Review Cimcim - Astoria

Delicious new Mediterranean spot on Ditmars. The service is very friendly and helpful, and the food is incredible. Really good portions at an even better price! I will definitely be back to try more of their dishes.

All thought the scene of Halal Food is heavily saturated in Astoria Cimcim does a pretty good job at presenting a clean and delicious experience in the Ditmars Corridor. The service counter it’s open so you can see the fresh ingredients poring into your plate. I does provides confortable sitting and the prices are very accessible and fare price. The menu excels at being minimalist and doesn’t over complicate things. I thing they did a good job there. Staff is friendly all tough not so fast. I’ll be visiting soon and report how they do in this regard. Ambience:8 Food:8 Staff:8 W.C: 10 Menu:8 Bang for your buck:9 Location:8 Drinks:6 Higiene:9

Service is amazing and so is the food! I loved everything I tried so far but especially their homemade soups. This will easily be a weekly stop for me.

Stopped in for a late lunch, food and service was amazing. Had the create your own bowl with Chicken Shawarma- it did not disappoint. The best part- the Pita! Freshly made and so flavorful. We’ll be back to try more of The tastiness!

The hummus had 0 flavor, almost as if they made it without tahini. Baba ganoush was just okay. Kofta was good, fried eggplant and zucchini were okay, the cauliflower was okay. I ended up throwing most of my dinner in the trash as the rest wasn't good. I had eggplant salad, quinoa, cauliflower, fried zucchini and eggplant and hummus with kofta. For the price I'm sorely disappointed, especially since most of it ended up in the garbage. If the hummus had been even pre-packaged I would've enjoyed it more, but it tasted like absolutely nothing and had the texture of gritty paste.

Went there yesterday for the first time, me and my wife both tried the pita sandwich, one with Falafel one with Kofta Adana - it was bloody delicious! Ditmars didn’t have any good Mediterranean food but now it does!

I had high hopes for CimCim. The positive reviews, the clean and modern look of the restaurant, and the promises of elevated, delicious cuisine; I was ready to be impressed and make this place a neighborhood "go to" since I love me some shawarma! Alas, CimCim failed to deliver. I came for lunch looking forward to try some delicious chicken shawarma. The restaurant is very nice. It's clean, modern, and well designed for a fast casual experience. It has plenty of seating and I could see it being very successful if they manage to overcome some (in my opinion) opening week hiccups. I ordered a bowl, which comes with a choice yellow rice, brown rice, or quinoa, choice of protein, two sides and a sauce. I went with yellow rice, chicken shawarma, roasted cauliflower, quinoa tabbouleh, and garlic sauce. Let's start with the good. The chicken shawarma is tender, juicy, and flavorful. Definitely gets a thumbs up from me. The garlic sauce looks and tastes homemade. It's almost like a butter texture. Unfortunately, that's where the good ends. Let me preface that the following things can be improved and I am willing to try CimCim again in the future to see if they have improved. But for now, here are my thoughts. First, the pickles. The cucumber pickles were very salty. I usually enjoy pickles with my shawarma, but I could not enjoy these. The roasted cauliflower was served cold. Perhaps this is how it usually is and my ignorance in the cuisine assumed anything roasted would be served hot. But, I did not enjoy it cold and flavorwise, it wasn't a standout at all. Side note: The bowl came with tomato/cucumber salad but this is also given as a choice as a side. So, why ever choose tomato/cucumber as a side if you're going to get it anyway? Not to mention it was completely devoid of any flavors. All I could taste was the cucumber. Not even the freshness of the tomato came through. Next, the "pancake" or whatever it is that was added on top at the end was just doughy and not worth eating. I certainly hope this was not a pita because if they wanted to add a pita to the bowl (which I wholeheartedly suggest), they should just simply provide the pitas they use for the sandwiches. The other items were simply basic with no real reason to be impressed or complain about. The rice was basic yellow rice. The quinoa tabbouleh was decent and as expected. All this for $13 after tax when I can get good shawarma for $8 not even a 5 minute walk away. Sure, I can get more sophisticated sides here at CimCim and the garlic sauce is more refined than the white gloop they have at the other place. But are those things worth $5 more? To me, they aren't. In the end, if I can't have good pickles and a decent pita with my shawarma, it ruins the whole meal.

OMG! This place is amazing! Everything was so fresh. I had the Kofta pita pocket and it was delicious. The service was really good. Wish them the best! Great addition to Ditmars blvd. Ill be back for more!