Zaytoon from the Mid-East

Shawarma tender meat. Excellent sauce to accompany.
Tabouleh Salad on point
Mixed Zaytoon olive plate. Huge portion
Falafel. Moist. No dryness
Pecan & date pie. Excellent finish

Wow! This place is a hidden gem. The food is delicious and the flavor of the food just burst in your palate. Music is low and great ambiance with the servers being quick and friendly. We will back again.

I was very excited when this place opened. North side of McAllen with Med/​Middle East food. Now I will say this review is a bit dated, about a year or so, but looking at the reviews I had to say something. Maybe it’s changed I’ll try again. 1^st off the service was a wreck took forever just to get drinks. They didn’t have certain things available off the menu. The food was terrible! Yogurt rotten! Tabouli was the worst and to add insult to injury the rice was rice a roni (I know the difference) Expensive for lunch not to mention Owner/​MGMT was sitting at a table on the phone doing stuff and got food before us. I waited on this because now there are indeed better options for this type of food. I don’t care if it’s across town.

Maybe we went at the wrong time of day? Food was so-​so. Place was nice, did like the ambience. Waiter very good, very attentive (then again we were one of two couples there). Falafel hard as a rock, gyro was good, tzaktzki was good. Maybe I’m not been fair but I am willing to give the restaurant another try.

Went here and the tzatzki sauce was rotten, meat was flavorless, falafel was unseasoned… only good thing was decent service. Nice scenery but they need to work on the food!!!

Excellent Middle East food in Mcallen,
So happy we found this place

Very good food, friendly staff made available a customized menu for me so I could try many plates at the same time without ordering them all. The gyros are excellent, maybe smaller than what I’m used to. The meat was perfectly seasoned as well as the flatbread. Try the rice as well. I’d love to see bigger portions for the price though. Next time I’ll dine in instead of take out to see if there’s any difference.

Food was delicious and the interior was beautiful, only problem is the drinks are pricey and no refills. Other than th at I would definetly go again.

I was very impressed with every aspect of my meal here. The place was very clean and the service prompt. The food was so delicious. From the savory kibbeh to the creamy lebneh and falafels– it was all DELISH! Try the stuffed zucchini in tomato broth. It was amazing.

Their interior is very nice, It has a nice Arabic feel to it :-) I also really like the music the music that’s playing.
Drink —
Laziza Raspberry
The sever told me that this drink is a beer without the alcohol, I didn’t really like it. It tasted kind of plain. Would have taste better with the alcohol ;-) (⁵⁄₁₀)
Vimito —
It’s a fruit cordial which is like a «jamica» but it’s so good, best thing I’ve ever tasted
(24÷10)
Appetizer —
Meat & Spinach Empanadas
They were really good (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Main Entreé -
Shish Tawook
It’s a shish kabob with bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and this amazing chicken that has a lemon pepper taste, on the side there’s this very good rice :-) (¹²⁄₁₀)
Kibbeh —
It’s these dark brown hush puppy type thing with ground beef, very good as well. With rice on the side. (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Shawarma Plate —
Lamb & Greek beef with rice. (⁹⁄₁₀)
I ordered a Arabic coffee, and it’s a tiny expresso. I’m a coffee fin-​addict so i expected a normal size glass/​mug. But it was the tiniest tea cup ever :-(it was very strong.
The restroom is very clean.
The only thing I didn’t like about this plate was that it only has one waiter and one chef, which means that the food takes a while to prepare, but to me I think it’s perfectly worth it. The waiter is very nice. It was a really good meal.

Came here for the first time last weekend and I’m so glad I did. The ambiance is very relaxing and intimate. I love that.
Our server was so very sweet. She was the only server working there that night and she never stopped smiling.
My fiancé and I ordered meat pastries for our app. Can’t remember the exact name, but you’ll know it when you see it. The pastry was delicious and the meat was so well seasoned. It was savory with a hint of warm spice that is signature to this kind of cuisine.
We both got the shawarma platter. The meat was perfect and the tzatziki sauce tasted homemade and very fresh. Oh and don’t get me started on their rice. Their rice is out-​freaking-​standing. I could’ve ordered a giant tub to take home.
Their peach iced tea is amazing as well.
I finished my meal with some Turkish coffee. Never had it before and really wanted to try it. It comes pre-​sweetened. It is a very unique flavor that some may not care for. It’s a bit acquired I think. The more I kept drinking it, the more I enjoyed it.
I had a lovely meal at Zaytoon and I can’t wait to go back to try some falafel.

