Skewers Bar and Grill

A solid 3.5 stars, ha!
This spot was recommended to me by a cousin who lives in the area. My aunt and I are from out of town and wanted to get into something on a Friday night. We’re about 25 mins away so if we were going to go out, it has to be a place with some kind of reputation.
There was a $ 5 cover to get in, which I didn’t think was necessary for a place like this. Although the drink prices were very reasonable (compared to New York, a $ 5 mixed drink is a godsend) and the bar staff were cool as well. Ordered a gyro as the night went on; I thought it was funny that they have a Mediterranean style menu here but you can also find typical bar food too. But it was great tasting and fresh, took a bit of a while to make though.
The DJ was on point! Music here was mostly hip hop, old and new and the crowd was the same actually. Didn’t purchase a hookah but they were definitely flowing.
This a small place and I could easily see it being the Friday night cool hangout spot in the area so I wouldn’t be opposed to coming again.

Came in for dinner last weekend, wanting something different, and since it was rainy and we wanted to go to a bar 2 doors down, it was very convenient! Got in about 730 on a Friday, drawn by the half price appetizers before 8. On first note, the place was DEAD. We (party of 3) were literally the only table, and there was one guy sitting at the bar.
We ordered a couple drinks at the bar, ordered a couple rounds of mozzarella sticks and settled into the menu. Before the waiter could even come get our food order, all the ice in my drink had melted. It is WAY to hot in there – especially for a fall night. Maybe they thought rain+fall=no a/​c? The mozzarella sticks came, which were so-​so and we ordered our entrees. All 3 of us opted for something off the namesake’s menu. A grilled chicken skewer, a steak skewer, and a spicy steak skewer. I was a little concerned that I should order more than one since it said «skewer» (no plural). Do not worry! It’s plenty of food, in fact their portions are great, coming with 2 skewers of your meat, served on rice with 2 sides. Each of us said our food tasted great, but we all agreed they must use very cheap cuts of meat, as it was very tough and overly chewy. I will say their pita was some if the best I’ve had, very soft and fresh.
It did eventually pick up in patrons, in fact around 8:30 a DJ started playing. It was a strange combo though between the old school R&B and the Mediterranean food. I didn’t care for it, and it was really loud, so we definitely didn’t stick around. Overall, it was OK, but you could leave it off your «to try» list.

I frequent this establishment and it’s awesome. Staff and management are personable and easy going. All of the food is cooked perfect, the drinks are reasonable, and the hookahs are so smooth. I would really like to see this place utilized to its fullest potential. A few coats of paint. curtains, and more comfortable seating would take it to the next level and give Skewers a «loungey» feel.

I really like their taste and price of their Gyros with fries and drink specials, so I feel bad that they are getting this review. The reason I am writing a poor review is due to the dishonesty of their bartender lady. I came on a night when they had ½ off wings, and ordered a dozen. When the bartender gave me my bill, they did not give me the ½ off price and I had to remind them, which they then corrected. I left a $ 3.55 tip which should have brought my total to $ 14, but when I checked my credit card statement the bill was for $ 16.45 (a 53% tip). I still have my receipts from that day. In the grand scheme, it was only $ 2 the bartender cheated me out of, but it is still dishonest. It is also not worth a customer’s bad review to get an extra $ 2

Today is April 25, 2015… I’ve been trying to get inside since 11 am. The website says Skewers opens at 11 am and so does the sign on the door! Open the freakin’ bar already! I’m at Satisfaction right now. I was at the Social Game room and Tap earlier. I just want to smoke for 1 hour. What the fuck y’all!!! Horrible business management!
Update:
They open at 6 now. They said they will be updating the website in the future. The music and ambiance was good. Customer service from Lars and Daryl was great. Moving them up from 1 star to 3. I will give them 4 – 5 stars after I try the food.

Just to be clear — this is definitely a hookah sports bar, not a restaurant. A group of us went because one of our members used to go here when it was Bread and Kabob, and at an earlier iteration of Skewers before it was a bar.
The menu is completely different from the one that was on the website. The service was terrible. The waiter/​bartender did could not remember what was on tap and had no idea what the beers actually were. The food was actually tasty and well-​prepared, but the menu in the place is COMPLETELY different than what is on their website. They had kabobs, skewers, burgers, and late night food. We got naan and sauces, which were good for an appetizer. We all ordered kebabs and the food was delicious but took 45 minutes to come to our table. There was only one other table of people in the restaurant and they were eating wings and smoking a hookah.
This is definitely not the restaurant that my friend remembered. That being said, the food was good and they had a nice beer list (if you know what different beers are …). It’s more of a college dive bar than a restaurant now.

