Great place with a nice outdoor seating area. Cocktails were amazing, waitstaff was attentive and the food was awesome. Only drawback was the busy roadway- but we are in a pandemic. Would definitely comeback.

This is my favorite place to hang out in NYC

Went with my dad on a Wednesday night.
The food was delicious! We had the baba ghanoush &
hummus for appetizers, they even brought me cucumber slices instead of pita:)! For my meal I had an appetizer it was called ‘Crevette Grille’ defiantly big enough for a meal, very light, fresh, and tasty. My dad has the branzino fillet pan seared and he said it was delicious and a good portion size as well! Definitely recommend:) Great ambience too!

Great place, great food and wjne

One of my favorite neighborhood places to go, food is always good, and the owners and the staff are so nice.

Much louder than I anticipated. Ambiance was cool. Wish they had more gluten-free & vegan options.

Great place. I loved the food, especially the mezze (I tried ceviche, manti and babaganush and all three were yummy).
The service was very nice, the atmosphere relaxed and cosy.
I will definitely return there on my next visit to NY.

Everything was great except I ordered main dish and they forgot about it...

Great food, great staff, superb manti! Will definitely return!

Didnt meet expectations after reading great reviews.

I’m not one to go out and then write bad reviews, but when I’m sitting on top of the table next to me behind me in front of me, my chair was wobbly I thought it was gonna break, portions was small. I left hungry still after ordering octopus, spicy feta dip(which came with 3 bite size pita bread chips) enough for a toddler.

Pros: Spicy feta and bread olive oil dip.

Cons: Portions small. Way overpriced for the portions given. Bland food with no flavor. Crazy noisy(can’t hear across the table) main entree was 6 skewers of chewy meat (steak, chicken, lamb) really undercooked. Way too dim lit.

Bill came out to $138 with tip $165 total.

Would not come back. Also, service was food being served over my shoulder and i literally almost knocked the runner’s hands

Balzem is the most friendly, unpretentious restaurant in the neighborhood, and I’d come back for that alone — but the food is excellent too! On our most recent visit, they accommodated, without complaint, a large birthday party that was mostly tardy and fluctuating in numbers throughout the night. It was a busy Saturday so a little harder to hear with such a large group in a small restaurant, but the service was outstanding and I will continue frequenting this restaurant with any size group.

Food was delicious great wine selection

The staff at Balzem were very friendly and accommodating. Our waiter made great menu recommendations for our large party. While they accommodated our party of 7 with ease, seating is tight so this place is better for smaller parties. The food and atmosphere was great!

Cute little place, server was nice but took away oil while we still had the bread on our appetizer plates. Entree portion does not mean entree portion, they just charge you an extra $10. Server tried to charge us dinner prices as well. Hopefully dinner portions are larger than lunch. We left still hungry.

Had to wait for table, other than that was a nice evening, good food

My husband and I had a double date with a good friend of mine and his fiancée. My friend and I can be really indecisive about places to eat. Especially when it comes to selecting a place for a large group. So when we set out to find a place it needed to be on point and worth our time. Being working young professionals you start to realize how valuable your free time can be. Plus, moments that you can spend with friends often come up not as often as you hope when everyone is working. You want to make the best of your time together.

The Good:

Overall, we had a great time and the food was good. We would recommend it. There was a gin drink that was so good. The Ginevra(not sure if that’s the correct spelling).

The not so good:

Our table was in a small space with a lot noise. The waiter even had a hard time hearing orders. He also had a hard time moving around us to get by to other neighboring tables. The space felt awkward and cramped. If you don’t need to get up at all to use the bathroom you are ok but my friend had to get up more than once and it was a struggle to move about.

Had a lovely dinner last Friday night, the food was good, the atmosphere was warm and cozy

really yummy food and great staff! will definitely be back again

Wonderful service and excellent Octopus! Everything was perfect. Lovely place.

Great as always only the front table are a little cold in winter

Great service and excellent food. Can't wait to go back!

