REVIEW: Babylon Cafe

7724 Maple St.
New Orleans, LA

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Overall:
Service:
Atmosphere:
Food:
Price:

Pros: Standard Greek & Lebanese dishes done well.
Cons: Not our favorite hummus.
Bottom Line: Delicious flavors that outshine the other Middle Eastern places we’ve tried in the area.

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Babylon is a small Middle Eastern restaurant located close to Tulane’s campus. The restaurant works well for its largely collegiate audience. The space is long and narrow, slightly dark, and decorated with colorful Middle Eastern murals on the wall. This creates a cozy and casual atmosphere. The menu here features typical Greek and Lebanese dishes: chicken schwarma and gyro sandwiches in pita bread, the same meats offered in platters, and a few main dish salads and seafood plates. In addition to these standards, Babylon offers a few more options to complete its menu - from shish kabobs with various meat combinations to eggplant sandwiches on freshly baked bread.

After we ordered, the kitchen sent out a complimentary order of hummus with pita bread. This was unexpected and gratefully received. The hummus was average – it had a relatively mild flavor. This is not ideal for garlic lovers or those looking for bold flavors but is nice for those who aren’t huge hummus fans…hummus skeptics may enjoy Babylon’s tame version of the dip.

For our meals, we ordered a chicken shish kabob sandwich on a wheat pita (nice to have that option!) and a gyro platter. The sandwiches here don’t come with sides, so we ordered a salad with feta and olives to go with the sandwich. We expected this to be a typical side salad, especially since the price was only about $5, but this salad was enormous. It was generously topped with loads of feta. The salad was dressed in a simple but delicious oil & vinegar combination and was not saturated with too much oil. This salad tasted great and was large enough that it could have easily been shared between two people as a side dish. The chicken shish kabob sandwich was also delicious. We’re not sure what was in the sauce that dressed this sandwich (it wasn't a Tzatziki sauce), but it was great! The chicken was tender and flavorful. Definitely a good choice.

The gyro platter was another good dish. It comes with a choice of two sides, and we chose hummus and a salad. The salad wasn’t quite up to our expectations, as it didn’t come with olives or feta as is usually the case. However, this is a mild infraction and was easily made up for by the great flavors of the meat, which was moist and well-seasoned.

Babylon is a great option for Middle Eastern food. They do the standard dishes well and offer a few more choices that other restaurants of this type do not. The service and atmosphere create a casual and relaxed place to meet up with friends and enjoy a delicious, reasonably-priced meal.