Amir’s Grill

Their falafel is great. Really is. Their tahini is also on point. But their sandwiches are filled with so much lettuce that you only really get half a sandwich. Its a bit overpriced as well.
Its solid in a pinch

I got the combo, which provides a choice of three sides. This included a respectable babaghanoush and a very fresh tabouli. The standout was the moujjadara, featuring lentils, rice, onions and sumac.

Pretty good! I don’t quite understand why it isn’t rated higher. I’d give it a solid 3.5, rounding up to 4 for great service. The cashier who rang up my order was friendly in a very genuine way, and he even brought my to-​go order out to where I was sitting. It’s the little things that make for a nice experience. Appreciate it!
FALAFEL BOWL ($ 5.25):
I was surprised at the low price, but it made more sense once I saw the bowl. You get a small to medium sized bowl with salad, tomatoes, pickles, and 3 good-​sized falafels along with tahini sauce. I got home and added an avocado to it, and it made it just the right portion for me. Otherwise, I’d suggest getting the wrap to make sure you’re full (which I assume is larger since it costs more). The falafel itself was great! Crispy but not greasy and perfect on the inside. Their tahini was light, smooth, and flavorful, just like it should be. A touch of hot sauce and it was a great lunch overall.
The food that people had around me looked good, and I’d be curious to return here and try other options like the shawarma chicken or a plate. I was impressed by how fast the food came out! I think I got my bowl in under 5 minutes. Overall, a solid option for quick and not-​super-​authentic but yummy Mediterranean food.

After a long day in the Columbia Barnard area getting my new freshman settled into their dormitory, we stumbled upon Amir’s grill and walked right in looking for filling and reasonably priced dinner. We were not disappointed. The shwarma is delicious and the food is fresh. One huge highlight was the baba ganoush side order it with warm extra pitas and you are in for something really special!

With food trucks, carts, and hawkers all over Broadway, there’s no end to the list of cheap eats for the starving student in this university-​saturated area but I was out and about on a 92-​degree day and the very thought of having to order and eat in the sweltering heat was making my sweat glands tingle with fear. Enter Amir’s Grill. Serving up fast Middle Eastern fare like falafels, hummus, and shwarma for fair prices, this small but cheerfully decorated restaurant seemed to hit the bill. On a weekday afternoon, it was completely empty except for the two of us so we received our falafel pitas within minutes after we ordered. Amir’s Grill takes pride in their organic, local sourcing for a lot of their ingredients and for our particular meal, the actual pita was provided by
, a husband-​and-​wife team in Jersey that bakes brick-​oven pita pockets. That much is convincingly clear by the telltale grill marks, but I also loved the thinner and crispier texture, which added so much more flavor than the fluffy, doughy white ptas I’m used to getting without denigrating its ability to contain all of the innards.
The falafels themselves were just all right — green and crunchy but slightly soft, and the ratio of falafel to salad was a little off so that a lot of my bites seemed like tahini-​dressed vegetables with pita bread. Each table is supplied with a small variety of condiments and I made good use of the Sriracha bottle, which definitely helped things for this spice-​lover. There’s also ketchup, barbecue sauce, and regular hot sauce for all of your saucy needs. I loved the lemon water fountain and stack of cups that was made available for customers (HURRAY for not having to buy bottled water!), but for those craving more fizzy drinks, there is also a Boylan soda fountain, which is another small-​batch soda production company which uses cane sugars and natural ingredients. Two other surprise perks were the beers on tap and the free wifi, which you wouldn’t expect to find at an eatery like this one. While we didn’t make use of either this time around, it’s clear they know their college demographic. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to return, it was a relatively cheap and healthy meal option which I enjoyed well enough, along with the fast and friendly service.

Finally, an affordable eatery in Morningside Heights. I tried their falafel wrap and for $ 6.80, it was quite large and filling. Although I was surprised by the pickles, it was definitely tasty. I still prefer Mamouns in the West Village but this is a good alternative. Will definitely go again.

Good, reasonable middle eastern food. Falafel. Hummus. Cane sugar fountain drinks. Friendly help. I would go back.

