Take a Sip

For some reason, I have been on such a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food kick lately. So, after throwing out a few restaurant ideas to my friend who I was having dinner with, I was excited that we decided on Sip Sak.

From the ambiance to the food to the service, Sip Sak gets it right. I came across a handful of reviews that have torn this place apart, and I have to say after having eaten there twice now, I still have no clue what these people are complaining about. We were greeted by the smiling chef/owner Orhan Yegen. He took us to our table right away. And then...the fun really began. We decided to order a bunch of dishes and share everything (my fav!), but we had no clue just how much food we were in store for!

We started off ordering the hummus and cacik appetizers. Cacik is similar to a Greek tzatziki sauce...made of thick yogurt with cucumber and garlic. Both were served with fresh, thick pita, and I am convinced I could have made a meal out of just these two starters! We had hoped to order the falafel, but they ran out earlier in the evening. Next came the Greek salad, which was massive and delicious. Mixed greens were covered with feta, artichokes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and stuffed grape leaves. And last, but certainly not least, was the spicy chicken...hand-chopped grilled chicken spiced with hot red peppers, served over rice. The chicken had a great flavor, but was somewhat reminiscent of a chicken patty or giant chicken nugget. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing ;)


The waiter almost convinced us to order a dessert...and the baklava certainly sounded tempting. But, at this point I was thrilled with everything we had eaten and also very full!

We decided to be adventurous and ordered glasses of Turkish wines. They were both pretty good...but I am no wine expert, so I won't even begin to try and describe them. I just felt weird ordering a wine from Argentina in a Turkish restaurant!

So, aside from them being out of falafel, I literally have nothing bad to say about Sip Sak. I was almost looking for something wrong during the meal (bad idea!), but seriously could not find a thing. The service was attentive and prompt. The atmosphere was very cool...has a great Turkish vibe without being over the top. And the food was authentic, reasonably priced, and very tasty. What could be bad about any of that?!

Sip Sak
928 2nd Avenue
b/t 49th & 50th Streets
website
Menu Pages listing

Ali Nada

As a food blogger, and someone who dines out a lot, I'm bound to have some less than pleasant dining experiences in NYC. I know not every meal is going to be top notch and receive high praise from me. But, I always feel a sense of disappointment and regret when the experience rates anywhere from mediocre to downright awful. Sometimes this is a result of poor service, ordering the wrong thing, or just bad food.

Dinner last week at Ali Baba was a combination of a few of those things...much to my chagrin. I had been there before and really enjoyed my first experience. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this most recent one. I have been craving Middle Eastern food a lot recently, and was looking forward to Ali Baba. After the fresh, flavorful pita came out, it was all downhill from there. The service was spotty, either making us feel rushed or neglected. We were seating right next to the area where the waitstaff lingers in between tables, barking orders at each other and bumping into the back of my chair.

Then came the food. I ordered the falafel dinner, imagining falafel, hummus and maybe some salad/veggies to go along with it. What came out was like a massive appetizer and was hardly entree worthy. There was a plate covered in hummus, topped with 6 falafel balls and 3 tomato slices. Disappointing. The falafel was really good...crunchy on the outside and flavorful on the inside. But, I would have been much better off ordering the falafel appetizer and a salad or a side of vegetables.

It wasn't much better for my friend, who ordered chicken kabobs. Can't go wrong with that, right?! Wrong. The chicken was good, but it was served with straight-out-of-the-box rice pilaf...ya know, the kind that your mom has undoubtedly prepared for you at some point in your life. (And the kind my friend coincidentally had left over in her fridge from dinner a few nights before!) There was zero attempt to try to cover up the fact that it was anything but authentic. Neither of us remembered rice pilaf being served the last time we had been to Ali Baba, so we were both pretty shocked when we saw it showing up on everyone's plates. Don't get me wrong...I love rice pilaf, but just not in a restaurant setting, especially in a cuisine that features great sides like couscous.

Ali Baba had always been such a reliable, neighborhood restaurant, but we both left feeling a pretty frustrated. We hoped it was because we just ordered wrong, but when a restaurant skimps on things that much, I'm led to believe that they're looking out more for their bottom line than for their customer satisfaction.

Ali Baba
212 East 34th Street
b/t 2nd & 3rd Avenue
Menu Pages listing