Omar’s Kitchen & Bakery
“The chicken and lamb kebabs are delicious, the hummus is flavorful, and the eggplant salad will melt your cold midtown soul.”
“The chicken shawarma platter is my favorite and comes with two sides, which I usually get the hummus, baba ganoush or eggplant.”
“I found this place on yelp looking for somewhere to meet my friend for a quick lunch at 12p on a Thursday in midtown east.”
Omar’s Kitchen & Bakery
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Just ordered a chicken Shwarama and it was delicious. I came here for lunch a while ago and I kept craving Omar's since then. Their chicken is juicy, not dry at all, and their portions are huge. Definitely worth the wait and I cannot wait to try other things on their menu!
Gem in Midtown East, that pretty much everyone within a 10 street radius knows about. As mentioned, come either early or late or be prepared for a waaaiitt.
EVERYTHING here is good. Salads are fresh, meats are grilled right in front of you, and hummus and babaganoush are creamy and everything you'd want in life.
Personally, I prefer to dine in so I get to help myself to unlimited sauces :D. I think they're all a blend of tahini or something but SO SO GOOD. I'm proud to say I can easily finish a third of a bottle in one sitting. The pita they bring out for the table is piping hot too!
Don't leave without your complimentary baklava. Make sure to ask for one if they don't offer it to you. Don't try to take more than one cause they watch the baklava stash like hawks and WILL catch you!
usually most turkish/mediterranean places in midtown don't have too many customers. that's mostly because mediterranean food is somewhat expensive, usually in the neighborhood of $15+ per entree for a platter. I called to place an order, but they told me it would be about an hour to process it. what? that's outrageous?! the guy then tells me to go line up, so my colleague and I decided to take the plunge.
We go to omar's and see a massive line outside. but we were in in luck. the line moved quickly. it turns out that they have an excellent lunch special for $10.15 plus tax. simply, wow. you can choose from all your favorites like chicken kebabs to lamb adana, lettuce with tomatoes, and you get your choice of two sides (hummus, chickpeas with spinach, greens, etc). If that wasn't enough you also get a freshly baked pita and a fresh bite sized piece of baklava for later. food coma. done.
I always get the chicken shwarma platter and it's so filling. I eat half and then save it for the next day. They give you a extremely generous portion of chicken and you get two sides with it. I like the eggplant and rice. The eggplant is served cold. Everything is so delicious and you get a slice of pita bread with your meal.
Since I can never finish the chicken shwarma platter, I decided to try the chicken shwarma pita. I didn't think it would be filling but I have to say it definitely is. The meat to lettuce ratio is a bit off but it's still delicious. I thought they didn't give me enough chicken but when you start eating it, you'll realize there's so much chicken! Also, even though you didn't order the platter, they still give you a baklava dessert with it!! It's nutty, sweet and flaky. Yummmmm. Very fast service and they have a friendly staff.
Great lunch spot! The service is quick and the food is delicious. The chicken shawarma is really good, moist and well seasoned. The adana and shish kebabs are good as well. Get a platter with two sides, and make sure one of those sides is the hummus! Creamy and tasty with a dash of olive oil, can't go wrong with this one. The veggie platter is also supposed to be really good. Haven't had it myself but my friend swears that this is one of the best falafel he's had. Oh and they give a complimentary baklava with your meal, which is perfectly crispy and sweet and easily the best I've had in the city!
The line may be a bit long during the weekday lunch rush but it moves fairly quickly and it's definitely worth the wait. A must try for sure.
Omar's is the best spot to get falafel in midtown. The line is usually out the door for lunch but it goes quick and is worth any wait! Make sure you know what you want and tell them if you are going to eat in… no take out containers allowed in the dining room. Whenever I want a solid, quick, affordable, filling meal, I know Omar's is going to be on point. The hot sauce is soooo good, I could drink it!!
Went here to grab a bite to eat for lunch after reading all the good reviews on Yelp. Apparently word has gotten around about this place because there were a good 50+ (no exaggeration) people in line.
For my meal, I decided to get a lamb kabob platter with hummus and yogurt with cucumbers. The dish also came with a piece of pita bread and was a good size for the price. I really enjoyed the hummus and cucumber yogurt, but found the lamb to lack a lot of flavor and even encountered a couple parts of the lamb that were inedible.
At the end of the meal, I got a little baklava that was a nice, sweet touch, but it wasn't enough to make up for the flavorless lamb.
Overall, this place is super popular and well-priced and they move the line quickly, but there are definitely better and faster options around for lunch.
So "everyone knows about Omar's" aye? With my undying obsession with middle eastern/Mediterranean food, and having an SO who shares a similar level of addiction, we headed there for dinner on hump day. We knew they closed at 8 and wanted to dine in, so we hurried ourselves to get in the door before they close. Well, I surely didn't have to do that, because we came here by 7pm, and people were still coming in to dine close to 8!
The dining area in the back is surprisingly spacious. There's apparently a sign that says "no togo boxes allowed in the seating area" – I'm sure plenty of patrons tried to grab a seat during lunch once they received their box. Well, the price is higher on the dine-in menu, so the service and seats are paid for. The food also comes out a lot slower than take-out, and I'm not exactly sure why that is. There was no line for take outs during dinner time and since the food offered for dining in and take out are the same, the discrepancy in prep time didn't make much sense to me. I had high hopes for this place but was a bit disappointed – so I would've given this place 3.5 stars but bumped it up, in light of the reasonable prices.
I ordered the chicken shawarma. You get to choose two sides with your platter, and I chose the hummus and falafel. The chicken was very salty – I'm downing a gallon of water per water. The hummus was very soft and buttery – yum. The 4 pieces of falafel were well cooked, and it didn't taste like they were cooked in re-used oil. It had a good scent to it. The shepherd's salad, however, was a let down. It was swimming in parsley – all I tasted was parsley. The veggies/side salad was not fresh. A lot of the greens were rotting.
SO got the chicken kebob – he seemed to enjoy it and it was less saltier than the shawarma. He ordered a side of cacik (yogurt & cucumber dip) and falafel. The dip had a good and refreshing balance between mint and garlic.
There were three sauces on the table. One was just straight up ranch, which we found odd. The other white sauce was good but the red sauce was a disappointment. How is this HOT sauce? There was absolutely no level of spiciness involved. I'd like to live on the thrill – give me SPICY.
Service was slow but there was only one waitress. And while I couldn't understand what she was saying half the times, I have no complaints. I'm disappointed that they didn't offer us free baklava – I didn't even realize they offer that up until I read Sally's review just now. I wouldn't have been able to eat it with my nut/gluten allergy, but SO would've housed that thing in half a second tops. Better luck next time. I'm going to try different sides next time – I realized how crucial rice is on a platter yesterday, but at least we were eating a low-carb dinner, albeit involuntarily (we just assumed rice was coming with). Delivery has a minimum of $20, and with a line that goes down at least a street during peak hours, I'll probably be back for another dinner.