Balzem in New York City

You won’t regret eating at this place. I strongly recommend the platter for 4.

Hard to describe how much I love this place. The food is always so delicious, perfectly portioned, well-priced, seasoned to delight and ALWAYS consistent. (The octopus is the best in the city - crispy, grilled, seasoned. Their cocktails are great too!Came here w the parents in 2016, came back for a birthday party w the girls a year later, have had great one on ones w friends and romantic date night dinners - and across all those different vibes the atmosphere here has always been warm, inviting, and the candles lit low. (Decor is great / lighting great for photos!We met the owner (Harzam?and his friends on our most recent Saturday night, and they even treated us to a round. Thank you! We love this place and hope it stays forever! Good places like this are hard to find!

It was a nice experience for drinks and the food was also delicious, the staff is great, friendly and attentive. I’ll come back. Thanks you guys

Amazing food and great outdoor dining. It was all of our first time and we really enjoyed this place. We give this one less star because we all did not like our waitress. She wasnt very nice and kept coming over interrupting our conversation (so American). Then she included a 20% tip without telling us! We almost paid more tip! Unbelievable. If they serve Mediterranean food maybe they should also have a Mediterranean mentality and let people truly enjoy their food and time there, and not include tip.

Really cute restaurant! We got some appetizers and salads for dinner. The ambiance of the restaurant is great. The babaganoush was smoking tasting, which isnt my favorite but its pretty standard. The burrata was delicious and both salads were tasty. I got the quinoa salad with tuna and my friend got the Lazzoni Sea Shepherd.

Amazing wine amazing ambiance amazing service. Get the spicy feta dip and the grilled portobello

Cocktails were meh. Vibe was cool. Food was okay.

Really trendy place in an upbeat neighborhood. The service is excellent. The cocktails are probably the best thing about Balzem but the food was decent as well.

I went in this restaurant they have one of the best lamb chops that Ive tasted, also they have great customer service. I loved it 😍

Such a cute spot. The food was great, the shepherd salad with chicken was so fresh and the flavors incredible. Also nice to get a decent glass of red wine.Would highly recommend.

Extremely disappointed. This place used to be very good. I ordered a Balzem burger , a Ribeye burger and one order of Octopus. The burgers were burnt and black. The bread was burnt around the edges. The Octopus was super dry. Not sure if the chef was too busy or what. Will not go back ever again.

The food, atmosphere and vibe here is amazing! Octopus for the appetizer was off the hook! The lamb was cooked perfectly - tender and juicy and full of flavor!! The creme brûlée is the best in NYC!! Salim makes the best cocktails in NOLITA!!

Brunch was great but very slow service

We had dinner last night...this is such a romantic spot...the lamb chops meal...to die for...the ambience..the serenity...loved it..we will definitely be back...Oh..and the service..on point ...1.2.3.. no long wait and everything was hot and fresh 😋😋

We were food touring, so we were only trying a few small items on the menu. We had the shrimp artichoke dip, the branzini ceviche, and the crevette grill. The dip was rich and cheesy. The ceviche was light and fresh. The crevette grill was paired with arugula dressed in lemon juice olive oil and salt. It complimented the grilled shrimp well. Id go back to have a meal.

Loved the atmosphere. The artichoke and prosciutto di parma was delicious.

Great wine list along with great mediterranean dishes. only got to try a couple dishes so far but really impressed with the quality of the food. will be back for more.

Solid Mediterranean spot, but not the best in the city. Everything we ate was very solid and they make manti (Turkish dumplingswhich is a pretty special item in NYC to find. Not a place I’d travel the city to eat at, but if I needed a reservation and the top spots were taken I’d happily go back and enjoy my time for sure.

Balzem looked great right off the bat in that it was full. I noticed a table for two and snagged it immediately (with permission from the staff). Our servers were amicable and prompt. The wine selection was great and we had a fantastic Garancha Blanca and Melon de Burgogne. The babaganush was very tasty and the artichoke and prosciutto de parma flatbread was delicious and very rich. I liked that they cut it 4 ways and down the middle making it an easy finger food. Give it a whirl!

Fantastic octopus! Delicious chicken and branzino. Very nice people as well and accommodating!

This place was great! Service, food, drinks, and vibe are great. We got hummus and pita, very good, along with the grilled portobello to start. They were cooked to perfection. Our meal was the mushroom truffle oil flatbread...let me tell you something...I would fight someone for that Flatbread. The truffle mac n cheese is the best Ive ever tasted. My wife and I will be back.

Excellent! The food was fresh and delicious. Best Sheppard salad ever. The staff is super nice and attentive. I will definitely be returning.

Vibe was great (outdoor tables). Service was great. Perfect fancy but not too fancy restaurant, prices affordable but for a menu more considered & elevated than most at these prices.Mushroom pizza AMAZING. Sautéed spinach — who knew it could be so good? Potatoes au gratin — divine. Shepherd salad super refreshing. Definitely coming back, merci everyone!

Did a birthday party there, all the food was delicious and the service was excellent. 10/10 would recommend!

The hummus was the best hummus I’d ever eaten. The mantee was also amazing! The shrimp casserole was okay.

Enjoyed COVID safe outdoor dining today. Pictures are the barrata and chocolate mousse cake. We also had the hummus Balzem, phyllo rolls, and arugalu and spring mix salad. All delicious!

Decent Mediterranean spot - the tapas are great, we had the breakfast platter, the fruit platter, the burrata, the spicy feta, the artichoke dip and the Mac and cheese. Barring the spicy feta, the dishes were delicious and fairly filling without being loaded. Servers are nice and welcoming.Went for their outdoor dining - great food and service. Highly recommend the octopus and the shrimp appetizers!

