ilili Box

The duck shawarma was absolutely amazing. The duck shawarma was absolutely amazing. The duck shawarma was absolutely amazing.

Service: Cashier doesn’t look at you, customers in line looking at each other — wondering if they had ordered already because the cashier isn’t acknowledging anyone, he continues to talk to other workers before asking you «Yeah?»
Food:
Spicy chicken over rice — Overall: very bland. Rice was mushy and over cooked. Chicken bland, not sure where they got the «Spicy» in Spicy chicken. When I asked for some hot sauce they charged $ 1 extra.
Roast duck over rice — Overall: too creamy. In addition to the mushy over-​cooked rice, they added too much sauce/​base which made it a little too savory.
Green lemonade — Made of Lemonade + Cucumber + couple other things. It tastes like pickle juice. I like pickles, I like pickle back shots, but I wasn’t in the mood to drink pickle juice with my meal.

As I’ve learned from Brooklyn Nine-​Nine, which is obviously a 100% accurate depiction of the city, New Yorkers care a lot about «mouth feel» when eating. And the actual grilled wrap component of my lamb shoulder wrap felt damn good in my mouth. The experience of chewing it was a sheer joy. I’m less enthusiastic about the lamb insides where the dominant flavor was salty, and other flavors were hard to discern. Other wraps, such as my date’s duck wrap. might not suffer from this problem.
The biggest problem plaguing all the wraps, however, is the lack of a plate. The wraps are a drippy mess, and, by the transitive property of drippy messes, my pants got a little messy as well. Prodigious amounts of napkins were required. You can’t take me anywhere.
Summary: Wrap that rascal.

After checking in to our hotel, I pulled out my trusty Unilocal app, and it lead me to City Kitchen: NYC Food Hall. After checking out all the options, I noticed that ilili Box clearly had the longest line, so it must be good!
I loved my duck wrap! Not sure what the yogurty/​white sauce was, but it was sure tasty! The duck was tender, plentiful and a little oily. Grab a lot of napkins, because it got really messy! My date and I sipped on mint lemonade, which was a delightfully refreshing.
Great place to go for a quick meal on the go!

Came back here because I was craving the duck rice box. Got the combo again. The gal working the front could not be bothered. Though she was so cold she kept her arms in her shirt though she had a sweater tied around her neck.
Looks like they’ve halved their portions and the duck was missing whatever greens were on it last time. The guy cooking the food was friendly but I think overlooked the Brussels sprouts because the gal left and he had to also work the register.
Probably won’t be back. No more cravings.

Location: Aimed for City Kitchen, I got surprised that it is where ilili box located. WOW, okay, let’s have some Mediterranean food for lunch. The line is long, why, pretty much because the cashier is trying to be nice to every female customers. Alright, while I was waiting, I looked through all those items on the menu.
There’s a lot of people hanging around here. Some who dressed well seems to be people who work in the neighborhood, others look like visitors who want to eat every single piece before leaving NYC.
PS. No seat as always.
Food: Okay, wraps seem to be a good choice for lunch. But the fries seem to be also delicious. What should I eat? Okay, falafel korean wrap. Why? Cuz my new resolution for 2016 is to be a vegetarian. Now, falafel seems to be the ideal choice.
And it was delicious. I personally, love their korean sauce. Well balanced but not too spicy.
Although the wrap is small, which is the ideal size for my appetite, I still cannot believe it is only 7 dollars. Okay, I guess no more cynical reviews. Then let’s end with Bön Appetite!
3.5 for food.

Really solid wraps. The lamb was super tender, and the falafel was really flavorful. Only non positive is despite being good, falafel wasn’t very hot, so probably not fresh fried. Wouldn’t mind a little more sauce too, but that’s really nit picking.

I have been to the physical Ilili once with a group of my friends and I would say the Ilili box essentially carried over the most amazing dishes at Ilili. We ordered the roasted duck pita wrap for share — the bread was so crispy that it almost cracked in my mouth! The duck meat was tender and mixed itself perfectly well with the special white sauce! I would love to try their other wraps as well as over rice series.

