Mazzat Grill

First time here, and very impressed. Everything was super fresh, and made to order. Don’t be in a hurry because it takes a while, but well worth the wait.

Yum, Yum, Yum! Such a great addition to the amazing food spots in the area. The falafel salad is gigantic and so flavorful! Love this place! their falafels are tasty and moist!

Falafel was the bomb! After it’s wrapped it goes in a panini grill for a few to get it nice and toasty. And the standard sides of hot sauce and red cabbage are a nice touch. Very fresh tasting.

Tasty and reasonably priced. I’ve tried a few shawarma wraps in Oakland. This is my favorite place so far. A lot of flavor and not too oily. I will definitely be back to try the platters. Small, hole-​in-​the-​wall type restaurants are always the best.

Got a falafel salad, which was not exactly listed on the menu but they asked no questions and got right on it, and for under $ 9 and under 5 minutes my fresh awesome falafel delight was ready. Perfect falafel — crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, that beautiful pale green color, tasty healthy awesomeness.
Not only was the falafel great, but the salad was not boring white romaine/​iceburg «crunchy water», but real greens — tender small green leaves. The tahini dressing was light, herby, tasty and not overpowering.
To top it all off, I was surprised to find kombucha as a drink option, I almost never get anything to drink when I go out for lunch. They had Synergy ginger kombucha — for less than you pay at whole foods.
Staff was friendly and efficient. I will be back — a lot.

Always excellent! I’ve tried a number of dishes and all were great. Chicken is moist, lamb is tender, the hummus is delicious. My only complaint is that I with they would use compostable plates and flatware. There’s a lot of plastic being thrown away!

Mazzat Grill has been a welcome addition to the work lunch scene around Uptown Oakland! My food has always come out tasting fresh and delicious, and in good portion sizes. While I still think Sunrise Deli in SF has the best falafel in the Bay Area, I enjoyed the falafel here very much.
Besides taste and value, I think what separates Mazzat Grill from similar restaurants in the area are the little touches: like how the wonderful lavash is grilled to add that extra bit of texture and warmth to the wraps; the attention paid to packaging/​boxing to-​go orders; the onion and bell pepper placed on top of the shawerma spits so their juices run down and help keep the meat moist and flavored; the tasty red cabbage and carrot slaw.

Food was excellent. Fast service and cheap price. Location works well too right on a side street with low traffic. Restaurant could have been larger and have a waiting area for today getting pick up orders. But commercial real estate is pricey in Oakland.

Delicious and fresh food!

I wandered in to look at the menu and was warmly greeted with a big smile by the man behind the counter. That welcoming gesture alone prompted me to order a chicken shawarma wrap!
When my order was ready, the kind, smiling man offered me a baklava at no charge just because he wanted me to taste it. I’m not sure if he’s the owner, but he’s very proud of the quality of food the restaurant offers and told me it was a family recipe. I love to see passion and pride in cuisine preparation. Anyway, I get home, unwrap my shawarma wrap and take my first bite: heaven!
Not only is the chicken tender and perfectly grilled and marinated, there are no «parts». A huge pet peeve of mine with many of the local shawarmas I’ve tried at other restaurants is when you bite into it, the chicken is full of gristle, rubbery parts that bounce back, old dried meat, and just general grossness. This is not the case at Mazzat as the chicken is exquisite and I can eat in peace and pleasure without having to be on guard.
The cabbage salad served on the side was fresh, flavorful and complimented the wrap.
And yes, the baklava I was gifted was fresh, not overly sweet and goopy, and a beautiful end to meal. I can’t wait to go back and try other items on the menu.

We just moved into a building next door to the Mazzat Grill and I’ve stopped in for lunch several times. Everything I’ve tried has been awesome (especially the mutabal!), so I decided to ask them to cater a recent Board meeting. Suzie came in to cook the food fresh on Saturday morning. The food looked great, tasted better, and the serving sizes were enormous. My Board was really impressed (and the staff has been enjoying lunch all week!) I highly recommend the Mazzat Grill for an individual meal or for catering — wonderful food and personal service.

