Falafel Bar

The have reopened under the name Giovani’s Falafel Bar & Grill, 1533 Chestnut Street, (215) 988‑1201.

Tried one at their old location. Got my falafel sandwich. Was average falafel, nothing special about it and they did not give me enough white sauce even tough I asked.
Liked the roasted carrot and their pickle though. I will give another try to their new location.

I don’t get it. Falafel AND pizza? Seems like this bar is having an identity crisis. First of all, the falafel is nothing to rave about. I can find a better way to spend $ 8 but if you are desperate for falafels, this place is centrally located. Also beware, the pizza is extremely greasy! For someone who has had his fill of greasy pizzas in NYC, this is definitely up there.

Loved this place, but they are closed now.
Opening up down the block under a different name … hopefully soon!

I’ll give this place a big old yumm yumm delish! It’s pretty simple and straight forward fare, but well done and really well priced.
For just about $ 8 I got the combo platter. It came with falafel, eggplant patties, latke, hummus, cucumber-​tomato salad and a huge fluffy warm pita. It was more than enough for lunch for two days (at least for me).
The menu is pretty big … Platters, sandwiches etc. and the prices are really reasonable. This is a great spot to grab lunch to take back to the office or to grab takeout for dinner it you are feeling uninspired to cook.

I think this place has pretty decent food for a decent price. Delivery is pretty fast. I would give them 5 stars if only they would not constantly screw up my order. They are always forgetting something. However, if I call and complaint they are always good on making it right and delivery the missing item.

Downtown Philly, PA
Okay, I love this spot. Delicious falafels. I like these combination sides they give on your platter orders. Rule to self: Eat here!

Yayyy finally some decent and fresh MIddle Eastern fare in center city that’s not out of my price range or sloppily thrown together and covered in globs of hummus.
Went here during lunch with coworkers and was very impressed with the quality of the food and the reasonable price to match. The place is a bit small and oddly set up. I was definitely getting in peoples’ way at the cash register while chomping at the bit to grab every condiment/​relish/​fried pita I could get my hands on (it’s free!)…but the space didn’t ruin my experience.
I ordered the combo platter, which included: 3 falafel balls, a spinach latke thing, cucumber/​tomato salad, hummus, fried eggplant, and 2 pieces of pita bread. It was SO filling, I felt like I ate at Five Guys, only for half the calories (I think). And it was only like 8 or 9 bucks.
The falafel was unbelievably crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, the salad was fresh and not over-​dressed like how they do in some places, the eggplant was surprisingly light and not greasy at all, and the hummus was the BOMB– a perfect garlicky/​chickpea balance (trust me– i’ve had some bad hummus).
And to stuff it all into, I had fresh, warm, thick, and delicious pita. It was the best quick lunch I’ve had in the city in a while. Will definitely be back here.

Satisfactory and with all the right accompaniments. Not the best I’ve had, but I’m Egyptian, so my standards are high. Thicker tahini, more flavorful hummus and baba would go a long way, in my opinion. Pita bread was delicious, though.

Not the best falafel I have had. It was a bit on the dry side and kinda cold. Maybe bc I didn’t eat there, but my office it only a block away. My falafel couldn’t have gotten that cold that fast, could it? It just didn’t taste as fresh as some other places I’ve been. I do really like the cucumber salad that is in the pita though. Cucumbers had a nice crisp to it and tasted fresh. The guy did ask if I wanted spicy and I said yes. I did not taste any spice at all to it. I wonder if it might be bc my taste buds are prob burnt off bc I eat A LOT of spicy food in general. Lol. And I wasn’t too fond of their sauce. Unsure if it’s homemade, but it lacked flavor like other places.
I also ordered a side of fries with it. The fries are really good. You can def tell they are fresh cut and not frozen. It was the best part of my meal. I’ve ordered sweet potato fries in the past too and that was also good.
The «salad bar» they have isn’t much but at least they have one which is a plus. It changes often. I do really like some of the pickled items they have out.
A plus… they take levelup and they have a loyalty card. They stamp it each time you order a pita and once you reach a certain amount, ur next item is free!

I went in here for a quick lunch and ordered the mix wrap combo. It was falafel, eggplant, and a few other veggies in a wrap. The combo came with fries. The wrap was pretty good but I thought it was a little bland. They had a few sauce offerings you could grab but I wasn’t that impressed with those either. One seemed like a feta sauce… but I thought the feta flavor was a little too strong in it, and the other was a tzatziki, and I have had better. The fries were decent though some were a little too soggy/​greasy. I will say the hummus and pita bread we ordered for the table was delicious… perhaps I should have used the hummus as a sauce.

I am a little bid dissapointed with this place. I have ordered here more than once but mainly online and pick up options. The quality of the food is good i usually order the mushroom panini and it was great and price is reasonable! However, when i decided to go into the store to order one day i had really bad customer service. The lady infront of me took 15 minutes, im not exaggeration, 15 minutes to order a meal which is not the establishment’s fault but after she ordered and it was my turn, the guy looked at me and then went to the back for a couple of minutes and then proceeded to make their food and did not even acknowledge my presence and i was waiting at the counter for another over 5 minutes so, being totally ignored, so i decided to leave. So weird customer service vibe from this place, but food was good!

