First Oasis Restaurant

My friend and I came in for lunch on Friday. It was 1pm ish and we were the only ones there. Restaurant is clean, tables look nice and our waiter was a very nice man. We ordered from the lunch menu. My friend ordered the spinach pie special that came with salad, baba ganoush, falafel and hummus. She loved it! She even loved the baba g which she doesn't usually eat. I got the chicken shawarma platter. That came with rice, salad which was very fresh, and hummus, which I don't like but I ate this with the pita! Delish! The chicken was very tender and juicy, the rice was spiced just right. Not salty at all. I had enough to take home for another day. I'd love to get back there for dinner. I believe the dinner menu starts after 2pm, at least that's what was in front when we left. Very good food, can't go wrong here. We loved it and wil go back.

Short review- No frills tasty Syrian food. Veggie Recommendations: Falafel Mussaka, Vegetarian Combination to try it allMeat Recommendations: Lamb in general is better. Lamb Makloubeh and Ouzi are both excellent.Anyway, I have slight bias for this restaurant partially because I'm half Syrian which this restaurant falls under which is a rare occurrence unfortunately in New York and partially because our waiter who I believe is the owner looks a bit like my dad but I'll be as unbiased as possible. I was here with one of my usual larger groups. As per usual, we did a mix of vegetarian and meat dishes with a handful of seafood ordering stuff in waves. The staff was friendly. They were out of some of the drinks but had wine which some people partook in. In terms of food, we ordered the Vegetarian Combination, Egyptian Beans, Mussakka, Magic Combination, Lamb Makloubeh, Chicken Special, Lamb Ouzi, and the Shrimp Sauteed. They gave us some house bread with pickled turnips and yogurt sauce which was tasty though I'd prefer warmer bread. The Magic Combination comes with many of the things found in in the Vegetarian Combination with homus, babaganouj, falafel, stuffed grape leaves, and salad. The homus/hummus was pretty solid as was the babaghanuj/baba ghanouj which was sufficiently smokey. The grape leaves were fine as well and the salad was well a salad.The falafel here look more like discs and were the strongest of either vegetarian plate. As they are the Syrian style, they're only made of chickpeas and they were crispy on the outside with a soft inside and they were outstanding. In terms of the rest of the vegetarian appetizers, the Mussaka (or mousakka) with fried eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, onion, potato, and garlic baked in tomato sauce was also very tasty while the Egyptian Beans (or ful) with fava beans w ith garlic, onion, tomato, parsley, lemon juice & olive oil was alright. I found that the beans could have been cooked a bit further and it needed a bit more spice.For meat, the rest of said magic combination as noted is the mixed kebabs. They could have been a bit more heavily spiced but they were fine with the lamb one being better. A Chicken Special had some cauliflower and a lemon sauce and reminded me of some Moroccan dishes I've had before. The vegetables were cooked down beautifully and the sauce wasn't overly sour the chicken was a tad dry. The Shrimp Sauteed consisted of said shrimp with vegetables and tomato sauce. Nice meaty shrimp with a good tomato sauce and overall solid.The best of the main dishes were the two lamb ones. The Lamb Makloubeh with sliced eggplant baked with sliced lamb, rice, raisins & nuts was very well seasoned and cooked beautifully. Syrian food has a unique stronger spice blend compared to a lot of the other cultures and this dish perfectly exemplifies it. Also similarly good is the Lamb Ouzi with pieces of lamb, vegetables, rice, raisins, & nuts baked in phyllo. It's a bit sweeter compared to the Makloubeh but similarly well spiced with delicious rice though personally I prefer the Ouzi at Al Badawi.We ended our meal with baklava and some complimentary rice pudding. The baklava was standard being walnut based as expected and a tad sweet but not too much so. The rice pudding tasted like a canned variety and it was well...fine. My preferred Syrian treat by a mile is Ma'amoul but they don't have it on the menu which is fine with me as Damascus Bakery is nearby me. Prices here are pretty reasonable and the food here is solid. It's not the best Middle Eastern food I've had but it's been around for ages and you get a good home style atmosphere here. Some particularly good dishes though. Low 4/Upper 3 partially from bias.

Outstanding Greek spot in Brooklyn! I ordered the special which consisted of tender lamb with okra, rice and pita bread. The sauce was very flavorful! Everything was delicious. The service is very friendly and the atmosphere was great. They kept the windows and doors open so there was a cool breeze coming in. Great first meal during my NY trip! I read many reviews on other middle eastern/ Greek places nearby and this is definitely the spot to go!

A group of us made reservations for 14 at the last minute two people couldn't show up and they argued with us that we had to pay for the two people that didn't show up. !!!!!!I have been to probably 1 million restaurants all over the world. I have never in my life seen or heard anything as ludicrous is this ! I will never set foot in this absurd insanely run establishmentAgain!!I'm not going to lie. The food is very good but they must really be hungry hungry hungry for money because they just lost 12 customers by doing such an unbelievable cheap despicable thing.

I really like this great place , But if you are ordering take out over the phone it takes a mighty long time for them to prepare the meals . It can actually take one hour for a couple of lamb kebabs . No kidding . Service very Slow

Food was delicious and Service was very good. Ambience was pleasant and we felt well taken care of.

As a place to have fine food and be graced with the attentiveness of the owner and his family and staff. First Oasis has always delivered top-notch dishes. My go-to is the lamb with okra, which is displayed on the specials board outside. The wraps are delightful and the spinach pie never disappointments. And the falafel? -- It passes all tests. I love strolling by and saying hello to these terrific people.

This is my new favorite Turkish like food (it's actually Syrian cuisine but similar to Turkish).The starters, the owner is extremely friendly and the restaurant is very clean.I generally stick to White me chicken dishes and I must say, whatever they are doing, please keep doing it and do not change the recipe or the chef!If you like Turkish food but want to take your chicken experience in the next level, I would highly recommend checking these guys out.And they're open pretty late too which is always nice!Thank you Tariq!

Food is as great as it was 15 years ago when I first ate here. Service is warm but you must be patient. Prices are a bit high now but I guess they need to pay the rent. The 4% credit card usage charge is annoying but that might just be my pet peeve. The owner is a gentleman and I'll be back!

What a delightful restaurant! Ordered 2 side dishes along with the mixed kabob (veggies, nan, small sides, and sauce included) as well as their lemon aid and Syrian coffee. It was bombs of flavors in your mouth. How does a salad have more flavor than most meat dishes in the city??? It was absolutely incredible. The owner was extremely sweet, accommodating and just the very best. Will absolutely recommend and come here again. Truly a gem!