cleopatra's restaurant

terrible service, great food. this place will be out of business in less than a year, so if you want to taste some good food, and you have lots of time and patience for lousy service, you should go in and try it.

i'm from the middle east, i regularly dine in middle eastern restaurants all over the us (lebanese, palestinian, egyptian, iranian, even north african arab cuisine) and i'm confident that if you try any one of twenty dishes here you'll enjoy it. but you might walk out before you get your food or even place an order. it's that bad.

i've eaten here four times since february (they opened right around the new year), and every time theservicehas been abysmal. i waited tables for five years in college and after, and i make great allowances for unavoidable wait-staff problems, but this place is ridiculous.

yesterday i took a party of seven for lunch, and had called the previous day to make reservations for 1:30. we showed up at 1:30, and waited until 1:50 to be seated. then we waited until 2:05 for the waiter to take our order. then we waited until 2: 50 for our food to arrive. we left around 3:30, two hours after arriving for a meal.

despite the fact that we were eating lunch, the waiter informed us that we would pay dinner prices (twice as much) for all entrees. no explanation.

but that's nothing compared to the miserable service. the menu states that entrees over $15 get pita bread with zaatar and olive oil. yet the waited brought nothing to the table for ten minutes. he didn't refill our waters, didn't stop to reassure us our food was coming (it wasn't) and in fact was busy eating while waiting on other tables. i can't remember the last time i saw a waiter chewing food while carrying plates out to customers.

so when i asked him for the pita with zaatar and oil, he said in a surly tone that he only did what the management told him to do, he knew that the menu promised these things, but he didn't normally bring them out. bizarre.

so then we waited 45 minutes for our dinner. while waiting we observed a family of three come in and stand by the door for about six minutes before deciding none was going to greet or seat them, so they left. the restaurant was about two-thirds full, yet the three waiters on duty seemed to be overwhelmed or absent, in turns.

when our food arrived, it was excellent. the beef kebob was tender and tasty, the grilled vegetables were seared nicely and crisp, and the two types of rice (white with vermicelli, or white with nuts and raisins) were both delicious.

the vegetarian entree we ordered was koshari (rice, lentil, pasta, tomato sauce, fried onion). it was nice, but the koshari i've eaten before always had chick peas and a light chili or pepper sauce, not to mention much more garlic, which would have made this dish more interesting and traditional.

i ordered the okra side (bamya) in tomato sauce and beef broth, and that came out with big chunks of boiled beef and far too little okra. lots of beef. i would have traded the beef for okra. the description in their menu doesn't even mention chunks of beef.

two of us ordered the chicken kabob, and it was very tasty. the chef had neglected to put one order on a bed of rice (the other had it) and the waiter (or course) hadn't noticed it, so that had to be brought out after.

i ordered the chicken shawarma on rice, and it was served with shredded chicken pieces in a mild tahini sauce, which i enjoyed thoroughly. the grilled vegetables that came with all the kabob entrees were perhaps the best part of each dish, which is wonderful if, like us, you like grilled veggies.

last, the beef kabob was incredibly tender and flavorful, melted in your mouth, and again came with the grilled veggies.

our waiter didn't check back with us for ten minutes after dropping the entrees, and never asked us if we wanted coffee or dessert. not that we were interested in waiting another half-hour for coffee.

theservicewas so abysmal that we won't go back. i've been there several times and the miserableserviceis not a fluke, it's the norm. the owner is a devout muslim and therefore doesn't offer wine, which most of our table would have enjoyed with the meal (we're used to lebanese restaurants or secular muslim places). the prices are relatively high for the decor and menu ($14-$26 entrees, $5-7 sides, $5desserts) with the biggest surprise being $10 for the lentil soup.

i regret the fact that i won't dine here again, as the food is well-prepared. but putting up with the unprofessional waiter and (apparently) under-staffed kitchen simply isn't worth it.

location is a little awkward for a restaurant which probably explains why i think this place will be closed in 6 months or less. there just can't be much traffic in a business park after hours. 