Great service and food. Also open late, they have these wings that are to die for.

Came to have a girls night out with some friends and the parking lot was full. The «security» guy out front told us to park across the street in the parking lot for a store called not just paper. The security guy forgot to mention that if we parked there we would be towed. After hanging out in the bar for over an hour we decided to leave, went to the parking lot security had us park and our car was no longer there. We had to go across town and pay $ 250 to get the car back. No bar is worth $ 250. I will not be returning as long as they lie to customers and tell us we can park somewhere we can’t.
Also on Saturday nights if you are under 21 there is a $ 5 cover charge and it’s cash only. Service was slow and the waitress was rude and when we tried to get the check she completely forgot which table was ours. The hookah is not worth $ 15 especially when the waitress can’t remember which table is hers in the first place. I will never be returning to this bar.

Love this place. It’s a hip hop scene, if that’s your thing. The music is sick! DJs are killing it. Such a fun, mix of people always here. Very chill. Good music but nothing like a club scene.

I highly recommend the Cherry Bananza and Turn Me Over drinks. It was also a Sunday night so it was Karaōke night as well.

My friends and I really really love this place. We’re a group of college students who really treasure the opportunity to try some flavorful hookah after a difficult week.
Took a group out for a birthday celebration. The music was POPPING. professional DJ was on fire and the energy at the place was palpable.
Food was great, too!.. Ordered Kubideh kabob rolls and a fajita roll.
Would definitely recommend trying the naan with sauce platter!
Positive (+)‘s:
— great evening music and DJ
— nice flavorful hookah
— very friendly waiting staff
— TERRIFIC FOOD
— awesome patio layout outside (I’ve sat there every time)
negative (-)‘s:
— service was slow (due to it being a busy night)
— security guard was difficult to work with (major miscommunications with other staff and a bit excessive in his effort to «secure» the place
Looking forward to my next visit

The good: the beer is good and fairly priced.
The bad: the food has completely gone downhill with the new ownership. We ordered skewers of chicken and lamb. My dish was served luke warm. The beans were overcooked and flavorless. My husbands dish was overlooked and bland.

«Friendly hookah sports bar that happens to serve some Mediterranean/​Indian-​inspired dishes»
I review this as a restaurant and not for its hookahs. This restaurant used to be Bread and Kabob, serving some really good Afghani food as well as a small inexpensive buffet. The new restaurant is very different– they retain some very basic Mediterranean and Indian-​inspired foods (gyros, chicken tikka masala on skewers, baklava), but it’s very much now a hookah sports bar. Lots of TVs playing all around with sports, and loud music that has a heavy beat but little content. Hookahs were available for use, though when we were there, only a few people were sitting at the bar and no one was smoking.
Positives:
+ Food is solid. I ordered a chicken tikka masala sandwich, and it was served in a pita with a cucumber yogurt sauce. Nothing about it seemed very authentic, but it was solid– tasty. My daughter had the gyro sandwich, and my son had the two-​corndog meal. All were good. We did like the fried potato swirl on a stick (aka tornado fries) that came with each entrée (see uploaded picture).
+ Decent value. Each sandwich meal was $ 7 – 8, which is not bad for a decent sized meal.
+ Very friendly service. The person working there seemed to genuinely care what we thought of the food and was helpful whenever asked.
Negatives:
— Not very clean. OK, it’s a sports bar, so one doesn’t expect spick-&-span. But the tables could have definitely used a good spray/​clean. The sanitation score of 89.5 was more than slightly disconcerting, too. Reading the specific violations on the NC Public Health Inspections website afterwards was scary, too– if I’d read those in advance, we’d not have gone.
— Not especially attentive service. The service was friendly, but my water never got refilled, and we had to wait a few times to get the check, etc. It seemed like there was only one person working there (note, this was ~6:30pm on a Saturday night), and that he was often doing things in the back, too, with no one else visible or at the bar area.
— Atmosphere. The place came across as a little sad to me. The place was dark. There were 3 – 4 patrons sitting very quietly at the bar. Sure, 6:30pm on a Saturday isn’t exactly «prime sports bar time», but the place was not only low-​key but seeming bit dead.
Synopsis:
I confess I may be slightly biased since I’m not a big fan of sports bars, but I’m trying to accommodate that in my review. I may also be biased because I’d heard (incorrectly, obviously) that they served a lot of food similar to the previous establishment «Bread and Kabob.» However, this is no Bread and Kabob. The authenticity of the eastern foods seems to be gone, even though some basic items remain on the menu. This is now a quiet (though friendly), not-​very-​clean hookah sports bar. If one wants to just sit outside and smoke, or perhaps smoke while watching a basketball game, then it’s probably a fine place. If one wants to come get a good meal, or even go have fun at a sports bar, well– there are a lot of better options in Durham, in my opinion. If one wants an authentic Mediterranean or Indian meal, definitely do not go here.
2 – 3 star border… I feel bad giving it a 2, since it could easily be a 3…

