Tent

We had a good meal here, and were ready to give the place another try before writing a review. But, the restaurant gods were conspiring against us, as it seems that Tent has closed.

I made the mistake of coming here one night and ordering a falafel sandwich to go. The falafel itself was good (when I finally got it), but my boyfriend and I waited at least twenty minutes as confused servers and chefs went about their business (forgetting about our food in the process). It seemed like there were way too many servers and cooks for them to take twenty minutes to prepare falafel, which was frustrating. The worst part was that the restaurant wasn’t even busy! Like I said, it was good when we finally got it, but if I’m ordering something as simple as a sandwich to go, it should take much less time to make. I’m not sure if I’ll be back.

Not the worst shwarma I’ve ever had, but I hoped for a better overall experience. I dropped by here to grab food to take to a bar that didn’t serve food. The restaurant is enormous for how much space they actually need so it feels sparse. I originally ordered the spit roasted lamb gyro, but she told me all they had was chicken. After some deliberation I ordered the $ 11 roasted lamb cube shwarma. It took about 15 minutes to be ready, far too long in my opinion (but I was in a hurry).
The shwarma was Ok. The bread might have been the best part. The meal came with a small salad that was nothing to write home about. The fries it came with were so soggy I didn’t need a beverage. I was also told the meal came with a spicy chili dipping sauce which turned out they forgot to give me. Overall a completely forgettable experience.

This is probably the first Lebanese restaurant I’ve been too, so I cannot comment on the food quality versus authentic Lebanese food. What I can say is that I went here, got a huge heaping plate of food for $ 8, and ate it in a very nice atmosphere.
I ordered chicken shawarma and a yogurt drink. I received two pieces of pita with two sauces — one seemed spicy and the other seemed similar to mayonnaise as an appetizer.
The plate that was served to me for the main course was huge. There was a heaping pile of chicken and a heaping pile of rice. Additionally there were some vegetables on the side. It tasted great and I was beyond full by the end. Fearing sleepiness I finished off my dinner with a Lebanese coffee, which was excellent.
The service was great and friendly and the atmosphere was much fancier than what I had expected. While the rear portion is more fast-​foody, the front is a highly-​decorated dining room, kept dark and candle-​lit, and, dare I say… romantic? Hey, let’s just say I felt a little awkward sitting there by myself, even though I wasn’t the only one doing so.

This place is soooooo good! Beautiful presentation, excellent flavors. Lots of vegan options. Great value for the price. Atmosphere is pretty nice, right across from McCarren park. been a few times and food is consistently yummy.

Tasty food and generous portions.

Had the falafel wrap here which I really liked a lot. It reminded me of the typical shwarma and falafel sandwiches when parents lives in the middle east. I think the problem here with a lot of reviewers comparing it to oasis or other middle eastern places is that they don’t realize that middle eastern food varies even among different countries of the middle east region. They all have their own style of dishes and are prepared differently. Keep that in mind! This is lebanese. I’m pretty sure oasis is Egyptian and a lot of falafel places around new York city are israeli so you have to understand there will be differences in preparation.

I really wanted to like Tent. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment.
Grape leaves appetizer– tasty, but not fresh. They were stiff as if they had not been prepared that day.
Pitas– very fresh, no complaints
Lentil soup– soooo salty. Other than that, no discernable flavor.
Hummus– passable. Not bad, but it’s pretty hard to mess up hummus.
Lebanese salad– was drowned in pungent, overly acidic dressing that sort of burned as it went down
Lamb Shwarma– I’m sorry to say that this was literally inedible. Not only was it tastless, but It was so tough and gristly that I couldn’t even chew it. I bit down and the gristle hurt one of my teeth so bad. Not a big deal if it was just one piece that was like this, but the entire portion of lamb was inedible. I never complain unless it’s really bad. I let the waitress know… she apologized and left the uneaten dish on the table for the remainder of the meal.
Service– waitress was sweet and accomodating, but was inexperienced.
I wasn’t going to write a review, because if you don’t have anything nice to say…
However, since I was charged for the disgusting entrée that I did not eat (because I couldn’t even if I wanted to), I felt it was fair to write about my experience. If they had not charged me, or even just taken the dish away and given me something else, I wouldn’t have written this.
Sorry to say, I probably won’t be giving Tent another chance.

