Sahara On Main

Good food. I tried almost everything and everything was delicious. It’s the best Mediterranean food in Columbia. Try their shawarma and pasha chicken with saffron rice it’s so yummy. Their hummus with the bread is great. Literally everything is yummy.

I’ve been a huge fan of Al Amir since before they closed the one down in Sandhills. Unfortunately, when it closed I was forced to go downtown to eat at one of my favorite establishments. However, It is well worth it. The name may now have changed to Sahara but the food and service is still excellent. I always get the Damascus Humus with Lamb. The portion size is perfect and includes a salad and Damascus bread.

Good lunch specials. Friendly staff. Nice place to meet with your friends. No loud music and comfortable seating. It’s a great break from the regular chains.

Family friendly, employees are so kind and the chef is awesome. I like lamb kebab. Hummus is delicious. I suggested this place for lunch and dinner. Service time not too Long very quickly. Finalized with baklava dessert. Baklava is not Turkish style but still sweetly. Prices are very good. Worth for every penny. Enjoy

I walked in and waited for about 10 minutes before one of the gentlemen in the kitchen saw me standing there and came out to take my order. Apparently at 4 pm, in a seemingly pretty empty restaurant, the one server working was just that swamped. Anyway, I placed a to go order of a falafel appetizer, a chicken shawarma entrée and a vegetable curry entrée — both with saffron rice. It was ready in a fair amount of time, and I was on my way back to Fort Jackson. By the time I arrived back at my hotel, I realized that the vegetable curry had leaked. It had been so filled to the brim of the container — which was one of those foil pans where the edges fold over the top of a cardboard/​paper cover — that it had completely soaked through it and onto everything else in the bag. Fun. At least the server had been nice enough to double bag it so that it didn’t end up all over the passenger seat of my car.
It all smelled delicious though, so that could have been forgivable. Everything also looked really great upon opening the containers. However, that’s where the good both begins and ends. The chicken, though appearing fresh, was dry and overcooked. The «saffron» rice was a paler than pale yellow hue and was neither fragrant nor savory; no taste at all. Husband and I both agreed that we’d never had such flavorless Mediterranean food. The falafel was the most enjoyable item and the tzatziki sauce was probably to thank for that.
So best of its kind in the area? Yikes. I sure hope not. Sorry, I just didn’t get it, not even a little bit. Also, their parking out front sucks. Good luck trying to back out of one of those spots when the sidewalks are teeming with college kids walking around, oblivious to anything but their cell phones. You’re better off parking on the street.

Pretty good middle eastern food. I had the lamb.

I use to go all of the time when it was Al-​Amir for the gyros and fries! The grilled Salmon is amazing. This time I opted for the hummus and pita bread for an app and chicken shawarma over saffron rice and grilled veggies! It was already drizzled in tahini sauce and the presentation was beautiful!!! I will return again!!! Everything tasted amazing!!!

Kind, caring waitresses and good food. Relaxing atmosphere. When they get busy, it’s pandemonium, but they do the best they can for their costumers and are always nice as well as respectful.

Very close to the business school. Shawarma is soooo good. Love their pizza too, try Damascus or Turkish with grilled chicken.

Thisis the best middle eastern food I have found in the area. I especially like the babaganoush and all their salads. Their falafels are über tasty, and for all my pescatarian friends and meat eaters, you won’t be disappointed. The prices are very reasonable, and our server Daniel was highly attentive. Its like a trip to the middle east in your own backyard. Enjoy, as you won’t be disappointed. So put down the BBQ for an evening Columbia, and expand your palette.

This is an excellent Middle Eastern food restaurant that my wife and I like to visit whenever we’re in this part of town and want to switch things up a bit. The food is great and so far I’ve enjoyed the fish options (tilapia and salmon) and the Pascha chicken. The turkish coffee goes well with the desserts afterward. Parking is a little tight out front, so you may have to find a spot on the street if it’s busy, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

Great food. For appetizer we ordered Damascus bread and Babaganous which was enough to share with 6 light eaters and fantastic. Highly recommend. As my main dish I ordered a gyro and feta salad. The gyro is what you would expect. The salad was just OK. I was in a party of six and 3 of the orders arrived wrong but the waitress fixed the problems. Definitely will eat here again.

The Damascus hummus is excellent. The rest of the food we tried was solid. Along the way we learned that they bought Al Amir and have kept the cooks and the same menu for the short term. They hope to customize the menu a little bit more in the future. I certainly am looking forward to tasting some Moroccan food, as advertised. The décor has been updated since the Al Amir days but some of the furniture still looks old and tired. They also added a dessert case but most of the dessert seem like different versions of the same baklava. And their baklava is only made with pistachios or cashew, no walnuts. We tried the five-​item sampler dessert plate and everything seemed bland. There were no rich flavors to be found. But, I would come back for the Damascus hummus, for sure.

The food was so delicious! We have been looking for a good Mediterranean restaurant in the Columbia area and we have definitely found our new favorite! The Pascha chicken entrée was delicious and it was so much food — I had leftovers for lunch the next day. The lamb gyro was also very good. And everything was so reasonably priced! We will definitely be back soon.

Great food! Good attentive service. Damacus bread was the best i ever tasted! Great hummus!

Sahara On Main– formerly Al Amir– is almost exactly the same as it was under the former management. They still have the same weekday specials. I love their hummus so much. They drizzle some olive oil on top and it is so decadent. The Damascus bread is fresh and baked in house. It’s so delicious to mop up your hummus with. My favorite is the beef gyro with pickled cabbage. I love pickled cabbage! It’s pretty solid middle eastern food. I once ordered the curry chicken and didn’t care for it. The chicken was dry and the curry was very thin and soupy. Everything else on the menu is great though! Will be coming back many times for sure.