I’m trying to steer clear of reviewing places where I’ve only eaten once — especially if the experience wasn’t good, I figure it’s only fair to give the place a second shot before I take to the internet with my criticism. I’m making an exception with Falafel Bar for the following reason: this place is basically vegetarian — the only non-​veggie items on the menu are seafood, which would be fine except that when I came here last week, I ordered a falafel sandwich in a pita… which incidentally tasted like it may as well have been a fish filet. Eek!
I am a vegetarian but I’m not usually uptight about things like wanting to have my veggie burger cooked on a completely separate grill that has never been touched by meat, etc, etc. That being said, I certainly don’t want my falafel to blatantly taste like it was fried in fish oil. Moreover, some people are a lot stricter about this nature of thing and this review is really for those diners — basically a head’s up that while Falafel Bar does have a ton of veggie menu items (like… 90-​some percent of their menu), I am not sure that they are truly adhering to best practices in terms of avoiding cross-​contamination of ingredients or being able to guarantee that their food is 100% vegetarian.
To their credit, my dad had a mushroom Panini that he really liked. And I’d also like to point out that, vegetarian or not, I’m sure no one would enjoy a falafel that tastes like fish and since a lot of other reviewers seem to really like their falafel, I’m completely willing to allow for the fact that I may have caught Falafel Bar on an off-​day.

I’ve sampled Middle-​Eastern cuisine around the city, specifically falafel, and this place was definitely one of the best!
It is bright and clean with a large selection of sandwiches and platters. Luckily, I went with my boyfriend so we could sample a few different things together! Both of our choices were amazing– the Falafel burger and the Eggplant panini. I am an eggplant maniac and could not get enough of this sandwich! Grilled eggplant, mushrooms, onions and feta… YUM!!!
I’ve had falafel sandwiches that squish and crumble the second you take a bite and this was definitely not the case here! The falafel was perfectly seasoned and cooked to the perfect crispy consistency for a sandwich. They also have some seasoned cabbage and pickled vegetables out in a little salad bar in the eating area which was great as an additional side.
Like I said, I’m an eggplant maniac, so we had to get a side of baba ganoush and LOVED IT! It was a good portion of dip served with the warmest, fluffiest pita I’ve ever had. I’ve been deceived for years by thin, flat pita bread… now I will accept that no more!
This place also does catering and party trays for a very reasonable price, so I am very tempted to skip the shopping and cooking for my next party and get some great food from Falafel Bar! I’ll definitely be back soon!

This place is just ok. It’s located around the corner from my work, which is convenient, and the only reason why I go in.
I got the falafel sandwich, and a coworker got the falafel «burger». The sandwich was fine. The falafel had decent flavor and was pretty fresh. The sandwich only tasted somewhat good when I had a bite with the falafel in it. Otherwise, i was was just eating flavorless hummus. The pita didn’t taste particularly fresh either. I had a bite of the burger, and it was actually pretty good. The red onion worked well with it, and while it had hummus on it, it wasn’t drowned in it like my sandwich.
The latke I got was soggy and greasy.
The little salad bar off to the side was quite disappointing. Nothing looked too appealing, and what did, didn’t deliver. I tried the cold fries, some carrot salad, and the cucumber-​salady thing was actually ok.
I might stop back in to get the falafel burger, and some of the salads looked good, but I’m not eager to go back.

$ 6.50 for a tiny Falafel.
I only stopped by here becuase I was in a rush to go to class and there wasnt anything healthier around. Nothing beats Mama’s for 3.50.
Not bad, nothing exciting etiher. I’ve had worse.

Its decent. I’ve been here several times when I need to use a credit card. But when I have cash, walk 5 streets west to Mama’s Falafal on 20^th st. and you get a lot more for your money, with better taste.
This place is OK, but too expensive since the center city location. The pitas and wraps aren’t as big as Mama’s, and they’re more money. But overall, everything here tastes good, but you don’t dont get as much for your money.

I do Love Falafel. I checked this place out for lunch the other day and was very pleased with the quality of food. Israelis seem to run the place, which I like, and the line moved very fast.
The pita was warm and it had hummus and marinated cucumbers inside and then there was a salad bar where you could add pickles or kruat, extra tahini etc. I liked that they put out little containers to fill with the pickled salad and you could bring it back to your table and eat it. Or take it to go.
I will definitely be back.

I am a Libra and they say Librans can be indecisive. I believe this is true with me, and often go out searching for food but many times indecisive where everything sounds so good! Today is one of those days. I didn’t know where I was going to eat lunch and was so busy at work, I didn’t really think about it so I started by walking aimlessly on Chestnut street in hopes I could find food. It was between Wendy’s, Sushi or this place!!! Then, I didn’t know what to get… everything sounded GOOD. I ended up getting a combo so I could try a few items: It was fresh, tasty, inexpensive and relatively healthy meal.
The combo consists of: 3 falafels, 1 latke patty and 2 sabich (eggplant), jerusalem salad (tomato and cucumbers in a light viniagrette). hummus plus freshly made pita bread. Yum! it was all tasty. falafel was moist, latke not greasy and flavorful.
The restaurant is clean, has a good connection to wi-​fi (i was using my kindle fire), play good music and staff was nice and accomodating. I am surprised by some other negative reviews. Its all good feeling today.
I will be back. This place is a more comfortable version of Mama’s Vegetarian on 20^th Street. I wasn’t rushed and I went for a coffee at La Colombe on my way back to the dreary office.

Decidedly below average falafel. Not bad, not good either.
Overly crunchy and bland falafel. Sizeable sandwich, sturdy decent pita, generous fillings, but it does not overcome the disappointing falafel.
Latkes, as Erin F. noted, are more veggie patties than your traditional latkes.
Maoz is definitely better if you’re looking for fast food falafel, and even then Mama’s and the Falafel truck far surpasses them both.