I had a small, but very enjoyable meal here. You can tell the place just opened, as they have way too many staff members who are almost annoyingly prompt with service. Four people at the host station to receive each guest, for instance. I don't think our water glasses every got more than 1-sip-below-full before getting refilled by what seemed like a small army of men carrying water pitchers wandering around the restaurant. But clearly everyone is trying very hard, and to their credit, the restaurant did not suffer from any first week jitters. Service was smooth, everything came out promptly with proper gaps between dishes, everything was hot, nothing was forgotten.
I was overall very impressed by the place and I have never been to a restaurant quite like this, doing high end but very simple middle eastern food.
I am anything but an expert in the food and I've never traveled to this region, but the falafel were easily the best I've ever had - bright green, herbal, fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside. The hummus was easily the best I've ever had - incredibly smooth and creamy and a nice bite from the aleppo pepper.
We also had the Salatim, which are basically a series of spreads like mezze. They served a really thick, rich lebneh and cippolini onions with feta - those were the highlights.
We also had the steak, which was a hangar-like cut (menu didn't specify) served with "schmaltzy" crispy potatoes - which were a little under seasoned and not schmaltzy enough for my taste...probably the only minor improvement I could mention the food needing.
Cocktails were just alright, and I think the program (at least my very limited tasting of it) needs a little improvement. I had a old fashioned variant with bourbon some nut-flavored bitters (if memory serves) and tahini. The drink itself was a little sweet (not too much so, though I thought it could use a little more back bone) but interestingly was served in a glass with finely crushed ice. I was puzzled by this choice since I felt it wasn't appropriate for this style of drink and diluted things way too quickly, especially when you're dining and maybe taking a long time to finish a given drink. It quickly became watery...so of course the only solution was that I drank it quickly - problem solved! I ordered another and asked them to pour it over a large cube of ice I saw in another guests drink - the waiter responded that he would have to see if the bartender was able to do that (I stifled an eye roll, since this was after all their 3rd night of service...but certainly the bartender could muster the ability to pour the same drink over a different shape of ice they already had on hand, upon request). I was in luck and the bartender made it happen! In my view, the drink was much more enjoyable in this format.
The wife had their negroni riff which was really tasty and a little herbal - very interesting and also very beautiful, mostly clear with just a hint of red...almost like a clarified negroni or something. She also had a mocktail (from a menu section of mocktails) that she found overly sweet and boring.
By no means were the drinks boring or bad, but I'd say they weren't as enjoyable as the food. It sounds like this place also really prides itself in its wine list and they offered to have their somm to stop by and discuss any wine questions we had. We weren't in a wine mood, but maybe that's their strength over cocktails. I will have to go back and see!