Barbes Restaurant

We went early on a Saturday evening and were the first customers to arrive, without a reservation. The food was very good. The service was excellent. Most of the employees on duty came by our table to say hello. We’ll go back!

I came for dinner here and I really enjoyed the ambience: Dim lights, quiet. I had the Tagine de D’Agneau (Tagine of Lamb with Sesame seeds and Prunes) It was delicious! And for dessert I had the Pastilla Au Lait which was also very yummy. I wish I could post pictures but I can’t seem to figure out how !

Went to Barbes on a Saturday night and had a party of 16. The manager was more than willing to accommodate our large party and set up a few tables to comfortably seat all of us. The staff was extremely attentive and we never waited for a drink. The food was phenomenal. I had the lamb chop special and it was cooked to perfection. All of the other guests raved about their meals as well. Finally when the daunting task of splitting a bill roughly 8 ways came they had no issue with helping out and broke it up exactly as we specified. I really can’t thank the staff and management enough for a perfect evening. We will be coming back soon!!!

If you haven’t experienced Moroccan, this is as good an introduction as you can get. Having a dear friend who is Moroccan and who ran an astounding Moroccan restaurant in California, I know the menu of a good Moroccan place cold.
I was stunned to find that the staff at Barbes was as warm and welcoming as my friend, or the many Moroccans I have met. Give them a smile and a kind word and you are family.
Enjoy many plates and share, that is how to eat Moroccan. I find that a group of four can enjoy two or three appetizers (salad selection, Pistilla), a brochette or two, the incredibly flavored lamb Tagine with prunes, cooked to perfection, and perhaps the Tagine of Chicken with lemon and olives.
This is a fantastic place for a date or with a group of good friends.
I cant wait to go back

We ate in this restaurant 2 days ago… It was the most horrible restaurant we have tasted in New York. Proportion was too light, the staff not nice at all and the meal really expensive for what we have eaten. I really do not recommend this place

Great small cozy restaurant. Ate here duty a corporate event and everything was fantastic. The place is a bit cozy but the service is wonderful. The food is very tasty and fulfilling. They have a full bar with some tasty drinks.

I made a reservation for 4 on a Friday night. We arrived maybe a few minutes early, but the staff and I think host were gracious about having our seats ready.
Barbes was a cozier (tighter) restaurant than I had imagined from the pictures. There was a healthy crowd of people enjoying French Moroccan food. We started with the hummus plate, which was okay, though I’ve had better hummus.
Among all of us were orders of steak, fish, and plenty of couscous. I ordered the Tagine de Legumes, a vegetable stew with Moroccan spices. A side of couscous was $ 5, but I figured why not. It was plenty enough to share with the table. The Tagine was actually a pleasant surprise, as in it was really, really good.
Service was pretty good, so I’m a little surprised at the negative comments. I didn’t feel particularly rushed, but I can understand that with the very stacked amount of seating, patrons waiting for a table can create some pressure for diners to eat and be merry at a bar.

Went here for Sunday night dinner with family after passing by several times in the past and thinking it looked cute. French Moroccan cuisine was delicious! I had the traditional Moroccan chicken and cous-​cous and the meatballs… SO GOOD!
Friendly helpful staff, decent price, good food and cool ambiance. Great for a date spot!

Moroccan food at its best. You’ll enjoy the atmosphere and the service is great. It’s nice to go somewhere where they are very accommodating and open to suggestion. The Veggie Stew is awesome!!!

The most horrendous service I have encountered in 5 years of living in NYC.
I came here with a friend before an event in the area. We were seated and I opted for wine while he stuck with water. (The staff seemed to have an eagle eye for an empty wine glass to refill, for a price). We started with the hummus, which was bland but not terrible. And then…
My friend ordered a Greek salad whilst I ordered the salad that comes with tuna, cooked rare. It came out and the fish was frozen in the middle. My friend touched it and, shocked, flagged someone down. The manager/​host took my plate back to the kitchen, and some time later returned with the exact same salad (the piece of fish was the same one I had begun with) but, it was still frozen in the middle. I had my friend touch it to make sure I wasn’t crazy. At this point we are both annoyed. Finally, they completely remade my salad and it was pretty good. However…
All around us tables were getting complimentary desserts and prompt checks. Not us. We waited for 30 minutes after finishing our meals for anyone to so much as pay attention to us, at which point they asked about coffee or dessert. My friend said «maybe 30 minutes ago» and asked for the check. NOTHING had been comped (wtf?) We left a 0% tip (something I have never done in my life) and will not be returning.

Everything was doing well until they gave me my friend’s doggy bag! :(
Too bad! It could have been a great experience

This was my first time visiting with my mother in law, two sister in laws, daughter and my Nieces. The food was delicious! The service was excellent! The staff was very friendly and very inviting! We had the crab cake appetizer, hummus, and mussels in white sauce. All three delicious were delicious to the last drop! For our entrée we had the traditional Moroccan lamb dish as well as the traditional Moroccan chicken dish. The lamb and chicken was vey tender!!! My daughter and nieces had the lamb skewer dish as well as the salmon dish! Everything was delicious!

