the food is not so good. everything else great but the food 0

Had a fantastic experience! The ambiance was great, wait staff was knowledgeable and attentive, food was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend the prosciutto appetizer.

Phenomenal brunch experience. Wish I lived in NYC so I could come back here!

The food was amazing and our waiter was so kind!

The outdoor seating was nice and the food was fine. I think my expectations were too high.

The ambiance is great but the meal itself wasn’t good. Everything was lacking salt. The lamb skewers were overcooked and the server kept trying to take our plates away even when there’s food on them. There are far better Mediterranean spots in NYC.

Always an amazing experience

Wasn’t expecting this to be as good as it was but it was truly excellent Mediterranean cuisine.

Great Soho location. Great ambiance, friendly and helpful staff and plenty of them and comparatively great value compared to so many of those supposedly high end Mediterranean restaurants.

We will go again for sure!

Food was very good and healthy. Cozy spot with good atmosphere.

Food was sooooo good!
And can’t recommend the chili-tequila cocktail enough 😋

Lovely, accommodating staff; fresh, tasty food; charming ambience.

Reminded me of one of my favorite Mediterranean spots from college with the steady music beats and super good clean food. Would recommend to anyone in the area! Will come back with more people next time 😬

It was just lovely they always friendly & lovely & I love the food in Balzem😋

The music was extremely loud. I asked them to turn it down twice. The first time they turned it down a tiny bit. The second time they said they couldn’t turn it down. I tried to explain I was hearing impaired and they just told me we could go sit outside (it was pouring rain). I would not go back.

Amazing food!

Fantastic food, service and ambiance. Highly recommended!

It is a small intimate restaurant. I enjoyed the food and the decor. I would definitely go back.

We love Balzem and are so happy to eat inside again! I just wish the music was a bit less loud - last night it was a bit noisy and made conversation more difficult. If that were fixed, it would be perfect!

Went there for brunch - the food is a little overpriced for the amount you receive but it was tasty. Drinks were OK.

Great restaurant, phenomenal service and awesome vibe.

The service was good and the ambience was lovely. The food was not exactly the best, not greatly seasoned and when we asked to get it packed, the waiter just took it away and didn’t bring anything back.

Very tasty cuisine from an excellent kitchen. Great staff, personable and informed. Well worth the visit.

We had the most incredible night at Balzem. Everything from the food to the service to the ambience was outstanding. We met old friends there so were planning to be there for a while. When we left we realized we had been there for over four hours. The drinks were flowing and the food kept coming. We sat in the outside area but it looked like anywhere you sat would be great. The guys who work there are super cool and nice and were great with offering suggestions of various drinks. This was a lucky pick off of the map and I am so grateful that we went with it. We hope to be back!!

Very friendly and professional staff! The food was great, and the service wonderful.

I had an amazing time. The food and the service was great. It was a beautiful Saturday night and I really enjoyed my time there. Will definitely come back.

Great food, nice ambiance, great location, highly recommended!

Vibe was great (outdoor tables). Service was great. Didn't love the QR code drinks menu (hopefully that's temporary), but everything else was fantastic. Perfect fancy but not too fancy vibe, prices affordable but for a menu more considered & elevated than most at these prices.

Mushroom pizza AMAZING. Sautéed spinach — who knew it could be so good? Potatoes au gratin — divine. Left a 30% tip & definitely coming back, merci everyone!

Had a great time. The staff is really friendly, the food is fresh and the ambiance is great. You can sit and eat and talk and actually hear yourself and your date or friends without having to shout. It’s a nice vibe. Calm but not boring. The food is also amazing! Nice, flavorful and fresh.

Pretty poor experience...I've been here before because I loved the ambience at night and had no issues with the food. My experience this time:
1. They called to confirm my res and guaranteed me the table I wanted, when I showed up, they had just seated someone there and said they don't guarantee tables as a policy
2. Had a 1:30 res, showed up 15 early, was totally fine to wait but there was two tables outside they could've pushed together right away. Instead, made us wait 20 15 mins PAST the reservations because they wanted to wait until this two top left to push those two tables together....not sure why this was necessary!?
3. Ordered babaganoush as app. It was a TINY portion with a few sad pieces of pita. tasted fine.
3. Ordered the burger. Side options were fries OR side salad. I asked for fries but got it with both salad and only like 10 fries. I ordered the burger medium rare. the patty came out well done but it also tasted like freezer burn. It was NOT fresh meat and the color was gray. It's something you would get in a elementary school cafeteria.
4. service was attentive but seems like waiters didnt have dedicated tables so it was like we had 3 rotating servers which made it slightly awkward.

Overall was disappointed and will not be coming back anytime soon.

Awesome spot - great service, great food, great energy. 🙏

Always loved Balzem but was really disappointed this time around. We called the restaurant telling them we'd be 10 minutes late for a reservation and as soon as we got there we were basically told we'd be kicked out in 2 hours. It was aggressive and quite rude especially since we spent 500 on mediocre food. When I asked for bread to pair with my burrata I was given literally two hard small pieces of crostini. My wine wasn't filled once and the restaurant was way too cold. Probably sadly will not be going back.

The food was bland and the drinks weren't well made. The place was expensive but the service was good. Definitely not coming back.

Booked a table for outside during happy hour, which is a great value with $8 wine selection and $6 tapas (spreads with pita). Easy place to hang for an hour and chat. All the servers were careful with masks and there was hand sanitizer spray left at the table for customer use. The whole place was open-air with plenty of outdoor seating on the street, covered but not all the way enclosed, some sidewalk tables, and interior tables set up by the full width windows. I super recommend the spicy feta spread--scrumptious!

The experience was ok I loved the food but the wait was really, really long I waited over 45 min for my appetizer and another hour for my food. The quantity of the food is too small I wish they served more of this delicious food.

I am bitterly and utterly disappointed in this place. Having read the rave reviews about the food I was excited. Yet the dishes (tapas and meze) are REALLY expensive but small tiny portions and not tasty at all. Octopus salad was so so but very small portion. Turkish beef dumplings had no beef only dough. An embarrassing dish. Italian meatballs were tasty with pine nuts but the tomato sauce was watery and sugary. The spicy feta dip had zero flavor. We had to ask for hot sauce that’s how taste less the food was. And it was expensive for the tiny portions. Their covid measures are decent. They have outdoor plastic curtained tents with heaters. Separation from next table however is just by flimsy plastic curtains that flap around a lot and there is no privacy. Sanitizer provided on table. Service OK. But I don’t get people raving about the foodin prior reviews. Tasteless. Tiny. Expensive. No Greek or Turkish flavor to it. Embarrassed to bring my friend here.

Amazing restaurant!!! Recommend highly!!

Didn’t really understand the ambience—not very Mediterranean. A dream catcher and exposed brick? Eclectic English music? The food was pretty bland and dry. The waiter couldn’t have been more eager to get us moving on out of there. Way too overpriced for what you get.

They rush you out of restaurant horrible

Overall, I found the staff to be unfriendly. The food was mediocre and overpriced in my opinion. I probably wouldn’t go here again and I wouldn’t recommend Balzem.

Nice venue, staff was in a hurry to get in other reservations and rushed us out.