Personal Review {September 15, 2003}:
The Carlyle Club restaurant specilizes in Lebanese and Middle
Eastern selections. The restaurant, owned by the owner of the
Ambassador (Indian Food) nearby, is located in the Carlyle
apartment building (now a Quality Inn) formerly occupied by
Preston's 500. The restaurant opened just over a year ago.
The environment is very pleasant, smoke-free and quiet (of course, there was only one other table occupied at the time, but the atmosphere I'm sure would still exude the kind of soothing, peaceful surroundings a fine dining experience is expected to display). A group of 5 of us recently visited The Carlyle for lunch. We sat at a large table next to the window and ordered a number of dishes from the menu which we all shared in order to get a chance to taste the many ethnic dishes listed. Your server starts you off with a nice variety of olives and salad to share, along with a basket of pita bread. Then comes the soups/salads we ordered. I started with the Adas Bihamod, a hardy green lentil soup with Swiss chard. This soup lived up to its billing. It was thick and tasty, with a good, but subtle, Mid-east bite to it. We then were served our entrees on beautifully presented square green glass plates. These included FalaFel (dried beans blended w/spices served with tahini sauce), Batinjan (grilled eggplant topped w/garlic and tomato), Fatayer Sbanikh (spinach pie), Sambusik (meat pie) and Somosas. We ended the meal by ordering the baklava and Turkish coffee.
Everything we sampled this day was excellent. The main dishes were very tasty and the baklava for desert was, well, heaven is how I described it at the time. This had to be the best baklava I have ever had. Prices were moderate ranging from $6 - $13 for lunch entrees.
There were only a couple negative aspects. The service was a bit slow, strange considering we were the only people eating at the time (the other table was still waiting for late arrivals). Also, I had to ask our waiter to remove the dirty plates to make room for other dishes (one should not have to ask). Otherwise, this dining experience was a pleasure to all and certainly warrants a return visit.