Zankou Chicken

Zankou Chicken is my love, the chicken can not be described. I love this place

I love their falafel plate and pita. Excellent food for an affordable price. Try to avoid the places during lunch hours, it gets really busy but other than that awesome place!

After a year long wait I was finally able to try out the ever so popular Zankou Chicken and oh my goodness it was sooo good! I order the quarter dark meat plate that comes with a chicken thigh & leg, pickled veggies, 2 slices of pita bread, and hummus. Sooo much food! Oh, and when you order DON’T forget to ask for their garlic sauce! The chicken just fell off the bone… Yum! And the pita dipped in their hummus… Delish! And that garlic sauce… Suuuperrr garlicy but totally worth the garlic breath! One of my friends loved it so much she was just spreading it on her pita bread like butter and totally forgot to eat her chicken!
Zankou was super hyped by my friends who had been before and it totally met my expectations! Highly highly recommend coming here if you are craving some bomb Mediterranean food!

After reading all the reviews I had to check it out for myself. Well, the verdict is… meh, 1 star. I ordered the Chicken Tarna plate and a Tri Tip Beef Shawerma Wrap. Overall, there were about a dozen different flavors fighting for center stage. The eggplant side was overly smoked and bitter.
The pickled veggies were underwhelming and needed flavor. It must be good to others but I won’t be returning.
There are a lot of Meditteranian style restaurants throughout the S. Cal area check out some place else.

I’m going to be honest, my first bite was WOW.
But the meal fell off quickly as my stomach filled. The flavor depreciates fast for me because of the greasiness and my tendency to dump that garlic sauce on every bite.
I ordered the tri tip platter but preferred my friend’s chicken. The chicken was much juicier and has more synergy with the sauces.

Holy cow this place is amazing and cheap! Order everything. That is all.

Last night was my first visit to Zankou and probably my last. I asked the girl at cash register what plate she recommended and she said «everything is like tacos» lol. So I ordered the whole chicken meal with rice and tabbouleh.
The chicken was crispy and juicy but didn’t leave me craving for more. I was over this chicken by the 4^th bite. The rice was nothing special just your standard white rice made in rice cooker. The tabbouleh was my favorite of the night. So fresh, so crisp and well seasoned.
Some of you guys need to get your Elite status revoked. I was gifted with a great palette and i can taste the bs in your reviews. When it comes to rotisserie, Chicken Maison is the real deal.

Had a chicken tarna plate which was served with pickled vegetables and hummus which was excellent. It lives up to the hype!
Also had the tri tip shawarma wrap which was pretty good. In hindsight, with a restaurant with chicken in its name, I should’ve got the chicken shawarma.
Also ordered a side of hummus which was fantastic!
Very quickly prepared food and self service.
Would go back there for chicken!

Zankou Chicken has a couple locations I know of in SoCal; twice I’ve been to the one in Pasadena, and first time I’ve visited Anaheim. This is a good thing because I can brag that the consistency in the greatness of their food is (as my big lil’ girl would say) «on fi-​ya».
There isn’t anything fancy about the ambience. Almost reminds me of a KFC, but the food — that’s all we care about here. Kinda kicks KFC to the side. At the time we walked in, there was no line. The attendant gave us a minute to decide before inquiring if we were ready. When ordering, I could tell by the routine of questions this place gets packed; so had to be sure we knew what we wanted and it was more chop chop — gave us our waiting buzzer disc. Gurgly hungry pangs waited approximately 7 minutes. Not bad! Customers entering non-​stop and soon tables around us filled up.
Got the quarter leg dark meat chicken platter, with salad, hummus, garlic paste, and 2 pita breads. How does this happen so well that the flavor actually is in the meat? — not just the skin. And it practically melts when eating, but does not fall off the fork. I’m guessing it’s the roast temperature. Maybe they boil the chicken first. I’ll make it easy… just come back for more!
By the way, no desserts at this restaurant. Was referred to the pastry shop next door. Look at that! New customer referral — that is customer service :-)

Sooooo delicious I can’t get enough, this place is a tie with another resturant with the same concept but it is so tasty and fresh! The tahini is Sweet and super delicious and the garlic spread is to die for, the meat is savory and juicy.
Bombness!
Step one: Order your wrap or Combo and extra bag of bread if your going to get hummus.
Step Two: Do not ever in your life forget to order sides of garlic spread or tahini you will hate yourself and it will not give you the magical Experience your supposed to feel while devouring the food here.
Step 3: Enjoy!