we were the only patrons in the restaurant, and theservicewas still exceptionally slow! if it was a real authentic cooked meal i would expect it to take a long time, but what came out could have been made in 15 mins or less. 

the food, could have been much better. much better! my husband and i are very familiar with this type of cuisine as well as middle eastern cuisine and expected something authentic. instead the food came across as though they cut several corners to keep costs down- probably because they are going under. the wait staff was polite, there's a positive. 

we ordered fried eggplant as an appetizer. you could tell it was fried in old oil and gave off a gross flavor. for entrees we both ordered lamb shish kebab, but we were actually served beef- and not a very good cut either. my husband ordered stuffed grape leaves and was served stuffed zucchini instead. they didn't even care that it wasn't what he wanted. the vermicelli was moist and tender but flavorless. the tiropita, or as they call it "cheese in fillo" had good flavor but was obviously made in bulk, frozen for weeks, then pulled out and microwaved then fried on the outside to seem fresh. 
the tahini sauce is so weird, and mostly a substance other than tahini. the garlic sauce would have been good if it wasn't just crushed garlic in a bowl of vegetable oil. 

i believe this restaurant could make better food if they weren't penny pinching, the owners trained their chef and made everything fresh. overall the cost did not constitute the quality of food at all.

badservicebad managment. 2/22/15 we went out for a girls day lunch we got to the resturant and sat down right away at 1:20. the waiter asked us what we wanted to drink i ordered a sweet tea with extra lemon and asked about the buffet they showed on the website (this was our first and last time there). he said he didn't know it was his first day ( he was the only wait staff there and had had no training at all ). when he came back he said yes they still had the buffett and that what they do is bring you a salad soup and a plate full of everything and when your done they bring you more. that sounded odd but whatever sounds good. by the way still no lemon for my tea. it seemed like an assistant manager type person brought our salads ( no silverwear ) and i asked for the lemon and a fork. he went and sat other people and finally brought silverwear ( still no lemon ). suddenly they turned the music up so load i couldn't here the person next to me and it sounded like a night club. we asked the waiter could they please turn it down (this place is small and we were right under a speaker) and the lemon please. tweanty minutes later my friend went and got me the lemons. we noticed other people leaving and asked them if they were leaving cuz they hadn't got there food since we had been waiting over 40 min for ours they said yes. the main dish came out ( and the music got turned back up to night club standards again) and it was good only 2 peices of grilled zukinie meat and lots of rice. my friend talked to the manager about the riduclas services and it was kinda crazy the new guy had no training or help and the other people that worked there weren't helping at all that well we just weren't happy with our experiance at all. he pretty much dismissed her like she was beneath him and told her i give you little discount but that all. wow we weren't looking for free food but a little curtasy would have been nice. the "bufett" was suppose to be 8.99 what they gave us was 13.00. when i confronted them about it they said that is sunday brunch and it clearly states 2 pages past the lunch specials were we didn't even look (and under the lunch special page it does not state that it is only for certain days) that the "bufett" is not served on sunday and that pretty much prices go up on sudays. i told them that is not clearly stateing anything and that when the new waiter asked them they told him yes this is how it is done. got the bill down to what we were originally told gave the waiter a great tip poor guy had over 10 tables to himself on a first day but kept a good attitude and great smile the whole time he was the highlight. another patron told me she had been there several times but theserviceand food had gone way down and she would not be back but the place next door saffrons was wonderfull. needless to say we will try that place next.

worstserviceever!. i made a reservation online, and still sat there for 15 minutes and didn't even get asked what we wanted to drink. the only 2 waiters there were horrible and not attentive to anyone. the family next to us were upset and annoyed about it as well. my wife and i walked out at the 15 minute mark and went somewhere else. sadly the place wasn't even crowded, it was 1:30pm on a sunday.

excellent food. enjoy the authentic egyptian food with friends. excellent preparation quality andservicein a relaxed atmosphere!

yum.. i had such a pleasant experience at cleopatra's. theservicewas great and the food...delicious! the sale was so fresh! i also had the hummus as an appetizer and the lamb for an entree. both were quite good.

