Mombar
“The veggies in my tagine had such rich flavor, and they were enhanced by their homemade hot sauce.”
“Next up the lamb cheeks arrived, and my enthusiasm waned a bit–they were undersalted and sort of tasted like beef chili.”
“Recently, they started serving beer, so you don't have to BYOB (if you do there is a small charge..nothing extreme).”
Mombar
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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although this place is tasty and ambiance is unique and authentic, i have to agree with the other reviewers and point out a major flaw- you are NICKLED AND DIMED!
in terms of food, everything was delicious both times i came here. here's what we got:
lamb shank: ok, fatty, would have preferred more meat on it, but well seasoned and tender
lamb chops: excellently seasoned! plump and meaty
cous cous: the finest (in terms of texture) i ever had, very good!
hummus, babaganoush, and fou trio: good, not mind blowing
in terms of ambiance:
very authentic and cozy, feels like you are in someone's kitchen and they are personally cooking for you. the outside looks very exotic and intriguing.
service: ran by just a few people, all very nice. but i am not a fan of paying a $3 a person cork fee especially at a tiny hole in the wall middle eastern restaurant. also, the dip appetizer cost the same as the lamb shank special (each $20) RIP-OFF!
had the prices been in line and i not felt robbed, this would be an easy 4 stars.
I was up in New York recently, and this restaurant was recommended to me among others. I wanted at first to order the dish for which this restaurant is named, described as a sausage with lamb, rice, and other ingredients. The chef dissuaded me, saying (in effect, though these were not his words) that most Americans don't like the fact that the rice-to-meat ratio is rather high. So instead I ordered a lamb tajine with couscous. It tasted quite good; whether I would have found my original order to be too limited in meat I'll never know, though.
Service is very slow, because everything is cooked from scratch. This should be taken into account; you should be prepared to wait a long time for your food.
However, I can't deny that I enjoyed what I had, so the restaurant deserves a high rating. I do not get up to NYC very often, so I do need to rate restaurants in that city on the basis of a single visit there even though I prefer not to do so, but it seems like a toss-up on whether I give this place 4 or 5 stars.
I am thoroughly convinced that Yelpers have missed something here. This restaurant is terrible, absolutely terrible, especially when there are so many great middle eastern restaurants on Steinway for much less. We had the lamb cheeks, sweet breads, and I ordered the rabbit in one of the sauces (not the tajin).
I don't know about you, but I would think most foodies are like me. And honestly, a good meal can definitely improve my mood. Well eating here was absolutely depressing, seriously I felt like I was just shoveling gruel down my mouth because how flavorless everything was. The lamb cheeks were actually the flavor highlight of the night since they used a wonderful seasoning called salt. The sweet breads were god awful, sitting in some sort of watery god knows what. My rabbit sitting in that spinach similar watery crap tasted like nothing. I'm glad I could have my rice with watery spinach. For the two of us to be charged $66.00 for two entrees and two appetizers this place is highway robbery. I honestly could have gone to Cedars Meat House, ordered my $2.50 shawarma sandwich and walked away happy as a clam.
Do yourself a favor, go to El-Rawsheh (sp?) down the street and eat there. For half the price ($12 bucks for an entree) you can get yourself a nice filling meal of what good food tastes like. As nice as the server was and the chef, I cannot recommend eating here. Unless you like eating food that tastes like absolutely nothing.
I was impressed with everything Mombar had to offer from the moment I was seated til my very last bite.
Nasef greeted us warmly and was more than hospitable. After explaining the specials and fielding a few questions we had, he chatted us up on and off throughout our meal. Normally, this would irritate me. But, he was so likable and enthusiastic about the restaurant and food that it was hard to be mad at him.
The complimentary bread provided at the start of the meal was delicious. Normally, I ask them to take the bread away when I'm dining out in order to avoid carbo loading, but I couldn't bring myself to stop eating.
The pepper sauce that they brought out to accompany it blew my mind. They should bottle and ship that stuff.
We ordered quite a few different things:
Sauteed Artichoke Hearts – Simply prepared with roasted peppers, garlic and herbs. Less is more. It was wonderful.
