Cafe Beirut

The food is decent if the cook hasn’t been to the dentist!
The service is not good at all :(
Overall expensive for what it is.
Today I went to Café Beirut and ordered a falafel plate. After a few bites, I noticed that the falafels were extremely salty! I complained about this and was told that the person who had made them in the morning had been to the dentist and couldn’t taste them. That’s it! – a cold apology. I was not offered to order something else. I simply left.

Awfully expensive for small portions of solid but not special middle eastern food. I had chicken schwarma (too fatty, seemed to all be thigh meat which I don’t like) sauce was decent, sandwich was definitely on the small side for the price. Spinach pie was OK, but nothing special. I’ll probably give this place another try to see how the falafel is, but the prices seem awfully high (plates were $ 13+) especially when eat in guests are given only paper plates and plastic forks and knives.

The food they serve is really not Lebanese. I tried the beef and lamb shawrma, falafel and the chicken shawrma plate. I’m pretty sure they don’t have a shawrma stick because the meat looked boiled. No tahini sauce in the shawrma and the falafel did not taste anything like it should. Besides all of that, the food is definitely overpriced for what they serve. I wouldn’t mind paying that amount or more for authentic Lebanese food.

There are two places in this area who have falafel I love. Rami’s in Brookline and here at the Café Beirut. I love he way they toast or press the sandwiches. And if you are looking for spicy falafel you actually get spicy falafel. And they have hummus and tabouleh sandwiches! I find the space inviting and not that small, though I live so close I get it to go. I feel lucky to have this establishment so close to home.

Pretty good Arabic food!!! Good size café with big windows! Loved the rice and tabouli!!! Not a fan of their baklava, but overall very delicious food and good prices!!!

I think I’ll try them again sometime, but not for a while. I am not Middle Eastern, so I have no idea what is actually «authentic» Lebanese food. But I grew up in Chicago with a large Middle Eastern population, and spent many late nights in the labs in the Longwood Medical Area when I was a student, eating Sami’s delicious shawarma and falafel during bfreaks from late night experiments. (Sami used to be open 24 hours.) Café Beirut does not serve food that is at all similar to any food labeled Lebanese that I have had before. The primary flavor in my sandwiches was sour. All of the delicate flavorings that I am accustomed to getting in a shawarma were overwhelmed by the flavor of vinegar.
I ordered two sandwiches from Café Beirut, since there were multiple comments that the sandwiches were small, and I had missed lunch. I would say that the sandwiches are indeed small, each one about the size of one of those disgusting frozen burritos from Seven Eleven. I ordered a chicken shawarma roll up and a sujok roll up (which is a spicy Lebanese sausage). So my dinner ended up costing $ 15, not an issue for me. But if you expect to be stuffed with just a roll up, you might be disappointed, maybe add a piece of falafel or kafta on the side.
I was given the option of mild or spicy for both sandwiches, and I opted for spicy on both, and asked for extra hot sauce on the sujok. They get kudos for actually making the sandwiches hot, unexpected in a culturally Irish town in which «spicy» is commonly thought of as black pepper on boiled potatoes. Usually, I order things extra spicy, then come home and sprinkle what I ordered with one of the 20+ hot sauces I have in my fridge. I didn’t sprinkle any hot sauce on these sandwiches, they were perfect, heat-​wise. Many Bostonians would probably not have been happy with the heat level, so be warned, if you ask for it hot, amazingly enough it actually will be hot.
But I have to come back to the spicing. I could faintly taste the rich, complex spice mixtures I associate with Lebanese food, but they were muted, and completely overwhelmed by the sourness (which might have been vinegar in the hot sauce? Not sure.) If I visit again, I will make certain to ask for hummus or baba added to the sandwich, along with tabouleh. That should cut some of the vinegar and provide more of the flavors I found lacking.
Service was fine, BTW. Ordered by phone, sandwiches were ready when I arrived 20 minutes later. This was Thursday at 8:30. Only one table occupied. The beautiful young woman manning the cash register was friendly and competent.

