Take-out: Yes Accepts Credit Cards: Yes Good for Kids: Yes Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
7 reviews
Gisele Lank
I REALLY wanted to like this place.
I had been traveling all week and hadn't had healthy food consistently in some time. So when I saw this one night, I thought I just had to have it for a later dinner, on my train back home to DC.
I went into the establishment around 9 pm so it was late-ish Most of the stuff was not available, so I went with the salad. I loved the concept of middle eastern ingredients and a make your own salad.
I really wanted to try the kale and spinach falafel but they were out at this time of the night. So I stuck to regular falafel, lettuce, black olives, red onion, red beets, diced tomato and cucumber salad, toasted pine nut hummus and their standard tahini dressing. Everything came to about $9. Which I thought was a lot for this tiny salad.
I was so excited. Until I tasted it. I had a few bites before I had to just put it down and eventually throw it away. The falafel was burnt tasting and while I understand it is baked, it is so soggy in a really bad way. The flavors weren't there. The salad was good, but not super fresh. The dressing was very bland. This was an awful salad and I was super disappointed.
Don't bother coming here. It's all mediocre. While the concept is great, they need to work on perfecting the flavors most importantly on the falafels.
I've been here something like 5 or 6 times over the years when I'm really craving some hummus and chicken while waiting on my train and can't wait until I get home to make it. I've received nothing less than satisfactory service. The first time I came here, the counter worker explained to me how to order and that I had 4 toppings but not that I'm being charged for said toppings or that if you choose something like a platter over a plate it's another dollar. I discovered that on my own after investigating their website. So I knocked off two stars for that because it was slightly shady in my opinion. But otherwise, the food is good and the location is convenient for me when I'm in the area.
This is a wonderful addition to the dreaded Penn Station. The food is fresh, sometimes the falafel is a little dry, but add hummus and toppings and you're good to go. My favorite is the shawarfel which is a combo of chicken shawarma and falafel, it's quite tasty. Don't forget to ask for a stamp card so you can be on your way to a free sandwich!
I've been on my recent craze for falafel sandwiches. My latest encounter involved the famous chain, Chickpea. It's been years since I've been to a chickpea, and when I did come, I had no idea what was a falafel. But after going to Mamoun's Falafel, Moshe's, Pitopia, Pita Joe, Sam's, and Alan's, I have a stronger familiarity for the falafel sandwich.
Chickpea sort of does things in an assembly line fashion: Step 1 – You choose Pocket or Wrap, Platter (add $2.00), Hummus Plate, or Salad. Step 2 – You then choose your hummus from 4 different ones: Original, Basil & Toasted Pine Nuts, Roasted Red Pepper, or Jalapeno & Scallions. Step 3 – You add your essential varying from falafel, shawarma, shawafel, kebabs, and more. I opted for the Falafel ($5.45). Step 4 – You then get to choose 4 salad toppings, ranging from chickpea salad, tabouli salad, tomato salad, tomato & cucumber salad, corn, beet salad, olives, pickles, jalapenos, banana peppers, red onions and more. Step 5 – You can also add tahini sauce and hot sauce for free.
I opted for a Falafel Wrap ($5.45 + tax = $5.93) with jalapeno & scallions hummus (because I love heat), topped with corn, tabouli salad, tomato & cucumber salad, red onions, extra tahini, and hot sauce. About 6-8 falafels were stuffed inside the pita bread, with a decent portion of the toppings. It was placed on wax paper and then dropped in a cardboard box. This is the second time I've encountered the cardboard box with a perforated line halfway down the box. Again, the concept was good, but execution terrible. To start, there's no beginner's pull tab, and it's almost impossible tearing the perforated line perfectly. On the corners of the box, it would just rip off, making me manhandle the box a bit. While you eat your falafel, you can only eat the top 1/3 before you have to take the whole thing our for easier manageability. The falafel itself was subpar. Because the falafels are baked and not fried, it was a bit mushy and didn't have that crisp deep-fried outside shell. Also, I found the falafels to be a bit dry, probably caused from the baking process and somewhat bland. The hummus had a hint of spice from the jalapeno but was slightly on the bland side as well. The other ingredients were fairly fresh, but they all seemed to be muddled together, none complimenting the other very well. Maybe it was my choice of toppings, or maybe it was because it was not as fresh as could be. I had asked for extra tahini sauce, which I didn't find had that strong sesame nutty taste. My guess is so that it'll cater to more people's palates. The hot sauce was not very spicy so ask for extra if you want any hint of it in your sandwich.
