Batata

There’s something about Batata that doesn’t feel so inviting, and wish I could put my finger on it. The lentil barley soup was delicious but it took a long time. I was getting a bit impatient, under the impression the soup was already made and ready to go (it was snowing out) and the woman behind the register was snobby and defensive. I said thank you, it was delicious and she didn’t even reply. I wish I could say I love this place. I would recommend it to someone needing a falafel on the go, but not for a unique, warm, atmosphere. There’s just something a bit off. If they could just speed things up a bit and provide happier, warmer service, this would be my go to place. But for now, I probably won’t be going back.

Delicious, adorable, incredible place. I really loved my kale & spinach salad here, and the falafel. Everyone else in my group loved their food as well! And really, I do want to try the whole menu. It’s very cute; a definite hipstery-​joint with a nice vibe, and cheap wine. I’d love to come again!

This place is LIT! GREAT FOOD & GREAT SERVICE! Thank you Devon & Madison. Great vibe inside too, cool music & great space. LOVE the Brussels sprouts! Thank you, Batata!

I think this is my favorite lunch spot in NY. Definitely by far the best in the area.
The staff is friendly, the vibe is good, the place is very cute, I love the music they play, and they even have wifi.
I have tried a few things on their menu and I am never disappointed. My favorites are the sweet potato falafel and egg&cheese malawich. If you don’t try these two things you are missing out.

I was inspired to write a review of this amazing neighborhood spot, since I just ordered for delivery for the second time in 2 weeks. The chicken schnitzel is seriously out of this world — crave worthy. The pita is fluffy and warm and delicious, the french fries are amazing, the brussels sprouts divine, and the labne is rich and creamy with awesome herbs. The smoothies are healthily prepared and unique. And, the goat cheese/​honey malawach are mouth-​watering, for REAL. My daughter LOVES the nutella pita! We are SO glad to have them in the neighborhood. Nicely done, Batata!

Absolutely love this place. I’ve catered from here but came in today for the first time in person. The staff is so nice and the food is one of the only places I’ve been able to find that’s as close to Israeli shawarma as possible. I drove from Sheepshead Bay just to get it!

This place is a welcome delicious addition to the lunch scene in Kensington. Super fresh Israeli platters, solid smoothies, and welcoming for tots. Favorites are the egg and cheese malawa, chicken shwarma, and falafel. Plus the people are really polite and warm.

My boyfriend and I came for brunch the other day. The place is somewhat hidden, but we managed to locate it. My boyfriend decided to get the breakfast platter which included halllumi cheese, two eggs, and some side salad & sauce. I got the egg & cheese malawash and a side plate of hummus & babaghanoush. We also had lemonade mint as drinks. Everything we had was AVERAGE. I’ve had far much better hummus, babaghanoush, & malawash. Most of the meals & sauces lacked flavor & authenticity. I did really like my lemonade mint drink, I even had some ginger added to it.

Chicken shawarma is really good. The Israel salad is fresh. Rice tastes great. Sweet potato fries are yummy.
Portions are on the smaller side, but perfect size for one person. There were no leftovers lol
Delivery is quick.
Packaging is recyclable.
Thumbs up.

Idk how this place has anything less than 5 stars.
We got 3 dishes to try
Each one was superb, bursting with flavor
The best chicken and waffles I’ve ever eaten! Waffles were incredible, chicken juicy, shawarma very flavorful, malawach yummy too
Even coffee was great
I actually see myself craving this place

In preparation to survey nearby Greenwood Cemetery we stopped at this inviting, hip place. The menu was an interesting mix of traditional Middle Eastern– felafel, hummus, chicken shawarma, etc — and earthy, healthy smoothies. Sweets are offered as well but we did not partake.
The sweet potato felafel was one the best this writer has ever had, better than Mamoun’s, better than the joints the line Felafel Street in Haifa. The felafel balls themselves were light, smooth, and wonderfully spiced. The salad was a unique mix of red cabbage, beets, etc
The smoothies salad included the kale, banana, mango and peanut butter, banana, cinnamon. Both were the perfect consistency and bursting with flavor.