I like Amir’s a lot! It’s a good alternative to a lot of the Halal carts around town — your falafel might be a little more expensive at Amir’s, but it comes without the regret and intestinal issues that frequently accompany falafel from the carts. Their service is always absolutely stellar. I’m blown away by how nice their staff is. And they always get the food out really, really fast (heads up, though: if you get the mac and cheese on the side, it might be a bit slower). I always get the falafel sandwich and I think it’s cheap and delicious, and my other friends have gotten more meat-​y options and generally enjoyed them. If you order right, Amir’s can be a great dinner spot — quiet, quick, cheap, and delicious.

In a short mount of time allotted for lunch — wow. DELICIOUS! Sweet potato fries and Shawarma were perfect, warm, amid a packed restaurant with over 15 people coming in from the Columbia Conference, and yet, the staff waited on me individually and were very courteous. For 8.99 and the fries and Shawarma — Delicious! :)

We went here because I have been wanting some persian food.
Unfortunately, their food is not persian at all. Their shawarma & kebabs are NOT shawarma & kebabs, they are just wrapped sandwiches.
I gave the food to my husband because they tasted very fake, like processed meat.

I ordered 7 trays of wings and French fries for my super bowl party on Saturday ¹⁄₃₁. I placed the order with andre (who was very cordial and helpful) and he assured the order could be delivered by 7:45 on Sunday. I called on Sunday afternoon at 2pm to re-​confirm the order —
Cassandra confirmed the order and said it should be fine.
I never received my order. At 9:15 I called and asked for a status update and 1 really was not provided so I cancelled my order and ordered from another (more reliable place).
Highly disappointed.

Sangria and Pino Grigio on tap for $ 5 … Enough said. Love it.

Decent food.
Came here when I was visiting my friend near Columbia, who wanted to meet at the place. The cashier seemed pleasant enough, but nothing really stood out too much about the food for me to say anything. I wasn’t sure what kind of restaurant I was eating at. I would come here again, but I think I would definitely check out other restaurants too.

This hidden gem keeps me coming from 168^th more often than I should. Their falafels are perfect, and that’s not even doing it justice. Perfect for grab-​and-​go and doesn’t even get that packed at prime lunch hour. Try their French pressed coffee which is a hidden secret. If you love the falafel, grab the falafel wrap which comes with more bank for your buck.

Got there because I yearned for a shawarma like I had back home, had very high hopes with a name like that. Had the lunch deal which was a great price, and the service was wonderful! Overall you’d think it’s a 5 star place, but:
The hummus wasn’t that good at all, and it was served cold (?!) As if from a readymade box. The pitta bread I got the shawarma in hardly managed to withstand the weight of the chicken and eventually cracked and spilled.
The chicken itself was missing a shawarma taste, it tasted just like a grilled chicken sandwich.
I understand that most Americans don’t know how a shawarma is supposed to taste like, but that was a chicken sandwich, a insult to all shawarmas I have had before.

I was taking a lovely evening stroll in Morningisde Heights, looking for a place to get a simple side of rice to go with some left over Thai green curry that I had from lunch. I walked by Amir’s Grill, and saw on the menu that they had an «add-​on» of rice for $ 1… which was all I had in my pocket at the time. So I ordered the rice for $ 1 to go. What did I get? A condiment cup full of rice. You know, one of those teeny-​tiny little plastic cups with a plastic lid that you use for ketchup and other condiments.
I said to the guy who gave it to me, «Really?! That’s it?» to which he replied with comic (tragic?) sincerity, «Yes, sir, that is 2 ounces of rice. Can I get you anything else?»
Even if I wanted more rice, I didn’t have any money (and if I did, I would have gone to Ollie’s a few blocks up the street and gotten a decent dollar’s worth of rice there), so I just laughed in a shaking-​my-​head kind of way, took my 42 grains (it was literally not more than a spoonful of rice) and left.
When I arrived at my friend’s apartment and showed my friends how much rice I got for $ 1 at Amir’s, they said, «Seriously?» as they laughed in disbelief. One said that he couldn’t believe that any place would actually charge money for such a small amount of food. When I said that I had I was going to post on Unilocal about it, they all said, «YES, YOU SHOULD.» So here it is.

