Cafe Lori

Chose to dine here for lunch based on the good reviews. The food was delicious and priced right. The owner was very kind. I will definitely consider them for catering. I recommend this place highly!

Love this place! The food is always very good! Portions are good size and it’s fresh and delicious! My son orders the filet mignon plate and I order the falafel plate. The owners are very nice and pleasant.

Simply delectable!
This little gem, hidden on a side street in Monrovia has wonderful Mediterranean food, and I’m soooooo happy I’ve found it!
After numerous attempts in search for a good Mediterranean place near my home, I have found it!
I had ordered the chicken kabob which came with delicious savory chicken, flavorful hummus, fluffy tasty rice and zesty salad– oh and pita bread too!
The owner (I think) is also extremely sweet and a delight.
I can’t wait to come back here again as its not my go to!

I came and ate lunch here the other day, not bad. I would definitely come back, I recommend this place.

I have been ordering their food for some time and never thought about leaving them a review so here it goes. FRESH, FAST, DELICIOUS, like really !
Most of the time my fix is their combo that comes with beef chicken and lula kebob with fresh garden salad and humus, but today I got their Filet minion and it was so juicy and tender. I usually call my order in for pick up and it takes them about 15 – 20 minutes all together. I have taken a few business associates for lunch and they all loved their food. After the recent studies about fast food and processed meat causing cancer, I have stopped using fast food restaurants and any processed food and this place is a healthy alternative in the area.

Been dining here since they first opened about 5 years ago. Its a cute little kabob place run by two brothers. It has a homey feel so not a place if your are expecting fine dining service. They have very good portions and reasonable prices. They have also catered at our company’s luncheons. My first week back here and it was just as delicious. Its also great when the owners still remember your name when you come back after all these years. Highly recommend!

I’m a little torn regarding how to rate this place. I think my rating is more 3.5 stars.
We were having a farewell luncheon for a co-​worker and we all decided to have Café Lori cater. Since I had never eaten there before, I decided to order my lunch the day before the party.
Lunch before the party: I ordered the Lori special which included lula, beef and chicken kebab. The lunch special came with rice, hummus and tabbouleh. The rice and hummus was delicious. The portions were a little skimpy for the special, maybe because I’m so used to the humongous portions given by the Glendale Armenian/​Persian restaurants or I was super hungry. All three meats were dry and tasteless. The tabbouleh was very sour that I could barely eat it.
Fast forward to the day of the party. I’m so happy to say, that day, the food was really good and we all loved it. The portions were generous. The meat was tender, juicy and flavorful. The hummus was excellent. Everyone loved it.
Reason for the 3.5 stars, they are inconsistent. Can I recommend them, eh, maybe not since I don’t know how the food will be that day.
On a brighter note, service was excellent!

Food was really good. Its a small place and service is weird lol but still a good little place. Very close by may come back here :-)

3.5
I love that this place is small, quiet & chill vibes but when I entered the man there, the only person running the restaurant, peeked out only several mins after I was waiting wondering if it was open or what. So I asked just that, are you open? Instead of the expected enthusiasm from a small business owner to a local who is trying them out for the first time, I got a shrug, his hands tossed up on the air and a «meh» response from him. Like, yea… I guess we are open. Thought that was very weird.
Even after this initial encounter that strange awkwardness continued throughout the rest of the visit with our waiter/​cook/​cash register person. So I wasn’t just not thrilled but disappointed with the service.
The food came out in an okay amount of time.
The taste of the food was good for the most part. I ordered the combo. The chicken was just okay. I’m usually drooling over any mediterranean chicken so that was a little off for me. The beef was just like steak chunks. Was eh also. The need Lula though was really tasty I did like that. Everything else was also pretty good.
So next time if I’m craving mediterranean I will probably only order the Lula and take that dish to go.
Still on the hunt for my perfect mediterranean fix in the Monrovia area.

By far my favorite restaurant in Monrovia!!! Hope they always maintain their current level of quality!

Food was delicious. Only negative factor was ambience. Would definitely recommend ordering take out. A+ food.

Definitely a small out of the way place. I was looking for some Mediterranean dinner without breaking the bank. I ordered two plates one meat combo it came with chicken, lula kabob, and steak the other with just Lamb. Both came with rice, salad and hummus for a total of $ 27. The meat was tender & tasty, the rice was fluffy, the salad was fresh full of yummy plump tomatoes and crispy cucumber. The hummus were creamy and with combination of the pita, rice, hummus and a little meat was simply delicious. I can’t wait to come try the lunch special.
I will be back

Yay! I’m a fan. Café Lori is small; however, is a cozy, tasty Old Town Monrovia find.
The «lite lunch» portion size is perfect for lunch. I had the Lamb Shish Kebab lite lunch, Borag appetizer, and pita bread that is served with every meal. The lite lunch includes a five piece meat serving, a fattoush side salad, and a serving of rice. The borag was interesting; I believe it is a seasoned feta cheese empanada. I’m not too familiar with Mediterranean food, but everything was rich with flavor and deliciously seasoned.
The only reason I left off a star is because of the building. Although cozy at the time, I can’t imagine the restaurant being too comfortable if it had more than a handful of people eating there at once.

