Al Ameer

Also known as Casablanca Grill, this place screams: Authentic Mediterranean food. I do not know why this place is always so quiet, especially weekend evenings, when the food here is absolutely spot on!
They recently added Pakistani food to their menu. The gyro/​super gyro and shawarma are always great options. Never leave this place without eating their hummus and their falafel! They serve pita bread hot and it is the most fluffy pita bread in town!
Service seems to be spotty. Some of my visits had amazing service, and sometimes poor — depending on who they have on staff and who serves you.
Feb 1, 2016: Tried the chicken briyani, the lamb kebab ‘sandwich’ (it’s really a wrap/​gyro), and the AMAZING, NY Style Gyro on the new menu (which is a chopped up gyro served on a bed of rice). I highly recommend these! Note that the briyani and the NY style gyro come in huge portions that are definitely worth the money — be hungry!

Value for money, I gotta give this place five stars. You can get a damn good sized gyro piled high with meat, topped with feta, red onions, lettuce, peppers and tzatziki for five bucks. And it’ll be one of the best you’ve ever had — guaranteed.
Their service is fast and friendly and they have a fairly extensive menu. From the looks of it, they’re even serving some Indian dishes now as well.
I’ve never dined in here — it’s always been takeaway — but the place looks really clean and comfortable.
There are so many restaurants which serve Mediterranean food in Hilliard. Al Ameer stands out as one of the better ones.

Be careful if you order delivery from this place. I ordered online for my family tonite and the order was missing multiple items. We ordered a couple dishes that were supposed to come with «special sauce» — that was apparently invisible because they weren’t included — neither was the included bread with the orders! We ordered extra bread just to be on the safe side (2 orders which their menu said each order contained 2 pieces of bread) but ultimately we only got 2 pieces of bread! Watch out when ordering the Kibbeh as when we ordered 2 orders they only come as one for each order. $ 3 for one piece of Kibbeh!!! When I called regarding all the missing items I was told it would be fixed and another driver on their way. A few minutes later the woman called back and told me the chef said he put everything in that I asked for in my order. When I tried to explain AGAIN what was missing she played ignorant and basically refused to believe me and thus no further delivery was coming.
As for the food — honestly don’t bother. A Greek salad is not Greek just because it has feta and onions. No olives!!! The falafel is tiny and not too good. The rice is just plain bland! Rice A Roni makes better than this place.
So disappointed when spending over $ 70 on a meal during the busy Christmas season. Disappointed with quality, obviously quantity and the overall customer service experience. Never again!

The best Middle Eastern food in Columbus, Ohio.
The hospitality by our server with complimentary hummus and two different desserts was greatly appreciated. Absolutely not necessary but extremely kind.

Everything I have eaten here has been absolutely amazing. I consider myself quite the foodie! The fatoush, hummus, and lamb tagine are to die for! The owners are wonderful and you can feel their warmth.

Are you kidding me? I’m getting my face kicked in by the awesomeness of the Gyro Platter as I type this. $ 8.95 worth of stupid good deliciousness. Get your face kicked like Rhonda Rousey’s. Go here.

The best middle eastern and Moroccan restaurant I have ever been to and I recommend it to everybody to try especially they are having 25 percent off the menu going on right now

worst place ever so groose dont go!!!
People are lacking and gets
No business for a reason
Try lavaish it is so good
But this place TRASH

I like this place but they need to get rid of the full service ’cause if you are here for the service you will soon find out it’s lacking. I think it is Lavash style ordering where you order at the register anyway. The food is really good. It’s not all Moroccan, and they offer more on the Mediterranean and Lebanese options. From your standard Gyro, to shish kabab, lamb, shish chicken, to couscous, etc. For a place in a small shopping strip mall it’s not bad at all. If you happen to be in the area or live close to Hilliard it’s worth checking out, but that’s about it.

Pros:
Decent food at reasonable prices. Owners are very nice. Decent selection.
Cons:
Waitress is often overwhelmed and a bit slow. Order is sometimes messed up but is always fixed.
Review:
The food has always been pretty good here. My only complaint is the service can be slow and the waitress – God bless her – is often times spinning in circles. Still good food and friendly people!

