Friday night, 6:15 p.m., we arrive at Le Petit Alep. Take note of the address because I didn't find a sign, just the street number (191) above the door. We have about a 10-minute wait for a table, during which time we are offered drinks while standing at a little counter (the bar is set with place settings for dinner).
I am ravenously hungry (no lunch that day), but my husband has gone out for lunch plus we're eating earlier than usual, so we bypass the yummy-sounding tasting menu ($20 p.p. for two courses or $25 for three courses) and go straight to a main course. At our waitress' recommendation, we order the Chiche Kebab plate (spicy for me... Terbialy) plus a side of marinated vegetables.
A little basket of fresh mini-pita bread arrives, along with our vegetables: big chunks of carrot and white turnip, crisp and vinegary. They must do these in-house. Probably would have tasted better with our meal but I am too hungry to wait.
Our food arrives promptly, and resembles the pictures you can see here on Yelp -- a skewer of meat between halves of saucy pita bread, a portion of rice mixed with noodles and a lemony side salad. By eating at Le Petit instead of Alep we have 1 skewer of meat instead of 2, but at half the price, we're not complaining. The portion is a normal amount of food -- what I might eat at home rather than a ginormous restaurant portion. It is DELICIOUS.
For dessert we both try the Atayef, mine stuffed with walnuts and my husband's stuffed with ricotta cheese. His was better -- the creamy cheese cuts the sugary sweetness of the rosewater syrup.
By the end of our meal, there is quite a crowd standing at the drinks counter...not sure whether folks are waiting for a table or just having an after-work drink. It is getting quite noisy, but in a "this joint is hopping" way.
In my opinion, the food prices were more than reasonable but drinks (especially the wine list) were more than I wanted to pay.
We're definitely going to be back, and next time I want to try the appetizers.