Evaluation from 0 to 10 (10 the best):
Food taste 10
Plate size 10 (good size)
Price 9 (main dish $ 8 — 29)
Cleanliness 10 (restroom spotless!!! ++++)
Service. 9 (just one waiter for Sunday)
Atmosphere 10
Overall. 10
Total bill $ 45 (no tips included)
We consumed: 3 main dishes, 1 soda, 2 waters. No appetizer or dessert.

Amazing food, atmosphere, and presentation. Totally a good place to hang out with your closest friends

Outstanding service and pleasant atmosphere, but a bit pricier than expected. The schwarma, tabouli, tzaktzki sauce, baklawa and hot tea were excellent. The biryani was a little on the bland side. A basket of toasted pita triangles was served with our meal. Pita bread would have been nice.
I can’t see myself making a special trip to eat here, but if we are in the area I might try it again. I would be curious to try their combination platter. However, at $ 29 I hope it is good.
On a side note, if you are in the market for new flooring, check out their lovely wood-​look tile floor!

Beautiful arab decoration and Music. The falafel, kippe, and yaprak were specially delicious. We had a cinnamon tea which was very calming. We had two desserts: date and pecan pie and pistacho ice cream which were both homemade and were excellent! We’d come back for sure…

AMAZING! Not just the food but the service, you can’t get any better!
Great atmospher and the music just takes you to the Middle East. Ahamed we love you!

Can you hear it??? My tastebuds are singing! Talk about rich and savory… mmmm. If you were to sit next to me you would be able to hear me mmmming and sighing cause it’s that flavorful. What was that movie where the girlfriend states that her boyfriend sounds like he is having sex with his food??? Lol… it just tastes that good! They’ve only been open for 8 months… the décor is beautiful and the service great. Had the chicken shishkabob with vegetables and a salad… even the salad dressing was so tasty… thumbs up!

Amazing service. Extant attentive without being bothersome. Ordered the Zaytoon platter and split it. Plenty of food and they brought extra bread. The salad that came with it was amazing.
Came on a date and had fun There were children with families, so all are welcome.
Finished with baklawa, and was not disappointed. Two nice slices. The waiter added two small pieces of pistachio halawe. Nice!
All in all, outstanding service with great food!
The labne was nice with large servings.

I love Middle Eastern food, having travelled there and dined in good restaurants there and in the US. I was so happy to see that Zaytoon had opened at last, after more than a year of seeing the ‘coming soon’ sign out front.
The place is attractively decorated, especially considering it is next to a Subway and was formerly a salad takeout place. The owners are apparently trying to make it into a rather elegant dining establishment. The décor and huge bar (ironic since Muslims don’t drink alcohol; maybe the Lebanese owners are Christians) are quite nice but the food is only mediocre and overpriced.
I have been there only once so I will try it again. But the falafel I had was under-​seasoned and slightly burned while being fried. The pita bread was dry and crackly. The hummus was lacking in much flavor (no fresh lemon, how could they do that?) and with a little too much olive oil on top. What came on the side? I was hoping for a bit of salad or maybe a few olives (that is what ‘zaytoon’ means in English.) But instead, it was a mass of jalapenos, onions and carrots en escabeche. For a place that claims to be ‘authentic’ that is not authentic. Sure, plenty of people on the border would eat this garnish but that is Mexican, not Middle Eastern. For $ 8, I did expect something more and better than the bland falafel, dry pita, boring hummus and jalapenos that I did not need.
And why did it take 3 people to ring up my bill?

Absolutely loved this place! Genuine Lebanese and Syrian food! Tried several of their appetizers, meals, and desserts and there was nothing I didn’t like. Our waiter was sooo nice and that perfected our experience. There is no other restaurant like this in the Valley. This is a new business in town so I will definitively keep coming to support their business! P. S. The Date and pecan pie is to die for!!!