Fresh, quality Israeli food like that which is served in Tel Aviv is hard to come by, especially in Brooklyn. Sure. There are plenty of pita places strewn throughout the borough, but I have yet to find anywhere that emphasizes freshness. Until recently.
Batata, which means sweet potato in Hebrew, is a cute little Israeli restaurant in Windsor Terrace that serves up fresh and delicious Mediterranean flavors at a decent price. The owner (s) is/​are Israeli so they try to stay true to that Middle Eastern flavor.
I’ve frequented this place three times already and I’ve been pleased on every single occasion.
I first tried the chicken schnitzel on pita. Delicious. Lots of fresh veggies, creamy hummus, velvety tahini, piquant schug and crispy chicken breast. All stuffed into a delectable whole wheat pita. One con: I had to add a bit of salt because it was missing. Still an A in my book.
The second time I visited Batata I sampled the chicken shawarma on a pita along with the labane platter and the original falafel basket. The shawarma, which comes with hummus and tahini or yogurt with cucumbers, was quite nice but not as spiced as I would like. I also never saw a rotating spit like I’m used to seeing so I’m not sure it was 100% fresh. And it wasn’t hot. It was a bit lukewarm which disappointed me. The hummus and tahini were still delicious though. Overall, a B– on the shawarma.
The falafel were good. Crispy and moist. However, when they were first brought out they were a bit soggy. We simply asked them to fry them a bit longer which seemed to do the trick. It came with a tahini dipping sauce which needed a bit of salt. B+.
The labane was fabulous. It comes with some za’atar on top, a bit of olive oil and some pita. A great snack if you want something light. A+
My last visit saw me ordering the breakfast plate. It comes with 2 fried eggs, some grilled halloumi cheese, hummus with olives, Israeli salad and pita. Quite a bit of food for $ 10. It was delicious! Definitely an A+. The eggs were runny, the hummus was creamy and nutty, the Israeli salad was crunchy and fresh and the halloumi was grilled perfectly.
If you’re in the area of Borough Park/​Windsor Terrace/​Kensington, I definitely recommend a stop into Batata. You won’t be disappointed.

6÷23÷2015 — 7:50PM.
First time here. Nice and quiet relaxing atmosphere. Friendly staff. The food was made faster than expected. The salads (Hummus, Carrots, etc) were delicious! ⁵⁄₅. The shawarma was okay. Not amazing, but not bad. 2.7 out of 5. But I will give them another chance ;-)
Shawarma plate to go = $ 14+tax

Warning… This is in regards to their
Online orders. If you want get pick up or delivery call on the phone. I have had a few instances where my online order was accidentally ignored… Once making me almost miss a show and two other times where it resulted in getting no food at all. I have had fine times dining in and the atmosphere is pleasant enough… But until they start paying real attention online, I say skip that route if you actually want to get fed.

Love this place! Friendly staff, great vegan options and SWEET POTATO FALAFEL.
Really great place and bonus points for flying the rainbow flag!

This place is such a treat! The falafel sandwich was delicious and the portion of falafel was generous. The goat cheese and honey malawach blew my mind! The pastry is perfectly flaky and the sweet/​salty combination was done so well. I’m in grave danger as I live only two blocks away from this sweet treat.
Word of warning — what looks like it might be house hot sauce is ketchup! I almost put it on my falafel which would have been a travesty.
The service is friendly and the outdoor seating is really great. Oh! And there is a small bowl of cat food outside that made me love the place and staff even more.