After hearing rave-​reviews from a knowledgable cousin for the main restaurant I was pleasantly surprised to see this mini-​Ilili @ this hotel on 8^th ave. steps from my theatre on 45^th street. Ordered the hummus & Beruiti falafel wrap. The humus was smooth but a bit flat. I liked the lifit (picketed turnip) on the wrap but the falafel had an crumbly texture – not as crisply fried as most. Novel concept – kind of like a mini/​food court in Hotel in lieu of a traditional restaurant (& I mean that in the
Classiest sense of the words food court).

I come here somewhat regularly, and the quality of the food is definitely consistent. My go-​to is the lamb rice box, which is a good combo of meat, rice, tomatoes, yogurt, and herbs. I tried the Phoenician fries recently; whoever made my portion was super generous with the spices and the garlic whip. Definitely flavorful! Also the green lemonade is a MUST; very light and refreshing. My one gripe is that the staff is consistently not attentive; you get a buzzer for your food, and multiple times they’ve forgotten a part of my order when I come to pick it up. I’m personally willing to deal with it for the food.

Located upstairs of the Row House Hotel (entrance on Eighth, just north of 44^th Street). There was no line when I got there.
Got a pressed chicken sandwich and a side of brussel sprouts. The sprouts were great and had sliced grapes, which was awesome. The sandwich was good, though a little greasy. In total, it cost $ 25. That is way too much money.

Stopped by after looking up a place to eat with my family. Ordered the lamb shawarma wrap which turned out to be very delicious and properly cooked. It did fill me up, but it was overpriced like everything else on their menu.

Take out Falafel Wraps were shockingly good. They were made fresh and packaged to go. I took me about a hour to get to Central Park before I ate it under a shady tree. 1 hour old and it grew cold and it was still awesome as ever. Good Job with take out items… you guys rock

Just had the lamb shawarma wrap. It was super tasty and had the authentic flavors i was expecting. Includes a good serving of flavorful lamb… I asked for mine with garlic instead of tahini since I’m allergic… So good and it hit the spot!

Phoenician fries are an interesting item and it was that interest that persuaded me to order the pressed chicken sandwich. Very good food but extremely garlicky. This place certainly fits well into the City Kitchen lineup and I wish them lots of success. Hopefully will be back to try some more menu items.

To be honest… I never really tried Mediterranean food before, so I figured «Okay! I think it’s time!»
I started small with just the Phoenician fries, I had never even heard of Phoenician fries before. Sure, I was skeptical but what the heck!
The Phoenician fries ($ 2.98) was quite interesting and delicious, of course. It was topped with sumac, so it had a hint of lemony taste. It was a bit tangy, but it was a good balance with the salt.
I got a side of the ‘garlic whip’ ($ 1.38) although I clearly told the cashier I didn’t want it. Guess he was being nice and just wanted me to try it. Anyways, the sauce was alright, the garlic scent was a little too strong to go with the fries in my opinion, but I was really tempted to bring it home because it would’ve been perfect for some garlic bread!

my girlfriend and i stopped by citykitchen to try the ilili box last night before a 7pm play at the jacobs theatre. my friend ordered the duck schawarma and i had the falafel beiruiti, both over greens, and phoenician fries.
we probably should have been tipped off by the fact that there were no rotating rotisseries at ilili box, but it was actually when i bit into a piece of falafel and thought — «oh, this must be a croûton», that we realized there was something very wrong. it was basically a pile of crunchy deep fried bread crumbs on a bed of iceberg lettuce slathered with tahini, and let’s just say that the duck meat was extremely tough and with little flavor. the fries were nicely done, but the allepo garlic whip had the consistency of something not very fresh.
maybe it was a one-​off bad experience, but it’s not likely i’ll be ordering from this place again.

Amazing Mediterranean (Lebanese, I think) food!!! The quantity per order looks small but it is very filling.