Overall, Chickpea serves some subpar falafel sandwiches that I wouldn't think twice of getting. The healthy concept of getting baked falafels over fried may appeal to some, but that's like getting a baked french fry over a fried french fry. It just doesn't work.
I think I have to make a Penn Station list. What's with the low ratings? This place is clean, quick and convenient!
Here's my staple order: Chickpea Original Falafel Hummus Plate with Basil & Toasted Pine Nuts Hummus. Throw in a Whole Wheat Pita? $6 bucks for a pretty good meal.
I'm a fan and I eat here at least twice a month. The food quality has stayed the same since they've been open.
There are two Chickpeas in Penn Station. This location is the better choice, by far. I've eaten here many times, it's a reliable healthy choice and there's a counter (with chairs) for eating. They always get my order right. The pitas were fresh and warm. Everything seems fresher here. It's not fancy but in a train station with mostly awful options, the LIRR Chickpea is an oasis. Avoid the Amtrak Chickpea.
Before this place was Chickpea, I'm pretty sure it was a Seattle Cafe (I haven't been in NYC much over 4 years while in college). They had the best salads and breakfast coffee, and I loved how it was near the E train unlike so many of the other stores.
I love falafel so I decided to give up my love for Seattle Cafe to try this new place.
I think Brendan M. pretty much sums it up. I love toasty pita, but the pita here is really dry and stale. I'm so disappointed. I don't even like hummus (gasp), so I didn't try it… but I'm kind of glad I didn't because from the reviews, it doesn't seem that appetizing.
I REALLY wanted to like this place.
I had been traveling all week and hadn't had healthy food consistently in some time. So when I saw this one night, I thought I just had to have it for a later dinner, on my train back home to DC.
I went into the establishment around 9 pm so it was late-ish Most of the stuff was not available, so I went with the salad. I loved the concept of middle eastern ingredients and a make your own salad.
I really wanted to try the kale and spinach falafel but they were out at this time of the night. So I stuck to regular falafel, lettuce, black olives, red onion, red beets, diced tomato and cucumber salad, toasted pine nut hummus and their standard tahini dressing. Everything came to about $9. Which I thought was a lot for this tiny salad.
I was so excited. Until I tasted it. I had a few bites before I had to just put it down and eventually throw it away. The falafel was burnt tasting and while I understand it is baked, it is so soggy in a really bad way. The flavors weren't there. The salad was good, but not super fresh. The dressing was very bland. This was an awful salad and I was super disappointed.
Don't bother coming here. It's all mediocre. While the concept is great, they need to work on perfecting the flavors most importantly on the falafels.
I've been here something like 5 or 6 times over the years when I'm really craving some hummus and chicken while waiting on my train and can't wait until I get home to make it. I've received nothing less than satisfactory service. The first time I came here, the counter worker explained to me how to order and that I had 4 toppings but not that I'm being charged for said toppings or that if you choose something like a platter over a plate it's another dollar. I discovered that on my own after investigating their website. So I knocked off two stars for that because it was slightly shady in my opinion. But otherwise, the food is good and the location is convenient for me when I'm in the area.
This is a wonderful addition to the dreaded Penn Station. The food is fresh, sometimes the falafel is a little dry, but add hummus and toppings and you're good to go. My favorite is the shawarfel which is a combo of chicken shawarma and falafel, it's quite tasty. Don't forget to ask for a stamp card so you can be on your way to a free sandwich!
