Sayad Mediterranean Grill

I came here for lunch with my parents a couple months ago when I was in town. First impression was great. The restaurant has nice décor, tons of large booths, and a really clean bathroom. I could see this being a good space for parties.
When it came to service, things were a little spotty. We ordered our food and weren’t asked about drinks. When they brought out the appetizers, I finally ordered an iced tea but it took awhile to arrive. Out entrees were also slow coming out and I saw a man complain that their food hadn’t arrived and they had a meeting to attend. I should add that this was a weekday and most people appeared to be on their lunch break. Since that’s the clientele, they should aim to get things out quicker or at least let you know when you sit down that it will take awhile.
As for the food, the three of us ordered off the lunch menu. My dad and I got a meat platter and my mom got a seafood platter. The platters were an amazing value. We got appetizers and a giant portion of food. My dad and I were wishing we split one. For apps we had the salad, lentil soup, and babaganoush. Salad was salad, lentil soup was good although my mom didn’t love it and babaganoush was average. The bread with our apps was pretty good. My mom’s seafood was all fried, yum, and just as good as the seafood places in town. The meat platter was average. I found the meat to be little dry. For sides you can have rice or fries, and I enjoyed both.
Of course getting the bill and paying took awhile and my dad had to bail for a meeting. I think I’d rather eat at Fadis unless I wanted seafood.

So far so good, only have tried one entrée but love the hummus. A small is still a lot for one portion and they only serve one piece of bread with it! Its 1.25 for any extra, not bad but it makes more sense to just serve with 2 pieces!
Selecting 3 stars because I’ve yet to venture through the full menu, sometimes being sat outside means sacrificing always having a glass of water to drink but not to bad all around.

I would give this please
I was fasting and I and walked in to brake my fast and they had a spacial meal with all you can eat desserts !!!
I felt soooo good they had datas and water on the table ready to go

The interior to this place is a little strange, but nice. I used to work in the area and stop in to get a falafel wrap to-​go. I’ve never seen this place packed, and I’m not sure why. One time on a very cold day, the host brought me a hot (and surprisingly delicious!) cup of tea while I waited for my order. It was unexpected and so nice of him; I honestly hadn’t been having a very good day until then. It’s the little things, you know? That always stuck with me, and I really enjoy their lunch combos. I would still eat here if it wasn’t so far.

When here when there was some flooding going on in the city. They where actually opened. Had some great lamb while I was here. And the mint sauce that they use is fantastic. My girlfriend of the falafel and she loved it. I didn’t care much for me, but that’s more personal taste than anything. The prices seemed a bit high for me, but I will be coming back for sure.

Arrived 11:30am. Waitress and mgr were talking across the bar. Made eye contact but no acknowledgment. Then at 11:35am chinese hostess finally came out then seated us to our booth, then as she turned bumped my shoulder, i said excuse me, to which she just ignored, no apologies either.
Food was decent could have been better.
Mgr wasnt friendly probably racist bc I wasn’t the right kind of brown for him.

I took my whole family here for my birthday (if say 9+ of us). The family platter deal they have was delicious. One platter had just the seafood and the other had just the meat. THE LAMB WAS SO GOOD. It came with salad and three types of hummus and sauce for their crazy delicious round bread. The hostess was a bit of a snob but it’s okay, I didn’t have to eat with her attitude. The service was great though. My server was sweet and gave s everything we needed. Overall, I liked the ambiance, the plating was special, and we had leftovers for days. It was a nice birthday

Food is awesome specially mint and lemonade drink and we order mixed kabob platter is so good and specially the server is Akram is humble and polite. Thank you so much to serve delicious food nice place to sit over here.

This is a hidden gem in Houston. Nice ambience inside with Persian type music. Sounds like a middle eastern Edith Piaf. Seriously.
I’ve eaten here twice. From the outside it doesn’t appear to be much but it is very plush on the inside and clean. They serve the Hummus like a hollowed out volcano and add whole chickpeas (probably for texture) and add what seems to be lemon juice olive oil and some cucumber purée (in the inside of the volcano). It’s very good and different.
I must add they have the best Tabouli in Houston that I’ve tried. Some of their competitors forgot to add mint but they got it right here. Just the right balance of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, couscous, green onion, tomato and mint. It tastes like the tabouli I make and it is damn good. I can’t stress how much that I appreciate tabouli done right.
I ordered the sampler platter with chicken beef and possibly lamb. It was all very good and I’ll return again. I liked the grilled onion and tomato.
One thing I almost forgot to mention is the fresh Persian bread they bring with the hummus/​meal. It is freshly baked and comes out hot aka made to order (it seems).
I walked in hungry and walked out very full. The only disappointment was the only dessert they have is sweet cheese. I had it last time and it was very good but it isn’t on the top of my list for favorite desserts. I was hoping for a Persian cookie, cake or even baklava.
Seems to be alot of Persian and/​or middle eastern folks in here. Good sign and helps you feel the food is authentic.
I would recommend this place. They have a bunch of fruity type drinks that look good but I haven’t tried them yet. Too much sugar for me so I passed. For some great food and a nice environment check out this place.