Stopped by here this past Thursday to pick up 4 meals to bring back home to my family. I arrived sometime after 1 pm. When I first arrived, I was just standing at the front desk waiting for someone to come out of the kitchen and take down my order. As I was waiting, a few customers were waiting behind me to pay for their lunch.
Eventually someone saw me and took down my order. After waiting rather a long time (I would say at least 20 minutes), I eventually got my meals to go and headed out the door (after I paid). Anyways, this is what I ordered:
Lula Shish Kebab– I ordered the lite lunch portion ($ 6.00, prior to tax). Since this is the lunch portion (although I did have the option of ordering the full plate size), the meat portion was rather small. There was plenty of tasty buttery rice (a little on the oily side) and a nice crisp salad. It was nice of the employees to pack the dressing separate for me to prevent it from going soggy (I didn’t request for this, so this was a nice thoughtful touch). The lula meat was flavorful and tender, but kind of felt like it was just average. This dish was actually for my husband and he agreed that it was just average.
Lamb Shish Kebab– Ordered the lite lunch portion ($ 7.50, prior to tax) and thought the lamb was also quite flavorful. But again, thought it was pretty average. And yes this meal also came with the standard rice and salad (w/​the dressing packed separately). This meal was for my brother and he enjoyed it.
Chicken Breast Shish Kebab– Ordered the Lite Lunch Portion ($ 6.50, prior to tax) for my mom and she said she enjoyed this dish. I did not get a chance to try any of her food but she was quite happy with her portion (my mom is a light eater). She really enjoyed the salad and rice so much that she ate everything (a rarity, as I mentioned above that she is a light eater. She usually is the type of person to only eat half of her meal because she gets full fairly quickly).
Falafel– Yep, I ordered the Lite Lunch Portion ($ 6.50, prior to tax) for myself. I am a huge fan of falafel (not exactly healthy for you since it is deep fried) and have had a lot of it at other different restaurants. I was rather sadly disappointed with this falafel as it did not taste that great. It tasted kind of airy (but not in a good way) and seemed to be missing some seasonings. I prefer my falafel to be a bit more dense and had a good bite to it (please do not misinterpret that as spicy or chewy). This meal came with a salad only. Actually it is not advertised on their menu that you can purchase this dish as a lite lunch option, as only the full plate price is listed. But since I had ordered all the other dishes as the lite lunch option, the person who took my order asked if I would like to order this as a lite lunch option as well. The full plate option is $ 9.50 (prior to tax). This dish also came with hummus and I thought it was too lemony for me and really overpowered the flavor of the hummus.
Overall, I wasn’t wowed over the food and thought it was rather standard. I really have had really great Mediterranean food and just thought this place would be good to fix the craving for the time being but Café Lori isn’t my top choice for Mediterranean.
Also just as a final few things to mention: if ordering to go, it would be in your best interest to call ahead of time so that you can save yourself a 15 – 20 minute wait (they do make things to order which is a plus, but that takes time). If you plan on dinning in, you may not get the most attentive service as I rarely saw the people in the small kitchen (behind the curtain) come out to check on their patrons often and also a line quickly built up to pay for their meals while I was wait for my food. Also pay attention to the hours they are open (just 6 hours a day) if you do want to try this place. This place also takes credit card and street parking is somewhat limited but there is also a private lot across the street.

Not quite sure how people rate food here, but here’s my experience–
Went for a quick lunch take-​out, and upon entering around 1pm weekday, there was no one dinning in– not a good sign. The place’s décor is sub-​par. Only two old middle eastern guys staff. One of the staff told me I can pick any types of sides for the lunch plate, but then said no when I wanted certain vege as side, only certain salad for the plate. Well, ok you could have just said so in the beginning.
So the staff are rather rude to me at this point. But I’m against false advertising and scamming the customers. Here comes the low down–
You see, the pamphlet shows a chicken plate has 8 pieces of chicken, but upon opening the box there were about half of the amount as shown on photos. And they did not put hummus in there. Its brochure says ‘All plates served with hummus, rice, green salad or tabboule.’ I can still hear the two old middle eastern guys laughing inside the kitchen…
Definitely not coming back here. There are plenty middle eastern restaurants or other places within 10 min drive. This place is just depressing.

