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Review content:
This could be a fantastic experience but lacks a focus on the diner or any discernible responsible party. We've been to Sitti twice, last spring and just recently. Both times I felt unwelcome. The mistress D, a beautiful young thing in High Grunge, definitely looked my clothes up and down. This last time we might have been a bit underdressed but it was not a peak time and business was quite slow so why not hide us in a booth and treat us kindly? We felt rushed to eat and leave despite many available tables in the huge room, whereas the drinkers (a majority there) sat for much longer and weren't pressured to drink up and go. The prices aren't casual, they are high. As far as the ""eat together communally"" or ""order lots of small dishes and share,"" there was no together feeling at all, and we were presented with a mix of small dishes (mezze), but no serving spoons, and no plates to serve the shared food onto. The food is mixed in quality and freshness. The rice and noodles which should be a fresh basis for everything else, is chilly, too oily and salty. It just reminds me of Rice A Roni. Our vegetarian entree was undercooked and not evenly cooked, as if items from various pots had been thrown together. I suspect the vegies were nuked. I doubt traditional Lebanese stews include crunchy squash. The Lebanese yogurt and pita bread really are awesome. The beef kabob was appealing but unevenly cooked, very tender as if tenderized, and highly meat tasting which I suspect includes MSG as I got a roaring migraine the next morning. Great beer. Refried falafel. Terrible baba ganoush, not roasted but burnt and turned into ganoush anyway (as if eggplant is that expensive or was this one more sign we didn't decorate their walls well enough? Tons of pretty workers milling around doing nothing but watching our progress and hanging out behind the bar, yet we often couldn't find our server. She forgot a request for several minutes, and didn't know the difference between beef and lamb. None of the cooks appear to be either Lebanese or very interested in their work. In fact, they don't seem to be actually cooking anything. Having a wait staff picked for youth, slimness and looks in skinny jeans does not make for a pleasant experience for the middle aged folks who do have the money to spend on good food. Hope they get back (?) to their roots and clearly indicate whether they want to serve Lebanese cuisine, or just sell expensive wine in a tony atmosphere. Fire some wait staff and hire some Lebanese or really trained cooks and really do cook from scratch as you claim. This place seems like part of a huge movement of ""restaurants that are really bars where you can soak up the expensive alcohol with trendy food that is mostly precooked. At first the music was annoying modern stuff probably chosen for the staff's benefit, but later they changed it to traditional music which was nice without being smarmy ethnic. Gorgeous decor and really nice bathrooms.
Pros: Beautiful setting but thinks the 90s aren't over
Cons: seemed snobbish, wants affluent drinkers not diners
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