Samia’s Mediterranean Food

So dissapointing! Food was blah. Kibble balls were cold on inside and lamb shish kebabs were overcooked and some undercooked on same plate? Also no liquor license. Service was fair. Frequent her takeout place instead.

Please note: This is for the new Samia’s restaurant. As fans of Samia’s delifront and a Lebanese family, we were looking forward to coming here for our elderly relatives’ birthday celebrations. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment overall. (I get that the restaurant is brand new, so hopefully they we will take note and make some improvements because I’d like to see another Syrian restaurant succeed in the neighborhood.)
I can say the food was pretty good, though a bit hit-​and-​miss. We were a party of 8, so we had a lot of the selections on the menu. We ordered the kibbeh balls, meat and spinach pies, the dip sample (hummus, babaghonoush, and lebneh), baked kibbeh, kofta, and lamb kebobs. The dips, pies, baked kibbeh, and parts of the meats that were hot were great. However, the middles of the kibbeh balls were still cold as they were obviously frozen and then heated up. For the lamb kebobs, half the chunks were overcooked and half were undercooked.
Also, the menu needs to be expanded because there were only a handful of entrees, or they should at least offer options to make the appetizers to be platters/​entrees.
As for the service, it too was okay. The waiter was very attentive. However, now I’m not saying he has to be Middle Eastern, but he should have at least been familiar with the food (pronunciation and ingredients) on the menu. We had to point out our selections because he didn’t understand what we were saying.
Also, even though there was no one else in the restaurant (it was 4 on a Saturday afternoon, so an early dinner) and we had a reservation, they sat us right next to the coat rack and the telephone. When the phone rang, my cousin was so close to it, she offered to answer it!
Lastly, FYI, for the beverages, they do not have their liquor license yet (which would have been nice to know beforehand, like when we made the reservation), and they served the soda without ice (we had to ask).
If they are going to follow the great Sally & George’s that previously occupied the space, then they are going to have to get their act together. In the meantime, folks should just stick with the delifront.

Best spinach pies, eggplant pies, hummus, stuffed cabbage… I could go on and on. I’ve been shopping here for years and it’s always thrilling to walk in and select from a great variety. Always friendly service and everything is delicious.

Samia’s is my favorite place for a spinach pie and tabouli. Everything smells amazing and is freshly made behind the counter. There are so many things I haven’t tried yet, I don’t even know where to start. Samia is usually behind the counter and is so nice and helpful — not something you always see around here. I wish I could give her store 6 stars!

I absolutely love living close to Samia’s. Whenever I’m too lazy to cook but want a good quality, yummy, home cooked meal I come here. Her fresh baked breads are amazing! Its hard to go in here and not leave with one. The chicken with tahini sauce is so good and I love all of her side dishes! I’ll walk by here and pick up a side of bulgur and lentils for lunch, its so good!

What a disappointment. usually Unilocal doesn’t let me down! As someone who frequents many Middle Eastern food spots, Samia’s really dropped the ball.
Selection: Average run-​of-​the-​mill Middle Eastern variety, but priced higher and in smaller portions than nearby places. Some items looked fresh, but others didn’t. My baklawa was super mushy and tasted like it had been sitting there a long time. Tabboule was ok and so was the lahem b’ajin but nothing too memorable.
I could have walked a couple blocks to 5^th Ave and bought the same items of the same quality at a much lower cost. I’m not sure why so many Unilocalers are raving, have you guys checked out the places on 5^th? Many serve the same fresh foods in bigger portions but for less cost.
Service: Neither friendly nor unfriendly, but nobody looked happy to be there. I would have given three stars for the food which was average, but the high prices and old baklawa were a big let-​down.

It may just be impossible not to love this place. It’s a gem!
Everything there is house-​made, and so fresh you literally see them making it behind the counter. There’s a wide variety of different Mediterranean pies, rolls, and other thing I don’t know the name of. But it’s all good. This is the place I go to when I’m going to a party and I need something that will wow and amaze. Even the rice dishes are hits.
And may I say, they have the best dates in Bay Ridge? Dates are my favorite fruit, and sometimes I stop in just to get a bag of dates. delicious.

10 stars for Samia. There was a time when I would wander in attracted by the aromas, look around, and leave. I never suspected the treasures this place offered. Home made, freshly cooked Mediterranean deliciousness. I am a regular now, stopping in to stock up for the week on fresh hummus, baba ghanoush, spinach & cheese rolls, chicken kabob, eggplant salad, coconut and honey sweets with almond, and much more. Apparently there are many regulars, privileged to have discovered this gem. I told Samia that if she ever moved I would follow.

I want to live here. That’s it. I just want to live here and eat everything all day every day. The baba ghanoush is amazing. I want to eat it with everything and that’s pretty much what I do. And the chicken kabobs… like… I can’t put into words how insanely good they are. You don’t know good chicken kabobs until you have them from Samia’s. They are massive. If anything from this store was my last meal I’d die an extremely happy person. Oh, and the tabbouleh is fantastic too of course. So fresh, so refreshing. Yeah, I think I’m gonna move in here.