excellent food, greatserviceby rex. if you like authentic mediterranean food stop in, you won't regret it.

love the new special. what brought me in today was the new special two sandwiches for only 7 dollars what a deal. they were very filling and i had a great time. can't wait until i come in again. love this place only egyptian restaurant in town and every time i go in there i always have the bestserviceand treated like i am one of the family. my complements to the chef.

a lovely, little place - warm atmosphere and fantastic food. theservicewas phenomenal! thank you, tammy! seriously - the best falafel ever. we will definitely be back!

it's a rip-off. and a slow one at that.. june 2012:
i will start out by saying that the food was quite good. but everything else about our experience was poor, which makes me sad, because we were quite excited to try it.

we went for a sunday lunch. we ended waiting at least an hour for our food once we ordered it, and we ordered nothing special. the waiter kept apologizing, and he even brought us small salads for free while we waited. the restaurant wasn't especially busy, and i heard him apologize to everyone else, too, so we weren't the only ones sitting there for a long time.

our waiter was a nice guy, but our (small) tea glasses were emptied a couple times and sat for some time before we got a refill.

when we got the food, it was quite good, which was the only saving grace about our visit. i got the lamb/beef schawarma, and my friend got the shish kabobs.

when we got our bill, i asked why it said $15.95 instead of $10.95, as i was expecting. my friend's was much higher, too. he told us that they didn't do the lunch prices on the weekend. nowhere on the menu does it say that -- it just says lunch and dinner, and there aren't even times listed to show when one ends and another begins. (we were there at 1, so we fell into lunchtime.) also, i just doublechecked the menu online, and the dinner portion for mine should have been $14.95, not $15.95 as i was charged. i never would have had lunch there if i had known that my total bill, not including tip, for one person would be $19.11.

oct. 2012:
i made the mistake of going back with my husband, just to see if anything had changed. it hadn't. this time we went back at lunch on a weekday, instead of on the weekend. theservicewas still excruciatingly slow, and the quality of the food had actually fallen. i got the schawarma again, and it wasn't as good as it was the first time -- it was a bit overcooked and dry this time.

also, their menu has not been updated to reflect that lunch prices do not apply on the weekend, which is misleading to customers.

pricey, but you get what you pay for.. it had a nice decor with some cool egyptian themed nicknacks and nice music. theservicewas good and the server very polite, friendly, and knowledgeable. the food didn't take too long to come out and was excellent when it arrived. there was a fair selection of vegan/vegetarian options, though not a lot. i got the felafel and fewl and it was very good. they had a nice selection of drinks- tamarind, rosella, guava, and mango. the guava juice and rosella were excellent, though expensive. although it was pricey in comparison with a place like ghassan's, it was much tastier and you got a good amount of food for your money. all in all, it is a great restaurant to go treat yourself to a nice meal and try something different. if you are used to 5 star restaurants in new york you might be disappointed here, but you probably have unrealistic standards.

excellent service. i went there for a birthday party with reservations for 10. theservicewas impressive and the food was delicious. the duck is exceptionally good.

amazing and authentic. i've been there both for lunch and dinner.. the portions for dinner left me a little wanting, but the food was still amazing. the lunch was great and very reasonably priced (the tour of egypt was amazing and worth every penny). definitely add this place to your "rotation"! best in its class in town.

last and certainly not least - the staff is andserviceare amazing. i've had the same server both times and he's been one of the best folks i've encountered in the restaurant industry - same with the owner!

excellent!!!!!. theservicewas amazing and very personable!!! the food was outstanding..we ordered the lamb and need shwarma. (s.p.) and their roselle tea is to die for (literally!) a must try restaurant!!!! support smal business and try somewhere new!! you won't regret it!! chris was an excellent server.

5 stars. ate there on the 12 and the 16th of march while taking website photos for the owner.service(kris) great! food good! had never had egyptian food & wanted to try. have eaten in 24 states and 10 countries so have some knowledge of food...