Oi W.
Yelp
12/2/23
We heard on our local news that Paterson's restaurant week was ending Sunday so we went Saturday 12/2. Al Basha was chosen because we've never tried Palestinian cuisine. And restaurant week would be perfect time to try since there would be a discounted menu. We tried to make reservations but they do not take reservations on weekends. We at 4:30pm and hoped it would be before the dinner rush, wrong! Place was already packed and have a 30min wait list. We chose to wait. About 20mins later we were seated.
They drop a basket of pita and some pickled vegetables while we looked over the menu. No special menu for restaurant week. The waitstaff was gone before we can ask.... Oh well we'll look over the menu and ask the waiter. No one came over for several minutes. I understand we were waiting on 1 person but usually you get to order a drink. We got the basket of pita and pickle vegetables but no glass of water... We had to flag someone down, who had to go get our waiter. When he came over we got sidetracked about the order that we forgot to ask about the restaurant week deal, oh well. We ordered the Fried Cauliflower, hot tea and Mint Lemonade. After a couple minutes, we decided to get the Kibbeh, and had a hard time flagging down a waiter. We finally got a hold of someone who put our order in.
Fried Cauliflower - the tahini was under the cauliflower so the 1st few bites was just the fried cauliflower which was good. Until we unearthed the tahini and lemon sauce, then it was a whole other level of yumminess.
Kibbeh - Not greasy. Flavorful stuffing of meat. Very good
Mint Lemonade - it came after the apps... saw everyone had ordered it so I gave it a try. Just the right tartness with a hint of mint, and not overly sweet.
On to the main course:
Lamb Chops - hubby loved it. I don't really like lamb for the gaminess but this was delicious, hardly noticed it was lamb, that's cooking skill!
Chicken Kebab - chicken was very dry, if it wasn't for the garlic paste, it would be tasteless.... I really wish I can have beef (digestion problems) because the kofta kebab looked amazing. Since I don't like lamb and can't have beef the only choice was chicken and it was not good... :(
Falafel Platter - it's a side like rice or French fries, but our friend is vegetarian so he opted for the platter with a Beet Salad. Falafel was crispy outside and soft inside, Hummus was a creamy goodness, Baba Ghanouj was delicious, and Tebouleh was ok. Our friend shared some since I didn't enjoy my chicken. This was so good I ordered it to go.
Beet Salad - our friend enjoyed the salad. I personally would never order it because of the walnuts (bleh lol) and the stick of feta cheese (this was odd to me as most restaurants crumble it in salads, also not a fan...)
As you can see, the food was delicious so why only 3stars, well service was lacking.... Hubby spilled his tea so we used the paper napkin to wipe it. It meant that we were down 1 napkin. On his way to the bathroom he asked a waitstaff to bring us some napkins. No one came. We borrowed the napkin from our friend's place setting hoping that our waiter can bring another before he showed up, nope. Even when we ordered, we asked for napkins, food came and still none. We were done and still no napkins....
We paid our bill, which included 20% service fee, WTF! I understand restaurants charging for a party of 5+ but we were 3... you know what, we always tip 20% so we left it at that even though this time I would have only tipped 10-15% since service was really lacking.
Remember I ordered a Falafel Platter togo. After paying and we all went to the bathroom, still no togo. About 10mins later, I had to wave both my arms to get someone's attention... he came I told him we were waiting for a togo. He goes and someone else came to ask what happened... :/. I repeat that we were still waiting on a togo. He goes into the kitchen and came right back with the togo bag.... So if I didn't say anything it would have just sat there in the kitchen... :/