The Taboolery

I should update this – The Taboolery no longer hosts blues nights on Tuesday, and in fact, they close at 5PM now, so I can’t come by after work. The food is still good though.

Pretty run of the mill Mediterranean place. I do like that they are very reasonably priced; however, the food itself was not anything that special. I had the Noah’s Special… though it honestly wasn’t that special. Despite being filled with falafel, lebneh, feta, kalamata olives, and tabouleh, the wrap lacked any sort of depth of flavor.

I love their americano and hot chocolate! It makes me relaxed and so happy. Of course friendly, nice and careful employees also helps me to chill out too for my tea time! :)

I’d say its 5 for food; 4 for space; and 2.5 for service. I don’t know why but everyone except the manager is very standoffish. The place is typically empty when I come by for takeout, and the folks up front treat me like they’re making a huge accommodation for me just because I’m picking up food. I dread the workers enough that I order from here sparingly. Great food tho!

BARE HANDS!!! Eewwwww. This USED TO BE one of my go to places to eat but I’m standing here right now watching the people who work here make my food WITHOUT washing their hands FIRST OR wearing protective gloves !!! I mean I’m sure they are good people who work here but COME ON!!! I’m taking my food to go so as soon as I step outside I’m putting it In the trash.

I come here for coffee a lot and it’s really good so I decided to eat lunch there. I got something «unique» the phad Thai sandwich. Woah what a disastrous Frankenstein creation. The «sandwich» is literally a pound of phad Thai noodles on a flour tortilla (not a sandwich). The noodles are ice cold with some lettuce sprinkled on it. There was maybe some seasoning on it but who would notice when the first bite you take is the temperature of an iceberg. I ate maybe 3 bites and then didn’t finish it.

Great food and great music! I come here Tuesday nights for Eddie and the Evereadys, and I’m never disappointed by the blues and grub. I recommend Thai noodles or anything with gyro meat. Haven’t tried the lighter dishes yet, but they’re on my radar.
The music is pretty fabulous on Tuesdays. They’re a veteran group with chops to match, and so many guest performers sit in with them for a few songs. You might not think of Tom’s Tabooley as a place where the Austin blues are kept alive, but you can find ‘em here :)
(It’s the location next to Antone’s Records that explains the blues connection!)

Really liked the gyros and the other thing I ordered the dolmas were excellent. We went to the restaurant before they closed and they did not rush is out. I only ordered one dolma and was very happy that they indulged me. We will back because the desserts looked good as wine. It was cool that they had beer and I wanted to buy food to go from here. The manager was incredibly friendly to us. It was nice how big it was and they had cool decorations and music playing there. It was a huge place.

This place is terrible and an insult to all the countries of the Mediterranean. Dry, flavorless falafel is the main offender, but nearly everything else they have (disastrously) breaks with tradition in some way. White people should not open ethnic food establishments!

Dependable yummy Mediterranean food, all vegetarian menu. The Mediterranean platter is the one to get. The lemonade is also good (not a fountain drink). Art adorns the walls. Live music was playing in the inside room when we visited on Thursday. Recommended.

Best reasonably priced Mediterranean food in this part of town. High quality ingredients and everything is made right. The dolmas are filled with a nicely seasoned mixture. The tabouleh is not too parsley heavy like some other places. They have a coffee bar and food to go if you are in a hurry.

NO one is here. Food was quick but falafel is overcooked and black– big mistake coming here… will be sticking with Halal Bros!

They sold the place and now it’s suddenly not good anymore. :(

I haven’t had the occassion to try too many meditteranean restaurants in Austin, but I’ve been to many and tried numerous. Tom’s, with a cozy, welcoming atmosphere and friendly staff meets and exceeds most expectations. I went for the mediteranean sampler to get a feel for their food. Avoid the dolma, but go all in on anything else. The hummus is clearly done with fresh chickpeas and an ample amount of lemon is used; the tabooley rivals my aunt’s (don’t tell my aunt), and the feta they use is excellent.
As for the dolma, wrapped too loosely, the grape leaves the use are tough, and the rice mixture is heavy on tomato and flavorless. I also suspect the rice being used is an ariboro and not a cal rose that is slightly crunchy (undercooked). For the treat on the palate that everything else is, I was immensely surprised by the subpar dolma.
I will definitely be back on Tuesdays for their blues nights.

Has some great vegetarian Mediterranean food, including the Thai Noodle and Falafel wraps!

It’s really sad what’s happened to this place. The food was really good — and then Tom and Bridget sold the place. It’s obvious these folks who run it now either don’t know how to cook good food, or they’ve changed the recipes. It’s bland and disappointing now. The original owners weren’t always good to their customers OR employees, but at least the food was edible.