TERRIBLE. Let’s start with the fact that my order was wrong. I had been specific with the woman taking my order and either she or someone had messed up and what I got was not what I asked for. So I called back to see if the mistakes could be corrected. The guy who is supposedly the owner was loud, rude, and interrupted me multiple times. He then said I would need to pay for what I asked him to send out. even though it was to replace the INCORRECT order I had gotten. I waited for 40 minutes for the second delivery and then called back to see if he had sent it out. He said it had just left. 2 hours later I went to bed; it never came; he lied. On top of that, the food was cold, had a hair in it, and was disgusting. I know what a real Gyro should taste like and I know what frozen gyro tastes like. they have the frozen kind. DO NOT GO HERE.

It’s always awesome to come across a CHEERS type of lounge that you can frequent (if desired) after a dinner on the town that’s low key.
After dinner one night with a colleague it was mentioned that in route to his hotel there is a place off to the side that had Hookahs on the sign. I was immediately intrigued because I LOVE a good Hookah.
We immediately jumped into our perspective modes of transportation & headed in the direction that this place was observed.
Parking:
Parking is out back, I’m not a big fan for parking in dim lit areas & waking up the side (alley like) by myself at night unless I have my taser or some other form of protection. I think it’s best to have someone with you if you are female if parking back there at night. Luckily I had someone with me.
Lounge:
This place was initially very impressive, there were a couple people inside (not very crowded) which was VERY impressive & something that intrigued me. I Love a low-​key place to go & listen to good old school R&B music mixed with the sprinkle of newer music as I blow hookah smoke over the sounds.
Service & Product:
The hookah that we had was OK, it had a burnt after taste & being a regular Hookah smoker & owning one I know when it’s burned. The server was really friendly & quick with getting Hookah out to us but when informed of the burnt flavor he only offered to taste it & not replace it (Huh!!) .
We had a great time smoking the burn and enjoying the music until the clock stroked 10:00pm (on a Wednesday) & the different types started to stroll in. I’m sure that if I was to return it would be early for the low-​key vibe & good music because as the night progressed the crowd changed as well as the music .
Smoke Responsibly

This place has just under gone new ownership and i really like that they are pushing to draw a more diverse crowd. I wouldn’t say it’s the «classiest» scene, but I always have a good night and the last time I went it was Thursday 25 cent beer night (5dollarentry). When I walked in, there was a bachelorette party that was getting pretty wild but I was delighted with the fact that upstairs had its own dj with cool lights and we could smoke Hookah (variety of flavors) up there as well. The Dj was playing good dance electronic beats with female samples that were dope. Another plus, is that Skewers has food til 3am and the chicken wings were just what i needed with a night of drinking. Furthermore, this venue just started an open mic for singer songwriters, poets and musicians every Wednesday night which is great since there is so much talent in Durham. I would say this draws a younger (21 – 26 year old) crowd and can get pretty loud sometimes overwhelming (personally), however, staff is helpful and prices are decent. At the moment, I would give Skewers 3.5 stars but it has the potential to have 5, I believe that the open mic will eventually bring a variety of ages and people which overall will help Skewers become a place to unify artists and be a happening spot not just to get wasted. I do not think that the intense lighting helps Skewers at all and it kind of takes away from what it COULD be, lights can have a big impact on how certain crowds feel in a place. Lights are an easy fix though and besides that, Late night Durhamites just need to catch on and realize that apart from Cosmic Cantina and Cookout, places dont have food til 3am and Skewers can also offer Hookah!

This place is a gem. My colleague and I were in town for a conference and came in for lunch on our way out of town. I ordered a salad with a chicken skewer and he had the burger, both were exceptional. The service was equally as great. Can’t wait to come back.