Not good. I don’t even wanna waste any time writing this review because I want to forget that I ever went there. I paid $ 17 for a plate of hard beef and some lettuce. The fries were good and the soda was as expected. I mistakenly wiped my face with the pita thinking it was a napkin. It was indeed a pita.
I can’t believe I’ve put this much effort into this review.

Worst shawarma I had in my entire life. It is small beyond reasoning, tastes like overcooked piece of garbage and costs almost 9 $. If you sold such waste in actual Beirut people would start throwing rocks at you

Delicious food and friendly staff! I got the «baked eggplant with chickpeas,» which was a lot of food. I’m not an expert on Middle Eastern food but I loved the combination of spices and I thought the eggplant was perfectly cooked. My friends got the lamb grape leaves and beef kebab, which they were happy with.
Only reason for giving 4 and not 5 stars is that I thought it was a tad overpriced. That being said, I had it for lunch and barely needed dinner later, so I guess it’s good value for your money!
There is not a lot of space in the restaurant, so it would be hard for a group of more than 5 or 6. Lots of good vegetarian or meat options.

My wife and I stopped in for a quick sandwich. We were back in an hour and ordered five dishes. This place KILLS it! Wow was it delicious — the fried eggplant wrap was one of the most flavorful things I’ve ever had. The fried cauliflower. The fatoush salad. The falafel. Unreal goodness. This is the second Unilocal review I’ve ever written but this place is just that good i had to. You will have to wait a bit for the food because there is one cook in the kitchen, but the line is not only worth waiting in but also a testimony to this being the best lebanese you will find in Boston. Did i mention they have a ton of vegan options?

I love this spot! One of my favorite places to eat in JP. Order in or take out, the food is always consistent in flavor, freshness and proportions. My husband and I love coming here and we have taken many friends and family here and everyone enjoys the food.
* pro tip! Try their hot sauce! It’s a fantastic house made thick sauce that is really brilliant. It has a depth and complexity that I really adore. I could put it on anything!

Tried this spot a couple of times with the S.O. The restaurant is located in Jamaica Plain, and parking can be a bit tricky as it is a seemingly busy location. There are a variety of middle eastern food options and the food is described as being «halal.» We ordered the chicken shwarma meet rollup, one spicy and one not spicy. Both were very tasty and came with pickled vegetables. During other visits we noticed that the food was also fresh and delicious. Sometimes the service can be a bit slow as there is only one person behind the counter. This is a place where you order at the front and wait at your table for the food to come. I think this place is worth trying for good middle eastern food.

The portions (at least for delivery) are disappointingly small, and I’ve had much tastier Lebanese food elsewhere. I paid over $ 50 for a delivery for 2 people and rather than having leftovers, we were left hungry (We had 2 vegetarian platters and 2 sides).

Ate here a few years ago with a college friend. The food was good as was the staff and service.

Uninspiring middle eastern food. Have explored their main staples and not impressed. Much better options (unfortunately a drive away) exist. Would suffice for lunch but not for a night out.

The food here is great. Try the okra. I am so glad to have this place in JP.

Excellent place. I had the Badtorma Sandwich which was excellent! It was my first time dining at a Lebanese restaurant in the Boston area. I’ve been to Other Lebanese restaurants in Buffalo and this by far the best in the area of JP!
If your someone looking for a good sandwich to go, guarantee they’ll make it at your perfection!
I loved the specialty spicy sauce which gave my sandwich that kick I was craving! I read other reviews which suggest their falafel and shwarma were not good that is why I give this restaurant ⁴⁄₅ stars.

