Falafel Feast

I went back here a few months ago, and was saddened to see what they became…
I don’t know if they changed the owner or what, but salad became so, so, so sad. Not fresh, soggy, urg, I don’t know, just no. I even gave it 3 tries over the past few months to give it a chance, but no, it’s been consistently bad… good bye my friend Falafel Feast, now I’m moving on to Shawarma Grill. Don’t call me a bitch, YOU made me move on.

Just we to this place. Looking for something fast and cheap. Definitely fast, somewhat inexpensive. I got a falafel with amazing bone ripened tomatoes. Falafels were a rad over cooked but delicious non the less.
One big downer, it was hot and they didn’t have the AC on. (nor sure they have it)

I really liked this place before — the employees were friendly and offered quick service. The restaurant was tidy and bright.
I was in the neighborhood on Monday and tried to go back, but noticed a lock on the door. I assumed the place was closed down. I was walking by today and noticed the doors were open and decided to give the place another try.
The place has changed completely. It is dark and appears cluttered with random boxes. The food has completely changed. I ordered a Falafel sandwich. As I watched the employee make my sandwich I noticed he was not wearing gloves. He was also handling raw lamb while waiting for my Falafel to fry. The cucumbers/​tomatoes/​toppings look like they have been sitting around for days. The sandwich consisted of 3 Falafel balls in a pita stuffed with a bagged salad mix (carrots/​romaine lettuce/​radishes — clearly a dole bagged salad). The pita was pretty gross and something you can buy in the grocery store.
I will absolutely not be going back to this place. Totally disappointed.

This place… was so amazing before. So sad what it’s become now.
Atmosphere ²⁄₅ — Kinda gloomy now. There’s a decent amount of seating. The stools however, are ill-​located right under where people pick up their food orders so you’ll have random people reaching over you to grab their food. Super super annoying.
Service ³⁄₅ — Not much to say. You order and you receive. They used to give out free samples of falafel a year ago.
Food ²⁄₅ — Not quite that good anymore. I believe the owner changed and afterwards, nothing has been the same. Prices were jacked up almost 1.5 dollars and quality was dropped. The fries here used to be amazing. Not sure what happened to be honest :(.

I went to this place with my hubby about 2 weeks ago for the first time. Very tasty, not greasy falafel, the pita was nice and fresh too. We both ordered their falafel sandwich w hummus (hummus was delicious). Very reasonably priced $ 5.95 I believe. My only *thing* with this place is that it is not handicapped accessible. This is something that I never would have noticed before but I am currently (and temporarily) in a wheelchair due to an injury. There are two steps outside so hubby had to go in to order our food and we sat outside and ate.
I realize that handicapped accessible means nothing to most but to some it means everything — so I thought I should mention it.

I came here for the first time on Sunday afternoon to try the place out and satiate my hankering for good warm falafel.
The store was empty (though this was at about 3:30 pm on a Sunday) and the cashier, who was hanging out outside, came in to help right as I entered the store. Service was good and, at $ 4.95, my falafel sandwich was decently priced. I ordered it spicy, and the heat was just right for me — not crazy hot like I find at Mamoun’s. The falafel was pretty tasty and crispy, and the sandwich was filled with lots of good fresh-​tasting veggies.
Not worth a special trip, but definitely good to check out if you live in the area!

I order the same thing every time I’m here, which isn’t often, and that’s the falafel sandwich.
It’s a delicious sandwich filled to the brim with falafel, hummus, onions, red cabbage, lettuce, and if requested, pepper sauce. The pita is store bought, but the fillings taste fresh.
Sandwich doesn’t travel well and most likely will be a soggy mess if you leave it wrapped more than 5 minutes.

This amazing place just changed owners and it is the best Shawarma I have ever had in my life and I’ve just about been to every shawarma/​falafel joint in Manhattan! It has very authentic and genuine flavors from Egypt :) The service was friendly as well!

