I have been desperately wanting to go the Au Za'atar since I walked past it in the Village and saw their tableside shawarma, I was so intrigued and could not wait to visit.
Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we were too full from fabulous appetizers to go in on the full shawarma. It's not on the menu, you have to ask for it and I believe the cost is around $75, and feeds 4-7 people which for what you get and if you're splitting with a group seems extremely reasonable to me.
We went to the Midtown East location and they have a gorgeous outdoor setup, covered in vines and purple flowers with plenty of space and some good Midtown views of the Queensboro Bridge. They don't currently have an indoors, so wouldn't recommend going if you can't handle the heat.
To start they bring you za'atar seasoned pita, sauces and toppings which seemed to be the Muhammara, maybe Baba Ghanoush and a few others that were not recognizable but tasty. The issue, at least for the Midtown East location was that the wait staff didn't know anything either so we were kind of on our own for deciphering what all we were being given. Regardless, you got sauces, you got pita, there is a $54 Mezze Tray option that has a great presentation but I don't see why you would need that when you get everything for free as is. Skip it.
For our appetizers we got the Manae'esh which they call a flatbread but the dough tasted much more pizza-like. The Soujouk W Jebne Bi Ajin was essentially a cheesy sausage pizza seasoned with Middle Eastern notes, to perfection. This thing was only 4 slices but it really did the trick. We used the leftover sauces to add more texture to every bite and this was a quintessential appetizer.
We also got the Halloum Malki, Maki- something in that range, which was a honey coated halloumi cheese that came with pita. Again, why get all the sauces when now you have extra pita to use the leftover sauces with.
We went there fully dedicated to getting the shawarma even with only 2 people, we have an APPETITE but after all these apps and pita we knew we couldn't manage it- and it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would reheat very well.
So we went with the Mixed Grill platter which wasn't quite what we were expecting but was Chicken, Filet Mignon, Chicken Kafta, Beef Kafta Kebabs with some hand cut frites. It came out covered in what I would call a very flat khubz arabi. We had no idea how best to go about eating it and the waiters didn't either so we kind of picked it apart, made our own sandwich things. It was good to sample everything but we should've just gotten our own separate plates, those were around $25-36. Filet mignon was extremely well done, but the Chicken skewer was delicious.
Overall, we left stuffed and it was a good date spot, but this makes for a much better group spot and I would recommend this place 100/100 times. The new Midtown East location feels like it's still trying to get on it's feet so if you can- go to the East Village one, that scene is much more fun.
Head to the Garret East to keep the night going if you're in the East Village! If you're in the Midtown location, you're really not around much - get to the UES and head to Treadwell Park.
Update October 5, 2021:
Upon returning we were lucky enough to indulge in their Lamb table side shawarma, which did live up the hype. A huge heaping of fries, (make sure you look under for all the hidden bread,) and a decent (though deceivingly less than we expected) portion of meat. A perfect group spot for no more than 4 people. Get some apps too and everyone will leave full and pleased.
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