Great food, decent prices. The sandwiches come with home made pickled vegetables, which actually adds a great (and authentic) flavor dimension. The meat is high quality (halal, similar to Kosher, different religion) and fresh, and the food in general gives the impression that it is what you would get if someone cooked for you at home. Dinner platters come with pickled vegs, salad, bread, rice pilaf. So do most of the specials, which vary but regularly re-​occur. Prices are not the very lowest (they went up) in Boston area for this kind of cuisine and setting, but the quality and portion size it seems fair and heck, it’s JP where little else you can get is much lower in price for a sandwich or full dinner.
One other note that I like is the general vibe/​tone of the establishment, from the top, down. The owner/?co-owner often takes your order (which is very preferable to the admittedly less professional and less helpful/​less service-​oriented and less engaged young staff I’ve otherwise encountered in some of the numerous times I“ve been in) He’s a friendly and very nice guy who seems to know many regulars by name and what they usually order. He’ll make suggestions to newer customers amazed by the variety of choices. Also, one time I had a unique circumstance/​need and he was flexible with his usual rule and saw to it that I got what I needed. (don’t want to describe in detail as it might put him in an odd position) I say this because it’s a mentality of generosity. You just get a vibe of generosity with this place, which actually is typical of the culture, especially around food in my experience, of that area of the world. I get that vibe here, and that they are intent on having the customer enjoy a high quality experience. I like spending my money at places that the owners value people and community. IT’s a friendly, generous place from the top down. It’s a pleasure to spend your money here. I included the stuff about the young counter staff because they are just mediocre and don’t pass on the values of the establishment otherwise. Maybe the owners read these reviews and can explain to them a purpose or mission statement sort of thing. They are fine, just sort of mediocre and unenthused.(yes I have had jobs like theirs before). I think it bugs me for the establishment, to which I feel loyal.

I’ve only gotten delivery from here, but their food is delicious. I love their falafel wrap, which has more unique toppings than many other falafel sandwiches, and my boyfriend is a big fan of the pumpkin kibby wrap.

Absolutely delicious food every time, wonderful updated interior, and incredibly pleasant owners. I asked for a vegetarian meal that was perfection. I highly recommend this restaurant!

Smh.
Live around the corner on Sheriden. Took over hour for food and as expected it was cold. More disappointing than cold, soggy, bland food is when its overpriced. Skimp on portions and flavor.
Never order from this place. Wish Boston Shawarma delivered here!

Excellant .
If you want very good food from Lebanon without all the frills you won’t get better.
My wife and I were thrilled, especially after some of the poor reviews.
Having our own business on Unilocal and trying so hard to please everyone, which is impossible /​we realize as good as this place is, some angry people will allways beat on it.
If you want to EAT authentic Lebanese food it is great. If you are very needy and pick on ever
little thing /​then go to a five star restaurant.
We will be back to this little gem.
For those who haven’t been there… my wife and I eat out a lot.
TRUST ME THIS IS NOT FINE DINNING. JUST REALLY FINE FOOD

Very tasty food expertly prepared. I have a few favorite dishes I rotate through. Younger kids can get staples like chicken fingers and fries but older kids will appreciate the flavors of a shawarma or falafel. The portions are generous and there’s often some leftovers. The food is not greasy or heavy and the ingredients are fresh. They take the time to hot press the rollups so the pita isn’t soft. It takes an extra minute but is essential to the experience.
I brought a co-​worker from the burbs to Café Beirut and now he’s nearly a regular. Keep in mind it’s counter-​service so don’t expect luxury service. Like any popular restaurant with good food it gets busy during peak times. You can call ahead or pop into one of the many stores in Center street while waiting. They don’t rush prep just because it’s busy.

