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Olympic Pita - CLOSED
Rating Details »
Categories: Middle Eastern, Vegetarian, Kosher
Neighborhood: Murray Hill58 W 38th St
New York, NY 10079
(212) 869-7482
- Nearest Transit:
-
34th St-6th Ave (B, D, F, V, N, Q, R, W)
42nd St-5th Ave-6th Ave (7, B, D, F, V)
33rd Street (PATH)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
Sponsored Result
Special Offer Nearby
Milk 'N Honey NYC
- Category:
- Kosher
- Neighborhood:
- Midtown East
Mention yelp get free bagel with cream cheese
20 reviews for Olympic Pita
This restaurant has recently been renamed Baraca...
Best and freshest laffa in town - awesome sushi and sashimi...
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
8/9/2009
3 stars for good food.
Waitstaff are on the slow side, drinks menu leaves a lot to be desired and… Read more »
So...I ordered some food to go and said I wanted to order for 7. The menu said Chicken (which was under Sandwich/Platter in the menu) for $9 and Lamb Kabobs etc. I was going to order a few falafels as well but the guy said order the falafel platter.
All we got was a tiny piece of chicken in a container, some falafel balls and some cut up lamb in a container. Luckily I asked for some sauce too or else it would have really sucked. I don't get why the chicken is under the "Sandwich/Platter" section when you don't get any bread or anything.
They also changed their name, but place still says Olympic Pita. I don't even care what they changed it to. and for what we got, it was $75.
The hummus, shwarma, Laffa and Moroccan Cigars were all very very tasty. Baklava was also good.
Nice decor and very good service. The vanilla bean martini was way too strong, go with a Gold Star Israeli beer instead.
Lots of food. The bread is really the star. Skip the Pita and go with the Laffa, it is more food then you can handle, but you'll find away. The salads are nice, and they are more than happy to let you at them.
The falafel is crispy and hot. Try to skip the rush, you;ll be happier. Quality Midtown Spot.
Giraffe Friendly-ish
This place is average at best.
I prefer the spicy falafel wrap at Pret a Manger. It is better.
I hope that gets you mad.
Pret a Manger up the street is way better.
Let my words seep into your body and fill you with hate.
Pret a Manger is better than Olympic Pita.
Get angy and I win.
The People are nicer at Pret a Manger also.
Pop Quiz:
You've got a group of ten business associates - one orthodox Jew, one traditional observant with kosher preference, one non-practicing, and a handful of gentiles...
Whatchu gonna do sucka!?
Answer:
Take them all out to Olympic pita and fill the table with Hummus, Israeli Salad, Moroccan Cigars, and grilled meats galore!
BAMMM!
No one goes home hungry - no one breaks any Jewish law.
Wandering around midtown looking for a place to eat, I stumbled on Olympic Pita, Bar and Grill - Israeli Style Restaurant - There was no Bar that I saw although they did just open a Sushi Bar in the back. I had a GREAT lunch - a huge hamburger on Pita with the works - french fries - on the burger with chopped greens and special sauce. You also get a salad - it's a help yourself salad that was really tasty.
The place was noisy and had a Deli or Diner feel. I found the food to be very tasty, and the waitstaff helpful. Not cheap - but this burger was ten/twenty times better that City Burger nearby. I had my burger spicy - it isn't very spicy but it is very tasteful. No ketchup needed.... in fact I didn't see ketchup anywhere.
Delivery is available.
There's middle eastern fare like hummus, babaganoush, hahini and tabule etc...
Shared a large 6 salad combo and a falafel appetizer with a friend. I felt the salads were hit and miss - the aubergine and the carrot salads were excellent, the baba ghanoush was too creamy and rather sweet, the hummus had too much tahini and not enough chickpeas in it. The falafel were strangely bland, although pleasant enough, and the laffa bread was delicious.
We got a lot of food for our money, but I'd rather have less and consistently better. If you're looking for a cheap and filling lunch, then this is your place. If you're looking for excellent food, I'd go elsewhere.
This place gets crowded, so be prepared to wait a little for a table. The service is pretty quick though, so I haven't had to wait long to be seated or get my food.
The falafels are yummy and cheap in this Midtown hideaway, and the pita bread is delicious!! I've only had falafel here, and even though I mean to try new things, I end up craving falafel in the end.
It's a great place for lunch, definitely not touristy, and you can't beat the prices.