I love Lebanese cuisine and I was thrilled when this little place opened up a few doors from my office. I have been there twice and my first visit could have received a 5 star rating. I returned today with high expectations … I ordered the lamb/​beef wrap. I do not eat raw onion, and specifically asked for no onions, which the person who took my order repeated back to me. When I got back to my office with my lunch, I was very disappointed to bite into it and find a huge amount of raw onion in the wrap. Honestly this would have been a 5 star review, as the meat was delicious after I took it apart and picked all the onions off. The first bite spoiled it enough to make me give it only 2 stars!

Lady taking the orders is amazing and the owner of the restaurant (yay for women owned businesses). Fast efficient warm and inviting all at once! Couldn’t stop staring at her French tip nails waving around and pointing at customers as she prepped and bagged orders. The location is small so order to go and don’t plan on eating in unless you’re coming by yourself (there are 4 tables).
I got the lamb and beef shawarma. The owner explained that the Lebanese prefer to mix their meats in this way. She mentioned that the lamb wrap contains hummus while the chicken wrap contained garlic sauce. This is something hat differentiates Lebanese wraps from other Mediterranean cuisine. The wrap comes in a box with a parsley sauce and a small pile of red cabbage and carrot slaw. The slaw was really yummy! As for the wrap it was seasoned perfectly and really juicy. There were a few tougher chunks of meat that made it hard to chew but overall it was tasty. If the meat was chopped up a little more that could have easily been avoided. The lavash bread is so much better than others I’ve tried and tastes even better when dipped in the parsley sauce.
$ 10 for lamb and beef is a pretty good deal. I would try this before the prices are hiked up by the lunch hour demand! Also there aren’t many or any Lebanese restaurants in downtown Oak so that’s a big plus!

I found this place on my way to a doctors appointment and decided to try it when I came out. It was only 10 minutes until closing time and yet the lamb-​beef shawarma that I got was unbelievably tasty and juicy, well spiced, I can’t think of getting a better shawarma in recent memory.
The owner was there and (justifiably) proud of the food. The chicken shawarma on the rotisserie next to the lamb-​beef was all breast meat and looked good as well.
I got the wrap which came with tahini on the side for dipping, awesome! Even the little side of salad? shredded red cabbage in a tasty dressing was a great palate cleanser.
A great start for a new restaurant. There are a few other competitors within a block or two better step it up to compete with the new kid on the block.
I can’t wait to go back and try the chicken!

Mazzat offers falafel, gryos, shawerma, hummus. kebabs, etc. lebanese style. (it’s written on the canopy covering the open grill)
small space, just a few tables for eat-​in, inside to the right.
eats: lamb/​beef shawerma (10) listed on menu board.
–receipt reads lamb, tastes bland, tender, more like beef.
–red onions, tahini sauce, roasted tomatos and lots of meat, no fillers
–wrapped in large lavash wrap, popped into «griler» to heat,
–red cabbage salad side and hot sauce condiment too.
good value, 4.5 stars
drips:
–tahini sauce drips out the bottom so get napkins!
–quick service
–open grill.
–claims to be authentic lebanese taste…

Never heard of a lamb shwarma before but it’s the best damn thing I ate IN MY LIFE!!! MAZZAT GO CRAAAAZY!!! A MUST TRY!!! 100%

Get the ful, fool! (They spell it foul but don’t be fooled.) Hot, savory, garlicky, lemony. Aieeee! and the pita is fresh and hot and the dolmas are just wonderful. This is the beginning of a long lunchtime relationship.

I have grown up eating Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food all my life by my Syrian, Greek, and Italian family. Trying to find that quality in a downtown take out restaurant has been challenging. Today I discovered Mazzat and ordered a lamb shawerma. Then lamb was tender and juicy, and the wrap itself was grilled similar to a panini to help bring out the flavors of the meat, tomatoes, onions, fresh parsley, and other seasonings. The wrap was served with an optional hot sauce for dipping, and a refreshing, lightly dressed cabbage salad. You can watch your order being cooked in the open kitchen they have as you walk in. I watched an order of chicken kebab being made, and I think that will be my next order as it looked mouth watering. If you like Middle Eastern cuisine, you MUST try Mazzat Grill.

