Al Jazeera Buffet

One of the best shwarma in Philadelphia.
Get the chicken shawarma with fries and chicken kabob platter. Delivery is slow and store needs renovation.

This place is NOT a buffet anymore. So they should change their name here and take down the SIGN hanging in front of their restaurant that says ‘Middle Eastern BUFFET’, because they do not have buffet at all anymore.
Which is a shame, because now it is just a fallafel joint, of which there are tons of in that neighborhood.

I’ve been going to Al Jazeera since it was Khartoum, which to be fair wasn’t too long ago, but I owe my continuous patronizing to the presence of ful and the ability to order off of the menu. Employees are from various countries in the Arab world, so if you know about a particular food from one of those places, you might be in luck.
I’m not sure why the buffet aspect doesn’t exist anymore, but I did reliably feel nauseous after eating the eggplant, so at least that temptation is now a non-​starter. Indeed, the food is always decent, and for that consistency they get the A-​OK rating.
It’s good for late-​night eating, and if you’re looking for baklava, although they don’t make it in house, the company from which they order it gets it right. You might see a few pieces forlornly sitting by the kitchen, but when I asked for two to-​go last time, the Egyptian fellow went to get a box of them and offered those instead.

A friend and I stopped in after he recommended this place. We were driving around pondering dinner options after Guacamole Mex Grill closed an hour earlier than advertised. He came here a few months ago when it was under different management and liked it so off we went inside.
The place is pretty sparse but clean. Seating is to the left and the buffet is to the right on sternum trays. We didn’t eat from the buffet which happens to be $ 10.95 and all-​you-​can eat. They have a large menu posted on the left wall in the back towards the kitchen and bathroom. My friend went to use the restroom and as I was perusing the menu, a friendly middle aged man approached and greeted me (I’m gonna assume he was the owner by his demeanor). He asked me if I knew what I wanted and I asked him what he would recommend. He suggested the sharwarmas as a sandwich or platter. I ended up taking him up on the that, getting the chicken sharwarma sandwich with fries in the sandwich (an extra 50 cents) and my friend got the lamb kebab sandwich. Our food was prepared relatively quickly and we took it to go.
After a 10 minute drive back to the house, we dug in. The bread held up well and the sandwich itself was amply sized, with a good ratio of condiments to meat (standard L & T, pickles, onions, smear of hummus). My only real gripe is that I could’ve stood for more fries in my sandwich (they were semi hidden in the inner layers of the sandwich). Otherwise the chicken was seasoned very well and overall I would go back.
I’d like to note the friendliness of the owner and staff. Apparently he bought this place and Abu Dhabi (another restaurant?) and he’s really trying to turn both businesses around. He was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu, with his recommendations being spot on.
I wish him and his family a lot of luck!