Byblos Restaurant

Came here with a group of friends while visiting. The atmosphere is inviting and comfortable. We had a great conversation with the owner who treated us like family. The hardest part was deciding what to order because every dish is cooked to grandma’s time honed recipes. If you leave here wanting it’s your own fault. Do yourself a favor and give Byblos a look if your in the mood for a great dinner.

Magnificent Lebanese food and wonderful, warm and inviting atmosphere. On my list of must visits when ever I come to New York. From the appetizers to the special stuffed lamb shoulder, it’s all perfect.

My overall review of Byblos is the result of 2 different meals that I spent there.
Meal #1 (about 2 years ago): it must’ve been an off night. I went with my sister on a weeknight, there was only one other table in the front of the restaurant (we were in the back), and the food was only mediocre at best. Since some time has passed, I don’t remember what I ordered, but the falafels were a major disappointment.
Meal #2 (about 3 months ago, for a prix fixe lunch with colleagues): delicious! Loved the falafels and the rice pilaf. Their lentil soup that came with the prix fixe was good too. There’s a cheese that is simply superb from the appetizers (ask the server, it was the most popular one).
Between the 2 meals, one very disappointing and the other awesome, Byblos earns an overall 3.

Don’t know how this place got4 stars. My lamb was so salty I couldn’t eat it. Fish was dry. Very friendly staff but a swing and a miss. Won’t be back

I’ve tried many Labanese restaurants before and this place is so far the bestest restaurant I’ve been to. It’s authentic, spacious, great food, good for parties/​events and the atmosphere was amazing. Their kabab was to die for, and the mixed grill including beef, lamb and chicken was also amazing. Oh, did I mention their Kanafe Cheese dessert? That was the highlight of the day.
The staffs were friendly and very attentive, my waitor took his time explaining some of the items on the menu thoroughly without me even asking. His suggestions were great and I was very pleased with his service.
I would definitely come here again to eat. This restaurant really deserves a 5 star review.

TERRIBLE! I had their lunch special baby lamb chop with a side of rice and some wine for lunch. I noticed the lamb chop was still raw in the middle so I asked them to make it well done and they still brought it back a little on the raw side. I ate it thinking it wasn’t going to do harm, but later I threw up for 5 hours emptying my entire system including bile and uncontrollable gagging of nothing else. I had a bad migraine and my whole body was losing homeostasis balance going from cold to hot cold to hot. It was food poisoning! NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN!

Really awesome atmosphere with one of the best waiters in nyc thus far (Ferdows). The food was similarly exceptional and outstanding. The belly dancer was exquisite, pretty, and passionate. Lucked out on a night where there were more engaging crowd whom danced the evening away.
Friend and I got the $ 55 per person sat special 3 types of hummus, 2 types of salad, lamb balls, steak, chicken, and lamb.

We ordered a bunch of dishes but other than the chicken I wasn’t a fan. Live music /​belly dancing was cool but a little too loud if you actually want to talk!

3.0−3.5 stars for taste of food but, clearly, this is not what you are going to eat in Beirut.
Service OK in speed. Price fair enough for area. No plans to go back.

Have been to Byblos a few times since we can’t find Middle Eastern like this in NJ. Excellent appetizers (babaganoush, falafel are killer). We went with the dinner special which includes appertizer, any entrée off the menu, dessert and coffee/​tea for about $ 48pp.
Had the kibbee which was moist and flavorful. My wife had the grilled salmon and it was fantastic. Dessert was only one option, the tiniest piece of baklava which was rich and flavorful — just wish that it was a little bigger.
Service was average. Waiter looked exhausted and we had to ask if we could order dessert.
Setting was great — there was a private party in the back with music and belly dancer so it was very lively and upbeat.

Good ambience. Nice and yummy food. Great service
Prices are also on decent side.
We will come back again

The atmosphere is definitely not hip or trendy. There are white tablecloths. But the food is delicious! I had the chicken kebab lunch special today, which is a little steep for a casual workday lunch at $ 16.95. It came with soup or salad as well as coffee/​tea. I chose the lentil soup, though I wish I’d gone with the salad. It looked very fresh and good, and my lunch partner enjoyed the lemon-​y herb-​y dressing. The sizable kebab had chunks of incredibly tender and flavorful chicken, with some nice charred crispy edges. The accompanying rice, redolent of butter and/​or olive oil, was good too. The pita bread that came with everything was a weak point to me — very thin. Service was attentive.
There are cheaper items for lunch but take-​out only (wraps and the like). I’ll be trying these in the future.