I have never had tabouli that was sweet. Tabouli should not be sweet. The falafel itself isn’t bad, tho. bland. The tahini was thick, not terrible, but also… bland. The bread on the wrap was dry and stale, or just not well made. All in all, I would skip this place

I loved the cozy environment and warm customer service here at Tom’s Tabooley. The wait/​cashier staff is friendly and charming, full of jokes and personality. Even the mismatched furniture and décor seemed like they wanted to ask you how your day was going.
The food was very delicious – from the authentic, flavorful hummus to the falafel, my group enjoyed every bite! There was an order of fries missing, but when we asked the staff about it, they delivered them quickly and apologized graciously by offering us a gigantic brownie!

Whenever I sell clothing at Buffalo Exchange I eat here afterwards. Being a creature of habit, I swear by the spicy Thai noodle wrap with tofu, and also the falafel, which has shredded carrot (!!) inside. If you dine in expect to wait 10 minutes or so as meals are cooked to order, not frozen and tossed in a microwave. If you’re in a rush however, they have some wrap sandwiches, falafel, hummus, baklava, and drinks ready to go in their refrigerator.

I ordered the Mediterranean Sampler, which came with a huge heap of hummus, cubes of feta, dolmas, pita, falafel, and tabbouleh salad. All the sides were very fresh, especially the tabbouleh salad. The tabbouleh salad had a really crisp, aromatic, and refreshing taste to it. I also really enjoyed the falafel; it was not oily and had great seasoning and tasted like blending chickpeas rather than dry and bland.
However, I am giving my order a three star because it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. If I had a huge appetite for hummus and falafel, I will come back, but I was easily bored of the sampler.

This is a nice, little place to sit outside and eat on a pretty day. It’s an inexpensive place– you just order at the front and they bring it to you. I got the falafel with fries and overall, it was pretty good. The fries were kind of soggy & greasy (…they’re regular fries I guess), but the falafel had great flavor and I would return to order that part again, or try one of the other items that people have left good reviews for.

First time I tried this place was with a hooked deal. The Noah wrap has amazing falafel, tabooley, and white sauce! On par with stuff from halal guys! Definitely try it if you got the time.

After a weekend of engorging on massive amounts food, I needed a good break from the pasta, rice, and burgers. Mediterranean sounded like a good alternative. Searching around on a Sunday for some good Mediterranean apparently is not a good idea. We saw Tom’s and decided to try it, only knowing it was the fare we desired.
I get there and notice it’s a vegetarian establishment, so this worked to my «I need a detox» mentality. We ordered the sampler and the Thai Noodles. And then we added a side of fries for only a buck. I wanted a lighter, smaller meal so when we got a mound of food that could have fed campus, I thought I made a mistake.
Highlights —
The sampler is HUGE.
The fries are PLENTIFUL for $ 1.
The falafel is crispy and tasty.
The tabooley is refreshing.
Thai noodles are tasty but we added some soy sauce and Srishahchaha or however you spell it.
Despite the amount of food, I didn’t hate myself walking out of there.

This is a nice Mediterranean place, but nothing out of the world.
Service — the staff was not super friendly or didn’t try to explain the menu or anything despite the fact that we were there for the first time. The tip options are like 15−25% on their Ipad register but they don’t even bring the food, water to your table and you throw your own baskets. They forgot our substitutions on the order as well.
Food — there are several wraps on the menu. Various veggie options, which is great. We tried the falafel wrap, toboulie, baba ganoush, pita chips and hummus. The pita chips were the best. Falafel was crispy but what fried things aren’t? The sauces on the wrap were Ok at best. Nothing compared to Kebabalicious or pita fusion.
Ambience — hipster and cool. They also have open mic nights, board games and live music. Lighting wasnt flattering.
Definitely try it out once or twice, but keep expectations at medium. Enjoy.

I’ve had a lot of Mediterranean food in my life… and I generally hit every falafel place in a town when I go there over a period of time… For some reason, I had never been to Tom’s Tabooley until today and I really enjoyed it.
I’m not sure what people want with complaints about warm bread or mediocre food… the food here was fantastic. The Dolmas were original recipes that I had never had before and actually popped with a ton of flavor. The hummus was spot on good… if you’re ordering original or plain hummus… that’s what you’re going to get… ‘it don’t come fancied up.’ If you want to try the other flavors, they’re excellent.
You can get a meal for 2 here with leftovers for about $ 20… and the place has a great Austin coffee shop feel… but way cleaner than most coffee shops.
I like this place enough that after I came for dinner the first time, I came back the next afternoon for lunch. It’s a win for simple, great mediterranean food.
The other tell about how good the food is here… local grocery stores carry the hummus, tabooley, etc… so if you say that any of these products suck… I guess you’re disagreeing with not only the customers who have kept this place in business for 30ish years, but also the buyers and customers at local grocery stores… a.k.a. you’re in a small minority and people should disregard your review.