience was the really kind staff. It was so nice to finally see the famous Yemeni hospitality. We were having trouble cutting the lamb so our kind waiter helped us cut it. This leads me to probably the best part of the meal which was the Yemeni dessert, masoob. If you haven’t tried masoob, you definitely should. It’s something to be split with the group since one or two spoon fulls is plenty and really heavy. There are a few types but pretty much it is bread, dates, banana, cheese, cream, and Yemeni honey. Wow it’s amazing. So when we were ordering this, the Yemeni guy asked us if we really wanted it hesitantly, and we said «oh yeah!!» as we’ve had it so many times in Qatar and love it. He said okay and then I saw him run out the door and come back a few minutes later with a container of honey! He was so sweet and went and got the honey for us! Yemeni honey is so good and the masoob was perfect.

Great food and great staff!
Reasonable prices for large portions. And free Yemeni tea with unlimited refills!
It may not be the most attractive in terms of ambiance, but don’t let the outside deter you. It’s authentic as it gets. Al Jazeera is on play ²⁴⁄₇ and it’s the type of place you can sit and talk without getting rushed out.
The Lamb ghallaba is great, so is the hummus, large bread and soup. Haven’t been disappointed here at all. Love it and will keep going!

A great find that’s open late. Like, really late.
Stumbled in at 4am and was happily greeted by an older gentleman working there. There were some other guys at a table, but I think they either worked there or were friends of the staff.
Street meat this place is not. They serve quality food at reasonable prices. The picture menu in the back doesn’t list prices, but I think the lamb dish we had was $ 18 and the chicken one was $ 12. Both served with rice, and a starter course of salad and soup. It was all very delicious, but a ton of food. It also came with their version of naan, which was the size of a pizza. We definitely left with doggy bags.
Finished off the meal with two cups of what I believe was cardamom tea.
Great service, even though there were two drunk dudes who were obnoxiously loud (me and my friend).

In the weeks since I stumbled into Hadramout while waiting for some people to arrive at a bar, I’ve been engaged in a futile argument with my friends. There’s a basement restaurant, with a hard to read sign on a not terribly nice block of Atlantic Avenue, that serves the best baba ganoush in the whole world.
There’s a problem with claims like these –no one believes them. I think there’s two reasons for this. First, you’ve ascribed the title to an obscure place, just to prove that you’ve been there. Why not name an Israeli restaurant or Middle Eastern place in the Village when most people have been and therefore judge? Secondly, it’s hyperbolic. How can a dish be the best in the entire world?
I understand these issues but think they are moot. If the best baba ganoush in the whole world could be found in a Times Square McDonald’s, I would have no shame coming on Unilocal and saying so. And this doesn’t have to be a secret spot. It’s a less than ten minute walk from Jay-​Z Arena, aka the Barclay’s Center. A Nets game a stop at a Yemeni late night spot seems like a balanced experience of Brooklyn Old and New.
The bread will be a treat for those who have never heard the wide crisp circles of this part of the world. It takes a few minutes to come out of the oven, but it’s amazing with oil, hummus, baba ganoush or the many lamb dishes on the menu.
There’s a startling informality to the restaurant. It’s unclear who works there, and those that do might be seen in the backroom or just chilling at a table in the front. There might be no one in the restaurant at all. It’s like a Yemeni home, but one where anyone can eat. And one that serves the best baba ganoush in the world.

Good authentic, cheap middle eastern food. My favorite place for a
Falafel in the city. The hadramout bread deeee-​licious & highly recommend.

Great authentic Yemeni cuisine? Yes!!!
Authentic atmosphere? Dare I say yes?
Great food, Haneeth a must!

I’d been looking to try one of the two or three Yemeni restaurants around here, and this one happened to be open. The ambiance, as someone mentioned, is authentically (if a little shabbily) exotic, with Al Jazeera in Arabic on the TV and a big urn of very good, very sweet clove tea.
I ordered the mendi (lamb cooked in a hole in the ground), which I’d heard is something of a national dish in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was very fatty and a little cold, but maybe it was just an off night. The «Hadramout dressing» on the salad had a sort of unspecifiable but nice flavor to it, and the lamb soup had just enough spice to keep it from being a simple and boring broth. Prices were pretty reasonable.