We found Balzem to be a cozy space, it’s small and doesn’t seat many diners. The food was not very flavorful. We had four appetizers; the octopus and the spicy feta appetizers were good, but the babaganoush and zucchini latkes were drab. One of our entrees, lamb skewers, had nothing accompanying the lamb, much to our surprise! Our other entree, tavern chicken, was dry and of little flavor, it needed some stronger tasting ingredients.
Overall, it was disappointing...the items listed on the menu sound great, but they are lacking.

This place has a great happy hour and I definitely am
Going back for dinner ... mediterraneo diet is perfect fit for people who are careful eaters but the food is plentiful and tasty ..

I went to Balzem on a Saturday night with a large party for a birthday dinner. Making the reservation online was very easy even with a large party! The servers were extremely friendly and accommodating - they let us get seated and start ordering even though one person was running late. The food was delicious! I highly recommend the truffle Mac and cheese and Turkish dumplings appetizers. The shrimp casserole main was also amazing, as were the chocolate cake and créme brûlée. The cocktail with gin was great. Everyone enjoyed their food and the atmosphere of the restaurant, would definitely come here again!

Horrendous service. Portion size small. But awesome food+ambience.

Incredibly friendly waitstaff and great food!

Loved the atmosphere. Food cld be better. Need to add pepper to the table

Manti (very tasty)--Artichoke dip(very tasty)---the combo meats (grilled to perfection w/juicy flavors).
Homemade tiramisu and a very refreshing French Pinot Gris. We enjoyed the bistro ambiance.

Service was horrible. Servers seemed all over the place and disorganized. The server had no knowledge of wine. I had to ask multiple times for a napkin. I asked for more pita, but it was never brought over. I didn’t want to haul down our server because she was clearly overwhelmed.
But I loved the food. Everything was delicious. Portion sizes were a bit off. Will return but hoping for better service next time.

wENT FOR A BIRTHDAY DINNER AND WE HAD A GREAT TIME! THANK YOU!

The food at atmosphere at Balzem are always amazing. The Tava Eggs were delicious and the mimosas are always great.

My girlfriend and I went to Balzem for her birthday dinner, and it was lovely. The food was very good (octopus, burrata, watermelon salad, pita bread/spread). The bread that was served at the table was just delicious!

My friend loved the octopus, I liked the burrata better. All the dishes were good, but the portions still felt a bit small for the price.

It is a great date spot. The seating is intimate and cozy. The one downside: no air conditioning, and it was HOT. We were both sweating even after sitting for 1 hour. Maybe the air was broken that day? I will definitely be back in the winter when it’s cooler.

Great staff, quick service, but never felt hurried or rushed to turn the table. A great experience.

I love Balzem - just hope my friends mentioned I had the reservation - I got there after my friends were seated and now I'm not sure they told you it was my reservation. Hope they did! It was terrific (as always!)
xoxo

Great date night. Service was a little slow.

Quite but intrusive. I was here on a first date...so it took a while to check the menu. Our waiter however, kept coming over to check if we were ready to order. The restaurant is small and it was not full. I feel it was neglectful of our waitress to not notice (having been a waiter my self).

The food was average. The steak was cooked medium as requested but it was as moist and soft as a home bbqed steak.

Happy hour wine specials were decent $8 for a glass.

In my reservation I asked for a quite space and we were seated in a private location (which is difficult in this restaurant. I am very pleased with this. The staff was very polite.

I forgive the waitress and would not judge her over all service on this one night (she looked tired)

Easy to make reservations for a party of 6 and had great food and beverages! Would go again.

My date and I had a good time! I'll very likely return again soon.

We went to Balzem for happy hour. We had wine and hummus, so it's hard to comment on the food. Our table was outside and I enjoyed a nice summer evening with minimal noise/disruption from either the street or our neighbors at the next table. Seating is a little tight, but not unlike most NYC spots.

Expectional food. Truly impressed with the flavors of the special ceviche, seared tuna, and shrimp with zucchini appetizers. Lamb was great but the scalloped potatoes made the dish. Also, I love how much greens are used in every plate. Very happy With my visit... will be returning soon for another treat.