Phoenician Garden Mediterranean Bar and Grill

Had the best experience here! The spicy chicken entrée was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in Fresno. The service was very personal, they worked with every little change we had with such enthusiasm. Our server Malik was amazing. I would DEFINITELY recommend this restaurant!

I love their spicy chicken and the hummus is good too. The staff is on par even during the busy times.

Food was delicious. Price a little steep but proportion made up for it. Great atmosphere. Our waiter was great, checked up on us, refilled our drinks. Overall great place. Will go back again!

Fairly new to the area. This is my first Mediterranean restaurant in Fresno. Food was amazing. Service is quick. The staff is very friendly. Prices are what I would expect for this genre. This is definitely on my list of places to eat when in Fresno.

OMG sooooo good! I won a gift card from the local radio station so my husband and I went there for lunch. I’m super picky and probably wouldn’t have tried it otherwise. It was kinda pricy for lunch but so worth it. Their fattoush salad is so good and fresh. I also loved their hummus and their spicy chicken wrap was to die for!!! The service was awesome and the restaurant was very clean. I would definitely go back.

Phoenician Garden is my go-​to for Mediterranean food. I this establishment is a wonderful place to go eat with groups. The service is fast and the food never fails the taste buds.
First off, you will be served a Greek salad. I personally like the salad with the croutons chips on top (other topping option is Greek feta cheese, which is also exceptional). The dressing may be sour to some, but I personally like it. My favorite dishes are the combo platter and spicy chicken platter (curry texture). The combo platter has 2 kebab sticks and a sausage-​like meatloaf which tastes really good. I ordered both plates with pilaf for the grains. They’re also served with a myriad of colorful herbs and veggies! Typical of Grecian dishes. Portions are very large, so you’ll never leave hungry! Sometimes you’ll need to take a break, but it’s possible to finish the food!
I studied in Greece for a month just eating life away with all the delicious Grecian food, and it tasted like I was in a Greece away from Greece.
Shout out to Nico for the wonderful service! They check on you at the right amount and never rush. I say this considering that I was there around closing time.

Fantastic décor. Great prices. Food is ok. They overcook meat all the time. The Kebab must be juicy not dry and blacked out. Chief needs to fix this. Staff is very friendly. Place is clean. This is a good restaurant overall. But I won’t come back here until they change the way Meats are made.
Try any Armenian restaurant like Karabah to compare.

Chicken kebab– chicken was really really dry. The rice was okay, it kind of reminded me of rice-​aroni, for those of you who have had that before.
Kefta kebab– delicious. Loved it. Really juicy, flavorful, overall great. Rice… Again… Rice-​aroni.
Peta burger– that was pretty good, i liked the seasoning. I also really liked the bread, nice and soft.
Fries– undercooked. Half of them, i was literally eating raw potato. That did not make me happy at all. That was with both orders of fries i had.
Overall, it was okay. I probably won’t return because it’s a little pricey for the quality i recieved. However my experience wasn’t terrible which is why it earned the 3 stars.

Amazing desserts (five stars) and some pretty good, tho’ spendy, food overall (four stars).
Subtract one star for lackadaisical service (hopefully our server was new, because otherwise, her continual inattentiveness would soon be the ruin of this place).
But dang — those granite table tops are like Zac Efron starring in a Michael Bay film: Gorgeous! …although over the top, and miscast here.
In all seriousness, my elderly grandparents are regulars at the Phoenician, which is how we ended up seated for dinner at the questionable hour of 5 pm on a Tuesday. There weren’t many other customers present, but for some reason, I noticed our table being passed over, breezed by, and generally ignored while others were beveraged, ordered, and served. So you may understand my reluctance to award the full five stars to this bright-​eyed and hopeful starlet of Herndon Row.
Shish kabobs of lamb and chicken were pleasingly crafted alongside some decent, flavorful rice pilaf. Lentil soup — a favorite of my uncle’s — a safe and delicious choice. The side salads, composed of nice mixed greens and slivers of veg, were indistinguishable from my entrée-​sized Mediterranean salad with beef… except for the fact that my salad had 6 oz of grilled beef. And it was 12 bucks pricier. Note: we were not asked what kind of dressings we wanted, and when they came out, everyone who tasted them suffered an instant faux liposuction of the face from the dang 100% balsamic vinegar dressing that just shut down the taste buds. TOO TART, CHEF. My sister and grandma sent theirs back for salads with alternate dressings on the side, but I powered through mine because a girl needs her roughage. I don’t take guff from condiments.
Now the desserts: they were something special, and so redeemed an extra star in my rating.
That molten chocolate turtle bundt cake thingy was spectacular. Everyone agreed that the baklavas were exceptional, even better than Marat’s. The bread pudding dish called «Ashtalieh», wasn’t really like my idea of a bread pudding at all; more of a custard. It had a beautiful rose water syrup undertone that ended the evening with perfection. Now I am genuinely sad that I only had room for so much dessert, because that raspberry bando thing was beckoning me back.
Yeah…I don’t make it to Fresno often enough, so that when I do, I have to concentrate on rooting out the «hidden gems» for my meals. The desserts here are definitely hidden gems! Not so much the rest, although I’d be happy enough with lamb kabobs for lunch some time. Just bring your prices down by about eight bucks per entrée, and you’ll be on par, Phoenician, with what you offer your customers. And please, take some time to further train your wait staff.