I've been on my recent craze for falafel sandwiches. My latest encounter involved the famous chain, Chickpea. It's been years since I've been to a chickpea, and when I did come, I had no idea what was a falafel. But after going to Mamoun's Falafel, Moshe's, Pitopia, Pita Joe, Sam's, and Alan's, I have a stronger familiarity for the falafel sandwich.
Chickpea sort of does things in an assembly line fashion:
Step 1 – You choose Pocket or Wrap, Platter (add $2.00), Hummus Plate, or Salad.
Step 2 – You then choose your hummus from 4 different ones: Original, Basil & Toasted Pine Nuts, Roasted Red Pepper, or Jalapeno & Scallions.
Step 3 – You add your essential varying from falafel, shawarma, shawafel, kebabs, and more. I opted for the Falafel ($5.45).
Step 4 – You then get to choose 4 salad toppings, ranging from chickpea salad, tabouli salad, tomato salad, tomato & cucumber salad, corn, beet salad, olives, pickles, jalapenos, banana peppers, red onions and more.
Step 5 – You can also add tahini sauce and hot sauce for free.
I opted for a Falafel Wrap ($5.45 + tax = $5.93) with jalapeno & scallions hummus (because I love heat), topped with corn, tabouli salad, tomato & cucumber salad, red onions, extra tahini, and hot sauce. About 6-8 falafels were stuffed inside the pita bread, with a decent portion of the toppings. It was placed on wax paper and then dropped in a cardboard box. This is the second time I've encountered the cardboard box with a perforated line halfway down the box. Again, the concept was good, but execution terrible. To start, there's no beginner's pull tab, and it's almost impossible tearing the perforated line perfectly. On the corners of the box, it would just rip off, making me manhandle the box a bit. While you eat your falafel, you can only eat the top 1/3 before you have to take the whole thing our for easier manageability. The falafel itself was subpar. Because the falafels are baked and not fried, it was a bit mushy and didn't have that crisp deep-fried outside shell. Also, I found the falafels to be a bit dry, probably caused from the baking process and somewhat bland. The hummus had a hint of spice from the jalapeno but was slightly on the bland side as well. The other ingredients were fairly fresh, but they all seemed to be muddled together, none complimenting the other very well. Maybe it was my choice of toppings, or maybe it was because it was not as fresh as could be. I had asked for extra tahini sauce, which I didn't find had that strong sesame nutty taste. My guess is so that it'll cater to more people's palates. The hot sauce was not very spicy so ask for extra if you want any hint of it in your sandwich.
Overall, Chickpea serves some subpar falafel sandwiches that I wouldn't think twice of getting. The healthy concept of getting baked falafels over fried may appeal to some, but that's like getting a baked french fry over a fried french fry. It just doesn't work.
I think I have to make a Penn Station list. What's with the low ratings? This place is clean, quick and convenient!
Here's my staple order:
Chickpea Original Falafel Hummus Plate with Basil & Toasted Pine Nuts Hummus.
Throw in a Whole Wheat Pita?
$6 bucks for a pretty good meal.
I'm a fan and I eat here at least twice a month. The food quality has stayed the same since they've been open.
Its baked. Never fried!
There are two Chickpeas in Penn Station. This location is the better choice, by far. I've eaten here many times, it's a reliable healthy choice and there's a counter (with chairs) for eating. They always get my order right. The pitas were fresh and warm. Everything seems fresher here. It's not fancy but in a train station with mostly awful options, the LIRR Chickpea is an oasis. Avoid the Amtrak Chickpea.
This place makes me so sad.
Before this place was Chickpea, I'm pretty sure it was a Seattle Cafe (I haven't been in NYC much over 4 years while in college). They had the best salads and breakfast coffee, and I loved how it was near the E train unlike so many of the other stores.
I love falafel so I decided to give up my love for Seattle Cafe to try this new place.
I think Brendan M. pretty much sums it up. I love toasty pita, but the pita here is really dry and stale. I'm so disappointed. I don't even like hummus (gasp), so I didn't try it… but I'm kind of glad I didn't because from the reviews, it doesn't seem that appetizing.