Paprika Cafe

Amazing Middle Easter food! The garlic sauce is excellent! This is a small family owned restaurant. The food was fresh and made from scratch. Definitely a better choice than the average commercial restaurants on cannery row.

This place is amazing ! The owner is really nice and was accommodating with my kids. The food was sooo good ! I had the shawarma with the salad and it was delicious, it hit the spot ! The salad had a vinaigrette, large tomatoes, kalamata olives, and a chunk of feta cheese, hands down the best side salad ! my husband had the chicken plate, That came with a small salad, pilaf, hummus, and pita bread with a side of garlic sauce. That garlic sauce was so amazing, it really should be sold in stores. If you don’t like a strong garlic taste it isn’t for you, I personally love anything with heavy garlic so this was pretty amazing. All in all I will definitely return next time we visit Monterey !

This place is adorable. The service is fast and the food is excellent. There are lots of vegetarian and vegan options. I love the falafel plate and the baklava is to die for.

Mediterranean food hard to find in this area. Service is usually good in these types of restaurants. Not so at this one. I have been turned down not once, but twice to place on order! I was told he is too busy and has no room! Who does this! His food is good, maybe just caught him on a bad day on 2 different occasions.

Great food… love their garlic chicken! Stop by most of the time we go to Monterey.

1.5 stars the food was ok but not amazing
Very slow service and severely understaffed. 1 dude is doing the whole thing. It took almost an hour for our order when there’s only like 12 people in the whole restaurant.

Really nice find in Monterey. My wife and I will definitely eat here again.
I ordered the gyros sandwich and salad, and she ordered the garlic chicken with sauce over a salad. The gyros meat had a unique flavor compared to other gyros I have had (and I have had LOT), and I am going to go out on a limb and say it was paprika. If only I could have kept the sauce on top of the sandwich from going up my nose every time I took a bite…
Slightly pricey for Mediterranean food but I think it is worth it.

Fantastic Lebanese food and a super charming owner. Was so sweet to our two young kids. We’ll be back for sure.

Got the babaganoush and falafel: delicous!!! Also got dolmas and tzazic. I dont know which was better!
The owner is such a careful person. He gave us some baklava at the end of the lunch.
Would definitely come back if around the area

Dieses absolut schnuckelige kleine Restaurant ist klasse. Wir hatten Falafel in unterschiedlichen Formen — es hat super lecker geschmeckt! Wir würden dort jederzeit wieder essen, es war sauber, lecker und auch günstig. Außerdem ist der Inhaber, welcher uns auch bekocht nd bedient hat sehr nett und freundlich.

We had an amazing falafel pita wrap that was made that morning and perfectly crispy. The hummus and pita was also a perfect appetizer. The owner was such a nice man and came up to us immediately when we arrived to let us know the wait would be a little while since there was a big rush when we arrived (big meaning the entire 10 seat restaurant filled up at same time 5 minutes before we arrived) it’s amazing he was only one making all the delicious food!
Will definitely come back again and again when we make our annual trip to Monterey!

Food was fresh and warm, it wasn’t 5 star (in terms of taste) as expected based on some of the reviews. I presume this place gets high rating coz there aren’t many other like it in the area cuisine-​wise.
The place is very small, and the service is slow but friendly. Expect to wait a while before getting a table.

There is only one reason this place does not get a 5 star. For the prices, you get a smaller portion and the ambiance of the place does not match the price level either.
WILL YOU GET GOOD FOOD? Absolutely !

Tiny little restaurant owned by one man who pretty much ran the whole thing all by himself, or that’s what it seemed like. He was not only our server, he was also the cook and the cashier so kudos to him for running his business on his own. I guess it’s doable though since the place is pretty small and has about five tables, with a maximum capacity of 10 – 15 people.
The place had a very at home feel to it. It felt like you were right in someone’s kitchen waiting for your meal to be cooked.
Decided to try the garlic chicken after reading several reviews on Unilocal.It was served on a paper plate with some hummus and salad dressed with I think a raspberry vinaigrette. That garlic sauce was AMAZING. It was served on the side so you could be the one to choose how much garlic sauce you wanted to drench your chicken in. There was also pita bread served. I noticed that you couldn’t get refills on your drinks as stated on a sign on the wall, but were allowed one refill if you got a cup of tea.
Although the garlic chicken was very good, it was a very small portion for the price ($ 14). It definitely looked a lot bigger on the photos online. The man served us a complimentary dessert when we were finished. It had a very interesting flavor that I couldn’t guess… and he made it himself and said you couldn’t find it anywhere else!
Definitely give this place a try for their unique garlic sauce!

