Barbes Restaurant
“Loved the sea bass tagine, loved the moules Moroccan (Moroccan mussels) and the chocolate mousse with fresh raspberried.”
“The Hummus, steamed tomato with goat cheese, mussels, Pastilla…love love love!!!”
“The Briouats (meat pastry appetizer) was to die for, and the Pastilla Au Lait dessert was perfectly portioned after the large meal.”
Barbes Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: 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.
Ick. The best part of this place is the cool exposed brick ambiance.
Other than that, came here for a quick lunch during the day on Tuesday (non rush hour, around 1:15pm). The place was pretty packed, but its easy to get same day reservations.
We ordered the Hummus and it arrived quickly, but without bread, after asking 2-3 times we finally got bread to eat our hummus. Not to complain, but uh, did they expect us to scoop it up and eat it like ice cream??
Friend ordered the corn soup and chicken skewers. Be warned the chicken skewers don't come as skewers but more a few pitiful pieces of chicken and random garnish vegetables. The soup was basic. Pureed corn.
I ordered the arugula salad, but can't tell you how it is, becasue they served me the greek salad with chicken. A very different order, however it took so long for our food to come that if I sent it back we would have been there another hour. The salad was overdressed, the lettuce was wilted and old, the feta was sparring and the chicken was OVER seasoned and had the consistency of jerky.
All things considered it was "edible" but would not recommend at all. The best was the hummus, which tasted store-bought, but it was good so kudos to whichever store it came from.
Cute décor, and that's their best feature. One of those restaurants that simply has good location but not much to offer. Seating is packed tightly and service was rather slow during lunch. For example, we received our hummus to start, but didn't get any bread to eat it with till 15 minutes later. My friend also received the wrong entrée, but didn't bother to notify the waiter as we couldn't afford to wait an additional 20 minutes. The food flavor was as basic as you can get.
My experience at Barbes was odd to say the least. It was certainly one of the more uncomfortable dining experiences that I've had. It felt awkward being there and I think the whole situation could have been handled better if the kitchen and the front of house were in synch.
We arrived around 11:30 pm on a Friday evening. With the Yelp hours listed as open until 2 AM, we decided to take a shot and grab some food. The woman who greeted us, who turned out to also be our waitress didn't know whether or not the kitchen was still serving food. She left us to check and then in what seemed like a begrudging manner, seated us.
We ordered the hummus and the chicken cous cous. The hummus was pretty good, a little runny in my opinion. I believe it was dressed with balsamic vinegar. During mid consumption, our waitress came and asked to have the plate so she could "move it to another plate" While I believe she was making room for larger dish the chicken was in, I found it to be rude.
The chicken cous cous was a bit bland. The raisins in the cous cous were tasty but the veggies surrounding it tasted like they had been boiled for a while. Nothing to write home about.
The mint tea to finish the meal was actually quite pleasant.
I think that the food is ok here but the service and the awkwardness about when we arrived would keep me from returning. The whole meal felt rushed and frankly, if you don't want to serve someone, then just be up-front with them. Honesty is the best policy.
I had business lunch here ordered hummus, Moroccan mint tea, Tagine Lamb with couscous. It's convenient location, good service with delicious food.
I made a reservation for 4 on a Friday night. We arrived maybe a few minutes early, but the staff and I think host were gracious about having our seats ready.
Barbes was a cozier (tighter) restaurant than I had imagined from the pictures. There was a healthy crowd of people enjoying French Moroccan food. We started with the hummus plate, which was okay, though I've had better hummus.
Among all of us were orders of steak, fish, and plenty of couscous. I ordered the Tagine de Legumes, a vegetable stew with Moroccan spices. A side of couscous was $5, but I figured why not. It was plenty enough to share with the table. The Tagine was actually a pleasant surprise, as in it was really, really good.
Service was pretty good, so I'm a little surprised at the negative comments. I didn't feel particularly rushed, but I can understand that with the very stacked amount of seating, patrons waiting for a table can create some pressure for diners to eat and be merry at a bar.
Lunch time seated immediately. Ordered lovely Moroccan Mint tea, and a huge plate of hummus with breads to start. Hummus was so smooth and garnished with a few kalamata olives…mmmm!
My cousin and I both ordered a chicken sandwich that came with an olive spread and avocado. A side of fries and grapes. The sandwich was huge for us and we probably could have shared, especially after snacking on the hummus.
Service was great and server was very attentive. We had a very nice lunch and I would love to come back again while in NYC.
Food: Good
Service:Very Good
Ambience: Very Good
Before I go into details I will say that this could have been a 4 star experience if I would have ordered something else.
I can here for dinner and was really impressed by the attentive and friendly service. We started by ordering the chicken and almond pastry and followed it up with the chicken tagine. The tagine was pretty flavorful but the pastry was not good the filling was bland, the pastry it self was soggy and they topped it with powdered sugar and cinnamon which made it taste like a chicken dessert, unappetizing.
I feel that if we would have ordered a different appetizer the experience would have been better.
Overall I will give them another try
Came here for lunch and found they were a bit slow. Service and atmosphere are both very nice, but the food came out way too slow for midtown lunch (don't expect to be back at the office in 45 minutes).
I got the skirt steak sandwich special which comes with fries and a slice of watermelon. In concept, this sounded good to me, but in reality, the skirt steak was way too tough to be inside a sandwich. I could not get my teeth through that sandwich!! Should just be skirt steak with fries and forget the sandwich part.
The slice of watermelon was a nice touch. I always appreciate fruit at the end of a meal.
+ decor and service
+ fruit slice to end your lunch
– slow by midtown lunch standards
– skirt steak sandwich way too tough and barely edible
It's a good place to sit and talk with co-workers, but I didn't enjoy the food.