Popular Palestinian Restaurant Signs New Lease Near Columbia University

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Ayat, a popular Palestinian restaurant, just signed a lease near Columbia University, owner Abdul Elenani told Patch Friday.

Ayat, known for its shareable and aromatic dishes rooted in Palestinian culture, will be opening on Amsterdam Avenue near the Ivy League school by late December, the lifelong Brooklynite told Patch.

The location will be great for the restaurant, since Columbia is a nucleus of pro-Palestinian activism in the city, Elenani told Patch.

"We have a lot of support from Columbia students, they've been such good supporters of our restaurants," Elenani said. "I think we're going to have to give them a lot of food for protests."

The news of the opening comes just two weeks after the university agreed to pay the federal government $221 million to resolve multiple federal discrimination investigations and restore frozen federal funding in the wake of what the Trump administration called "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students," amid recent pro-Palestinian protests.

The restaurant, which first opened in 2020 in Bay Ridge, now has several locations around the city and is also in the process of opening one in Astoria.

The restaurant has also recently expanded to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas, Elenani said. The restaurant is named after his wife, he said.

Since the restaurant takes a strong pro-Palestinian stance, he has to keep the exact location a secret until it opens, since disclosing the location could lead to harassment, he said.

"We get a lot of complaints from certain groups of people that don't like us," Elenani said. "They do a bunch of 311 city complaints against us, no matter what we're doing."

The other locations of the restaurant sport colorful murals and artwork calling for peace, featuring watermelon and keffiyeh motifs.

This July, through fundraising dinners, Ayat raised more than $25,000 to get clean water to Gaza, according to the restaurant's social media.

"We're all standing on the same side of history," Elenani said of Columbia students. "I think we're all there for the same reason of just being human beings and standing with humanity and what's right against what's wrong."

To see the menu for Ayat, click here.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.