FARIDA - MIDTOWN

We showed up on a Monday night excited to try this restaurant but it was grated up, entirely closed, with no sign. The hours on Google and their official site indicated they would be open. Just a warning to others...maybe call ahead?

Met up with some friends for a 1 pm brunch with a resso via Seated. Even the restaurant is small, it still didn’t seem like getting a seat was a problem because it wasn’t full. I had this place bookmarked for a while because I had never tried Uzbek food, so I was excited for brunch. To start, we shared the mini puff pies. We got the combo of four and chose one of each - prime steak, chicken, spinach, and pumpkin. The spinach was probably the best of the bunch because it reminded me of spanokopita. But overall, I would probably skip this app. For mains, I originally wanted to ground beef kebab but they didn’t have it. So I settled for the Uzbek Plov (mix of beef & lamb with carrots, rice, and chickpeas). The meat was braised, which made it pretty dry. I think they are counting on the fact that there aren’t many Uzbek restaurants in the city, and because of that, they can charge higher prices for mediocre food. Each entree is around $20-$25, which is pretty pricey, considering it is mostly rice. Maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes. At least I can cross this place off the list now. Even though I didn’t have a great first experience with Uzbek cuisine, I know there are better restaurants out there, so the search shall continue. Tip - they automatically charge a 20% service fee (regardless of how many people you have) and a surcharge to use a credit card. So that on top of high menu prices? It’s like a highway robbery out here!

Not as advertised

Good Uzbek plov meat is tender and tasty. Baby lamb is great. Lagman is average only comes with 1 slice beef

Food was delicious. Server could have been a bit friendlier. 20% gratuity included in check, I rather have had the liberty to tip a different amount. It was rather warm inside the restaurant, not well air conditioned. However, I do recommend it because of the fantastic food.

I ordered 8 times from here and it’s always a gamble with pilov, some days rice is undercooked and some overcooked, very rarely it’s perfect. Multiple times my order was canceled because they didn’t have it at all. Customer service is okay.

The food was okay especially the home cooked fries. Just everything was cramped and a water bug was on the floor which was very off-putting.