My parents and I had been wanting to go to Sayad ever since I can ever remember but we always ended up going to Fadi’s or Dimassi’s but last night we finally decided that we have to break the cycle and try something different especially since I have been reading so many amazing five star reviews but it really didn’t blow me away. Upon arrival we were greeted and promptly seated in the front area. Now one would think that since you are sitting in the front this would be a good idea but unfortunately this was the worst place you could be seated. They have a big counter/​sushi bar area type set up in the front where you see a whole bunch of ice in the front and they are constantly making smoothies so the blender never stops. This was a total nuisance because the music was super loud and with the blender never stopping it was really hard to just even hear your own thoughts.
Service was fine. We ordered the falafel for starters and they were great. The sauce was not watery and the bed of greens it was served on was flavored well with an oil based dressing and sumac. And then the food came … The food was enormous platters of meat that was cooked to perfection but the rice … The rice was swimming in a pool of oil. This is just absolutely inexcusable no matter what kind of food you are eating. After this I could not eat the remaining of my food. At this point we asked for to go boxes and packed our food.
Will I return: Yes. But will ask for something else other than what they state in their menu to be «beryani rice» … that –ish can go eat itself.

We decided to try Sayads tonight and I’m soooo glad we did. Not only was the food excellent the owner (Mokmud) and his staff were superb. I will most defiantly be going back to eat here. You will really enjoy the food and the ambiance with out a doubt.

Mansaf | I learned that this is the national dish of Jordan. So a traditional Jordanian and Palestinian dish made with lamb slow-​cooked with fermented yogurt, served with rice. Sayad offers this dish only on Fridays so decided to give it a whirl. I really wanted to be worldly and like this dish but it just wasn’t for me. The fermented yogurt soup just didn’t do it for me and the lamb shank itself was tender but lacked complexity of flavor. Just the taste of meat, which isn’t bad but not for me. I will say, the dish is huge. I actually think it might be smarter for them to serve half of what they served and charge a little less. The dish is just way too much food and too pricey for lunch.
The server, an older gentleman, offered to switch the plate for something else but I declined the offer. But then, he offered a second time when I didn’t even want to take it to go and I ordered the chicken shawarma as a safer bet. The server was really nice so I felt impolite and bad for having had him switch the plates. Even the manager came out and asked about it. He did mention it’s a dish that mostly only Arabic people will like because of the unique flavor of the yogurt.
Chicken shawarma | good. Good texture. Nice flavor. Not a huge fan of the rice. A bit dry.
Hummus | perfect. In consistency, flavor, and choice of completing garnishes. Sumac, chickpeas, and olive oil. Very good.
Mango juice/​smoothie | okay. Nothing great. Not worth the $ 5. But nicely presented.
The bread | incredible. Favorite thing I tried here. The oregano-​olive oil mixture was okay but the texture and flavor of the bread was perfect.

1. Service — very friendly. Our waiter was Ali. He recommended all our dishes as it was our first time there. Excellent service. I felt like VIP eating there. Setup here is A-​La-​Carte. Be seated by the hostess, order at the table, and pay at the end.
2. Price — very reasonable and inexpensive. During lunch hours, the average you pay is about $ 10 a person.
3. Ambiance — this place looks amazing. I feel like I walked into a restaurant in Las Vegas. Even their restroom is nice and fancy. Dress code here is business casual.
4. Food — as recommended by the waiter, we had the Fried Kibbeh, Hummus, Naan, Fattoush Salad with added Chicken Shawarma, and the Konafa Khishna to finish the meal. I’ve never had the Fried Kibbeh before but it’s an appetizer and is similar to an Empanada where it’s a pastry with stuffed meat inside. Not bad, I would order this again. The Chicken Shawarma added flavor to our salad and it’s not anything exotic, but very tasty. That was the favorite part of our meal. Their Naan is soft and warm to our liking. And the last piece of the meal was the Konafa Khishna which is a cheese dessert with sugar and some sort of pastry dough that looks like dried noodles. It’s good, but a bit too sweet for us. Overall we’ve enjoyed our visit and will definitely be back!
5. Cleanliness — overall appearance from dining area to the restroom, everything looks spotless.

