Mamouns

This is my favorite place to eat when I go to Manhattan. It's called Mamoun's Falafel and it has been open since 1971. There are three other locations, one in NYC, one in Connecticut, and one right where I live in Albany, NY. The one I always go to, the original restaurant, is a hole in the wall on MacDougal St. between Bleeker and West 3rd. They make the best falafel sandwich I have ever had and you will ever have. If you're in the area and you don't get a falafel sandwich you're a fool. The balls are fried the perfect amount. The tahini is perfect. The veggies are always fresh. I've been there countless times and the taste is so consistent, so wonderful, so fantastical, that there is almost always a line out the door. Plus the damned thing only costs two dollars and fifty cents. All this goodness occurs every day but just 150 miles north a travesty has struck, the Albany 'Mamoun's.'

I've been to the Albany location of 'Mamoun's' a few times. I really want their food to live up to the NYC version. I really want to like their food. I really want to eat good falafel. However, none of this will come to pass. This fake Mamoun's is a cheap, yet somehow overpriced, impostor. It is a sit down restaurant that barely has patrons which leads me to believe that the food is probably not fresh. Once you sit down a squirrelly man nervously takes your order; and if that isn't off-putting enough, the whole places stinks like coffee. That aroma may be pleasant to some but it is very bothersome to me; especially since I'm in a restaurant, not a fucking coffee house. If you order a soda it comes in this strange ten once glass bottle and costs twice as much as a coke would in any place ever.

Now to the falafel. Before I stated that a travesty had occurred but that was being modest. This falafel is more like a war crime. The first thing that jumps out at you if you ever have the displeasure of eating at this establishment is they cut your falafel sandwich in half. I've eaten at quite a few falafel restaurants and stands and never once has this been done anywhere except 'Mamoun's.' Next you take a bite hoping for a decent facsimile of the wonderful falafel they make on MacDougal St. and what is the prominent flavor? MOTHERFUCKING CARROTS. Whichever genius decided to put carrots in the falafel should be publicly executed. There is absolutely no excuse for ruining my sandwich with a fucking carrot. I don't even hate carrots, they have their place in salads and as a snack, but this is too much. Plus the tahini is flavorless and the balls either over- or under- fried depending on the visit. It is quite possibly the worst imitation of a falafel sandwich I have ever encountered.

Please, if you are in the Village go to Mamoun's and get a falafel sandwich. Even if you are not hungry get one. Even if you just ate a huge meal get one. Even if you have no money just sit in Washington Square Park and beg for change until you have enough ($2.50) and get one. And please, if you are in Albany pass 'Mamoun's' and go somewhere else.

www.mamounsfalafel.com