Went with my wife and a friend who was from out of town. We decided to try a lamb dish, a chicken dish, and an app.
The first thing that stuck out to me on Sunday noon was that there were no women in the restaurant, and a lot of locals. We cracked up at the menu because there were some great lines in there.
We shared:
1-​Mendi lamb cooked with steam pressure in a 4 foot hole under ground served with bread.
2-​Grilled Chicken half chicken grilled on charcoal flames to perfection with bread
3-​Humus chick peas mashed to paste with olive oil and lemon juice
Sadly, we passed on the «Grilled Chicken half chicken grilled on charcoal flames to perfection with bread». Yes, perfect indeed. Or the «Lamb Ghallaba pan fried cubes of lamb topped with spiced onion and sauteed with hadramout’s finest sauce».
When we sat down, we were served hot tea right away. It was quite good. My friend requested water b/​c it was beginning to be a hot day. They also brought out this lamb broth with this chili sauce that others have commented on. It grew on me as the meal went along. I noticed our salad had cheese on it while those around us had red onions instead? Not sure why, but it was decent.
The Humus came with the bread and it was awesome. The bread was piping hot and it was delicious. We also got the lamb and chicken at the same time and the meat fell off the bone… The lamb was much better than the chicken.
The service was fine, and they let you sit there and just enjoy your food. We had to chase down the waiter to pay… We didn’t get our 3^rd or 4^th bread that was supposed to come with our meal or our rice, but who cares? We were stuffed and it was better not to waste food… It was a great meal and and we will be back.
I’ve never been to Yemen, but I def felt out of the US when we ate there…

This place has sobered me up many times. It is my Denny’s or IHOP — 24 hours a day, but of course, the food is a billion times better. It’s exactly what you need late night. Or if you want to stuff yourself for lunch or dinner. I will be honest though, if you’re not familiar with Yemeni culture, the place can be a bit different, shall we say, but keep an open mind and enjoy some really awesome and flavorful food.
Arab news is always airing on the TV. Good to keep up to date on the goings on out there.
I never really quite remember what I get here, since it always ends up being something different. I just ask the owner what I want, and poof, I get it. Plate size depends on how many people you’re dining with. And yes, that means a communal plate. But hey, it’s the experience. Salad. Lamb broth soup. Scoop up the food with the classic and delicious hadramout bread. Chicken and lamb rice dishes. All great. And guaranteed fresh given the various halal butchers on the most Yemeni of Atlantic Avenue blocks.
And of course, the tea. Free tea. Unlimited. Perfect late at night, especially on cold winters.

The best late-​night jumpoff in the whole of Western Brooklyn.
The ful mdemmas was very different from the version I’m used to — it was stewed with sauteed onions, peppers, spices and
tasted like Mexican Black Beans to be honest with you, except full of hawajj and coriander…
The selta was outstanding, especially with the fresh bread. Some Yemeni dude got the same thing right after me, looked up beamed and went ‘Helbah!’.
Sakhtan ya shabab. Cause lord knows it’s only shabab eating in here, my sister was the only female in the place after a 2 am JFK run the other night…

This place has been on the to-​do list for sometime. Frequently, I jog by this place and it always stirs up curiosity. What is Yemeni cuisine? What is it like?
Finally, I was able to rope in a friend who speaks Arabic to bring me here. We came here for lunch. It was 1pm when we arrived and we were seated immediately. This place is in the basement and also it is no frills. You won’t be impressing any date here. You are here explicitly for the Yemeni experience.
Yemeni cuisine is heavy on lamb, so this was going to be an issue. In any case, we were able to find something for me to eat. We ordered 3 entrees. One was a minced meat and vegetable dish called Selta, one order of lamb kebab (Heneeth) and one order of grilled trout. All entrees come with salad, soup, Hadramout bread and the entrée. A pretty good deal!
I didn’t try the meat dishes but the grilled trout was excellent. It was extremely fresh, tender, and moist. Lightly seasoned and cooked to perfection. It went great with the enormous-​sized Hadramout bread! The portions are generous and we were all stuffed by the end of the meal.
The prices here are very good and you get your money’s worth.
**Note: My friend who is Lebanese and my Arabic guide felt uncomfortable in the restaurant. He stated that people were staring at me because I was showing my bare arms. Luckily, my back was to all the other patrons. The restaurant caters mostly to Yemeni people, so if you’re a Westerner, be prepared for staring. But think of it this way, you are being immersed in Yemeni authenticity! Sometimes discomfort is a good especially when you grow from it!

I agree with most of what has been said about this place. Good shwarma, super creamy delicious baba ghanouj, good hummus, impossibly light falafel, great bread, surprisingly great tea, and spotty service.
The one thing I disagree about with is the vibe. Basement stores are going to become a thing of the past in New York City, we should embrace the past while it is still part of the present. If Atlantic Avenue gets a makeover to the point where all the Middle Eastern joints are priced out, and a couple «Mr. Falafel» chains take its place, we will all long for the days when we could get really good food here at 1 AM amongst the Yemeni cabbies.
It’s impossible to fight the wave of gentrification, but let’s hold it off for as long as possible by eating at places like Hadramout more often.