I used to go to school around this area and came here often. If I were to review this place 8 months ago, I’d give it a 4. But my most recent experience was so bad that I had to write this 1 star review.
I ordered a chicken schwarma and when it was time to pay, they told me it was $ 6.00. I told them that it was only $ 5.50 because it was clearly written out on their menu, «Chicken Schwarma…$ 5.50.»
His response was, «no, $ 6.00.»
I don’t mind paying an extra .50. But seriously, update your menu, or at least be sincere about it when your customers point it out.
Putting the crappy service aside, their schwarmas are pretty good. Chicken is tasty, so is the lamb. You get plenty of food for what you pay. Beware, their hot sauce is very spicy, so ask for it on the side.

Not the cleanest of places — the surfaces are sticky, they barely had any napkins, and the guy behind the counter looked pretty stoned, but I was happy with the food and especially the prices!
I am a student nurse and my clinical rotation is currently at Bellevue over on 1^st Avenue between 26^th and 27^th. As anyone familiar with the area can tell you, there’s a real shortage of healthy vegetarian friendly food in that area. Refusing the normal McDonalds, Subway or pizza shop, I ventured down 2^nd Avenue and was pretty psyched to stumble upon this place.
Let me tell you, this is NOT the place you want to be ordering meat or dairy products from. C’mon, look at the place, and you’re shocked that the lamb schwarma is bad?
BUT, if you want a no frills healthy and quick lunch, stop in for the Israeli salad (delicious) or some marinated chick peas or pickles. I got all three plus a hot tea, PLUS a bottle of water, for $ 10, and I barely finished it all.
This will be my regular go to spot during clinical going forward — maybe I’ll actually try the falafel next.

Worst Lamb Schwarma I’ve ever had! The lamb was not real lamb meat; it consisted of mushy, chopped up pieces of processed GOD KNOWS WHAT! We’ve all tasted the typical NYC gyro meat, and here’s a NY Times article on how most of it is made:
;
The meat at this place is LOWER THAN THE STANDARD PROCESSED MEAT you would get from a place like the one described in the article.
DON’T DO IT!

$ 4 gets you a felafel pita sandwich. This thing has at least 6 felafel balls, lettuce, tomato, hummus, tahini, and red cabbage in a fresh pita.
Very reasonable and very good for the price.
Skip the feta though, it’s tasteless.

Things Ive ordered here:
Falafal pita
Lamb shawarma pita
Fries
Pickles
Falafal pita — a 4 dollar falafal. This just seems so wrong especially since their meat offerings are 50 cents more. They do give you a lot more falafal but the veggies were kinda limp.
Lamb shawarma — tasty, but a bit too greasy and heavy. i basically eat this if i want to pass out through a lecture.
Fries — limp and greasy with too little salt.
Pickles — nothing special.
The area is really lacking in options… so you could definitely do worse… but thats not saying a lot.

An update (and downgrade) to my first review:
Went in at 1pm on a Sunday. I was the only customer in the store. I ordered a falafel pita ($ 4) and a side of dolmas ($ 2.50). The bill came to $ 8 — what?! I pointed out the error on the bill to the cashier and he seemed a bit confused and irritated. Ok, whatever. I got the amount corrected and paid my $ 6.50.
I was quickly handed my bag of food. Big mistake not to check it before I went home. When I got home and opened it up, inside were the dolmas and just a plain piece of pita bread! WTF? I was not happy. But I trekked my ass back to the place to remedy the situation. Again, the people working seemed very confused. Seriously, how could you mess up my order when I’m the only one in the restaurant?! It’s not like you were busy! Sigh. I got my falafel pita and left.
Not sure I’ll be back. Too bad, I had enjoyed going here before.