Maybe it wasn’t a good night, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood, maybe it’s just the way it is, but Byblos did not manage to impress me.
Staff was great and very attentive, which is already a good start, the place is a bit old and run down, I had this impression that it was a dancing hall that was adapted to restaurant, a lot of empty spaces, lots of empty tables and quite basic furniture.
Toilet needed a bit of cleaning, and the way the toilet looks (and smells) is a giveaway of how the restaurant is.
Food was ok. I have had much better in England and even in Italy we manage to have better Lebanese meals. Lamb didn’t taste like lamb, starters were quite normal, baklava was tasteless.
A shame, it could have been a better dinner…

I love this place! I went with a bunch of friends, again, and had a blast. The service was fantastic, and the food was good…
I love the music and the belly dancer too…:-)

Came here at 630pm on a weekday evening and it was empty! I was surprised since it got great reviews so decided to stay and give it a try anyways. The place is huge but since my friend and I were 1 of the 3 parties in the restaurant it felt even more empty.
The food didn’t taste fresh and I have definitely had better Mediterranean cuisine. I had the falafel which was too dry and the spinach pies were definitely pre made and re-​baked.
The service was a disappointment. There were waiters standing around and watching us eat which felt uncomfortable. (I think this was because the restaurant was empty). My friend and I wanted to take some leftovers to go and since I’m a vegetarian, I asked the waiter to pack my food separately. He came back with them packed in the same container. When I tried to explain, he looked confused. To their credit, another waiter came by and re packed it with new food which included a spinach pie he told me I had to bake before eating.
Will not be returning since I’ve had better food and service at other Mediterranean restaurants.

Unilocal let me down with this one. The two stars are for the hospitality of the wait staff and for the hummus, which was delicious. Food was about 10 – 12 dollars per appetizer and 25 – 30 for entrees. I just didn’t find that the food merited that price. I am not Lebanese but I’ve eaten at more than 2 dozen Middle Eastern restaurants in Manhattan, Astoria, and so forth, and this was the worst one in terms of food.
My chicken dish was very dry and hard to eat. Another member of my party had the lamb kabobs and reported they were dry and mediocre. All in all, I found the food to be VERY mediocre except for the hummus. Labne also had an odd consistency. I really think these entrees should be priced more in the 15 – 20 range for the quality you’re getting. I’d rather go to Ilili and pay a little more or go to Naya Mezze and Grill and pay a little less for high quality Lebanese food. Restaurant had one other patron on a Thursday — that should have been a clear indication to us.

I did a show here and never got around to eating because they charged me $ 26 for two beers. The manager explained that this was the minimum for patrons plus tax and included tip in the total.
I explained that I was one of the PERFORMERS in their show but the manager refused to charge me the regular price for drinks and suggested I could buy dinner after the show. Fuck that. Pay more money for having had the honor or performing in your space? No thanks. Her attitude and the poor reviews of the food from the guests didn’t inspire me.
I’ve done shows in many venue around NYC, and around the world, and this has never happened. It’s unprofessional, shows disrespect for the people who are working hard to entertain and it’s embarrassing for the staff who actually know this is a shitty practice.

Awesome Lebanese food, awesome entertainment, awesome people — both the staff and patrons, most of whom were Lebanese. A very good friend of ours, who is Lebanese, ordered several appetizer dishes — hommus, baba ghannouj, spinach pies, grape leaves, Kibbee naye tartare (raw lamb tartare so smooth and tasty, like pâté), baked Kibbee, tabboule and Zaatar pies (triangular pizza-​like slices with nice spices baked on). For dessert, we had a gelatin-​like dessert made with rosewater (forgot the name), baklava and turkish coffee. We were very full and happy.
Entertainment was provided by a gentleman who sang and played on an electric keyboard and by a beautiful belly dancer. What made the entertainment so awesome was how involved the patrons were — they sang along and danced with and without the belly dancer. We had a wonderful small group at our table but we enjoyed watching how much fun all the other patrons were having. Very warm and fun-​loving people!
Service was attentive, too. They kept our bread basket filled with wonderful hot and fresh pita bread.
Can’t wait to go back and try some of their entrees!

Super nice people, but still a three-​star experience.
Took advantage of the lunch buffet which has three vegetarian options. The two small pieces of falafel were a bit hard on the outside, semi soft on the inside.
The two dolmas were very tasty but very small. The baba ghanouj and hummus we’re fine – but nothing extraordinary.
People say how the bread here is very soft and pillow like but I didn’t see it that way at all – it was thin and came out hot and ended up getting cold very quickly.
All of this would be acceptable except for the price – over $ 18 with tax is way too much for this. In all honesty this should be a two star review but the people were so very nice I have to give it three.

I had dinner at Byblos tonight and it was great! Started with babaganoush (sp?) that came with homemade pita bread fresh from the oven. The babaganoush had a nice smoky flavor without being overpowering. From there I had the kibbeh/​grape leaf combo. The serving size was huge with a big piece of kibbeh and 8 grape leaves. The dish came with a small side dish of yogurt flavored with lemon. The kibbeh was a bit dry but paired with the yogurt was very good as were the grape leaves.
Since I checked in on Unilocal,I got a small baklava for free! Just the right mix of sweet and nutty, it was a nice way to top off the meal.
My waiter was very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what I thought of the food and made sure to ask me to come back again! Some of the other dishes looked really good so I will take his advice and come back the next time I am in NYC.