Absolutely blown away!!! To say the food is good is even an insult! It’s heavenly! I have for my spot now to go dine in with my family! I had the lamb chops and man! I want more and more! My wife had the mixed grill and she loved it! The service was great aswell! Everything perfect

Came here because I heard they had the best authentic shawarma in town. Didn’t quite find it (though it was still very good), but I did find the best falafel and hummus I’ve ever had. Wooah!
Their falafel has really crisp breading on the outside that’s coated with some sesame seeds for added crunch, and a super flavorful and herby inside. The tahini sauce that came with it was amazing.
The hummus was just as delicious and paired excellently with their enormous, complementary pita /​tannour bread, which came out fresh and hot. But I wasn’t too big of a fan of the bread because it was kind of tough and slightly burnt. I prefer the softer pita like at Fadi’s just down the street. I did get the hummus topped with chicken shawarma, but I didn’t find the chicken to be that juicy or flavorful. It’s alright, but I’d skip it. The hummus carries everything.
And finally, the meat shawarma wrap I came for was great, but just slightly disappointing. I loved the actual sandwich — the thin pita, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and abundance of tahini. But the sandwich came out cold and the beef wasn’t particularly special. Not dry, just not that tasty. The fries that came with this were pretty good though — very crispy and seasoned well. They give you ketchup for the fries but screw that, just dip it in their incredible tahini!
This has got to be one of the best overall Middle Eastern/​Arabic restaurants in Houston. I’ll definitely be back.

I’m going to have to say this is one of the best Arabic restaurants in Houston! Compared to restaurants like Fadi’s, this is a lot more authentic. You can’t go wrong with getting the mixed family bbq meat platter if you have a group of 4 – 5 people. It’s a huge amount of food and it gives you a little bit of everything — you’ll probably have leftovers! It includes hummus, baba ganoush, and fattoush salad. Such a great value for the amount and quality of food. They also have fresh whole fish on ice up front that they can grill for you, which I think is pretty awesome. Their bread is excellent — so fresh, soft and crunchy at the same time. I haven’t had anything on their menu that has been a disappointment, and I’ve had pretty much everything. When I have a craving for Arabic food, this is definitely my go-​to spot. It’s a bit of a drive from the city but definitely worth it!

Living on westheimer and loving Mediterranean food, i have a tendency to compare and try every Med. place in the area
The chicken Shawarma hummus was pretty darn good. Great combo! We ordered the beef and chicken kabob plates that came with rice. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty good. But… i still have yet to find a Mediterranean restaurant that can beat Al-aseels’s kabobs and mint lemon tea… The tea had this powdery, sugary, watery taste. Al-​aseel grinds that mint and lemon on the spot with a blender. Just saying. This place was almost as good but no lol.
Overall, the place is big and spacious. If it’s your birthday, this guy solo sings happy birthday for you. It was interesting!

Price: You’ll pay around $ 12-​$ 30 for a satisfying meal. However it can get expensive if you come here for a big dinner.
Taste: The shawarma here is pretty mediocre, Phoenicia deli and Shawarma King are better for shawarma.
However, their mixed grill plate, Kofta casserole and Lamb chops are very good. Those three things are the main reason I come here. Also when it comes to appetizers I love the Sujek I think it’s called. It’s like some pastry looking thing with cheese and beef inside of it.
Overall it’s a pretty good place and they have more things on their menu I have yet to try. Also they’re open later then most places in Houston

I went to Sayad Midterranean Grill for lunch with some colleagues, and I was very impressed as soon as I entered the front door. The restaurant is huge, incredibly spacious, and looked very modern. I ordered the Chicken Shawarma Platter which was served with biryani rice, pita bread, pickles, onions, tomatoes, and a side order for $ 9.99. I chose the hummus as my side order, but the other options included baba ghanouj, garden salad, fattouch salad, greek salad, french fries, or the soup of the day. I have to say, for the quality and the amount of food, $ 9.99 is a fair price. The service was on point, as well. When we were leaving the restaurant, it started pouring rain outside. The host took my keys and brought my car to the front parking lot, so we didn’t need to run outside and get wet. Thank you for the great service! We will be coming back.
What to order:
–Chicken Shawarma Platter — $ 9.99
Pros:
–Value
–Service
–Very spacious
–Private parking lot
Cons:
–None

I loved the layout, decors, and booth seats! They also have a glass private room at the front if you want to reserve it:)
Food
— Family meat platter (⁴⁄₅) — Everything tasted good but the chicken was a little dry. My fav was the hummus, salads and the meat with bone. The shredded chicken and beef portion were small… I didn’t realize what it was until my boyfriend told me. Overall, I wouldn’t order this platter again and order individual meat entrees.
Our waiter was attentive and nice. I enjoyed my experience and definitely will come back for other items.