Sahara East
“You choose to live on a tiny island with millions of people with the highest real estate costs in the U.S. and then complain when a restaurant or bar is cramped?”
“It has a variety of Middle Eastern deliciousness to dip your pita bread or the falafel into.”
“Depending on the weather, you can even sit in their beautiful tent out back–it's heated by heat lamps and *almost* warm enough in the winter.”
Sahara East
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Smoking: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The best thing about this place aside from the hookah, tea w/ mint, and the turkish coffee??? Emy! She's the best- she really took care of us when La H. and I had our birthday lunch here. She decorated with balloons and happy birthday signs, gave us flowers, and even hired extra help. Her food is always on point and she managed to keep track of everything without writing anything down.
Like I said before, come here during the day and you will not be disappointed.
I've never actually dined at this restaurant but I can definitely speak on the service.
I'm on a trip here in New York from Michigan and my family and I decided to take a bus tour because we wanted to see the city without having to walk in 90+ heatwave weather! So that's what we did, we took the tour….an hour into this excruciatingly hot day, our bus stops working…we pull Over to the side of the street (right in front of east Sahara) everyone is exits the bus and we wait for a new one. The owner of the restaurant comes out with a box full of ice cold water bottles! One box wasn't enough so He comes out with another one!! Making sure everybody on the bus which was filled both on the inside and the outside had a bottle. "Take a water, please don't be shy…who else would like a bottle…I'm sorry about the bus stopping, you can wait here" running back and forth giving us water. No one asked him to help.
He wasn't waiting for a thank you. He didn't even tell us who he was until we asked if he worked for the bus because we couldn't believe how nice and caring he was "no, I'm just the owner of this restaurant" and went back inside.
The company we were riding with didn't even offer us water!
The owner of this restaurant is a wonderful, caring person and I hope he knows that his good deed didn't go unnoticed.
God bless you and your business!
If I have the chance and time to dine in before I leave I will definitely go back to try the food and update this review!
Young. Loud. Drunk. This place is definitely on the lower end of hookah lounges. It's winter and the back room is very cold with your coat on! It's a joke. Drinks were watery. Service is an absolute MESS due to the dozens of drunkards tripping over one another and screaming louder than the next to be heard. Hookah had potential, but the disarray made it hard to enjoy. With the options in the area, PASS.
Hookahs are 5 stars, and they never seem to be that busy. Huge plus is that they will let you put your own music on.
Food looks like 1 star, I'm staying away from that. But who cares it's a hookah bar.
This is one of those places that I keep coming back to because of my sick obsession for the hookah. There's nothing pleasant about the place, other than the occasional nice server and the company you're with. But yet, I still keep coming back here! Like a moth drawn to a flame.
1) There's always a group of guys sitting outside Sahara East doing their usual cat-calling.
2) The backyard is STIFLING on summer nights, and the fans DO NOT HELP at all, other than help your sweat trickle faster down your face.
3) The sangria tastes like red water.
4) The food here is pretty decent, but I could probably run across the street to grab the same plate of chicken & rice from the street cart.
5) When you get ready to pay the bill, the credit card machine always mysteriously stops working. It's such a scam, but after encountering this 5 times, now I always make sure to have cash on me when I come here. Everything above is acceptable, but the credit card denial might be the most annoying thing about Sahara East, which is why I feel obligated to say, "Meh. I've experienced better."
Yea, I'll be back in 2 weeks.
Yet another odd experience. We walked in and there were TWO other people in the whole place and no staff obviously visible even after snooping around by what appeared to be the kitchen. To be fair, it was a Wednesday night and it did load up pretty quickly an hour later, but still, where's the staff?
We sat down and soon enough, we were greeted and given menus. The hummus platter and falafel were actually really great but it required a lot of effort to pull the waiter away from his buddies/socializing in the back to get water refills.
You come here for hookah (not cheap hookah, but hookah). Do not come expecting anything else, because I've yet to see it. It's pretty cramped and can get a little out of control.
The hookah is good. The food is meh. Atmosphere is meh. Staff is okay. Meh meh meh meh meh. But the hookah is good, and really the only reason you come here. Bring some buddies and have fun.
I had been coming here for years, but the management changed (must have been fairly recently). The new policy is that if you are 3 people you must order a $25 hookah or each get a drink at minimum. To me, that's absurd. I won't be coming back ever again even though it's the closest hookah spot to my place! Try Horus on Ave A.