After a long stressful trip to the DMV, I decided to meet up my sister for lunch during her break. Her office is in Monrovia so she suggested we go to Café Lori. The place is super small and cozy. The décor feels like someone’s living room, but the place is spotless– clean floors, clean walls, clean menus, clean tables. This is not a fancy place by far (they give you water in red cups and bring you paper plates) and I probably would never have discovered this gem if it wasn’t for my sister bringing me here.
The menu has your typical mediterranean fare, but the execution is spectacular. My sister and I shared an order of grape leaves and the falafel plate. The grape leaves were OH SO GOOOOOD. They were flavorful and the perfect texture. The falafels… I don’t even know where to start… they were OUT OF THIS WORLD though. I’ve never had a falafel that crispy before. The crust was thin, had the perfect flaky crisp, and the center was soft and warm. You can taste how fresh they are – not frozen or old. The salad that comes with the combo is TO DIE FOR – cold, crisp, and fresh. They dressed it perfectly… to the nines.
The entire meal was SOOO KILLER. I was bouncing in my seat WITH MY EYES CLOSED and singing some song that goes a little like «mmmm…hmmmm…mmmm…ohhh my godddd… i love food… foood loves mee… nom nom nom» while double fisting a falafel and grape leaf.

3.5 Stars
My coworker and I went for lunch and the place looked like it wasn’t open since the interior is dimmer and is attached to the Krikorian Theater’s building. For the entrance, one door was locked while the other was open, so that was a bit confusing.
The guy was pretty nice and since we were the first ones, our order took a bit longer but after that, everyone else had their food fairly quickly.
Portions are huge– that’s what I like about this place! For $ 10.50, you can get a full plate of chicken kebab. I opted for a «lite lunch» lula kebab plate for $ 6. The difference is that my coworker had hummus and obviously more meat on hers and instead of having hummus, I had more rice and salad. Did I mention that this comes with pita bread?
We shared the falafel, which was pretty good but a bit saltier. The sauce it came with was quite nice though. 4 for $ 5 is not too bad.
Salad was great here, but the hummus is a bit tangier for our tastes. The meat for both of us was also pretty salty, but otherwise well-​flavored. For my lula, it had a nice bite like eating a nice sausage (kind of like Congregation Ale House’s sausages mmmm).
We both agreed we would come back but not all the time because of the salt content.

THEY ARE ONLY OPEN FOR LUNCH AND DINNER.
MONDAY-​FRIDAY 11:30 — 2:30 AND 5:00 — 7:30.
If you go at that time they will be there.
As for their food: It is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING.
I have had their:
Babaghanoush (Eggplant spread) A+++
Jajek (cucumber and yogurt salad) A+++
Combo Plate (Chicken, beef, beef lule) with rice A+++
Chicken amazingly tender and moist not dry like other places.
Beef also great, tender and moist
Beef lule is SO flavorful, not too salty just perfect
Salad that comes w/​Combo is to die for. I don’t know what they do to it, but it is so good A+++
Lamb chop plate: so tasty and full of flavor. A+++
Kofta (fried meatballs) A+++
Everything tastes so fresh like it was prepared just for you, which I think it is because every time I go and order I hear them chopping away.
This place is low maintenance because it is run by a two brothers. They try to be very attentive, but as another reviewer said you sometimes have to go up to the register to pay, which doesn’t bother me at all.
IF YOU WANT TO BE WAITED ON HAND AND FOOT THEN GO TO A PLACE THAT IS DOUBLE THE PRICE AND HALF AS GOOD, BUT IF YOU WANT THE BEST MEDITERRANEAN FOOD FOR A GREAT PRICE GO HERE.
GIVE THIS PLACE A TRY, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

This past weekend I hosted my cousin’s baby shower at my house. My cousin is on a gluten free diet so I was thinking of ordering kabobs, and salad for the party. I didn’t want to order from Daphne’s. I was in a total panic of deciding where I should order the food from when Café Lori popped into my head since I remembered seeing that they did catering on their menu.
I called them on a Monday for a Saturday event (note they are closed on the weekends so they would be preparing my order just for me). I told them I would swing by to pick up the food at 11:00AM. They didn’t require a deposit or anything.
$ 10 per person for chicken & beef kabobs, rice, hummus, salad, and pitas
For 15 people, it was $ 150.
My sister and I arrived at 10:50AM and the food was all ready to go, other than the pita which they were cutting for me.
The guy even helped us carry the trays to my car. Now that’s service!
Their kabobs are always so moist and flavorful (beef & chicken) and their hummus is delicious too. People at the party were all giving me great feedback about the food and were asking me where I ordered it from.
I’m definitely a Café Lori fan and will use them for catering at other events in the future.

This place has tasty food, especially if you like meat. Get the Café Lori combination platter and you’ll get all kinds of animals on your plate… YUM!
The service is a bit off, though. Whenever I’ve been here, all of the staff is in the kitchen and it’s unclear whether or not to seat yourself or to wait. For lunch, they use plastic Solo cups for water and other beverages. Although the employees are super nice and the food is great, it just seems amateur to have red party cups and IKEA forks and knives on the table.
I dunno, I guess the food and prices trump everything else. I’ll definitely come here any time I’m craving some Mediterranean food!