Café Sultan

The absolute best hummus I've ever had. And grape leaves. Oh God, the food is so great here. Do yourself a favor and visit this restaurant.

Dined at Cafe Sultan last night and found it to be still very good. I love their Hummus Special, ground lamb sautéed in olive oil with pine nuts and garlic served over hummus with olive oil, garlic, and some paprika. The Ful was also delicious, cooked fava beans tossed in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and fresh parsley.

As usual I got the Sultan Combo, lamb, chicken, chicken kefta, beef soujok, and shrimp with grilled vegetables and rice, because I like some of everything. It was delicious. My wife had a lamb shank with grilled vegetables and what I call dirty rice. She said was very tasty but a little tough. In additional to their regular menu of dishes you would expect to find at a Middle Eastern restaurant they also had a cod fish special and a special lentil soup which we did not try.

It is a nicely decorated cozy little restaurant, about 10 tables, that is not expensive.

We drank a Pra Soave with dinner which worked very well and a Hahn Estates, Merlot which as very nice as well. Both are available locally for under $10.00, they will be added to a list we are copiling on EgForum.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=81228

Awesome place - food service great and the atmosphere very romantic! Now about the food - unbelievable is more like it - everything was delicious - and I'm very picky!

We ordered in from there last week. It was terrific. As Peter noted, the ful was extraordinary. Portions were generous, prices low, and the food was fresh & flavorful. Don't know why this restaurant isn't front-of-mind more often - it's really that good.

WONDERFUL!!!

Did you guys know that cafe sultan delivers... I ordered from there the other night and the service was amazing. Check it out www.deliverynow.com.

Does anyone know if they are open for lunch on Saturday?

Does anyone know if they are open for lunch on Saturday?

Yes, lazybones, the owner knows. Step away from the computer, pick up the phone & dial 973.655.1441.

Well tippler, I happened to be at long distance phone range at work in NY. I'm sure my employer would have liked the idea of using my office phone to call a restaurant in NJ. I even checked first to see if they had a website before I asked. But thank you ever so much for being the helpful person that you clearly are.

i've eaten there a few times. i don't eat white rice and asked if they could substitute some bulgher wheat in place of the rice. 1st time the wheat was just hard and inedible,the next time they refused to substitute it. i couldn't believe that. i haven't been back since because of that.

Dined there last night with friends. Saturday night in Upper Montclair....the place definitely has the look, the ambiance, and the food is excellent. However, from the moment we walked in, we felt the service could be an issue. There was only one waitress and she was also the one to seat us, bring water, etc. Some people walking in seated themselves. Perhaps waitstaff cancelled on them, but somehow there should have been back-up. She was obviously frazzled and busy and it took time to place an order, but the food came out within normal wait-time. Everything was excellent and as the night went on, our server smiled a bit. We would go back!

I agree they have the absolute best hummus. Their Hummus Special is incredibly good. I've eaten here often in the past four years, for lunch and for dinner and have never been disappointed. Their dishes are all delicious. The only thing I'm not too crazy about are their salads. But who needs salads when you can have stuffed grape lives, eggplants etc...

The food is really very good and the ambiance is nice without being kitschy.

Service can be a bit trying. They need another person handling tables (even a busboy or other not-quite-a-waiter type would be helpful). We've never seen anyone other than the one woman handling everything: hosting, waiting, serving and telephone. She disappears for five minutes at a time into the kitchen, so maybe she's even doing some cooking! Always pleasant, but when the place has several tables going, you can expect delays.

Anyway, the food more than makes up for service glitches, so applefamily are repeat customers.

We had the worst experience ever, as far as service this weekend at Cafe Sultan, so bad in fact that I'm posting something for the first time ever on any website in response!
We went in at 8:15 p.m. - NO ONE was in the restaurant. We sat down and from the first time we needed a refill of water, the one woman waitstaff seemed irritated by our request. She continued to scowl at us when we needed anything, which she should have noticed without us asking, since we were the only patrons! The food was pretty good, although VERY overpriced for the smaller-sized portions, but the WORST part came at 10:05, when she stormed over and said sternly, "We closed at 10 p.m." literally slamming the bill down on the table, to which we replied that she simply could have told us that about 15 minutes earlier (without the attitude). Then, when we needed change, instead of giving us singles, she gave us $10 bills, again slamming it down on the table, as though her service was worth that tip!

PS - Who charges extra ($1.50) for Tahini sauce with Falafel??? It should be part of the meal!!!

A ripoff, but most importantly, HORRIFIC service, for a place that is obviously struggling to get a dine-in crowd.

NONE OF US WOULD go back and would not recommend it to others unless you want major attitude to go with your overpriced street food.

I’ve been here several times now and have always had a good experience. The ambiance is nice and cozy (although it can get a little chilly in terms of temperature at times). I’ve only seen one server at a time as well, but it’s a small restaurant and it’s generally not full. I don’t doubt that some may have had bad experiences, but I can’t say I have personally. In terms of appetizers, I recommend both the hummus as well as the labneh (yogurt with dill). In fact, I’m craving it right now. For main courses, the Chicken Kefta (ground chicken) and the Shawarma (sliced beef) are my regular dishes. I’ve also had one of the salads with chicken, and that was very good as well. Unfortunately/fortunately, I’ve always been too full to make it to dessert, so I can’t vouch for the baklava.

Does anyone know if the Sultan is open? Last month a sign on the door said they were closed for renovations. Before that, business had been so slow every time I ate there, and I wondered if they would keep afloat. Their grape leaves are the best, bar none!

PS Their phone is out of order. Seems like they did indeed go out of business. What a shame!

Confirmed: out-of-business for over a month at this point.