Cute décor, and that’s their best feature. One of those restaurants that simply has good location but not much to offer. Seating is packed tightly and service was rather slow during lunch. For example, we received our hummus to start, but didn’t get any bread to eat it with till 15 minutes later. My friend also received the wrong entrée, but didn’t bother to notify the waiter as we couldn’t afford to wait an additional 20 minutes. The food flavor was as basic as you can get.

Food was OK. The server was pathetic and had horrible behavior. Tall and bald guy. You won’t miss him.
We were a party of three and the tip was included in the bill. When I asked him why he said it was included since he thought we were tourists. We corrected him saying this is not a rule anywhere in USA. He argued and wouldn’t budge.
Finally his manager came to apologize.
All in all, I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go here. There are much better mediterranean places around with far more better service.

Ick. The best part of this place is the cool exposed brick ambiance.
Other than that, came here for a quick lunch during the day on Tuesday (non rush hour, around 1:15pm). The place was pretty packed, but its easy to get same day reservations.
We ordered the Hummus and it arrived quickly, but without bread, after asking 2 – 3 times we finally got bread to eat our hummus. Not to complain, but uh, did they expect us to scoop it up and eat it like ice cream?
Friend ordered the corn soup and chicken skewers. Be warned the chicken skewers don’t come as skewers but more a few pitiful pieces of chicken and random garnish vegetables. The soup was basic. Pureed corn.
I ordered the arugula salad, but can’t tell you how it is, becasue they served me the greek salad with chicken. A very different order, however it took so long for our food to come that if I sent it back we would have been there another hour. The salad was overdressed, the lettuce was wilted and old, the feta was sparring and the chicken was OVER seasoned and had the consistency of jerky.
All things considered it was «edible» but would not recommend at all. The best was the hummus, which tasted store-​bought, but it was good so kudos to whichever store it came from.

Great family restaurant, fun and inviting. Time travel to Morocco with artful décor, authentic and comfortable.
This quiet and reserved oasis did not feel like mid town Manhattan. The «pink martini», watermelon and cucumber, was surprisingly refreshing and tasty. The Moroccan red wine, divine. The staff was attentive and well trained.
The service was quick and very well paced and not rushed. The appetizer of humus and Zaalouk grilled eggplant was amazing. Could have used a bit more pita bread for the well portioned sizes.
The mains were delicious, Tagine de’ d’agneau, the vegetarian Tagine de’ Legumes and the Hanger À L’echlotte were all good dishes. The dessert special with rose water.uhm. an acquired taste.
Overall my first taste on North African cuisine was a memorable experience and will return for a second helping. Great job.

Disclaimer: I have had a wide variety of Mediterranean & Middle Eastern food and some African food, but never specifically Moroccan. So I am by no means an expert on the cuisine.
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅ Combined the best element themes of similar restaurants with a swanky, modern vibe. I particularly loved the gorgeous lamps and the use of the space in reference to the small bar and the circular corner shelves that displayed the liquor. It was romantic without being cheesy, modern without being sterile, and ethnic without being too cliché. Immaculately clean, grade A from the health inspectors in the window.
Service: We were greeted the second we got to the door, which was opened for us, and warmly invited in. We were never without fresh water, orders were taken and food delivered promptly, and everyone was polite with a genuine air of friendliness. Definitely not a place where the staff hates their jobs. The owner or restaurant manager was also very concerned with everyone’s experience and visited with each table to ensure everyone was happy with their meal and service.
Food: 4.5÷5 From the fresh baked pita and quality olive oil served gratis as an appetizer to the flaky, cinnamon and herb garnished pastry stuffed with savory, tender chicken my date couldn’t say enough about the food. I immensely enjoyed Moroccan vegetable stew, which featured a variety of fresh, cooked to perfection vegetables in a flavorful broth. While it could have seemed more like a winter comfort food with the tender squash, the fresh, crisp green beans and lightness of the broth kept it safely in the realm of summertime dinner. They only lose half a star here as I thought the cous-​cous — at five dollars for a small bowl — was a bit bland. It had a tiny bit of spice and butter in it, but the toasted flavor they were going for was too muted. It soaked up the broth nicely though and added an extra level of heartiness to the vegetarian dish.
I loved this place and, cous cous aside, could not have been happier with my experience.

Food: Good
Service:Very Good
Ambience: Very Good
Before I go into details I will say that this could have been a 4 star experience if I would have ordered something else.
I can here for dinner and was really impressed by the attentive and friendly service. We started by ordering the chicken and almond pastry and followed it up with the chicken tagine. The tagine was pretty flavorful but the pastry was not good the filling was bland, the pastry it self was soggy and they topped it with powdered sugar and cinnamon which made it taste like a chicken dessert, unappetizing.
I feel that if we would have ordered a different appetizer the experience would have been better.
Overall I will give them another try

Lunch time seated immediately. Ordered lovely Moroccan Mint tea, and a huge plate of hummus with breads to start. Hummus was so smooth and garnished with a few kalamata olives… mmmm!
My cousin and I both ordered a chicken sandwich that came with an olive spread and avocado. A side of fries and grapes. The sandwich was huge for us and we probably could have shared, especially after snacking on the hummus.
Service was great and server was very attentive. We had a very nice lunch and I would love to come back again while in NYC.

I had business lunch here ordered hummus, Moroccan mint tea, Tagine Lamb with couscous. It’s convenient location, good service with delicious food.