Sweetbreads – I've only had this one other time, and that time is was fried and covered in sauce. This preparation really let the sweetbreads shine: they were lightly sauteed with a touch of cream. Unfortunately, I realized that I don't really like sweetbreads. (The texture bugs me.) But, that's my own personal preference and in no way a reflection on the quality of the dish.
Lamb Shank – Fall off the bone, no need for a knife tender. A winner.
Mussels – I didn't get to try these. However, the plate was licked clean. Literally. Take that as you will.
Tilapia Tagine – Another standout. I was expecting micnced pieces to small chunks at best. I got a large fillet, delicately cooked in a light tomato sauce served with bell peppers, roasted tomatoes and yellow squash. It was impeccable.
As we admired the unusual art that surrounded us, the Chef came over to ask how we enjoyed our meal. He informed us that he was the artist responsible for everything in the restaurant. What a multi-talented guy! I can't wait to return, and I highly recommend to anyone looking for an authentic experience.
Ambience – amazing.
Food – poor.
Service – great.
To get : molokhia
To skip: the feta and the Sahara plate
As an Egyptian, I really wished they had some other classic dishes like koshari or besara (which they had on the menu, but unfortunately weren't offering it that night).
We got the molokhia with rabbit, the feta (the special), mombar and the Sahara plate. The molokhia with rabbit was definitely the most delicious. I would go back for that. The feta was WAY too vinegar-y. We couldn't even finish it (which is VERY unusual for me) and the garlic or meat flavor really didn't shine at all. The mombar was decent. The Sahara plate was VERY underwhelming. The fool (fava beans) were not spiced well AT ALL. The baba ghanoush lacked some must needed flavor. No cumin, no lemon, no 'shata' (chili spice), nothing ! Also the pita bread that the give to accompany the meal was dry, and cold.
Nonetheless, the music is great, and the place is beautifully decorated. Our server was also very sweet !
This place is great. My friend and I were looking for a place to eat and would have walked past Mombar without noticing had it not been for the tantalizing garlic aroma wafting through the open door. We just had to stop. The owner was so friendly that we decided to stay. The food took forever to arrive because it was being prepared fresh and upon tasting it, it was well worth the wait. At least mine was. I had the stuffed chicken and it was simply amazing. The meat was juicy and tender and the skin was perfectly crispy. Even the vegetable and rice were great. My friend had the lamb tagine and although it was good, it wasn't out of this world. Really though tagine should not be ordered in any restaurant that is not Moroccan. It's asking for trouble. Anyway I highly recommend this restaurant and I will be going back for sure.
After writing and reading hundreds of reviews on Yelp, I've noticed a few "Yelp truisms".
For example, Yelp ratings are almost useless. It's nearly impossible for a restaurant to escape the 3.5 – 4.5 star range. Show me a restaurant with more than 4.5 stars and I'll show you either on of the best restaurants on the east coast or a restaurant with less than 5 reviews.
Another truism is that 1 and 2 star ratings generally fall under one of two categories:
1. Restaurant is high priced. Yelpers don't like high prices, regardless of the food.
2. There was a groupon / coupon / seamless encounter involved.
3. Service was bad.
There are always exceptions to the rules, but I see this over and over. For Mombar, the majority of the low reviews are cheapskates who were pissed off at the high price. Yes, the prices here are steep. But guess what? You get to see the menu before you sit down. *sadly shakes head*
As all the other reviews mention, the decor is a sight to behold. You have to see this place to believe it. When you walk in and take in the sights, sounds, and smells of this restaurant you would swear you've just stepped into a foreign country. My wife and I are world travelers and I felt like I was on vacation in some nameless restaurant in Egypt. This might be one of the prettiest restaurants I've ever seen.
The chef is one of the nicest, most pleasant men I've ever come across. Warm and personable, he takes tremendous pride in his cooking. He doesn't have take out menus or delivery service because he wants to interact with customers and see them enjoying his food. In all our travels, I don't think my wife and I have ever been made to feel as warm and welcomed as he made us feel.
The previous two paragraphs make this restaurant a seriously ideal date spot. The tables are definitely close together, but from what I've seen, this place doesn't actually get full, so I think you'll be able to talk and eat with relative privacy. Your date will *love* this place.
This restaurant specializes in southern Egyptian food. I'm not completely familiar with this particular cuisine, but Egyptian food in general is not a spicy like Mexican or aromatic like Indian. It's an understated cuisine.