Time: 12:42pm/55°F partly cloudy
Purpose: Message came in that yesterday was first day of opening. I reply with I’ll swing by following day before head out for the day.
Ambiance: Mazzat replaces a place I vaguely remember. I think Take 5 Deli/​Café of the past. It’s a simple place with kitchen area to your immediate right upon walking in. From the outside you can’t tell there is seating or not until you maneuver in further. Inner back is a four seater with two table of mosaic top, privacy guard, and three oil painting pictures. Menu is place in a corner rather than in front where most of the action takes place. Feeling a bit awkward of talk and turn your head in another position. A open air fridge for beverages is all there is for the place. Music is control through iPhone to bluetooth speakers.
Staff: Looking at husband and wife duo Adam/​Susie with four other BOH workers. Not much interactions with BOH people, but Susie manage to talk to me for a brief quick passing by greet and meet chat. She explained how their operations will be for next few months. They may eventually open later if it proves a success. Other than that details are scarce as of now.
Cleanliness: Grade A, impeccable no complaints very clean. There’s no self help utensil station or water dispenser. All order comes with a travel size pack utensil packet of folded napkin, fork, spoon, knife, salt & pepper packet. Only gripe for me is not enough napkin provided to wipe mouth. Juice from shawarma was all over my face area. Also no trash containers seen must hand over to workers to dump it for you.
Eats/​Drinks: Lamb and beef wrap $ 10 serve w/​side of house prefer dipping sauce and red cabbage salad. Lavash wrap was perfectly warm up that it didn’t crack when folded. A good mixture of lamb and beef seasoned to perfection. I knew it was gonna be good as I watch on worker carving from spitfire roaster. Meat wasn’t hard or dried out, it was moist and tender that had juice running. They also didn’t skimp on meat. It was balance even when cut in half. Perfect wrap, but more tahini spread is needed. Not a big deal to some, but for me tahini is a must have enough of. Overall, I’m satisfy with this wrap.
Main Features: Kabab plates
Products/​Services: Shawarma, falafel, kebab, lebanese soup, salad, tapas, assorted can/​bottled beverages more item posted on picture. Lunch catering available, no substitution, takes plastic, online ordering, find them on FB, Unilocal.Their moto (No junk food is allowed here). Open 11am-​4pm, takes plastic, no item over $ 13 or under $ 4 *prices subject to change w/​o notice.
Punch Lines: Newly open, downtown/​uptown Oakland, engaging, happening, seats are minimal, pleasing flavors, better than average, drool-​worthy, well-​prepared, can’t go wrong, worth the wait, casual and delicious, kept its standards, unpretentious, satisfaction, no complimentary water/​utensil station.
Tradeoffs: Your getting SF Mediterranean quality food without the Fi-​Di prices. A win-​win situation for patrons as well as owner (repeat customer).
Final Thoughts: When ever a new middle eastern place pops up on my list, I tend to get overly excited. This place came in question when I went to their Hayes Valley location last year. From there it just ballon for me. Playing that waiting game of any day now… What I can see from this visit is, it will be popular once the word gets out. As of now a steady stream of Kaiser workers are the only ones that seems to know about it. Downtown Oakland just don’t have any good Mediterranean places yet. Many are café focus thus leaving little time for putting together a real Mediterranean offering. MG is opposite of than, as it take what they do best and does it better. My only complaint is no dessert like baklava or Aish el Saraya. Need something sweet after consuming savory right?

i ordered a lamb+beef shawarma wrap at lunch time. coworkers ordered chicken shawarma wraps and falafel wraps.
pros:
— tasty
— excellent construction. usually, the lavash just falls apart/​disintegrates while you’re eating, but this was pretty solidly wrapped and easy to eat.
— wrap was finished on a panini press.
— falafel looked like they deep fry them on demand.. .as opposed to popping them in a microwave like other places in the area.
cons:
— *i’m pretty sure today was their very first day*, so take this with a grain of salt.
— a bit of a wait to actually get the wrap. it appeared that someone was being trained.
— somewhat serious payment issues: their Square point-​of-​sale wasn’t reading everyone’s card. many cards wouldn’t glide through, and cash had to be used.. .and then some customers either had to underpay or overpay based off how much change was left in the register.
i plan to return once these operational issues are fixed, so 4 stars for now!