This is another occasion that you wished it was a system in place to implement 0 or negative rating. since there are still no such a rating available I guess I am going to give this place the one star for cleanliness and that is the best they deserve in my opinion. Since this is a longer than usual review for those of you looking to get a quick idea about this place my short review is: THE WORST ALL OVER RESTAURANT THAT I HAVE EVER VISITED IN BOSTON AREA, AWFUL!!! ESPECIALLY IF YOU KNOW MIDDLE-​EASTERN FOOD topped with employees/​owners lack of professional conduct, etc
Below is my in-​depth review along with some pictures
About 2 month ago I decided to take my wife and my 2 kids to a casual dine –out and since we were close to Center st, Jamaica Plain, MA my wife pointed out the Café Beirut that we have previously look at from outside when it was closed. As we entered the place everything looked as you expect for this type of food establishment, simple chair and tables nothing fancy however impressively clean! Cross the counter is an unshaven bulky man dressed in street clothes with white headphones on both ears. As we said hi to him first! he stared at us blankly and he reluctantly greeted us as if the last thing he wants to see is another customer in his store that night! As any customer we looked at modern but rather obsolete over the head menu board. BTW they have these fancy Burger King style menu monitor that they use instead of classic menus boards, which was nice touch. But it is so much stuff on the monitor and the glare from the background pictures made the entire menu hardly readable. So to choose our food we used the supplied paper menu that was very distastefully laminated in 2 pages hold with a key-​ring. What we ordered was 2 lamb and beef shawarma roll ups and 1 chicken shawarma roll ups, another shawarma plate from kid’s menu along with a 2 side orders one large falafel and large yogurt cucumber side. While waiting for food I noticed that the not only they don’t bring the food to your table, but they use the cheapest paper and plastic utensil but that this all OK! if the food was ok!
but aside from food what surprised me most was when a lady entered the back of the counter and in a very tight support tank tops and shortly after she and the other guy start to kiss and hug right behind the counter while customers are sitting and eating the horrible food! and in exact same place where they hand over the food to people. Shortly after the love making ended, he called us to come and grab our food.
Now the food: All shawarma subs were hardly 5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. As tiny and skinny as chinese egg roll with almost tablespoon of meat that was totally tasteless, watery and it was like boiled can meat (please see posted pictures). This was million miles away from the nice shawarma meat grilled on vertical rotating grill. Sadly I can’t say anything better about the rest of our food. The falafels were worst. The were dry and powdery like a day old bread. The falafel’s texture was like they were made days ago ahead of the time. They were so extremely salty, SALTY AS HELL! and bitter. So salty and bitter that my son who never complains told me dad why these things (falafels) are so salty and bitter. The last surprise came when we noticed these guys are really ripp offs since they gave us a small dressing container yogurt and they call that a large size When my wife complained about the ridiculous 2 oz size yogurt that we bought as extra side, he came up with some nonsense excuse. However at that point it was so many things wrong about this place that all I wanted to throw the money in their faces and get out there since I was feeling so embarrassed in front of my wife and kid to bring them to this ridiculous absurd place,
When it was time to pay I did clearly mentioned to both the man and the woman behind counter that the food was rated between awful and disaster and that was perhaps the worst food experience so far for my family. He told me that the meet is stored in containers and served from containers and he didn’t know why the falafel was so dry. BLAH BLAH BLAH…
Bottomline I DO NOT RECOMMEND this place to you or anybody, this place is so bad that I don’t even recommend this place to my enemy!
If you want to eat shawarma try a place like Boston Shawarma. That I also made a full review about them here. SHAME ON YOU CAFE BEIRUT FOR AN ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING FOOD!!!

It’s expensive and I asked for shawarma they brought me roasted meet.
They have good place but so expensive for this area

Meh, mediocre falafel. Decent hummus and grape leaves. Interesting take on fried okra, but just ok, not great. Salad it on the verge of being bad and the pita bread is the opposite of homemade. I really wish JP had a better Mediterranean option.