To be honest, I’m kind of basic and risk-​averse so I stick to my usual chicken shawarma wrap with the garlic spread (the best part!). I’m a lover of all things garlic, so I’m glad they’re usually pretty generous with it. On occasion I’ll go a little crazy and get some hummus, garlic spread, and wraps for later — the perfect snack!
I can’t say much for the dining experience at the restaurant itself, as I typically get my order to-​go. Whenever I go, it’s pretty crowded though. The only reason for the one star ding is the wait, which can be quite lengthy.
WARNING: Even with gum and mints, your breath will probably be kicking for at least the next 24 hours.

Obsessed.
I love love love Zankou. The meat is always perfection and the naan is delicious. We always order a small hummus (which is PLENTY for two people — we usually have enough to take home) along with our meals. Also, the naan is free, so if you run out they will give you more no charge. The only thing I haven’t tried is the falafel, so I can’t give ya’ll a good or bad review on it. Everything else, though — yum!

Unilocal Challenge 2015 ²⁵⁶⁄₃₆₅. **updated**
Long time customer here. As I said before, Zankou is a place you either love or hate. It is one of those places I happen to love. My husband has been feeding me this stuff for years and years and years. We used to drive out to Glendale just to eat it. Super happy when it made its way to Anaheim years ago.
I normally get the wraps. The chicken tarna wrap is my favorite. But for the most bang for your money, stick with the tarna plates and build your own wraps.
The kabobs are a newer menu item. Probally a few years old. They are made to order, so they take about 10 – 15 minutes ti grill. But, let me warn you. The kabobwrap is tiny!!! For a price tag of $ 6.95 I would hope it would be bigger. 3 bites and it is gone and I am still hungry.
The ½ chicken and hummus plate with a side of rice is more than enough for the hubsters. It is served with 4 pitas. He usually has plenty of leftovers for the next day.
My complaint is if you call in your order there is no separate line for phone orders. This place gets packed on weekends so be preoared to wait!
Always get extra garlic sauce. Sometimes they charge you, sometimes they give it to you.
*updated*

«Chicken will be chicken» was what I thought before I had Zankou. But I was wrong. Chicken can be different! Chicken can be amazing! Chicken can be godly! Ok all jokes aside, the chicken here is dank! I was ranting to my boyfriend about the Halal Guys’ grand opening and how you have to wait at least a couple of hours to get the amazing chicken over rice. My boyfriend said he knows a place that has amazing chicken as well and insisted I try it out. And sure indeed this place is awesome!
This is a really casual place. You just order your food in front and your name gets called once its ready. I’m not super familiar with Lebanese food so I was asking the cashier a lot of questions about the menu when we were ordering. She was really nice and explained everything to me patiently. In the end, I got the half shawarma and half chicken plate recommended by her, which btw was not on the menu. My boyfriend just got what he usually gets which is the half rotisserie chicken. We literally only waited for like a minute for the food to come out. Talk about efficiency!
Everything was delicious, the shawarma, the chicken, the hummus etc. But the MVP is definitely the garlic butter, which you should totally ask for extra because its free. We literally add it onto everything that goes into our mouths. The only thing that I feel like did not live up to five star standard was the pita, which was probably like a 4 star quality. We devoured our dinner and left with a satisfied stomach and pungent garlic breath. We wouldn’t have spend our Saturday night any other way!

I got the chicken kabob combo. Super juicy. They moved their garlic sauce from mini commercial looking containers to plastic snap on ones, but the guy says its the same exact thing.
Ask for extra garlic sauce, its free. And head next door to Sarkis pastries for excellent dessert.
Falafels are decent and comes with tahini dip, not as good as San Jose’s.

This place gets tons of hype but I was disappointed. I decided to try the shawarma wrap and hummus and pita. The partner got the entire rotisserie chicken plate. The pita bread was really dry, not fresh, and is probably purchased in bulk from somewhere else. Hummus was dry and lumpy.
The chicken was very greasy. I prefer El Pollo Fino on Anaheim Blvd for rotisserie chicken.

