Pita Kabab

Great place, consistently good food. A bit run down but the prices make up for everything else. This isn’t a place where you would want to take a date to but it’s perfect if you’re in the area and you’re hungry. They won’t let you down!

My neighbor and I stopped in for a late afternoon lunch. We were looking for Middle Eastern food on a budget, and we found it here, thanks to you, my fellow Unilocalers.
This is definitely a no-​frills place. That’s not a criticism, by the way, but an observation. You order at the counter. Above the counter are pictures of all the menu items. You see exactly what you are going to get.
I prefer vegetarian, so I took the only veg choice, the falafel sandwich. The young woman at the counter asked me, did I want the sandwich or the meal? My friend was buying, and she said, take the meal. You get salad with it. You don’t have to twist my arm. I ordered the meal.
You can get hummus or baba ghanouj, which are both vegetarian/​vegan, but I think of those more as sides than as meals.
My neighbor was in a carnivore mood. She ordered a meal with chicken and lamb shwarma, rice on the side, and salad. For those of you who care about such things, there are signs up that say all the meat is halal.
We each got a diet coke and sat down. The counter worker brought over my falafel plate and the neighbor’s salad. She wasn’t totally crazy about the salad; she seemed to think it would be more of a Greek style, with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, etc. This was more of bitter greens with some tomatoes. She ate it.
When they brought over her meal, it was a large plate with the two kinds of meat and the rice lined along the whole plate. It was a LOT of food! She said the chicken was a little dry and the lamb a little tough. Again, not terrible, not inedible, just not 5-​star worthy. She ate a good portion of it and took the remainder home. Since I don’t eat meat, I didn’t sample any of it, but I did taste the rice. We both agreed that the rice was very good.
The falafel plate came with a side of pitas and tahina. I stuffed the falafel patties and the salad into the pita and doused it liberally with tahina sauce. Delicious. The plate is a lot of food. Of course, if food it set in front of me, I usually eat it all, and I did so in this case. It filled me up for the rest of the day. I probably could’ve gotten by on the sandwich and didn’t need that much food.
There are a few parking spaces in front of the restaurant. We were lucky enough to get one of them. It seems to be a cab driver favorite, since there were cabs parked there when we arrived. This restaurant is on my regular route down Lincoln Avenue, and I’ve often seen cabs parked there.
Pita Kabob is exactly what it aims to be – a place to get a quick, filling meal. No pretensions, no fancy airs. If that’s what you’re looking for, then I recommend Pita Kabob for a solid, filling meal.

Great food and great service. Lunch combo is an especially amazing deal. Fresh ingredients and late hours make this my go-​to for middle eastern food.

I love middle eastern food. This place is fast and decent price But sharwama inn is better than this place. The Bad part is they do not have garlic sauce

The worse beef Shawrma I ever had.
The restaurant doesn’t look nice at all.
The girl at the register has zero customer service.
There was a creepy guy behind the counter that stares at people.
I would never go back to this place.

Always great tasting food! If you don’t mind the ambiance and just want great tasting food, this place is hard to beat. They also have a broad menu. I wish they’d bring back the waitresses though. You must try their Beef Sauté.

The falafel sandwich runs around $ 5 and is pretty spartan: no hummus, no salad, just 4 pieces of falafel with a few splinters of iceberg lettuce and tomato rolled up in an oversized, fresh pita. The falafel itself was pretty flavorful but could have been cooked a little longer. Also, the whole thing was cold. On the upside, they provide delicious tea and a nice tahini dressing on the side. They serve decent food on the go, popular with families and the lunch crowd. Very fast. Ample parking, convenient location, clean interior, tidy restroom. They have a big selection on their menu of full-​plate meals for around $ 10. Not a bad place in a pinch, but next time I might look at other middle eastern places in the area.

I don’t write review often but I went there today this was the worse Arabic food I ever had Meat wasn’t enough and rice wasn’t cocked properly and the taste wasn’t even real Food it was burned and soda was fake I would never suggest to go there !

The food is delicious. Their hummus is spectacular here and it has good presentation. However, the service is a little iffy. I would not stop coming here due to the service. The food more than makes up for it. Also, their front refridgerator does look a little funky

I love the food
But it needs to be shut down and clean it
from the top to the bottom.

Not impressed. Cold food. If you want good food, go down to Schwarma Inn down the street. Much better! Bigger portions! Don’t go here

Terrible service. Waitress is unfriendly and making you a big favour serving you.
Food is all right.