If you’re tired of getting the late night slice of pizza and want to try something different, get a shawarma with the Hadramount bread and you’ll definitely be glad you did. Don’t get me wrong, I love myself a good slice of pizza, but late night cuisine at a place like this is a godsend.
We ran here in the ran about 3 in the morning from another bar because it was raining… and we had seriously one of the best shawarmas in my life. The clincher has got to be the Hadramount bread that they have here, what everyone else is saying. The restaurant has a television with international news, but at that hour I wasn’t really paying attention to the news… the sandwich I had was most excellent, would definitely recommend this, late night or otherwise. I was so stuffed after this, definitely left satisfied.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the bread and the tea really set you up for expecting a great meal. Then you get a meal that’s merely good instead. But a good meal at this price (more food than two people could consume for $ 20) is noteworthy. The servers are very friendly, but almost shockingly inattentive. That doesn’t bother me when I’m getting a tasty, filling meal at this price.
The shawarma sandwich on Hadramout bread ($ 7) is not the best I’ve had, but good enough that I keep ordering it. Goes well with the mild salsa-​like house hot sauce. The Selta appetizer ($ 7) arrives bubbling hot to the table with two huge breads. It could have been more aggressively seasoned, but it was satisfying (if difficult to eat by hand — easily burns the fingers). Portion size is huge for an appetizer. I’ve had the chicken shawarama ($ 7) and liked it as well.
I’m not damning this place with faint praise, I just can’t recommend going out of your way to eat here. But if you happen to find yourself hungry on this particular stretch of Atlantic Ave Hadramout Restaurant is a solid, cost-​effective option.

Awesome food. Really. The bread, hummus, olive oil, diced tomato appetizer was absolutely incredible. The lamb was delicious, and the meat fell right off the bone.
I think it’s open ²⁴⁄₇. I went here at 5 am.
The only problem while I was there was the big fat rat parked in the middle of the room.

If you want to travel without leaving Brooklyn, this is the place to be.
I was down the street at a Birthday party at the Last Exit two drinks when myself and my two best friends who hadn’t eaten all day decided to get some pizza. We were on our way down to Court street when we just walked by this place and caught the sign on the street. It was beckoning to us. We had to go in.
As soon as I walked down the steps, I felt like I was in Yemen. It was a chill and relaxing place, and the waitstaff was very hospitable. You could see the waitstaff come in and out of the kitchen with their trademark Hadramout bread. There was a diverse group of people there, all breaking bread together. But myself and my two girlfriends were noticeably the only gals in there.
The food was excellent. The Hadramout bread was delicious. We got the hummus, which was very smooth and creamy. I don’t recall the names of the other dishes, but one was a fava bean dish which was excellent. We also got a garlic-​y stew with meats and veggies, which was also excellent. It came out in an earthen ware and was steaming. My only complaint is that the dip and stew were a too liquid-​y to be eaten with a spoon, which kind of took away from the whole eating with your hands experience.
I’m not a meat-​eater, but all of the people were eating a lamb and rice dish and the salad. It looked very good and I could give up vegetarianism for a day to try it.
I don’t ever have to leave the city to be transported to another country. Only in Brooklyn! Not to be cliched, again, but like Nate S. said, this really is a hidden gem.

Come here for an «I’m not in Brooklyn» experience. After a glowing recommendation from a friend, about 3am we headed here after finishing at a bar down the street. Hadramout is a Yemeni restaurant, in a basement that has beautiful murals with camels, countryside and sheep. The people in the restaurant were eating huge platters of food and everyone was speaking Arabic and very friendly to each other. Seems very authentic. Oh, and yes they had Al Jazzera on tv which I found interesting, esp when the cook came out of the kitchen, yelled something at the tv and then went back into the kitchen.
So my friend comes here religiously and always orders the chicken shawarma but they ran out. I don’t really blame them it was 3 am. So a bunch of us ordered the lamb shawrarma and split a platter of hummus and babaganoush which came with a few pieces of falafel and lettuce. None us ordered platters but the chicken and fish dishes other patrons ordered looked delicious. The lamb shawrama was very thick-​not a gyro like consistency, think more like pieces of flank steak beef. It came in a wrap form, 2 huge wraps (not in a pita). The bread was thin and crispy. Very delicious. The babaganoush is the best I’ve ever had in my life and the falafel was great too but a little too deep fried for my taste. The dips also came with massive pieces of bread which was delicious.
I must stress that you MUST drink the tea here. I don’t know what’s in it but it’s addicting and I would go back just for it and I don’t live remotely close to this establishment. Next time I come, I will be more adventurously and order one of their yummy looking meat-​foul platters with fava beans.