Agree 110% w Umar’s review! My first time here, came with my wife and *VERY* impressed! Table service was A++. While waiting we watched «bus-​boy» clean a nearby table with spray cleaner and a bright white towel (vs dingy dirty). Waiters were friendly, attentive & looked like they stepped out of GQ magazine. :) Fatoush salad, garlic chicken & fluffy tasty pilaf were some of the best we’ve had in Fresno. Décor and ambiance is warm, comfortable & inviting. I’ll definitely be back and will highly recommend.

If I can give this place 20 I would and even more
Let’s talk about the service was outstanding awesome workers very sweet friendly and respectable
The appetizers I tried 4 and omg loved everything
And the food all came together no one had to watch the other eat
I will definitely be going there at least 4 times a month.
Thank you thank you from my family to everyone in the restaurant

I am kicking myself in the butt for not finding this place sooner!!! All I have to say is that if you LOVE kebabs, good quality kebabs, full of flavor at decent prices, then you need to get yourself down here on the double!!! Those closest to me know that I love my meat, and some will tell you that is the secret to my youthful glow… so I don’t know how this place slipped thru my meaty little hooks. Up until this point I had been patronizing Kebab Express, which is still good BTW, paying the same prices in a fast casual atmosphere for food that was not up to par. That ends now.
I first came here for lunch with a friend after seeing all of the yummy pics from other Unilocalers ad seeing all of the positive reviews. I came in at lunch time and was surprised that there was not very many people, was beginning to second guess my decision. I was greeted immediately by the friendly staff and given a choice of seating. That may seem obvious since the place was nearly empty, but even then some restaurants still limit where you can sit… so I appreciated that they gave me the choice to sit anywhere.
On my first visit I decided to go with the Beef Kebab (lunch portion) that comes served with your choice of rice or red skin potatoes as well as a greek salad or fattoush. I opted for the fattoush and pilaf. My friend went with the Chicken Kebab. Our meals were served in a pretty decent amount of time and the portions were healthy. The meat on my plate was scrumptious– so tasty and tender, broiled to perfection and seasoned just right, and the veggies were grilled just right with some nice charred pieces. I loved that they added plenty of pieces of grilled onion, my favorite. The lunch combo is also served with peda bread that has a slathering of their addicting garlic sauce. After a few bites I was already full and had to take the lions share of my meal home, for the price paid ($ 13.99) I definitely got my money’s worth and then some. The fattoush salad was good as well, I love the lemon-​y flavor of the dressing. The pita chips aren’t my favorite as they are a little too oily tasting for my liking, but the rest of the salad is highly enjoyable.
I had a $ 1 off my lunch entrée check-​in offer, and showed it to my waitress, which she acknowledged, but when I paid for my bill I noticed that I was not given the $ 1 off. Just be sure to check your bill before you leave.
On my last visit, I decided to go with the Beef Kebab again… this time the dinner portion. It is much larger than the lunch portion, which it had better be for the price tag at $ 16.99. It is worth noting though that you can check-​in on Unilocal and get $ 2 off for the dinner entrée and bring the price down to $ 14.99, so its a good deal. On this visit they honored my deal, I double checked before I paid this time ;)
The meal was really big. It was served with 2 huge skewers of beef with roughly 10 pieces of beef, big chunks of beef. Some of the most tender and juicy pieces of meat that I have ever had, served with grilled onions and bell peppers. Typing this right now has me craving it. I don’t know how they do it, how they get their meat so tender. I have been to steak places that don’t even get their meat so tender. On this visit I opted to go with the red skin potatoes instead of pilaf and I am glad that I did. The potatoes were served tossed with olive oil and garlic and were super yummy.
After dinner, my friend got a baklava and ashtalieh desserts and was nice enough to share it with me. These desserts were yummy and the perfect end to a wonderful meal with wonderful company. The Ashtalieh dessert was quite unique and something very new to me, unlike to baklava. The baklava is pretty standard, although the one here at Phoenician is phenomenal. The dough is so light and flaky and the walnuts are nice and chunky, not all minced and it is not too buttery like I’ve seen at some places. It has the perfect blend of sweet and cinnamon… drool. Now the ashtalieh is some sort of Lebanese bread pudding made with whipping cream and rose water… it is very different. You can definitely taste the rosewater, as it is floating at the bottom of the plate. It has a gelatinous texture, not like a typical bread pudding.
Overall, I would highly recommend this place because it is by far THE BEST Mediterranean restaurant that I have yet to experience in all of Fresno, and if I am wrong can someone please let me know and point me in the direction of the best place??? The quality, the taste/​flavor and price CANNOT be beat. The service is good and the restaurant is clean… they are definitely deserving of the 5 stars and have a return customer in me, cant wait to go back!!!
–Meat Queen

