Ambient-Strong, Lebanese Restaurant in the East Village

Balade (@baladenyc) is a restaurant in the East Village serving traditional halal Lebanese food. We really enjoyed the inside aesthetics as it was super dim and had middle eastern accents.

Balade Mixed Grill

Food: 8/10
To start off we tried the Batata Harra, which are spicy sautéed potatoes. We were expecting to be a bit spicier but nevertheless it tasted good. For another appetizer we tried Sfiha, which are like diamond shaped meat pies. This was delicious, but the crust was a little hard to bite into. The meat inside was perfect though. Next we tried the “Taste of Lebanon” which are 3 small mankeesh: jebne (cheese), lahme baajin (meat), and zaatar. We really liked this on the menu as it gives you a nice sampler of different Lebanese flavors. For main we had the Balade Mixed Grill platter which consisted of beef kofta, lamb kabab, and chicken tawook that was served with rice and char grilled vegetables. Everything was great however the chicken was a little bit on the drier side. The rice was so delicious - buttery and flavorful. For drinks we had lemonade and Balade jallab (a date drink). Each drink was mixed with we believe orange blossom water which gave it a refreshing twist. The date drink however was super watered down. For dessert, we had mouhallabie which was fantastic! It’s milk pudding that was topped with syrup and ground pistachios.

Price: 8/10
It is understandably and reasonably priced for the type of restaurant this is. It’s more for occasions.

Atmosphere: 10/10
A dim-lit super rustic restaurant that’s quite spacious and can seat many people. The vibes are nice.

Service: 8/10
We felt super embarrassed to take our light out to take pictures and videos of our food because of how dark it was but our server made us feel really comfortable about it lol! Food takes some time to come in between each item.

Balade
208 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10009

Sfiha

Taste of Lebanon

Lemonade, Ballade Jalab

Batata Harra