I have tried this place twice. I love the idea it — the look of it — the fact that the neighborhood needs it so I wanted it to be great. I ordered the falafel plate with 2 salad sides to go. I got home, ate it and was seriously sick most of the night. This was rough and not to mention the food was BLAND, very overdone and a bit of a one note. Everything tasted the same.
The other time I went there was for a smoothie. Peanut butter, cinnamon and banana.
It was over $ 7 dollars and they used JIF peanut butter — it was super sugary and gross.
This place looks great but the product is not.
They have this sign out front that says —
«Don’t feel awful, have a falafel» It reminds me of how sick I got after trying their falafel. I did feel awful: P

Great addition to the neighborhood but the food is seriously just okay. I was expecting close to the great food I had in Jerusalem but was underwhelmed. My falafel plate was overdone and had burnt outer layers– I love me some good crispy, slightly done falafels but these were just overcooked and left too long in the fryer. The hummus that came with it had no flavor at all.
The chicken shawarma my boyfriend had was not bad but again, far from what I’ve expected when I had read the reviews.
Still, this café is much-​needed in this area of Windsor Terrace.

«Hmm, that looks like Anda Paratha (flaky Indian bread, resembling a thick puff pastry pancake, with scrambled egg), but the name sounds foreign, possibly Middle Eastern», I mused early on a Saturday morning after reading reviews for Batata featured under New Businesses following mostly 5 star reviews.
Suddenly craving home-​style breakfast, I hopped on the F Train to make my way to Windsor Terrace and entered a cute, but sadly and unfortunately (for the neighborhood), completely empty, space at 10:15 am. As I placed my order for Scrambled Egg Malawach, with Sweet Potato Fries, I inquired as to what cuisine this was. The girl smiled and said: Israeli. I stared back blankly and blurted: «then why have I never seen this despite living in the city for 12 years, and having visited more than my share of Jewish delis and Israeli restaurants?» However, as I said that I wondered: maybe due to Selective Attention? The girl patiently elaborated that Malawach was a staple of Yemeni Jews and was becoming popular in Israel after recent migration of Jews from Yemen (sadly suffering the consequences of a deadly strain of Severus Intoleranus that has been sweeping the Middle East in recent years).
As I sat down and waited for my order, I looked up Malawach on the web and realized that the Yemeni dish owed its origins to trade with India centuries back. Smugly satisfied with the familiarity to my own cuisine, I bit into the scrambled egg and cheese Malawach, so familiar to the taste buds that I even wondered whether the cheese used was Paneer (Indian Cottage cheese)! And, similar to the tribulations of chefs striving to get the balance right on the flaky bread, it was burnt in parts. That’s not a consistent experience at Batata though, as the Malawach today was absolutely perfect… any master of his or her craft in India or Pakistan would proudly take credit for it. I thoroughly enjoyed the Malawach with the Schug made from hot peppers, coriander and garlic — very similar in both concept and color to the, even spicier, Coriander Chutney often paired with the Paratha at homes in the Indian subcontinent.
However, for my money’s worth, the truly outstanding experience at Batata wasn’t the eponymous Sweet Potato Fries (very competently done), but the supremely delicious hot drink: Molasses Cinnamon Milk. It hinted at a familiar drink back home, but only due to the individual tastes and not the creation itself. For my money’s worth ($ 3), it has to be the very best hot drink I’ve enjoyed this winter — fully living up to the praise «it’s delicious» uttered shyly by the girl at the cash register, following my inquiry.
There’s a tip jar near the cash register that encourages contributions «for world peace». Even though, it’s meant in good humor, for some reason it took me back almost thirty years when I first heard the lyrics «I hope the Russians love their children too», and wondered what madness is it that we don’t know whether that’s still true when it comes to Modern Day Middle East. But, naïve as I may be, given our common bonds I’ll still raise the delicious Molasses Cinnamon Milk to a toast: Shalom. Salaam. Peace.

This block is getting better with Batata! This is such a cute place.
The food is really good. Their egg and cheese malawach is divine. I wish I ate it there, so it would be all crispy, but the flavor and texture was still so good. Falafels are flavored well but a little small. The platter has a lot of good little side dishes. Sweet potato fries were good but many of the pieces I got were burnt. The people that work here seem passionate about what they are doing. Will be coming back!