First and foremost! The staff here is amazing. They are very polite and very nice. Our server helped us out with the menu and it helped a lot. The food is authentic mad delicious. I feel like it was most def a higher end kind of food that was served there. The quality of the food is obvious. I got the beef kabob plate and I’m extremely satisfied! Very filling and very good. Good first time experience and will be coming back some other time.

Ate dinner here for the first time last week. The food was pretty good. I ordered the Spicy Chicken and it came with a fattoush salad. The salad was really tasty and had a good mix of textures with the pita chips. The spicy chicken was really good. I think the menu even says it’s a favorite and I can see why. I like spicy food, but not overly spicy as I can’t take a lot of heat. That being said, I didn’t find the chicken to be that spicy. It had good flavor and didn’t leave my mouth burning. I’m not exactly sure on what kind of spices/​flavoring they use in the sauce, but it reminded me of curry. The chicken also comes pilaf or potatoes (I wasn’t asked and received pilaf which was what I wanted), mixed veggies and a side of garlic sauce. The garlic sauce was good, but it seemed a little unnecessary because the spicy chicken has its own different sauce. The chicken isn’t dry, it’s cooked and served in a light sauce which makes the garlic sauce unnecessary. I did dip some of my chicken in it because I had the garlic sauce on hand and didn’t want to waste it. It’s a shame because the garlic sauce is good, just nothing to use it with.
I ordered the baklava per a Unilocal suggestion. Eat it with your hands or a fork and it’s a mess either way. Tried to cut it with a fork and the layers came apart and just disassembled it into a mess. I don’t know if it was the best baklava I’ve ever had, but it was good. It didn’t seem too flakey either, a little soggy.
Overall though, I would come back here again and would recommend this place. Everyone in my party enjoyed their food.

First off, the service was phenomenal here. Having been a server before, I loved seeing them work together on tables and really take car of the customers. The server we had was so helpful and chill.
Our server recommended the Lavash wrap and it was super good. The ground lamb and beef patty was flavorful. The dipping sauce went really well with it, but it had a bit of a mayonnaise taste to it. I loved how it came with a watermelon slice on the side.
We also had the combo Kebob plate. These two dishes were just the right amount of food for two people and it also included a side salad. The beef and chicken were really moist. I really liked the grilled onions and bell peppers that came with them. I was confused though because the picture on Unilocal showed them on a skewer but I just got the beef and chicken in a pile on top of the fluffy bread. Overall, it was delicious!