Being an only child never felt lonely since I had such a huge extended family with many many loving cousins to feed me. Ahh yes, the perks of being basically the youngest. My cousin wanted me to try Zankou Chicken since him and his girlfriend love their garlic sauce so much. Well to be honest, I think he was just trying to give me garlic breath and fatty me up to keep the boys away. You might think I’m joking around now, but I’m partially serious. (If my cousin stumbles upon this review, I hope he knows I love him!)
Keep in mind this is for two people… We ordered 2 orders of the Quarter Chicken Dark ($ 7.99/each), a Tri Tip Shawerma Wrap ($ 6.29) and a Combo Kabob Plate with one beef kabob and one chicken kabob. He also wanted extra garlic sauce on the side.
The Quarter Chicken Dark was basically a rotisserie chicken thigh with a side of hummus, pickled veggies and pita bread. I thought this was a bit on the overprice side. The chicken itself wasn’t too impressive. It was really flavorless without their famous garlic sauce. Speaking of garlic sauce, this garlic sauce was more like a spread or a paste. To be honest it looks questionable cause the consistency is so oily and fat-​like. I felt pretty guilty eating it but it really improved the taste of the chicken…
I tried a bit of my cousin’s Tri Tip Shawerma and I think this is the best item we ordered. The price is reasonable for the wrap and the tri tip was good. No sides with this item though.
I saved the kabob combo for the next day since I was so full from the chicken thigh. This order also came with a side of hummus, pickled veggies and pita bread. I actually think they are pretty cheap on protein here compared to other Mediterranean restaurants I’ve been to. The rice was so dry and flavorless I threw in a lot of the garlic spread to give it some flavor.
Zankou Chicken had such extreme reviews from my fellow Unilocal friends, with much love or much animosity. I find myself somewhere in between. I think you just need to try for yourself.

Looks unamusing from outside because the location is in a tiny plaza, but surprisingly the place was packed on the weekend!
Tri-​tip Sharwerma Plate (11.99) — Our marinated and flame-​broiled tri-​tip shawerma is always fresh, natural and hand cut. Its unique flavor is achieved through caramelized ends and a juicy center as the meat burns beside the vertical broiler. Wrap a warm pita around our USDA choice tri-​tip, and top it with hand sliced tomatoes, pickled turnips, and house-​made tahini.
Chicken Tarna (10.99) — Marinated and flame-​broiled to perfection, what really gives our tarna its great taste is that we use only the finest quality chicken. Always fresh and cut by hand, each piece is caramelized uniquely as it turns on the vertical broiler. You’ll love this plate with delicious hand sliced tomatoes, fresh romaine lettuce, pickled turnips, hummus, pita bread, house-​made tahini, and garlic spread.
Shish Kabob Plate (11.99) — Marinated with an assortment of Mediterranean spices, as well as fresh local herbs, olive oil, wine vinegar and garlic, our shish (beef) is grilled to order. Served with rice, spiced onions, pickled turnips, roasted tomato, and hummus, or get it as a wrap with fresh, toasted pita bread.
Falafel (1.35)
Savor two crisp, golden, made-​to-​order falafels with 2oz of our homemade Tahini.
The critiques
–You can HALF HALF the chicken and tri tip plate
–The tri-​tip was flavorful, but some pieces were a bit dry.
–The chicken however was delicious! I definitely recommend this over the tri-​tip.
–The shish kabob was good too, but a bit chewy for me. Love the spice on this!
–Our party of four all agreed the tahini sauce was the BEST. A bit tart & a bit savory = SO GOOD.
–The hummus was okay, I’ve had better.
–Didn’t care for the pickled turnips.
–The garlic sauce everyone raved about was whatever. The texture is weird and we all preferred the tahini sauce over this.
— The falafel was a bit small from what I’m used too. It was crispy and delicious, but I just wish it was bigger.
I’d be back to try other food especially that whole chicken! Looks good!

It’s just chicken. Right? But, some of the best chicken that I have ever tasted. I ordered a quarter chicken with Mutabbal (eggplant side) and a hummus side. And, of course that garlic butter which comes with it is absolutely sinfully good.
The chicken had a perfectly crispy skin that was almost as good as the chicken meat. The chicken meat was moist, juicy and flavorful. High quality chicken that when you taste it makes you say… Wow! And, don’t forget to spread the garlic butter side on the chicken which is absolutely garlicky and decadent.
The mutabbal side dish is a smoky eggplant dish that reminded me of babaganoush. If you like babaganoush, you will like mutable even more. It was very good and great to dip pita bread. The hummus side dish was excellent too. Also, the pickled turnips that they provide you are a good, vinegary offset to the decadent, moist chicken.
This is some killer chicken.

Since GRILL KABOB closed down at the block, I find this place the closest to my craving!
This place has been around for I believe 50 years! It’s great to have a quick meal, nothing fancy.
I tried the tri-​tri plate, it comes with humus, tahini, salad and tri-​tri meat!
I usually change it according to my liking substitute tahini for humus. Which gives me two humus, substitute salad for rice!
Comes with pita, served warm! And garlic paste
I recommend rice! It has a really soft, unique taste!

Excelentes falafel humus y pure de berenjena. Free refills on sodas of course. Muy buena atención.

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