ilili

Ilili rightfully promotes itself with gorgeous photos of an airy dining room with circular tables nicely spaced from each other -- not a typical NYC dining setting. What you don't know until the hostess walks you into a low-ceiling, tightly packed, noisy second room that there is a space much more typical and not special in any way so reservers be ware!

I never start with the setting but it's so disappointing in this case, I had to. The food, on the other hand, appears to be good no matter where you sit. Excellent mezze featuring Lebanese specialties. You can't go wrong with any as we tried almost everything ( be aware that the Shankleesh is not authentically fermented but just fresh cheese with the spices and herbs and their falefel is a bit odd -- it's served as squares that are evenly crunchy all the way through). Expensive, good food - worth the price if you aren't in the horrible secondary seating area.

AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG literally everything was amazing. Last minute choice and it worked out perfectly. It was a bit pricey but hey, you get what you pay for!!

The knafa is insane!! Must try it!

They make everything taste incredible! I can’t wait to go back. So many new things to try. Great service and help picking our meal.

Amazing Food. Great service once we were seated but long wait before getting seated even though I had booked. Still worth it though!

Amazing food and good looking restaurant. We had the hummus which was really tasty but the showstoppers was the Kefta, excellently prepared! Good to order the rice with the meal, the rice is really tasty as well.

Birthday. We were a french speaking group so it was great that the staff spoke french and made the experience a lot better for us

Always an amazing time.

Fantastic food. Just a little, maybe a hair too expensive. Staff were fantastic. Desserts were surprisingly great.

Solid food, but a little overpriced. Note that this restaurant is very loud but fortunately the hostess put us at a table upstairs which is much more enjoyable for either friend gathering or a date because at least you can hear what the other says. Happy hour is at the bar or lounge only.

Amazing atmosphere and always a welcome. I come here often and have never been disappointed by the service, food, and ambiance. Ilili went out of their way to make my anniversary more special and that I commend them for.

We would definitely go back.

Great food great staff and would recommend and go back next time in NYC!

Had an absolutely amazing time!
Friendly people & great food!

Work with great coworkers

Wonderful meal for my daughter’s birthday. Awesome girls night with great food and accommodating service. Would recommend.

Very good food, great to have a couple plates and share. Drinks are really good and the staff is very friendly. Will definitely return.

a very large space, well spaced tables, efficient and pleasant service. Looks like an old bank or office space, not much altered,
The food menu was restricted and meze plates were small-goood for 2 to share but not 4. We could not really find much we wanted to order.
The wine list was very pricey, so we drank the Lebanese beer which was very good and had 4 choices.
The lavatories are shared gender and not very well signposted.
We chose this restaurant from a review of top new restaurants, but we were disappointed and would not return or recommend.

Great food and excellent service!

If you love Middleastern food, this is the place. Great service & atmosphere. Food was phenomenal.

Another outstanding experience!

Great for brunch!

the food is fabulous! authentic! and far surpassed our high expectations! go there as soon as you can! sahtein!

We waited over 45 minutes to be seated for our table. The restaurant was unable to tell us how far passed our reservation we’d be seated. We didn’t get seated until after 10pm.

the food is really good and not expensive, the place looks great but some parts of the restaurant feel a bit rundown.

A very consistent and delicious venue to enjoy lebanese food!

very popular place - always busy and crowded, noisy. i love their food - although this visit it seemed to be not quite as good. and the service was slow although so many staff and floor managers. And the seating process is so inefficient and somehow just not welcoming, they make it feel - despite three staff at the front - like they're doing you a favor to seat you, slowly.

Always a pleasure to visit ilili and I do so weekly! Quality, consistency and excellent service--what more could I ask?

We had a nice dinner with hummus, batata harra and chicken, all was fine and service great!

I hadn't been to ilili in a while, I'm glad it is as good as I remember. We shared a number of mezzes - the duck shawarma and shrimp were our favorites - and a dessert, all of the food was excellent. We did not order as many dishes as the server suggested, that would have been too much food. Other than that bad advice, service was very good. I downgrade the restaurant for being very noisy and for the prices, which are a bit high (especially drinks).

Amazing...literally and in every way.

Great food. Beautiful space. Enjoyed our evening at Ilili!

Wonderful service

This place used to be good. Food consistency is not there anymore and the new service staff not even close to being as good as the previous. Disappointed in this last visit.

We were seated in a small room on the second floor. Zero ambiance, felt like we were in a wardrobe. Food is great but wine is overpriced.

Great Lebanese food in NYC!! Should have the Kenefe part of Brunch!

Ottima cucina etnica in un ambiente raffinato e moderno. Una zona bar accogliente ed elegante. Unico aspetto da valutare se si cerca una serata intima e tranquilla il livello di rumore veramente elevato.

Great friendly service staff. Excellent food item recommendations made. Overall, an excellent experience.

As a Lebanese American I have to say this Lebanese food exceeded all expectations
The service and vibe are so great as well

We arrived on time for our table - one that we had to supply a credit card (with a potential penalty for no-showing) for to guarantee. However, we had to wait 15 minutes to be seated. That did not bode well for the rest of our experience. Once seated, we had to wait 10 minutes for our server, whereupon we gave up and flagged down someone else who was kind enough to take our order. The food itself was excellent. The drinks from the bar were just okay - we had to send a couple of them back as they were not to our liking. This was handled pleasantly and these drinks were replaced at no charge. Overall, the service was fair at best. The din from all of the other diners was rather loud. Combined, this resulted in a rather mediocre experience. I'll point out that this was on a Wednesday night. I shudder at the thought of the service on a Friday or Saturday.

Inconsistent food and service