Happen to walk by today and stopped in. There was so much I wanted because it all looked so good! I settled on a stuffed cabbage roll, a spinach/​feta filo roll, a potato covered fried spinach pie, some eggplant salad and a piece of baklava and it was all absolutely delicious! Everything was perfectly seasoned. Some of the reviews here compare the spicing of the food to what they think Lebanese food should taste like. I’m not a middle eastern food scholar and don’t know what differences there might be between Lebanese and Egyptian food (the owners are Egyptian btw), but everything was well balanced and flavorful. I can’t wait to go back!

Samia, your hands are divine and your creations are pieces of heaven. Your middle eastern cooking (Egyptian to be exact– take note Unilocalers– Egyptian not Lebanese) will put a shrew to sleep. Your flavours are always succulent, aggressive, never abrasive and simply perfect. I love you, I love your whole wheat and vegetarian options.
If I lived in Bay Ridge, I would probably be as plump as your goodies since I would eat them in hoards.

My husband and I relly love the food in Samia. We had tasted many kinds of food here. Every thing was good.

This small Lebanese shop is worth a trip. They have the best spinach pies I’ve had outside of Fall River (Sam’s!). The dough isn’t quite as perfect, and they’re quite a bit more expensive, but the spinach is perfectly spiced. (And hey, it’s worth paying a premium to not have to be in Fall River.)
The meat pies were also good, but not as amazingly good.
They’ve also got a great selection of dried fruits and nuts, prepared foods at a deli counter, and other Middle Eastern specialties. Picked up a pint of Labneh… I’ll be back to sample other items.

A friendly little shop worth traveling a ways for. Yes, I came all the way from Manhattan and was happy. Fewer options than Sahadi’s and Damascus Bakery but tasty enough that this doesn’t matter.
Samia’s offers salads, cheeses, variety of cookies, spinach, chicken, eggplant pies in filo and soft home-​made pastry, za’atar bread, cheese covered bread, etc. The eggplant has less tomato umami flavor than Sahadi’s but is deliciously eggplanty.
Things aren’t labeled but they were friendly and helpful so I didn’t accidentally buy something with meat. The warm pies and breads are good for eating on the run and everything is worth taking home. Stock up and freeze. Vegetarian options! Yey!

Food is sooooooo good and fresh and homemade Mediterranean goodness. oh i hope this place never goes away. I’m only a few blocks away and love getting the spinach pies, meat pies, chicken and vegetable round pie thingies. I don’t know the exact name but those are soooo good. also the spinach feta rolls are to dieeeee for. soo soooooo good, definitely my fav. Also the tabbouleh is delish, hummus and babaganoush MmmmMm I want to try more too because there’s a bunch of hot foods that look really yummy. If you haven’t tried Samia’s food you really must check it out. I think the prices are pretty reasonable too… Oh I want some right now Mmmm

I have a lot of memories here. Before it was Samia’s, it used to be Rafiq’s.
Rafiq was the man. He was a neighborhood butcher in the afternoon but more often than not he was holding court & playing tawle with half a dozen of his friends, sipping Arak or Vodka in tiny cups around a coffee table in the back. When I was small my sitti used to buy me Joray Apricot Rolls everytime I’d come in with her. Allah Yar7amo
Nowadays Samia’s serves up Lebanese Grandma-​style food in a deli-​style environment. She sells huge plastic containers of Shami Rice in addition to her mazza. That’s like my childhood in a bowl right there. A tad bit on the expensive side & its not quite as amazing as tanoreens rice.
I only have two issues — first shes Egyptian actually i believe so her spices are rather odd by lebanese standards. She uses cinnamon in places where wed never put it like in her 7ushwi. Second, she also uses walnuts (or sliced almonds?) instead of snobr — pine nuts. Snobr are one of the most important ingredients in 7ushwi — the filling that goes inside kibbe balls and in between layers of baked kibbe. Real 7ushwi has onions, lamb, snobr and spices. This is just lamb and cinnamon (no allspice) and weird budget nuts…

Well being lebanese and growing up with mom’s cooking i feel that i am the authority on middle eastern food and this lady cooks some pretty darn good stuff from prepared chicken in tomato sauce, mejadra, hummus, spinach dish, orzo with spinach but didnt love the tabouleh. Here bakery is awesome preparing spinach pies, eggplant pies and meat pies three different sizes, zatar bread, pita from damascus bakery, all cheeses like kashkival, syrian cheese, string cheese. Its like one stop shopping. …

Stopped by there yesterday to get some food and I am positively hooked! Great fresh food, cooked on the premises, cheese pies, spinach pies, meat pies (pies heaven), kofta, tons of vegetables, orzo with spinach, died fruits& nuts. you name it. All delicious!
Give it a try! I did and will be back soon and often trying different dishes.

Samia’s has great Zaatar Bread, and the kibbe is good (not as good as Tanoreen, but then, what is?). During December the anise and other cookies smell so good that you are pulled into the store by the nose. Seriously. I’ve never gone for that cliché before, but that’s what happened.
The spinach pies are also really yummy, and when they have them, the pumpkin and spinach «kibbe» are fantastic! It makes for a good combo when a vegetarian and a true kibbe eater want to have dinner together. :)
There are also dried fruits and nuts and some packaged items. It moved north two blocks or so to this location on 3^rd Avenue and 80^th Street.
Prices are not bad — not super cheap — but very fair. Check it out!