The lafa is delicious and freshly baked everytime. It's also huge, the size of two pitas. I like that orders come with a little side of salad and that you can get fries put into your pita or lafa sandwich.
But, I'm the falafel is bland and the line or lack there of is a little too crazy for me. And though they're probably doing me and everyone a favor, they don't have onions. Dude, a falafel sandwich without onions?
I had the shwarma on laffa which was very very tasty. The bread is fresh and well-made, and the sandwich itself was very large. "Salad bar" which is really a salad/pickle/pepperoncini/slaw bar was a very nice addition and gave more value to the $10 the sandwich cost.
2 gotchas: When the menu says fries, salad, tahina, and pickles are served with the laffa, they mean inside it. If you choose not to have those inside your sandwich, you don't get them-- at least I didn't.
Also, 15% gratuity was tacked-on to our table-of-2 check. Kinda odd and a bit sneaky.
I live about 5 mins or less from their BK location. When they opened up a block away from my office I was excited - what a coincedence both locations are mins away!!
When I'm having Olympic Pita its usually for dinner. But now they're in midtown, and ohh boy, having it for lunch knocks me out (food coma). Its super fulfilling, and reasonably priced, being that it's Kosher and in the city. I like their selection of many sides, ie. beets, corn w/ pickles, eggplant. The shish kebabs are flavorful and grilled to perfection. The shawarma has been raved as the best in NY but it's average to me. The baby chicken and schnitzel are excellant. I always opt to not have the mushy fries stuffed in my sandwich.
I can only speak for the Laffa, but at $8, its a great deal for what you get. Its massive (mabye over a foot long), they put fries in it for free if you ask, and comes with as much of the salad bar as you can stuff into a container. Its definitely large enough to put you in a food coma, and you could easily save half for another lunch.
They're only getting that second star because the house made pita is fluffy and delicious. Honestly, some of the best I've ever eaten. And I liked the pickles. That is the extent of nice things I have to say about this place. Some of the not so nice things I have to say:
-Service is definitely not their strong point. Our server was so bad, I kind of felt sorry for her. She was like a caricature of a hapless waitress.
-The shawarma seemed like it was just slices of chicken breast with a lot of cinammon. Not awful, but not good.
-If you order fries with your sandwich, you get about 5 limp fries stuffed into your pita.
-They seem to have something against salt.
-They charge $2 for a can of soda.
-I waited forever for my check. Forever. Like, almost as long as it took to eat the whole meal. Then she asked if we wanted to take the leftovers to go, we said yes and she never came back. I don't get it when lunch places take forever. It's lunch HOUR not HOURS.
-They tack on a 15% gratuity, even for a party of two. Which may or may not be because if they didn't no one would ever tip servers this inattentive. They also have calculators built right in to the little folders you get the check in (what are those things called anyhow?) which seems a little presumptuous considering it's an Israeli place.
Hit or Miss.
I ordered them about a month ago - food was at my office in less than 20min and was delish.
I ordered from them today - food took over an hour to get to my office, the shwarma was cold, fatty and really greasy, the FF were cold and wilted and the rice was cold and uncooked.
I am now enjoying my bread. Great lunch huh?
Not to mention a delivery guy that tried to walk away with a $6 tip and pretended to know zero english when i asked him for change.
Ridiculous amounts of food in their lunch specials, 1 order is enough for two large adults. Has the requisite amount of Israeli insolence. That's a good thing.
If you don't have to eat kosher, then I believe there is only one or two choices on the menu for you. A laffa wrap with either falafel or shwarma with fries inside. Personally I think $12 for the shwara wrap is too expensive so really only the falafel for me. With fries in it is a good deal.
I took the team out for lunch here (at their recommendation!) I had the shawarma lunch special with yemenite soup, salad, and french fries. Awesome and well worth the loss of a belt notch for the rest of the afternoon. My boys know of what they speak when they say this is the best mid-town middle-eastern.
Very very good. One of the best Falafel sandwiches (on laffa) i've ever had. They will offer to put fries on it. Just say NO! A little pricey for what it is, but worth it. Don't be scared by the line out the door at lunch. If you order to go, you'll be out in 10 minutes or so.
In this culinary no man's land known as the garment district, Olympic Pita is a gem. They have a great salad bar with all sorts of Israeli salads, which is included in the meal. The chicken shish was big enough for two people to share. The laffa bread, made fresh on the premises is divine. Reasonable prices and pleasant service.