Sometimes I’m in a rush and want something to eat that is not pizza or subway. Enter Falafel Feast.
The Falafels and Lamb Shawarmas pita sandwiches are fresh. If you ask for heat, they will drop the pepper oils. I am not a fan of their schnitzel. If I want it, next time I’ll go to a German restaurant. I’ve noticed the falafel prices have increased by a $ 1 since they opened last year.
Good news: they are open late and offer coupon cards.
Overall, Falafel Feast is a poor man’s Mamouns in Kips Bay.
IFHTP 3+

Tasty Falafel for reasonable prices. I was drawn here by the Scoutmob deal which offered 50% off a purchase (with a minimum). I unfortunately haven’t returned since so I don’t have much to say in regards to regular prices. This restaurant is right by some other local quick eats, but it is a very clean establishment and is one of the few places that sells Falafels for a good quarter mile (or more). I came at around dinner time and noticed the few straggler students on a budget also in here. Do great minds think alike? Possibly.
The Lamb Shawarma and fries I had were OK; didn’t blow my mind, had something resembling flavor but wasn’t flavorFUL. However, if you’re looking for a relatively quick bite in this area, I’d definitely recommend it over Subway.

_​FRENCH FRIES ($ 2.50): thin and crispy
If you take them to go, they won’t stay crispy for more than an hour, but at least they don’t go limp right away.
_​FALAFEL SALAD ($ 6.50) w/​Tahini dressing. Would get it again, minus the pickles.
The staff is friendly, especially the owner. He handed out Falafel balls, even offering me one after I’d already received my order which I gladly started off my lunch with.
Will return.

Thank you, GrubHub, for my 25 cent meal.
I ordered a lamb shawarma sandwich and hummus for pick up. They didn’t make my sandwich until I got there, how nice (and smart)! The owner (I assume) is really nice and cheery and makes you feel welcome, and the guy making your sandwich is also super nice!
The lamb sandwich had tons of lamb in it, but was really greasy, in my opinion. I didn’t really wanna think about how unhealthy it might be (though, if I wanted to be healthy, I wouldn’t have chosen this…). I felt that it could’ve had a little more bang to it. I guess it could’ve used some pickles or more tahini sauce. I also got the hummus which was fresh and pretty good… and they give you a pretty decent helping of it for $ 4.
I’ll probably be back to try the falafel and the baklava.

3.5 stars, round up for excellent service. I might have even liked the food better if I wasn’t an idiot that’d addicted to carbs. Also, currently on Scoutmob, 50% off.
Came in to use the Scoutmob deal even though I know I would have landed myself in here eventually seeing as I heard good things about it. It’s small space but they do a nice job of making some seating and still leaving ample room for people to walk about and give their orders. I had the falafel combo, comes with two sides, I chose fries and rice. I don’t know why but I assumed it’d come with yellow rice and it came with white, that’s where my mistake came in. The rice was totally flavorless and I wanted to pour a cup of soy sauce on top of it (whoops wrong cuisine). The fries were delicious, hot salty, crispy, hand cut. Not some frozen crap. The falafel was decent, I still like the famed shop in St. Mark’s better, and also Wrapido, but if you are in this neighborhood Falafel Feast’s falafel will more than get the job done. I just wish it was a bit more seasoned and a bit crunchier.
Overall cost of the platter wasn’t too terrible at just under $ 7. A lot of food for your buck, $ 3 with current Scoutmob deal makes it an amazing steal. The staff was particularly friendly. They explained some of the dishes to me that I didn’t know what they were. They even explain what falafel was to the woman in line in front of me, who I wanted to hit upside the head. Guess I’ll have falafel for lunch even though I don’t know what it is…

Décor: ³⁄₅
–If you remember Ten Ten, it’s the same layout (You pay to the left and pick up food to the right)
–The seating is a bad design, especially in the corners and infront of the kitchen. The seats are in the way of people receiving their food
Service: 3.5÷5
–Friendly and efficient
–One of the cooks gave me a free, fresh falafel ball… Maybe I was lucky or maybe Falafel Feast knew a Unilocal Elite was in their store.
Food: 4.5÷5
–Lamb Shawarma: generously placed inside a pita and drenched with sauce. This can get messy.
–This can be a hit or miss depending on your preference for the meat to sauce ratio.
–At $ 5.50 for the lamb, the price is decent. You’ll be content but not full.