Ever since I started working around Columbia University, I’ve been taking more notice of the businesses around the neighborhood, with Amir’s being one of them. What had caught my eye about this place was the fact that they were always offering lunch and dinner specials, particularly their half off on wings. After reading some of the reviews on Unilocal,I was a little reluctant to try Amir’s — I mean, can their food really be that good if they’re always having specials every moment of every day?
I didn’t think I was ever going to try eat at Amir’s, but one day after work, I was so hungry that I just decided «fuck it» and went for it. I decided to get their ten piece chicken wings with a side of falafel. While I was waiting for my order, I saw that they served Ommegang Witte on tap. Immediately, I knew I would be partial to this little place, since Ommegang Witte is one of my favorite beers of all time. The cashier was also really nice and really chill, and I found out that they do deliver beer if you ordered it. Wow, what a way to win me over!
Since it was kind of late at night, from what I could see, there were only a few people working, so I expected that it would take some time for my food to come out. The cashier told me that I could sit down and he would bring my order to me, so I sat down and waited. After about ten minutes, I got my food and went home.
When I got home, I opened my order to find my falafel, chicken wings, and pita bread (I think it was) wrapped in aluminum foil. After a few bites of my food, I could see why Amir’s got the reviews it did on Unilocal.Their chicken wings (I got buffalo wings) were okay, with the sauce being unevenly distributed over each piece. Also, I think they gave me a broken piece of chicken and counted that towards my count of ten. Normally, I would be a bit peeved at that, but who really orders that many chicken wings at night unless you were drunk? But anyway, the wings were alright overall, I’ve definitely had some better ones elsewhere.
When I opened my falafel, I was a bit concerned. My falafel was entirely black on the outside. I don’t know if that’s a normal thing or not, since all the falafel I’ve had was brown on the outside. Although I was a little reluctant to eat it, I ate it anyway because I survived college falafel so how bad could this be, right? Spoiler: it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t great either. I’m sure that if I got the falafel at some other time, and not late at night, it would probably have been better.
Overall, not bad. Nothing really to say, since it might have just been a late night fluke.

I am not a big fan of vegetarian food but I was with a friend that wanted to try this place. I ordered a kobe beef burger medium rare; the burger came served on a pita and tasted like falafel. The burger was prepared well done. My friend enjoyed her food and mentioned that the place had very good food to her liking. The service was fine. The place is kind of like a fast food setup; you order at a counter then the food is brought out to you. A fairly god experience and I may have rated higher if I was a true fan of this kind of food. I would come here again.

Lunch, Lunch, Lunch. What should I have for lunch??? Today, it will be Amir’s Grill. I looked at their lunch menu, the usual Mediterranean fare for reasonable price. I ordered from their lunch menu: a Shwarma with 1 small side (Babaganush) and a Boylans fountain drink. The chicken in the Shwarma was nicely grilled and flavorful. The ratio of chicken to veggies was just right with crispy lettuce and juicy tomatoes. I usually like my babaganush to have a bit more texture to it than Amir’s version, but it was tasty. I was surprised to find Boylans served at Amir’s but appreciated it very much. I found their food to be fresh, well proportioned and reasonably priced (lunch special menu). Their chalkboard advertises the local farmers and ingredients served at Amir’s. Amir’s Grill cook with fairly local and organic ingredients. SCORE! Big score!
I was caught a bit off guard when their hot sauce option was Sriacha instead of Harissa. Still not really sure what to make of that… but their food is very filling and good!

Went to Amirs for a quick one hour lunch break! Was happy to know that the meats, soda, and falafel were all organic, they even have a list of there suppliers!
They have great lunch specials were you can get an order and a side for around 7 dollars for Falafel, pita encrusted mac n cheese and a soda with unlimited refills I would definitely return, its an okay place nothing special! Ingredients are fresh! Pita is soft! All around great place to grab some lunch and go! Staff is friendly! Small place!