It is as if the other reviewers have been eating at two different restaurants. I was lucky enough, the three times I’ve been here (eaten in, take out, and delivery), to eat at the good version of Tent. The falafel was awesome. For this style (Lebanese, as opposed to Israeli), it’s the best I’ve had in NYC. Well, maybe equal to Mamoun’s.
Most of the other stuff I’ve had has been pretty awesome as well. Hummus — good. Some sort of yogurt salad — good. Grape leaves — good. The haloumi sandwich was just so-​so, but I still have to give this place 5 stars for the incredibly cheap price considering the high quality of the food.
Also because they are always empty when I go there, and I am hoping this review will get some more people in the place. I mean, prime location, good food. I have no idea wtf they are doing wrong with getting the place full of people.

Just returned from a delicious meal at Tent. Was craving a change of palate pace having just feasted on Thanksgiving and had been wanting to try Tent since it opened (as me and my boyfriend live two blocks away). We were not disappointed.
We started with the vine leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes, onions, parsely and spices and the grilled Lebanese cocktail sausages. The vine leaves were my least favorite of the meal — they were very tasty but not enough stuffing for the amount of leaves used. Sausages were perfectly seasoned with a hint of spice.
For our entrees, we had the grilled whole baby chicken and the AI Basha Mixed
(Lamb Mashawi, Toauk, Lamb Kofta, Shwarma). Both dishes were cooked perfectly and portions were very generous! Chicken was moist and tasty and the mix we ordered (lamb only) was so tasty and well cooked. My favorites were definitely the Mashawi (cubed lamb) and the Shwarma. Both dishes came with a yummy rice pilaf, red cabbage slaw, and mix of onions, peppers and lemon. Great flavors all around.
Service was warm and attentive and enjoy that it is BYOB.
Definitely the best Middle Eastern restaurant in the neighborhood and look forward to trying many of the other dishes on their extensive menu.

I wish that my food was at least half as good as what others here have written, If there was a zero star option I would use that. Wow this is probably the worst restaurant I have ever eaten at. I ordered pick up and the lady on the phone was very nice and friendly, 15 minutes later I walk in and my food is ready, (this is the only nice thing about the place I can say) Tent was almost empty (keep in mind this is around 2 pm on a Saturday, prime-​time for most places).
I ordered what the menu listed as «juicy and tender lamb» over saffron rice, grilled peppers and a side of cucumber yogurt. Sounds delicious, right?
What I actually got were thin slices of gelatinous, over-​cooked, and COMPLETELY unseasoned meat. Literally it looked like it was boiled (which it probably was). Disgusting and inedible. The vegetables were a sad, sad story. Over-​cooked once again, and tasted like they were marinated in lime-​juice over night, and completely un-​salted. Oh, and the menu stated there would be free bread! No bread, instead I was presented with a huge plastic box of cucumber-​yogurt dip with nothing to dip into it with. I wasn’t too disappointed by that point though, because much like everything else I’ve described the dip was un-​salted as well, and who wants a ginormous plastic box full of dip anyways? What am I supposed to do with it? Bathe in it?
The rice was the only edible part of my meal, and seeing as I was starving, I scarfed it down. $ 15 down the drain.
I hope whoever reads this review will take their money and go literally ANYWHERE else.

This place hits the spot. Good value and flavorful. Chicken Schwarma, lamb schwarma, 1 – 2 dollar pizzas are great too. They have tasty chile sauce and Garlic aioli. They season the meats well, nothing is bland.
Staff is friendly and reasonable. I’ve picked up here a few times and they have been on point.
They are friendly and stay open til 130am everyday.

