Ordered:Frozen Mint Lemonada (~$14): blended fresh mint and fresh lemon juiceMezze & Dips Spinner (~$66): Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Tabouli Salad, Arnabeet Bi Tarator, Foul Medamas & Batata HarraSambousik Lahme (~$20): pastry pockets filled with minced ground beef and toasted pine nutsLamb Tableside Shawarma (~$158): served with Sumac Fries, Pita Bread, Pickles, Dips, and SaucesAya's take:Being Lebanese myself, I was excited to finally try Au Za'atar and get a taste of the motherland! Now there isn't a shortage of Lebanese restaurants in NY/NJ thankfully but Au Za'atar is doing things a bit differently - it's more modern, elegant, and sophisticated take on Lebanese cuisine. We started off with the Frozen Mint Lemonada which is a Lebanese classic! It was refreshing, lightly sweet, and slightly sour from the lemon. A great combination of flavors. For appetizers, we decided to share the Mezze & Dips Spinner and Sambousik Lahme which was plenty for a party of 4. I particularly liked the Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, and Tabouli Salad of the 6 offered. Also, there's no substitutions to this which makes no sense to me considering they can easily swap these out for something of equal or lesser value or even make them fully customizable having diners choose 6 options. For what it is, it's not worth the price at ~$66. The Sambousik Lahme was on the dry side; the Mezze & Dips helped with that but I wasn't eager to go back for a second one. Now onto the Lamb Tableside Shawarma! It's a real show stopper. I love the concept, the presentation, and table-side service where they cut it in front of you. This can easily feed 4-6 people, in my opinion, but for $128 (chicken) or $158 (beef or lamb), it's a steep price for what you're getting. The Lamb Shawarma was extremely dry and overcooked, the Sumac Fries were outrageously delicious and addicting, and I love their toum (garlic aioli) and the garlic tahini type sauce. Our waitress wasn't attentive at all which took away from the experience unfortunately. If she had come by more frequently, the meat would've been less dry if she rotated it more. In addition, when she was packing up our leftovers, she cut off a good amount and asked "is this fine?" I don't understand why she wouldn't just take everything off the spit and package it. Considering we had already asked numerous times and she was slow, we just accepted what she gave us but the food waste wasn't necessary at all. Similar instances happened where we had to ask for items numerous times (our drinks, the bill, to-go containers, etc.). Overall, it was a unique and fun experience, the decor and ambiance are elevated, and the menu is true to Lebanese roots. Your experience might be different but prepare to drop some money here!
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