After waiting for over 20 minutes for service left. Place was not busy. Was ignored while walking out.

Very friendly and efficient service, the staff makes you feel welcome: making eye contact, greeting you and smiling. They will take the time to go over the menu. I have also seen them being great with children.
The food is excellent. Tasty, genuine Mediterranean dishes and on weekends they serve Moroccan fare that entices all senses. I never mind waiting 15 minutes for my entrée for I know is being cooked to order. There’s no alcohol but plenty of bar and pubs nearby if that’s your dinner chaser.
Good location and plenty of parking.
We’ll keep coming back.

I’m a big fan of middle eastern food and Al Ameer definitely proves how to do it right. They did a particularly great job with the babaganoush!
An added benefit, it is a great alternative to the fast food restaurants that populate the area.
I look forward to enjoying this gem many times to come.

I went to get lunch at this place last Thursday, because my buddy said they had some awesome food. It’s advertised as Moroccan, but they really didn’t have much in the way of Moroccan on their small menu. I asked my server about it, and he said it was a temporary menu, and they were revamping the Moroccan one and rolling it out in the next few weeks. So today, I’m only evaluating the more Greek side of the menu.
I was the only in here minus a few people working, and the restaurant itself is in an odd, vacant strip mall that only had the attached Casablanca Market next to it. Plenty of parking though!
Since there weren’t very many options, I went with the gyro combo that they had along with a side of falafel. They were out of their fries, so I tried the hummus. The hummus was actually really good, with oil in the middle and paprika on top. They serve it with whole pita bread that were warmed up and extra fluffy. I really enjoyed it.
The gyro itself was surprisingly awesome. The shaved meat looked like it was tossed on the grill for a minute to get some good charring and crunch on it, and the tzatziki sauce was delicious. Some of the best cooked beef and lamb I’ve had in Columbus. The falafel was pretty awesome as well. The tahini sauce it came with was decent, but I ended up using the hummus to dip.
I can’t see myself coming here on a regular basis, since it’s way out on Roberts Road in Hilliard, but the quality of the food will have me back at least a few more times, so I can try the new Moroccan menu.

First time and we will for sure be returning!
I ordered the shawarma and my husband ordered the lamb chop dinner, which were shared. We also tried the falafel, baba ghannouge and wrapped it up with some fantastically tasty baklava… Needless to say I’m in a food coma, but it was ALL so amazing. Btw, our 5 year old got the hamburger & holy awesomesauce! Yummy!
The gentleman who greeted & served us could not have been more hospitable and pleasant! He wasn’t at the table too frequently, but kept the glasses full & empty plates cleared.
Lastly, we were pretty pleased with the $… Stuffed bellies for 3, and I have plenty of rice and probably the best hummus I’ve ever had to take to lunch tomorrow, all under $ 50.
Can’t wait to try more of the menu!

Wonderful food, great service and attention to details. Our new favorite, local mediterranean restaurant! Thank you Yasir (sp?) he’s a fantastic chef.

Went in Sunday with my boyfriend and I was beyond disappointed. We were very excited to support a local business and enjoy some authentic Moroccan food.
Upon arriving we sat ourselves in a booth near the entrance. There was a man behind the counter and one sitting watching tv. No one said hello or even acknowledged our presence. I looked back a few times thinking they may just be taking their time. Unfortunately, no one came after they clearly saw us.
We were beginning to feel unwelcomed and found this odd since the place was empty, you would think our business would have been greeted warmly.
A server went to attend to another table on the opposite side of the restaurant; surely we thought he would come and greet us, since we had been there for ten minutes. Still, no greeting or any kind of service! We got up and walked out. We will never be back here.