I’ll be the first to admit it. I was wrong. I walk by Tent every day and watched it get built and finally open, and I majorly judged it by its weird sign and interior. I dismissed it as just another kebab place.
Boy was I wrong! I ate here tonight and it was one of the better meals I’ve had in the neighborhood. We opted for stuff other than falafel or shawarma since the menu was so extensive. Had a hummus, boiled bean dish, and haloumi/​feta pizza thing as a starter. All were very good. For our main, the wednesday special was really good, a delicious basmati rice with tender lamb and veggies on top, as was the kafta from the charcoal section on the menu which was swimming in a creamy sesame sauce. Great smoky flavor. The menu is super long, like almost as long as the cheescake factory menu.
Interior-​wise, the front part with the fabric is surprisingly really nice. The back part without the pretty fabric is a little bit whatever with its dropped ceiling and fluorescent lights. But all in all, super good!
My only recommendation for improvement is that their pita bread that comes with everything could be fresher and more pillowy (like the pitas at moustache in the city.)

I hate to give a place one star. But wow. The service was painfully awkward, and the food was pretty bad. I ordered the falafel and it was smashed into a folded pita with marginal vegetables. My date ordered the chicken entrée and was brought a plate of lamb grizzle that tasted pretty terrible. It could have been the time of day, but in any case that is not what he ordered AND it was awful. The tea we ordered came when we were well into the meal, and it was actually good, but that was it. Not quite sure what we missed, but this place is far from a 5-​star rating. I was thoroughly depressed when we left.

We came here with my parents with a bottle of wine in tow (BYOB), but no bottle opener. After taking our order, our waitress went out into the rain and down the street and to buy one so we could enjoy it with our meal.
The portions were very large, the food was delicious and the service was beyond incredible. The Mahallabia (Arabic pudding) was a must have.
Go here! You will not regret it.

Love this new place. GREAT and very inexpensive delicious food… I’ve been there three times and each time ordered many dishes, bill was always shockingly affordable for the great and fresh quality of the food. This is the kind of place we need in this part of town – an affordable and delcious place to go with friends. Support this place !!!

Awesome, went here late the other night with a big group of people. Ordered just about everything off the menu and everything was delicious. Plus its BYOB, so bring some drinks and enjoy.

Just tried this new place which has only been open a week or so. I must say, I was impressed with the quality of the food. Tried the mixed shawarama. Portion was huge and it was all very fresh and delicious. By the lack of customers, it’s obvious that this place hasn’t caught on yet but I would encourage anyone to give it a try. If the tent like décor and awesome food doesn’t get your attention the low priced menu will

The menu says «The Lebanese Restaurant #1 in New York» — I’m not sure how they knew they before they opened, but they’re quite right. The priority here is clearly on the quality/​authenticity of the food, the freshness of ingredients, and preparation — not some faux-1920’s décor.
Day 1 was Aubergine’s stuffed with walnuts, garlic and spices, fresh made hummous with green chili, fava beans, made to order zatar bread ($ 1) and haloumi cheese pizza. The quality of the ingredients, the fresh herbs, and unusual spices made for an amazing lunch. We stuffed ourselves to death — and the bill was $ 20.
Day 2, lunch. Coated in sesame seeds and with a hint of perhaps cardamom, The felafel have a flavor above and beyond.
Day 3 in a row, invited a bunch of friends, as this place can easily accommodate very large groups on the fly. Everyone was impressed by the quality of the food.
The space is huge, sparse, draped in fabric to resemble a tent. It is clear all of the money went into building a well-​equipped professional kitchen and having fresh ingredients. Unlike restaurants who seem to use the bulk money for décor and leave the food for last (Lokal, Trix, The Bedford, Manhattan Inn) TENT gives you a delicious meal.
Please go and support them, because I want to eat here at least 3x a week.
(And its BYOB.)