Tiny little restaurant that only fits around 5 – 6 tables but has one cool owner to it. The guy that was there… was the only one working at the restaurant…
Cashier… waiter. the cook. i dont know how he does it but it worked. Very Genuine guy who looks like he loves his job.
Lets start off with the food…
I got the lamb/​beef kebab rice plate while my lady got the garlic chicken. Each plate ran around $ 14 pre tax and tip. The food was a smaller portion than i thought it would be for the price but i can argue that food is top notch. The flavor… herbs and sauce was just on point. The garlic chicken sauce had its unique garlic taste that made it seem like it could go well with any type of meat. The lamb/​beef kebab were 4 rolls of kebab that was very tasty but could’ve used more. It was pretty much 4 sausages, rice, some salad and sauce.
At the end… the guy gave us some sort of unique candy that tasted like an almond roca which he said he made himself and can only be bought exclusively. the garlic sauce itself can also be bought for $ 4 in which i was pretty tempted to buy for home usage.
Overall a very cool little unique restaurant with an awesome restaurant owner. Come by and support this guy!

Decent gyro. Nice service. Tiny spot. A good hole in the wall. Good free baklava — made of cashews.

Saw all the raving reviews and after having some great experience in other middle eastern in the area (Petra & jaffa) thought I’d give it a try… I’m turn, the couple that own the place look really nice and I’m sure are trying but… when I pay $ 15 for a mezze plate and $ 18 for a kafta plate I expect to get:
A. Quality of food,
B. Decent quantity of food
C. Not be served on paper plate!
Outrageously priced, very poor quality of food and for being Lebanese, the «jewel «of middle Eastern cuisine… that was probably one of the worst I’ve ever had… the only positives were the homemade lemonade and the fresh strawberry and kiwi juice…

Came here with the boyfriend on a day trip to Monterey. He ordered a combo, I ordered a pita wrap with a soda. We walked quite a ways to get here after seeing the Unilocal reviews but were so disappointed.
All of our food was dry. He tried to offer me some of the gyros; I told him it looked really dry, proceeded to eat a piece and had to drink something so I could swallow it. He laughed at me and said that’s why he was adding the hummus and yogurt to everything on his plate. Mine was equally dry but I unfortunately did not have a lot of sauce to drown out the dryness.
A can of soda was $ 2.50. That price was tough to swallow (ha-​ha).
Strangely, this place has silver utensils and yet gave us our food on paper plates. But pita bread and baklava was in normal bowls. Price was nothing to laugh at either; we felt like we got ripped off at ~$ 25 for lunch.

Yummy Middle Eastern food — specifically Lebanese — in this 12 seat establishment, with a little extra seating outside. «To go» is a great option and this food would make a great picnic for 17 Mile Drive.
Delicious, personal, homemade with finesse. A lot of locals were picking up food to go while we were here and that says something. Portions are large and prices are inexpensive.
Our family took up most of the restaurant during our visit. We sampled most of the menu and enjoyed everything. The shwarmas are excellent, yummy tabouleh. I especially liked my kefta kabob.
Extremely kid friendly and efficient at turning around tables. We watched them change certain sections 4 times!

1– food quality: ³⁄₅. falafel and chicken shawarma are OK.
2– Very tiny and cozy place. Interior and seats ³⁄₅
3– Service: ³⁄₅.

It’s taken us so long to go here because it’s been closed every time we have driven by and wanted to stop in. It’s conveniently located on lighthouse and has its only tiny parking lot if you can’t find something on the street.
The owner is super friendly and loves talking to DLI students and trying out some the phrases he’s picked up from students. He knows Arabic, Greek, mandarin, Spanish at least.
Food is excellent and very good quality. Had a very tasty gyro with excellent lamb. His garlic chicken was the best. He sells the garlic sauce which is well worth a gander. Pitas, hummus, tabouli, baklava, falafel, what else could you possibly want?
The décor is cute and it’s a great ambiance to have some Turkish coffee and relax.