I think I need to try more food on this menu after talking to a frequent customer at Casablanca. I see a Mediterranean place and usually go for a gyro or falafel, but I think I need to expand my horizons. This place prides itself on serving a variety of cuisines. I was talking to a friend of the restaurant who told me that the cooks are from Morocco, Iraq, and the Mediterranean area. She was from Morocco and said it was the best place for Moroccan food. Next time, I think I will try some of their entrees.
My order: Falafel sandwich, fries, and sambousiks. This cost close to $ 10. The falafel sandwich is pretty good with a nice amount of hummus in it. There was plenty of falafel in the sandwich to make it filling. The sambousik is chicken covered in phyllo dough. I really enjoyed the flavor of the chicken in this. My daughter also enjoyed eating there as I had 4 in my order. I would order these again and you can choose between beef, chicken, and veggie. The fries were your typical Mediterranean fry. I am planning on stopping in again here as the food was made fresh and I like the ambiance of the place. i ordered to go so i didn’t get the whole experience. I like the renovations to the place as it feels like a fast casual place I can take my daughter yet enjoy a nice sit down meal. Hopefully I will have tried a few new things and update this review with the Moroccan aspect of the menu.

On a recent trip to Paris we discovered how truly fantastic good Moroccan food can be. Yeah, that’s us, eating Moroccan food in Paris instead of French food (at Le Marche des Enfants Rouges, if you’re curious). Which made me lament that Columbus lacked any Moroccan restaurants, let alone a good one. Until now, anyway.
Matt P’s review had us risking life and limb on a snowy winter’s night to schlep all the way across town to check out Casablanca Grill.
The restaurant itself was warm and cozy, modestly but cheerily decorated. Service was friendly and attentive, and Arabic pop music was playing. All the other customers were of Middle Eastern descent, which we took as a sign that we had come to the right place. We ordered the Moroccan harira soup, the Moroccan zaalook, the couscous, and the chicken tagine.
The harira was nicely flavored, not so different from other versions (such as Lavash’s), although I did appreciate the hunk of fatty lamb in it. The zaalook was a nice vegetable side — eggplant, tomatoes, and garlic in a kind of mash (much better than it sounds) served at room temperature with pita bread. We ordered a lot of food because we were planning to eat the leftovers during the week, but the zaalook did not make it out of the restaurant.
Coming off of Paris, we had high expectations of the couscous and the tagine, and we weren’t disappointed. The couscous consisted of hunks of bone-​in lamb, squash, carrots, and peppers on a bed of beautifully-​prepared couscous; it was a simple dish but hearty and tasty. The chicken tagine was served in a clay tagine, as one would expect. We were given a breast and drumstick, smothered in spice and accompanied by green olives. We were a little surprised to open the tagine and find french fries on top the chicken (you have your choice of rice or french fries, but the waitress apparently forgot to ask), but they were nice enough to bring us rice instead. (According to the interwebs, Moroccans often serve their tagines with fries on top).
In short, Casablanca Grill is a nice addition to the range of Middle Eastern restaurants currently available in Columbus, and a good reason to make the drive to Hilliard even if you don’t live there. Even in the snow.

This middle eastern restaurant is located next door to the Casablanca Market, another small family-​owned business owned by Lotfi Khomsi. The location is somewhat small, only seating 50 people with its combo of booths and chair seating but has plenty room to grow.
I had the Shawarma Platter which included (as do most platters there) hummus, a small salad, a large amount of shawarma meat, yellow (tumeric) rice and warm bread. The meat was a little dry and tasted like it had a lot of spices on it-​okay flavor. The rice was nice, as was the hummus, yet, I prefer my hummus with a little more of a garlic flavor-​not much here. The salad was very nice, with quality ingredients and dressing. All the flavors together were nice. Just wish the meat wasn’t as dry as it was. I also had hot cardamom tea, from a tea bag served in a glass with a decorative spoon and sugar on the side. All this came to around $ 15, but I left with leftovers. Fresh ingredients, professional preparation and a friendly staff. I’ll go back again to try their chicken and falafel. They also have breakfast (served all day) and Fatayer on the menu, which I included a separate photo of since they’re not included on their take-​out menu, which I’ll include photos of as well.
No alcohol. Tea, coffee and Coke products.