Lamb Shank: A
Braised lamb in a bed of spinach. Lightly spiced, medium lean, nice thick bone to gnaw on. There is a foreign yet subtle spice that your nose is instantly greeted with when you walk into the restaurant, and it's definitely present in the lamb. I'll have to ask the proprietor what it is. One reviewer said the spinach was watery, but he didn't "get it". The spinach is a sauce, and meant to be eaten with the Egyptian rice. Think of creamed spinach but less creamy.
Salmon in Phyllo: A+
Salmon was flavored well. The dish consists of salmon, zucchini, tomato and green pepper wrapped in phyllo dough. The phyllo was light and thin; if it was any thicker, it would've overpowered the salmon; the amount was skillfully chosen. Think of a chicken pot pie, but the chicken is salmon the dough is phyllo. This dish is just spectacular.
Mombar: D / A+
I've never given a split rating before. Mombar (the namesake of this restaurant) is a sausage which is typical cuisine from southern Egypt. Now, I travel to foreign countries a lot, and eating is my hobby. I have to scoff at dumb Americans that say "ohh, this is authentic food! We love authentic food" I call bullshit. Most Americans would *HATE* authentic food, if we define "authentic food" by "as it is eaten in the country of origin". They would be horrified by it. What "authentic food" means to most people is "food with flavors I'm not familiar with" or "food how I imagine it must be eaten in another country". Let me get back to mombar. So it comes to the table, and let me just say that it looks … a little different from sausages I'm used to. After taking my first bite, I realize just how authentic the sausage is. The casing is as authentic and authentic can be. Super chewy. Almost rubbery. I then realize I'm almost certainly eating the small intestine of a cow. It wasn't browned, so to my horror, I realize that it even looks like the bowels of an animal. I had a hard time getting around that. The sausage itself is very aromatic. Tasted of … cloves? Nutmeg? Something like that. So. Let me say this. The idea of eating such an authentic dish which I imagine might be cooked in a typical southern Egyptian home definitely deserves an A. However, I didn't like the dish and couldn't bring myself to finish it, so in that sense, a D. It's not that it's bad. It's just not good for *me*. I love the idea of it, but didn't like it. Make sense?
Keep in mind I am Arabic while reading this review / my taste in Arabic food is more seasoned then most writing reviews /
The decor and the atmosphere is awesome. I felt like I was in Egypt sitting inside listening to Om kolthoum on the radio. The chairs was very authentic and I expected the food to be the same. The chef Moustafa approached us and gave us the specials and was very cool / down to earth man. I liked the service him and the waitress provided.
The menu is obviously non traditional food you find in other restaurants but Authentic Egyptian cuisine. I was glad that this is not a Shawarama jump off but I can eat some actual real food.
First they served Hummus with Fatah. The apple slices accented the hummus very nice and it was not overly rich as other places. They did not drown it in olive oil and was not extremely creamy as I am used to but it sufficed.
Appetizer: Mombar sausage What the heLLL ????? I thought this would be something good as Moroccan meurguez is great but this was EWWWWWW. It was soo rubbery and it looked ugly. Its like he took it out of the freezer and microwaved it and then threw it on a plate blindly. It was just nasty as hell.
Main Course: WTF Was I thinking ???? I ordered Rabbit w/maloukiya not realizing that this guy is using an electric stove and Microwave to do the majority of his cooking. I got the rabbit on the plate and although it appeared grilled, it tasted microwaved because it was extremely hot n rubbery ( you know how microwaved food taste). Also it looked messy and ugly. Man I didnt want to eat it at all. The maloukhiya was nice cant complain about that but the main course was ugly man ! Come on when you serve some one food make it look presentable and at least cook it on a grill. WTF giving me microwaved Rabbit get outta here. I was very disturbed.
Drink: I also had tea with mint. The tea with mint of course was no different from any other place as it is what it is just tea with mint lol.
Desert: I skipped the desert and went across the street to the Syrian Bakery and had some home made sweets and coffee !
Over all I had HIGHHHH HOPES FOR THIS PLACE AND WAS LET DOWN TREMENDOUSLY. I will never come back.
1 star for food / 1 star for atmosphere.