We loved this place. Literally spent almost 3 hours in here drinking and eating all their appetizers. The waiter was very helpful and nice. We had a great time!

Always come from time to time... Chicken tavern and the lentils soup is the best

Fairly certain I got food poisoning here. The lighting was so dim our party must have dropped at least 3 forks. While I should have read the reviews and been more selective for a large group, there just wasn’t enough space on the table. Will be staying away from Mediterranean food for a while...

Very tasty Mediterranean food with lovely intimate cozy ambiance. The service is very pleasant and friendly too. I wasnt as happy about the fact that most of main entrees seemed a bit overpriced to me (especially for Mediterranean).

Superb setting in its lighting, space arrangement and the neighborhood the restaurant is sitting in. Staffs are friendly and welcoming. Foods are properly cooked and served in a desirable way but its hard to erase the feeling that everything seems to be slightly over-priced.

Fantastic food, and very friendly staff! Specially the girl from Cratia (forgot her name). I wasnt sure which wine I wanted to drink so she brought over my top choices for a quick taste and provided great recommendations. The zucchini cake, branzino and lamb chops were amazing! Will definitely go back soon

Pretty average. Food was good but not amazing, I recommend the lamb brochette or the bruschetta. The coffee refill wasn’t actually a refill and they charged me for 2 coffees which never happened to me in NYC... the salads were not that great.The main good thing about this place is that it’s usually not too crowded so pretty chill :)

Hard to say how much I loved this place! Located in one of the nicest areas of SoHo. The atmosphere in the evening is so cozy in here, reminding me of some of my favorite spots in Paris. The service was amazing. Had the best rosé in a long time. Id described their food as Mediterranean-american fusion cuisine which does not lack creativity (try the Truffle mac n cheese).

Its cozy, so I wouldnt try to do a group dinner here, but great for date night. Service is really attentive and friendly. We had a reservation and got a table right by the window, but we were told that another reservation was coming in an hour and a half. This was fine because the service and food were pretty quick and we actually never felt rushed.

Great serendipity! Chose it because of the number of high reviews and it was a thousand points that night taurant on an early summer evening. Open air view of the street, busy with good people and good conversation, flowers on the table, delicious chicken and steak brochette, wonderful service, and all in all a highlight! I highly recommend it!

This review is only for the 2 amazing cocktails we ordered at this place, one with a scotch base and the other with Vodka. I dont remember the names of either, but they were listed as a daily special at the bar, and both drinks had lime and cayenne pepper in it. They tasted absolutely delicious and had some serious punch in it.

A nice SOHO restaurant/bar with extensive list of wines. For a summer hangout in NYC, good as can get.

The mushroom pizza is the bomb! Octopus and baba ganoush were not bad as well. A bit pricey for the amount of food.

Great service. The mushroom and truffle flatbread pizza was the best thing. Octopus app and babaganoush were also really good. The Manti app was forgettable. Cocktails were tasty but pricey and not that strong.

Very cozy place. Although the dinner menu ( small plateswasn’t too fascinating(not many options to choose from). Def a unique menu. Liked their zucchini pancakes. The shrimp dish was a show stealer.. it’s a must do dish.They have a great wine list. The server talked very fondly of their desserts. We were all full so couldn’t try but I am assuming that their desserts are great 👍

Go for happy hour! Cheap drinks and snacks. Cozy atmosphere. Good service.

Their food for the most part is yummy. Ambience is intimate and really calming. I had the Artichoke dip and it was really tasty. I enjoyed it a lot. I had the Shrimp Carnival as well but I felt like it could have been better. There was nothing amazing about the dish at all. The custmer service was pretty great though. Very nice servers.

Great vibes .Good music.Intimate with beautiful fresh flowers and real candle lights.At $21, I had a glass of my favorite red. Thats Montepulciano dabruzzo from a region in Italy. Loved the wine to bits!Ordered a beautiful lamb kabob medium rare , deliver medium to well. Could not get the servers attention and was too hungry. That is why the low rating.

Love the atmosphere!! This place is really good. They have a wall garden indoor and makes the place so interesting. Oh! Their music playlist are awesome (when we were there). Food have good portions with superb flavor. Also, good varieties of wine to choose from. Definitely good place for brunch or you can just go there & chill with a glass of wine or two or more!

We popped in to grab a quick brunch. It was well meaning, but very ordinary. The service was good. The food did take quite a while and it wasnt that busy.They serve a little complimentary mezze with tired winter tomatoes and olives. Nice gesture, but tasteless tomatoes are not really worth serving even for free.They brought out the side dish before the main dishes. They make a decent scalloped potato.I wanted my eggs to not be overcooked on the egg skillet, but they said it couldnt be done so I ordered the steak and eggs. It came with a salad and some sort of pesto-chimichurri sauce. It was ok.The omelette was good.

Wow, a hidden gem in SoHo! We came here after turning away from other nearby restaurants with 2 hour waiting lists and readily got seats at the bar. Food is amazing - especially the grilled octopus - and they have 10 red plus 10 white European wines available by glass. Service was heartfelt and genuine. I have mixed feelings about sharing my review since I hope the wonderful experience I enjoyed is not spoiled in future by a 2 hour waiting list like its neighbours.

I really liked their meats! The ambiance/ layout aint my fave, a little cramped. Also it aint cheap but if you want some good meat skewers go here. Also, our waitress was nearly brought to tears with concern and happiness for our enjoyment of the meal and wine. What a sweet mystery that makes her care so much.

What a great find. We had a crazing for seafood - and Turkish food. Balzem delivered and more. The ambience was amazing: dark and candle lit. The people there were friendly and helpful. And, my date and I were able to have a conversation. Well definitely go back.