This is the rolls-​royce of mediterranean (greek/​Lebanese style) restaurant in Fresno; the taste, the flavor, the quality of ingredients is so authentic and makes every food outstanding– this is a must visit restaurant if your looking for Mediterranean flavors served in a more classy environment. But don’t worry, the food isn’t overpriced even with the nice setting, although I would suggest coming in for lunch if you are looking to pay less, because lunch is cheaper in comparison to dinner. Main suggestion to order– combo kebab and baklava.
Don’t order burger !! — yes they do offer burger here too –med style of course; I mean who comes to a Mediterranean restaurant and orders a burger, thats like me going into an american BBQ restaurant and ordering Chinese food, its utterly silly and you don’t get to taste the real food from this great place.
This is a sit down restaurant, and the setting is pretty classy (don’t judge it from just the outside) — I’m not gonna exaggerate, its not super high class like Ruth Chris steakhouse or anything but above the average. Their service is really good and efficient. Parking is relatively easy and just like anywhere in Fresno its free. For take-​out call in 15 minutes in advance. In addition for some of us too lazy to get out they also do offer food delivery service via Unilocal which is an awesome service.
‘The food is the star of this place and why I am putting it on such a high pedestal. I ordered the combo kebab for $ 13.99 ‘to-​go’. The combo came with a generous serving of beef and chicken kebab, both which was really juicy and perfectly broiled with hints of burnt ends that gave this dish a delicious flavor. The added factor to the meats that made it so good was the marinade used– it had a good balance of tanginess from lemon and also light spice aroma. The combo also came with soft and flavorful peda bread, fluffy rice pilaf and deliciously dressed fatuous salad. The whole meal was perfect, there was no flaws, and it was very filling for lunch, because the portion was so generous for the price.
The baklava $ 1.99 is the best tasting one in the whole of California, and I’m not exaggerating. The perfect balance of sweetness from the honey, the right crispiness from the filo pastry, the aromatic flavor from the fresh rose water, and also the perfect nuttiness from the walnuts. Furthermore the dusting of the pistachio also made this baklava really exquisite. Its so good I can even believe what Im tasting.
As a whole, this is the best sit down mediterranean restaurant I have ever been to in Fresno, and thats pretty hard for me got even utter because Fresno does have a huge variety of really good Mediterranean restaurants, but this place really deserves it. I will definitely be back fro more and maybe even use they convenient delivery food service.

3.5 stars
I came here with my parents last weekend. Our server was super nice and very attentive. Our water glasses were always full.
My parents and I shared the hummus plate with pita bread. My step-​dad had never had hummus before (he is not very adventurous when trying different cuisine). He really enjoyed the appetizer. I felt the pita bread was a little dry.
I had the shish kebob. The rice and fatoush salad was very good. I felt the meat was dry as well. Also, the shish kebob was served on an open faced peda bread. I’m used to the kebob being served on top of the rice pilaf. It’s not a bad thing that the kebob was served on the peda bread. For me, the presentation looked a little odd.

Nobody reads the perfect reviews. Only the bad reviews but hopefully this will help bring more people to experience this place.
Great service from Natasha
And my water cup was always full.
I had the shwarma plate Mixed both beef and chicken with rice pilaf. The beef is a top round portion diced and seasoned. A tough bite but full of flavor. Chicken was perfect.
The plate serving was HUGE!
Great atmosphere and well planned décor.
I always rate a place I eat by «will I come back?» And this is a «definitely» and highly recommend to take your special someone here for a wonderful occasion or just to impress them.

Lovely dining room that fills up at lunch time.
Great service. All of the waitstaff was genuine and pleasant and attentive to our needs. A+ for the service.
The food is good, but I found my peda burger a bit disappointing because I compared it with what I have received at George’s in The Gallaria in downtown Fresno. The meat patty, too large for the peda bread, was dry. The peda bread was not the soft, fluffy type that I remember being served at George’s. My table mates were impressed with the garlic sauce, but I thought it tasted like mayonnaise. The pilaf, served along side the burger, had very good flavor and was fluffy and moist. One of our group even ordered extra pilaf to take home for dinner.

While in Fresno, a friend searched Unilocal,and we decided to give this place a try. This place is worthy of the good reviews!
Food:
I ordered the Shawarma plate, which came with hummus and pita bread.
Everything was really delicious!
Side Notes
Ambiance:
The restaurant is decorated with a Mediterranean feel. After a long day, it’s a place where you can relax.
Service:
Staff was friendly and knowledgeable about the food.
Overall:
You get a lot of tasty food for the price. Check this place out!