Bait and switch pricing. Racist arrogant owner. Terrible customer service.
I ordered a two way entrée which was listed 8.50÷9.30 w tax if ordered online. When I got there they charged me 10.15. I was not sure why. I thought I got over charged so I called them back to speak with the owner because the host didn’t speak English too well. This wasn’t a huge deal except that this has happened before many times and I never really said anything about it.
The owner said that the prices have gone up since but they have not updated their prices online yet. (He has used this excuse before in the past and I actually bought it.) He also diverted any responsibility and claimed he was not the owner but just a manager even though he has told me in person many times he was the owner. This place has no manager, the owner manages the place. If I had placed an order online it would have been cheaper as with everything else I’ve ordered from this place over the past two years. I’ve been getting ripped off unknowingly. Instead of showing remorse and some customer appreciation by offering to compensate the difference (45cents), the owner just started getting loud, argumentative, and annoyed. He also made a racist comment saying, «I know only Indian people would call about this». He never apologized or offered to compensate the difference. At this point I hung up.
The owner has a serious lack of social skills and shows no customer appreciation. You will always find him standing around or watching tv at the restaurant yet he will never acknowledge your presence. He doesn’t say hello and won’t even look at you even if you’ve talked to him personally or eaten there a 100 times.
If you have to eat here as a last resort, ORDER ONLINE and save your money! Prices are almost a dollar more per item if ordered over the phone or in person. Customer service here is laughable.

I don’t write reviews very often, but in this case I’m writing in memoriam of one of my favorite Lincoln Square middle eastern restaurants — the Mediterranean Café on Lincoln Ave. The demise of this terrific restaurant made me look around the general area for a reasonable replacement.
I found the Pita Kabab Restaurant on Lincoln and California. It was terrific. I tried some standard fare on a take-​out basis (Chicken Kabab, Falafel appetizer, and Lentil Soup) just to «stick my toe» in their «water» so to speak.
All the dishes were wonderful — especially at a very reasonable cost. I’ll be back to try other menu items. There was a moderate sized dining-​in area (about 10 tables), but the lighting was a bit too bright for my taste. That’s about my only quibble. The place is terrific for take-​out, a gathering of friends on a Friday night, but not necessarily for a romantic assignation.

The staff is so unfriendly! The cashier and waitress gave me dirty looks as soon as you walk in. Word of advice, if you don’t like what you do, then do your self and the costumers a favor and change profession.
The food was meh, had better but decided to give a try since it was on my way to my destination. I will not be going back.

ordered from here twice. Really good FOOD. Great baklava.

The main reason my family and I go here is for the $ 5.99 lunch special. You get a big plate that consists of salad, rice and all different types of meat like chicken schawarma, kefta, steak, some other things and falafel. For the food you get, the lunch special is completely worth the price. Otherwise, we don’t frequent here. It’s not the cleanest or friendliest, but you get your fix of Middle Eastern food.

I use to go there in a daily basis but recently the owner sat next to our table, saw that we asked for a extra hot sauce which the server gave us in a small bowl. We go there often so she was use to me asking for hot sauce. He told me in my face in front my gf why we need so much hot sauce and if I’m going to drink it or what! I was just stunned and I mumbled we normally use it all. He then told the server why she gave us the sauce and was mean to her. Trying to avoid the uncomfortable situation in front of my gf we looked at the tv. And the unthinkable happened. He turned off the tv! We just left after that. The staff is really nice and the food is O. K
But the owner is a horrible person.
NEVER going back there again!

We went here for a family dinner and everything was delicious! The salad they bring out has pickled cauliflower in it… omg it tasted so good lol. The hummus was fresh and tasty, we devoured it. The waitress took our order quickly and was efficient.
We had the chicken shawarma plate, beef shawarma plate, tilapia plate, 3way combination (beef kabab, chicken shawarma and grilled chicken peices) and the salmon plate. Every single thing was excellent! The rice is to die for… it’s delicious and flavorful… and they make it with basmati so it’s nice and fluffy. The sauces they provide are delicious too — esp the spicy one. The drinks are huge too btw lol good thing.
The place is really a cozy little thing nestled on the corner of Lincoln and California… it looks random and run-down…but we went on a Sunday night and it was packed. This place is simple — good food and good service. Prices are awesome too.

What a pleasant surprise I have driven past this place for years and finally tried it. The prices are very reasonable at 8 $ a dinner it’s a steal. Another great this is that this place would make a super spot for a late night spot as they are open from 11am to 6am.
I tried the Lentil soup and the Kofta kabob with rice and a Salad.