Yummy local ethnic eatery. They offer delivery service in JP proper. This is a counter service place.
I love the bottled beverage selections. As a nearly non-​soda drinker, they had many options. I was impressed that I could choose up to 10 items that were non-​soda, usually I am left with one or two choices. The homemade juice beverage sounded yummy and the menu said it came garnished with almonds, but I saw it too late after selecting a bottled coconut water.
Had the mezza plate (your choice of 3 items) with: foul maddamas, café beirut salad, falafel and a halal beef skewer. It was devine. Their falafel isn’t as spicy as some, which was a welcome change. I should have asked for a side of baba ghanoosh (their spelling) or yogurt and cucumber with mint as a condiment. The café beirut salad was delicious as were the labenese pickles (mixed veg, not just pickled cucumbers).
Went with 3 other diners. All left happy.
We were told it would be 30 minutes for food, and it was clear that the phone was ringing off the hook with delivery orders and it was a busy eat-​in night as well. If you don’t want to wait, come here at an off peak time.
The only disliked item my party ordered was a yellow pudding (didn’t get name) with what appeared to be chocolate drizzle and a cookie on top. The pudding had an odd taste and the brown drizzle didn’t taste like chocolate at all.
This was overall a very good experience and I’d recommend this place.

The food here is quite delicious if a bit hastily prepared. I think I got chicken shawarma, which I liked. And it’s probably pretty hard to find a bad dish.
But I give 2 stars because the service is slowwwww. I ordered during JP’s Porchfest so the place was packed. I ordered earlier than my friends in a large group and it took about a half an hour; about five people who ordered after me were given priority and got their food first. And my friends who ordered after me had to wait even longer– it must have been at least 45 minutes for them even after the staff were reminded multiple times.
Unacceptable for a takeout-​style place. But maybe I’ll go back if it’s 11 AM on a Tuesday and I’m the only customer in the place.

I have heard about this place from my veg*n friends but hadn’t gone, so finally did. I wasn’t impressed by it though. The wait for food was awful & of course when you’re hungry that’s the worst. I guess too many other people had ordered right before me but it took over 20 minutes for a simple wrap. It was mighty tasty, but it certainly wasn’t enough. I feel like it needed to have more stuff in it or getting the plate option would be better.

It was hot and stuffy and a bit crowded, but it was delicious. I ordered my first baba ganoush ever from there and I was definitely not disappointed!
My friend got these yummy looking lamb dishes that came with a gazillion things on top, as well as yogurt dip. My other friend got this rose berry tea that was surprisingly refreshing!

Judging from the no frills appearance and typical shawarma places, we came in expecting a quick, cheap lunch. Instead, we got really delicious, quality food — but at a higher price tag than anticipated. Maybe if they marketed themselves differently, or just redecorated the interior, I wouldn’t have been so surprised, and thus upset, by the price. Because the food is definitely good and you do get what you pay for.
My bf’s shawarma roll up sandwich was the best I’ve ever had. It was perfectly crunchy on the outside and juicy and flavorful on the inside. My side of hummus came with generous portions of pita and creamy hummus topped with shawarma, nuts and onions. Tasty overall, but I much preferred stealing bites of my bf’s sandwich. Our friend ordered one of the plates, which came with chicken and beef-​lamb shawarma, some kind of cucumber tomato salad, and a few sauces. While it looked delicious, I don’t think I would have shelled out close to $ 20 for a plate like that.
Definitely 5 stars for the food. But –1 star for the unexpected price and the service which I felt could have been friendlier.

I love local businesses, and would wholeheartedly support an independent business rather than a big chain corporation. Sadly, the inconsistencies at Café Beirut really make it difficult to make it a 5, or even a 4 star restaurant.
I purchased a LivingSocial ($ 10 for $ 20) for Café Beirut. We ended up getting a vegetable combo plate, and a falafel plate for $ 25-​ish. Certainly not a bad value. In terms of food specifically, the majority of the items were appetizing, with the exception of the falafel. WTF? How does this place not know how to make a good falafel? It tasted like someone emptied a whole saltshaker in it. Yuck.
So if the restaurant provided reasonable value, and decent food (minus the star player on one of the dishes), then why the 3 star rating? The brutal service. Brutal is the best way to describe it. The girl working behind the till acted like she would rather be getting a root canal from a drunk college frat boy, than to be serving anyone that day. How this happens in a service industry is beyond me, and the reason why I will not be returning to Café Beirut. You can get comparable food in Boston with less of a feel like I am imposing on her time.